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#246 Monoglots

Set by Daniel Griller

At an international conference of the utmost import, there are 1000 delegates present. Rarely has such a linguistically talented company assembled: half speak English, half French, half Greek, half Mandarin and half Hindi.

I hate these conferences. It鈥檚 all double-talk and snobbery over canap茅s. Worst of all, I am fluent in nothing but English.

I would do well to seek out the other poor souls whose linguistic capabilities are similarly capped at one. Not that I could talk to all of them, obviously. But I would understand their plight.

Perhaps it鈥檚 just me. Then again, perhaps my little club isn鈥檛 so little after all鈥�

What is the greatest possible number of delegates that speak exactly one language?

Solution next week

#245 Three men鈥檚 morris

Solution

Alpha can win in four more moves. Let鈥檚 say she puts her piece on centre left. The next moves are forced. Zoe must block with centre right, Alpha follows with bottom right, then Zoe blocks Alpha at top left. Alpha can now move either of her pieces on the middle row to the bottom, and Zoe can鈥檛 move to block the bottom line.

Zoe would have lost just as quickly if she had started with middle top (or any corner or middle junction). This is why it is good to have an extra rule that the first player can鈥檛 put their piece in the centre. With that rule, it turns out 鈥減erfect鈥� play will always end in a stalemate, like in noughts and crosses.