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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