H E L L O
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Dr. Shapiro's Puzzle of the Day

Today's Puzzle

Tuesday, September 15
I woke up this morning and, for some reason, I was thinking about the classic math video (see left) which depicts the eversion of a sphere. You should grab a snack and watch it! It's really quite trippy! Unfortunately, you probably won't find any public screenings while the pandemic is on; thank goodness for YouTube.

But oh, right, I'm supposed to have a puzzle for you. Sorry for the digression.

*ahem* What is the common name of the food crop Zea mays everta? Times are tough for the farmers who grow it, as the establishments where Zea mays everta is prepared and sold for on-site consumption have mostly been shuttered since March.

No hints today!

   


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Yesterday's Puzzle + Solution

A cruciverbalist is someone who enjoys what pastime?1
1No hints today; the answer's right there in black and white!

Solution A cruciverbalist creates or solves crosswords. Note: If I say there are no hints, it's probably a fib.

Congratulations to yesterday's solvers Jessica, Jacob C., Nico, Nicholas, Maddy, Yana, Newton, Inca, Charlie, and Leo S. Thanks to everybody who made a guess!

About This Site

Though he now teaches mathematics, Dr. (né Mr.) Shapiro's first job in a K–12 school was as a lunch monitor in Davis, CA. It was there that he originated the Puzzle of the Day, even rewarding correct answers with tickets in denominations like "15 points" (though without a clear idea of how he'd ultimately redeem these). Dr. Shapiro's favorite puzzle from this pre-professional era was "Tell me the location of the beehive on this campus."

Ten years later, Dr. Shapiro revived Puzzle of the Day at Proof School, writing each day's puzzle on a name tag. After 600 puzzles or so, he was just starting to feel normal about students reading his chest all the time when campus closed and the puzzle, like the rest of our lives, moved online. New puzzles are posted daily on school days.

Want to catch up on old PotDs? There's an archive currently containing puzzles from March to June 2020.