Local Crossword

[corriebear1]

Help again please

totally stumped with this one !!!
A woman from Seven Oaks picks a number between 2 and 10 at four o’clock.

At two minutes past four in the afternoon she multiplies her original number by the sum of the hour and minute digits showing on her digital watch (set to 24hr clock), naming the result Seven. She eats two sweets from a bag of 25.

She walks 200 steps, and quadruples Seven and quadruples the result. She names it Two. Her two children , aged four and six, each want a sweet too.

She turns left over a bridge and jumps a puddle. When she lands she divides Two by 4. She names this Three. She divides Three by 2 twice. She calls that number One. She adds the two digits and calls that number Six.



What number is Six?

[fiction-factory]

That must be the longest crossword clue ever. Is there a letter count?

[Tilly2]

One more than five?
One less than seven?

[dannyk13]

Hardly a crossword clue.

[dannyk13]

9?

[bhg481]

2
The original number chosen cancels out, so SIX is the sum of the digits in the number 20 ; the sum of the hour and minutes of 16:04.

[fiction-factory]

I think that the easiest way is to use maybe a spreadsheet and try each of the 9 different values for the original number. The question is about the equivalence of digits and Words (eg could be TWO, 2 could be FIVE...).
I am puzzled by some parts though- the 200 steps seems a red herring unless the punctuation is misleading and the 200 should be included in the sbsequent quadrupling.
I may try later but it's my day off from all this maths stuff!

[dannyk13]

If this really is a crossword then the setter should be put up against a wall and shot.

[ducksie]

Danny, I Love that reply ha :)

[fiction-factory]

I have just realised that there is also a distiction between six (i.e. no capital letter) which represents six, and Six which represents someother number
I think bhg may be right but i can't make any sense of it at the moment

[bhg481]

ff - thank you foe your faith but I think bhg might be wrong.

The steps, sweets and childrens' ages are all irrelevant but I've gone wrong somewhere.

[Tilly2]

You all have infinitely more patience than I do. :-)

[bhg481]

Lengthy explanation.
Choose number X
At 4 mins past 4 =16:02 multiply X by 16+2 gives 18X = Seven

Walk 200 steps (irrelevant) 4 x (4 x 18X) = Two

Jumps puddle two/4 = (4 x 18X) = Three

(Three/2) /2 = 18X = One

If you add the digits of any number multiplied by 18 you gt the answer 9

So Six = 9

[dannyk13]

Whoopee, I got it ^^^

[fiction-factory]

If the time is 16:02 the digits add up to 9 as the question is worded. And yes you get to 9 (i.e. for One) just before the end , but that is only one digit so you can't add its two digits.
Maybe it means add the 16 and 2 on the clock and get 18. So at the end ONE=18, Sum of digits is 9. so Six =9
danny has it. But it means teh wording was slightly wrong

[fiction-factory]

Clearly took me too long to type.
The wording isn't quite right since it doesn't indicate adding the 16 and the 2 (or is at best ambiguous) but 9 it must be

[dannyk13]

I ignored all but the last paragraph.i.e two divided by 4 = 1/2 divided by 2 twice = 1/8 added together = 9.

[fiction-factory]

We'll probably now find that it clashes with the crossing letter of Six down

[bhg481]

ff - it says at 16:02 add the hour and minute digits ie, 16+2 =18. NOT 1+6+2 =9. Ambiguous wording but either would give you the right answer since adding the digits of any single-digit multiple of 9 gives the answer 9.

[fiction-factory]

But my point was that 16 isn't a digit.
If the digits on the clock that are to be added were 1,6 and 2 it would indeed give 9, but the wording of the question implies the final number comprises two digits, so unless you regard 9 as 09.
I still agree that this was the intended answer though- the wording was just a little clumsy

[bhg481]

ff - I take your point. It's difficult to put into words what should be added together.