Dear
Editor,
I write you with a most unusual petition. As a part of
my work I am in the process of capturing a clever spy who has recently left the
country. I only know her name in code and I am absolutely sure that she is now
hidden in a foreign country where she has arrived by ship. Some time ago I
found some clues that she had left for one of her contacts (see below), but
they were clearly insufficient for me as obviously some kind of diagram was needed.
Just yesterday I found a microfilm with all the missing information.
Unfortunately, I cannot decipher the message. If only I could know her real
name and the country where she is hidden I could proceed to her detention. I
thought that maybe you would be so kind as to show the message to your capable
solvers who could perhaps find this information for me. I also attach the
diagram I extracted from the microfilm. Thank you very much in advance for your
valuable help.
Yours
sincerely,
(name removed)
UPPER HORIZONTAL:
My name in code (after an evil character by Kornei
Chukovsky).
LOWER HORIZONTAL:
The country where I am going.
VERTICAL:
My real name (includes л and и).
HINTS:
I and II: The diagrams depict mates in one move (#1)
by White. The grid has to be filled with the initial letter of the unit that delivers
the mate.
III: One of
the two letters used to designate the chess king.
IV: The
letter “A”.
V: The other of the two letters used to designate the chess king.
VI: The letter “O”.
DIAGRAM:
SOLUTION
Try:
Her name is Galina and she is hiding in Nepal .
But this solution is wrong becauseNepal cannot be reached by ship!
But this solution is wrong because
I: the mate is Л:a3#, so Л
II: the mate
is f:g3#, so п.
III: P (кp)
IV: A
V: к (кp)
VI: O
What happened was that when our correspondent copied the image from the negative of the microfilm, he correctly oriented the chessboards without reversing the colors of the chess pieces and squares. The result is a mirror-inverted image which goes unnoticed as there is a white-colored h1 square (however, notice how the asymmetrical knight looks to the right in the diagram). As a consequence, the grid was also fatally reversed. He didn’t notice the unintended change due to the symmetry of the letters and the IV-VI reversal. So for the correct solution, the colors of the chess pieces and squares must be inverted, and consequently the whole image mirror reversed. The apparent solution of the crossword only fails because of geographical reasons.The correct solution is the one on the next page.
Solution:
Her name is Polina and she is hiding in theRepublic of Palau !
Her name is Polina and she is hiding in the
Notice that in this case all the definitions and chess
moves are also in accordance with the correct solution.
I: the mate is g7#, so п.
II: the mate
is Л:a2#, so Л.
III: к (кp)
IV: A
V: P (кp)
VI: O
The
crossword is designed in such a way that any solver should be able to find the
wrong solution almost immediately. If he then dismisses the problem as trivial,
the correct solution should come as a surprise.