Chalkdust issue 11 puzzle hunt #1

Matthew Scroggs sets the first puzzle. Can you solve it?

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The day is finally here: issue 11 is out now! To help you celebrate launch day in style, we’ve set a puzzle hunt: throughout the day, we are posting a series of puzzles. The answers to these puzzles form clues to the four-digit code for the door to let you into the Chalkdust issue 11 secret backstage lounge.

The first puzzle is set by Matthew Scroggs. You can see the puzzle below, or download it as a pdf.

Be sure to come back at 11am when the second puzzle will be posted.

Scroggs’s puzzle

Each row and column of this grid contains the letters W, E, T, C, O, I, N, and S exactly once.

Each column and the first 7 rows contain the words given by the clues below in some position. For example, if a row contains the word `WET’, then the row could be WETCOINS,
NOWETSIC, ONSWETCI, or many other things.

Once the puzzle has been completed, the final row will contain a number. This number is one of the digits of the code.

Across

  • 1 Conic ___. (7)
  • 2 A charged atom or molecule. (3)
  • 3 0 seconds in the future. (3)
  • 4 315°. (2)
  • 5 3D shape with volume $\pi r^2h/3$. (4)
  • 6 225°. (2)
  • 7 $\{2,3\}$ or $\emptyset$. (3)

Down

  • 1 Can be found on page 65 of issue 11. (3)
  • 2 $\in$. (2)
  • 3 A baby’s favourite trig function (abbrev). (3)
  • 4 adjacent ÷ hypotenuse (not abbreviated). (6)
  • 5 135°. (2)
  • 6 $\sqrt{100}$. (3)
  • 7 ___ primes. (4)
  • 8 adjacent ÷ hypotenuse (abbrev). (3)

Matthew is a postdoctoral researcher at University College London. He hasn’t had time to play Klax since the noughties, but he’s pretty sure that Coke is it!

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