Round 4

by Jason Ross

1. Skinny changed the formation of the cigars in the box. The box is 20 cigar diameters wide and 8 cigar diameters high. When originally shipped, the cigars were arranged in a nine-row "honeycomb" formation. There were 20 cigars in the bottom row, 19 in the second, 20 in the third, 19 in the fourth, …, 20 in the ninth. Skinny changed them to a "square" formation, with 20 in each row. This formation is totally snug and self-supporting in the box, provided all 160 cigars are within.

2. Cry, crow, rook, castle, fortress
Throw, pelt, hide, obscure, dubious
Shining, bright, smart, sting, Gordon Matthew Sumner
Buoyant, light, fair, just, barely

3. An acceptable answer would be Japan, Libya. The countries are listing in descending order based on the number of colours on their flag. There are many countries that could go in the penultimate position (eg. Greece, Canada, Switzerland), but only Libya has a flag with only one colour (green). However, if you count the former country Zanzibar, an even better pattern occurs: South Africa, Central African, Republic, Malaysia, Norway, Japan, Zanzibar (entirely red) Each flag has the colours of the previous flag, with one removed.

4. Night 1: ABCDEFS
Night 2: AFBDSEC
Night 3: AEBSCFD

5. "If I am spoken of as the first, My peers are mostly greater than I." Most planets are larger than the 'first' one - Mercury "Yet when I'm further down the order, An excess of me means you could die." On the third planet, the element mercury is a poisonous substance "Although I may rise and I may fall," Mercury rising and falling is synonymous with changing temperatures, although few thermometers use it any more "I have but one more claim to fame: I am with the merchants all the time." Roman god of merchants is Mercury "So I ask you now, what is my name?" Mercury

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