On 19 October, Chalkdust issue 08 will be released (don’t forget to book your free ticket to our launch event). To help you to get as excited about the launch as we are, here are some of the things we hid in issue 07 that you may or may not have noticed.
1. No more editorial
Inspired by Katie Steckles’s article about the game No more women, we made the moves “no more vowels” and “no more consonants” in the editorial. With all the letters included, the editorial would’ve read:
I (no more vowels) expect this text is very hard to read, but maybe some of you will enjoy deciphering it. As Katie says in her article, we would classify banning vowels as a particularly mean move. But our next one is probably meaner…
We’re (no more consonants) really not expecting anyone to work out what this bit says, but good luck if you’re trying! Enjoy the magazine!
2. Scorpions
As usual, the scorpions that escaped from issue 03’s horoscope are still running around the magazine.
3. More scorpions
In issue 07, one scorpion did a particularly good job of hiding.
4. Crossnumber header
Crossnumber fans may have noticed that the square pattern in the header of the issue 07 crossnumber looked familiar, as the pattern was taken from the top right-hand corner of the issue 06 crossnumber’s grid.
5. Crossnumber grid
The black squares in the grid of the issue 07 crossnumber were arranged in a spiral. If you start from the outside and count inwards, the white squares in the spiral make a sequence you will be familiar with.
6. Captain Scarlet
One of the letters sent to Dirichlet was written by Paul Metcalfe from Winchester. This is the real name of Captain Scarlet.
7. Galois Knot Theory
The reviews page features a brief review of Galois Knot Theory, a book that was randomly generated by mathgen. Fittingly, the review was randomly generated using a Markov chain and the other reviews on the page.
8. Fields love
No, Fields medals are not actually heart shaped.
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