Pilgrims' Plot

This cross-number puzzle is one of my all-time favourites. I first came across it in a book called "Games for the Superintelligent", by James F Fixx. It looks impossible to solve, but the numbers and clues are cleverly interlocked so that by using a bit of logic, calculation and trial-and-error it can be cracked.

The puzzle

The year is 1939. On Farmer Dan's farm is a rectangular plot of land called Pilgrims' Plot that is ripe for development as a new football ground. For those of you not familiar with old units of measurement 1 acre = 4840 square yards, 4 roods = 1 acre, 1760 yards = 1 mile. There are also 20 shillings in £1.

puzzle grid

Across

1.Area in square yards of Pilgrims' Plot
5.Age of Martha, Farmer Dan's aunt
6.Difference in yards between the length and breadth of Pilgrims' Plot
7.Number of roods in Pilgrims' Plot times 8 down
8.The year Farmer Dan's family acquired Pilgrims' Plot
10.Farmer Dan's age
11.Year of Mary's birth
14.Perimeter in yards of Pilgrims' Plot
15.Cube of Farmer Dan's walking speed in mph
16.15 across minus 9 down

Down

1.Value in shillings per rood of Pilgrims' Plot
2.Square of the age of Farmer Dan's mother in law
3.Age of Mary, Farmer Dan's daughter
4.Value in pounds of Pilgrims' Plot
6.Age of Dan junior, Farmer Dan's son, who is twice the age of his sister Mary in 1945
7.Square of the breadth of Pilgrims' Plot
8.Time in minutes it takes Farmer Dan to walk 1 1/3 times around Pilgrims' Plot
9.The number that multiplied by 10 across gives 10 down
10.See 9 down
12.Addition of the digits of 10 down plus 1
13.Number of years Pilgrims' Plot has been in Farmer Dan's family

Click here for the solution.


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