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Puzzle for Today

Puzzle No. 2 – Tuesday 4 July

“Starving By Numbers”

Late one night, famished, I bought a baker’s dozen of buns but when I stopped to eat, five had fallen out of my bag.

I stared at the mysterious hole in the bag, no explanation came, only a classic riddle “I’m more powerful than God; more evil than the devil. The poor have me; the rich need me. If you eat me, you will die.”

I looked up at the night sky for an answer. Distracted, I counted what I hoped were our planets.

Slumping beneath a tree, I gorged on a form of hognut, a family pack just for me.

… and yet four numbers leap from my tale, to explain why I’m still hungry, tired and pale.

Credit: Paul Carden, a senior lecturer in the Computer Science and Informatics Department, London South Bank University

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