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Dr. Shapiro's Puzzle of the Day

Today's Puzzle

Friday, November 6
How to Tell the Birds from the Flowers was published in 1917. How it failed to find lasting fame is a mystery, because it is a charming and delightful work.

Here's a sample page:
And another:

Got it? Then let's see if you're ready to place out of Flornithology 101! What bird and plant (not always a flower) have been redacted from each page below? Tip: For optimum display, open one panel at a time.

#1
#2
#3
#4
#5

   


     Note: Clicking "Submit" will send your response to Dr. Shapiro.

Yesterday's Puzzle + Solution

Anne, Anselm, Barbara, Bernardine, Bruno, Charles, Clare (and “Little Clare”), Clement, _____, Didacus, Dismas, Ferdinand, Francis, Gabriel, Hyacinth, Joachim, two Johns, Joseph, Leander, Louis, Marinus, Mark, Mary, Matthew, Monica, Paul, Paula, Raphael, Raymond, Rose.

This is an English-language list of what, specifically? And what word which is not a person’s name belongs in the blank?

Hint If you're thinking "Catholic saints", you're part of the way there. But perhaps you are wondering why the puzzle mentions a certain piece of information that might otherwise go without saying. Explore that feeling...

Solution These are the namesakes of all the California cities that start with "San" or "Santa". Thus in Spanish you have Santa Ana, San Anselmo, Santa Barbara, etc. So what's missing? Well, the list is alphabetized, and most of the English names start with the same letter as the Spanish names; focusing on San(ta) C___ or D___, you might notice the absence of anything resembling Santa Cruz.

But what does that translate to? Not Saint C___, as it turns out; translation is not always one-to-one, and santa can mean not only "saint" but also "holy". Santa Cruz means Holy Cross, and that's our answer.

This was a tough one. Congratulations to yesterday's solvers Charlie, Inca, Yana, Maddy, Kate, and the Greggs. 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.