The New Sudoku Players' Forum

[Bigtone53]

I thought "I'm not Tom Smith" was self explanatory.

Well, there you go.

[MCC]

It looks like udosuk posted just before my last post and I missed it, so...

I know that "He" is a popular surname in China... Here is some info...

So is the "who" a famous Chinese from the He family?

"He" not "who".

Also, a very famous Chinese is "Zheng He" (He being the first name here), who allegedly was the first ever person that circumnavigated the globe and arrived in America in the 15th century before Ferdinand Magellan and Christopher Columbus. Is this person relevant?

"He" not relevant but could lead you to the "Who" I'm after.

Also, "He" is the 5th letter of many Semitic alphabets, the 4th letter of the Ukrainian and Belarusian alphabets, and a romanisation of a Japanese Kana, plus the symbol for Helium... Is any of these relevant?

"Very illuminative, but not relevant" he said in a high pitched voice.

Further, "HE" can represent "His Excellency" or "Her Excellency"... Are these terms applicable here?

No comment. Think pronoun.

Lastly, is the word "colon" or "Colon" relevant?

Yes.


MCC

[udosuk]

Okay, I'm going out on a limb...

Are you Cristóbal Colón?

My inspiration comes from Columbo, the famous TV detective ("He said enigmatically")...

Another famous Colón is MLB pitcher Bartolo Colón (Hud would know about him), but I don't suppose MCC is a baseball fan?

[MCC]

Are you Cristóbal Colón?

Yes I am.

The name Christopher Columbus is a Latinisation of the Spanish Don Cristóbal Colón.

My inspiration comes from Columbo, the famous TV detective ("He said enigmatically")...

Did you know that Columbo's first name is Frank?

The clue was ":" and if I had left it at "Is this a clue:" or if I had put "Is this a clue:?" the answer would have been too easily resolved, so I had to detract from the ":" by putting the second sentence "He said enigmatically.", the "He" of course refers to me MCC.

Another famous Colón is MLB pitcher Bartolo Colón (Hud would know about him), but I don't suppose MCC is a baseball fan?

That is true, I'm not.


MCC

[udosuk]

I didn't watch a single episode of Columbo all my life (it probably ended before I was born)... But reading that wiki article I found it quite interesting... It seemed the producers tried to hide the first name of Colombo but the technology caught up with them when the DVD viewers paused the screen and read it from the signature of his badge...

Another intriguing story was this encyclopedia author who invented the name "Philip" to try to catch copyright violators... I mean, deliberately entering wrong information in one's books to trick people for ripping off them is a good idea, but if it's on a research tool then the value of it will be decreased because the readers can't be sure if the content is 100% accurate...

Back to the riddle, it's a nice one and Bigtone really cracked it open by noticing the special punctuation... But it must be pure luck that my inaccurate association to "Zheng He" coincidentially led me to the correct solution...

BTW, what is the relevance of the 3.14159 and the ° ?

It could have made a good riddle if the Chinese usage of "He" had been implied... But I've revealed too much, that it's pointless to make a riddle using similar material now...

[MCC]

I didn't watch a single episode of Columbo all my life (it probably ended before I was born)...

According to IMDb there was a Columbo made/shown in 2003 so, that makes you, what 3/4 years old?

Another intriguing story was this encyclopedia author who invented the name "Philip" to try to catch copyright violators... I mean, deliberately entering wrong information in one's books to trick people for ripping off them is a good idea, but if it's on a research tool then the value of it will be decreased because the readers can't be sure if the content is 100% accurate...

It shows you how careful you should be when carrying out research.
Most, if not all, maps and street maps have false place names or streets added to prevent plagiarism.

BTW, what is the relevance of the 3.14159

I thought it a nice animation, nothing else.

...and the ° ?

You'll have to ask underquark about this.

It could have made a good riddle if the Chinese usage of "He" had been implied...

I was thinking of doing a longer riddle but did not have the time.


MCC

[underquark]

...and the ° ?

You'll have to ask underquark about this.

I was trying to graphically illustrate to MCC that I thought I knew what he was on about. Hence ":" for Colon and "°" for the roundness of the world. If I was in any way clever in a literary sense (and had the time) I would have tried to come up with some witty play on words regarding pinto beans or something and their effects on the colon.

[Myth Jellies]

I'm still trying to figure out the "self-explanitory" connection between not being Tom Swift and not being Tom Smith

[underquark]

I think it's something to do with "Tom Swift and his Atomic Lawnmower" or some other such obscure reference.

[udosuk]

Hence ":" for Colon and "°" for the roundness of the world.

That must be a very small world... I would have never got this meaning, especially when "o" or "O" are bigger and rounder? (The fact that I don't like to open my character map program to crunch that symbol out also factors in...)

I know you already knew, but Columbus never travelled around the world... He thought he reached India, which turned out to be America... The first who did so were either Ferdinand Magellan's crewmen (he died in the Philippines) or Zheng He's staff if you believe the 1421 hypothesis...

I didn't watch a single episode of Columbo all my life (it probably ended before I was born)...

According to IMDb there was a Columbo made/shown in 2003 so, that makes you, what 3/4 years old?

I meant the original series... I never like those remakes, movies or TV shows... A majority of them are just crappy schemes to milk money from the fans of the original...

[MCC]

...I was trying to graphically illustrate to MCC that I thought I knew what he was on about. ..."°" for the roundness of the world. If I was in any way clever in a literary sense (and had the time) I would have tried to come up with some witty play on words regarding pinto beans or something and their effects on the colon.

I had assumed you meant "World" but needed your confirmation because you may have meant something else.

I'm still trying to figure out the "self-explanitory" connection between not being Tom Swift and not being Tom Smith

Swift/Smith? It must have been your accent or else I've got a dyslexic keyboard or you haven't heard of Mr Tom Swift-Smith.
It was a mistake on my part, I was very very tired, I apologize for any confusion.


MCC

[underquark]

The fact that I don't like to open my character map program to crunch that symbol out also factors in...

No need for Character Map, just remember a few useful codes and press and hold [Alt] whilst typing and then release the [Alt] key after you've typed the third digit:

248 °
167 º
111 o
048 0
079 O
171 ½
172 ¼
008 Try it and see

I know you already knew, but Columbus never travelled around the world... He thought he reached India, which turned out to be America... The first who did so were either Ferdinand Magellan's crewmen (he died in the Philippines) or Zheng He's staff if you believe the 1421 hypothesis...

AFAIK sailing was the one thing the Chinese didn't do too well considering the size of their empire. Sure, they sailed right through the Maldives etc. (some say they missed them, others that there just wasn't anything there to interest them) and on to Africa. They also has some massive ships by all accounts. I think, however, that the Norsemen were the first to go to America (from Europe) and I'm willing to believe that some of Magellan's crew made it all the way round eventually.

[MCC]

underquark, I've tried those codes but they do not seem to work with my keyboard.


MCC

[udosuk]

These are the outputs from my keyboard:
248 ø
167 §
111 o
048 0
079 O
171 «
172 ¬
008 backspace

My Character Map says I could get a ° by typing "Alt+176"... But no way I'm remembering all these codes... Must be easier if I set up a shortcut to open the Character Map instead...

[underquark]

Interesting. I get these results if I type a 0 before each group of three digits. Were you trying in a "Reply" box, in Notepad or in Word or some other Windows application? Might be something to do with Unicode. To prove, by the way, that not al keyboards are created equal, try pressing BOTH [Shift] keys down and typing ABCDEFGH...

ACDEGIJLNRSTUVWY