Friday, August 31, 2007

Solution: Big Hands

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This is a set of 25 playing cards. Each trio of letters gives the rank (2-9,T,J,Q,K,A) and the suit (Clubs, Diamonds, Hearts, Spades), followed by a letter or "*" which will be used at the end of the puzzle.

As the title and instruction imply, these 25 cards can be arranged into one each of the top 5 poker hands (Royal Straight Flush, Straight Flush, Four of a Kind, Full House, and Flush) as follows:

AC, KC, QC, JC, TC (royal straight flush)
7S, 6S, 5S, 4S, 3S (straight flush)
9H, 8S, 8H, 8D, 8C (4 of a kind)
AH, AD, 4H, 4D, 4C (full house)
KD, QD, JD, TD, 3D (flush)

Note that within each hand, cards are kept in the same descending order as in the original puzzle listing. Now, by reading off the third letter (or "*") associated with each card in this new order, we get:

T*T*L*FR*NKS*NF**R*F*K*ND

By filling in the vowels, we get "Total of ranks in four of a kind." The cards involved in the four of a kind are four 8s and a 9, which total up to 41, a number between 33 and 52, and the solution to this puzzle.

Monday, August 20, 2007

Hints: Big Hands

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1. Ignore the 3rd letter or * in each trio at first.
2. These are 25 cards.
3. Form one each of the top five hands (Royal Flush, Straight Flush, etc.).
4. Keep each 5-card hand in descending card order (like the original layout), and read the previously-ignored 3rd letters.

Big Hint: The top hand is a Royal Flush in Clubs.