QUESTION: In “the Night before Christmas,” the narrator goes to the living room, sees St. Nick, and describes him. Then he observes, “A wink of his eye and a twist of his head / Soon gave me to know I had nothing to dread.” My question is, why did the narrator have fears which these hints allayed?
ANSWER: St. Nick is an elf, as the poem says that he is. In English lore, elves are ambiguous figures, sometimes benign, sometimes malign. The narrator does not know which but fears the worst. St. Nick gives him the assurance that he is benign. (See “Elf” in Wikipedia.)
PUZZLE: A student runs low on funds and sends the following message for cash to the folks back home. How much is their child requesting?
S E N D
M O R E
M O N E Y
SOLUTION: The approach begins with a recognition that the value of M is 1. M is carried over from the addition of S and M (and possibly 1 from the previous column). Such logic leads to the solution based on the following assumptions.
1. assumption: one letter equals only one number
2. assumption: no two letters equal the same number
3. assumption: M does not equal 0 because zero does not precede written numbers
4. M = 1 because no two numbers can add to at least 20 to carry 2 instead of 1
S E N D
1 O R E
1 O N E Y
5. To carry 1 to be M, S is either 8 or 9
S = 8 plus 1 carried, in which case O = 0; or
S = 9 but 1 cannot be carried because then O = 1, but M = 1; if 1 is not carried, O = 0.
For S = 8 plus 1 carried, E plus 1 carried would equal N, but to carry 1, E would have to be 9 and N = 0, but O = 0; ergo S does not equal 8
9 E N D
1 0 R E
1 0 N E Y
6. Since E does not equal N, 1 has been carried to E; ergo, E + 1 = N.
7. For E + 1 =. N, 1 must be carried from N + R. Either
(a) N + R = E +10 or
(b) N + R + 1 = E + 10
by substitution for N in (a), E + 1 + R = E + 10; ergo, R = 9; but S = 9
by substitution in (b), E + 1 + R + 1 = E + 10 or, R = 8
9 E N D
1 0 8 E
1 0 N E Y
8. D + E > 10; Y does not equal 0 or 1; Y = 2 or 3 but does not equal 4 (6 & 7 highest remaining numbers cannot add to 14); E does not equal 7 because N does not equal 8 =R; D + E ¹ 5 + 6 or 6 + 5 because y does not equal 1; D = 7
9 E N 7
1 0 8 E
1 0 N E Y
9. Y= 2 or 3
for Y = 2, E = 5; N = 6
for Y = 3, E = 6; N = 7; but D = 7
ergo: E = 5; N = 6; Y = 2
9 5 6 7
1 0 8 5
1 0 6 5 2
10. $95.67 + $10.85 = $106.52 (in 1970 dollars; $882.54 in 2025 dollars)
What overwhelms me about this puzzle is not the challenge to get the solution, but the insight of the person who recognized that the message could be rendered arithmetically.
No one answered the question or solved the puzzle.
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