PARALLEL UNIVERSE
by Kiran Kedlaya
answer: DECKHOUSE
First of all, here
are the answers to the clues. There are some patterns that make it easier to solve
these; more on those below.
point, net, bid,
made
coccyx, Arctic
Circle, results, imps
diddle diddle, old
fuddy-duddy, final examination, Great Barrier Reef
"rose is a
rose is a rose is a rose", Mississippi state park system, tax assessors,
guerrilla warfare
idee fixe, Adam
Bede, double, Portrait of a Lady
West Sussex,
Brussels sprouts, Sex Pistols, petroleum jelly
Just So Stories,
Sargasso Sea, cicatrix, calico cat
"Wherefore
art thou Romeo?", hula hoop, Cracker Jack, cable car
xerography, faith
healer, Heigh Ho, hit the hay
ExxonMobil, bon
vivant, lotus-eater, trespasses
European Union, non-vulnerable,
Black, calamari
sassafras, Swiss
system, Mexico City, Time After Time
as slow as
molasses, "a kiss is still a kiss", Learning Annex, veggie burger
nitrogen fixation,
nineteen ninety-one, lead dioxide, two-by-four
Annie Get Your
Gun, Brownian motion, vox populi vox Dei, bridge
This table is to
be interpreted as a scoresheet for a two-table game of
duplicate bridge
(as suggested by the title and a number
of the clue
answers). In each of the normal and parallel universes, the
first and second
columns represent the number of tricks bid and made,
respectively (as
suggested by the answers BID and MADE in the top
row of the
parallel universe). To keep this simple, we are assuming that
the same pair of
positions plays all of the contracts at both tables (so
that the scores in
the two columns represent the scores earned by the
two different
teams).
The way this works
is that each clue answer in the first column contains
exactly one of the
letters C, D, H, S, N, repeated some number of times.
That answer
represents a bid of that many tricks in the corresponding suit: clubs,
diamonds, hearts, spades, notrump. If the answer contains one or two Xs, the
bid is doubled or redoubled, respectively. For instance,
the bid
"coccyx" in the second row of the normal universe represents a bid of
3 clubs doubled. The adjacent answer in the second column contains the same one
of C, D, H, S, N some number of times, possibly zero (and none of the others);
this represents the number of tricks made above "book" (the first six
tricks, which are included implicitly in every bid).
For instance, in
the example above, the answer "Arctic Circle" represents
4 clubs made, so
the contract was made with one overtrick. Note: in the
normal universe,
all contracts are made, but in the parallel universe,
some contracts are
made and some are not.
To score each row,
find a duplicate bridge score chart online, e.g.,
http://www.baronbarclay.com/DUPLSCOR.html
and work out the
raw score, positive or negative, earned by the declaring
partnership at
each table. (There are explicit rules for these, but it is
easier to use a
score chart that lists the exact score for every possible
outcome; since
these are used in real life, they are not hard to find.)
To do this
correctly, you must account for vulnerability: the declaring
partnership is
vulnerable on a given hand if the clues in the corresponding row are printed in
red, and black otherwise. (Besides being a reasonable guess, this is suggested
by the clue answers "non-vulnerable" and "Black" in line
11.)
Once you have done
this, take the difference between the scores on each
hand in the normal
and parallel universes (this difference is always positive) and convert it into
International Match Points (IMPs), as suggested by the clue answers in the
first two rows. These give numbers from 1 to 26; converting these to letters as
usual yields ANSWER DECKHOUSE.
For reference,
here are the scores and IMPs for each hand.
non: 1N making
1N = 90; 1D making 1D = 70; net 20
= 1 IMP
vul: 3Cx making 4C
= 870; 2S making 1S = -100; net 970 = 14 IMPs
vul: 6D making 6D
= 1370; 3Nx making 0N = -800; net 2170 = 19 IMPs
vul: 7S making 7S
= 2210; 5Sx making 0S = -1400; net 3610 = 23 IMPs
non: 1Dx making 2D
= 240; 1D making 1D = 70; net 170 = 5 IMPs
vul: 4Sx making 5S
= 990; 3Sx making 0S = -800; net 1790 = 18 IMPs
non: 4S making 4S
= 420; 2Cx making 3C = 280; net 140 = 4 IMPs
vul: 2H making 2H
= 110; 3C making 2C = -100; net 210 = 5 IMPs
non: 1HX making 2H
= 260; 3H making 3H = 140; net 120 = 3 IMPs
non: 1NXX making
2N = 760; 1S making 4S = 170; net 590 = 11 IMPs
non: 3N making 3N
= 400; 1C making 1C = 70; net 330 = 8 IMPs
vul: 4S making 5S
= 650; 2Cx making 0C = -500; net 1150 = 15 IMPs
vul: 6S making 6S
= 1430; 4Nx making 0N = -1100; net 2530 = 21 IMPs
vul: 3Nx making 6N
= 1350; 3Dx making 0D = -800; net 2150 = 19 IMP
non: 3N making 3N
= 400; 1Dxx making 1D = 230; net 170 = 5 IMPs