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

Today's Puzzle

Thursday, December 3
(Psst! You can still take yesterday's bonus left-right quiz! No one has gotten more than 8/10 yet!)



This is a page from one of my daughter's board books. Can you figure out the text on the facing page?

No?

What if I told you that the text on the facing page is also the two-word title of a significantly more famous children's book? Would that help you wise up?

   


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

Yesterday's Puzzle + Solution

"Jeremy" is an individual notable enough to have his own Wikipedia page, a portion of which is shown at left. In common parlance, what kind of critter is Jeremy?

Solution Jeremy is (was) a snail. To quote from the Wikipedia page:
The snail had a rare genetic mutation which caused its shell to coil to the left; in most snails the shell coils to the right. Environmental factors may have caused the left coiling although it is not definitely proven to be a factor and is considered unlikely. This probable mutation is extremely rare, believed to only occur once in a million individuals. [...] The snail became famous worldwide after a public appeal to find other left-coiled snails for a mate.
Forget looking for four-leaf clovers. Check your local garden snails! 🐌

Congratulations to yesterday's solvers Andrew, Maddy, Inca, Yana, Charlie, Anna J., and Kate. 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 November 2020.