From Newsgroup: rec.puzzles


James Dow Allen <user4353@newsgrouper.org.invalid> posted:

David Entwistle <qnivq.ragjvfgyr@ogvagrearg.pbz> posted:

On 13/09/2025 17:59, James Dow Allen wrote:

Hints:
* Population sizes are very relevant.
* The fulfillment counts in each list sum to 24.

James Dow Allen <user4353@newsgrouper.org.invalid> posted:

James Dow Allen <user4353@newsgrouper.org.invalid> posted:

I prepared several closely-related lists of U.S. cities.
Following are three of the lists:

(with List labels modified from the earlier X, Y, Z)

I've added some more info. Baltimore fulfilled the criterion
for inclusion on List C three times, Boston twice, Brooklyn thrice,
and so on.

List C
3 Baltimore, MD
2 Boston, MA
3 Brooklyn, NY
4 Chicago, IL
3 Los Angeles, CA
1 New Orleans, LA
8 Philadelphia, PA

I needed to consult 'Net documents to compose the lists.
I was surprised to find that New Orleans appeared on List C.

List E
1 Baltimore, MD
5 Boston, MA
2 Charleston, SC
1 Chicago, IL
1 Cleveland, OH
3 Detroit, MI
1 Houston, TX
2 Los Angeles, CA
3 New Orleans, LA
3 Philadelphia, PA
1 Phoenix, AZ
1 St. Louis, MO

List A
24 New York, NY

I should have posted List A in the original post.
I was afraid that would make the puzzle too easy.

There are four cities on List B. List C can be converted to List D
by deleting New Orleans and adding three cities from List E.

Cheers,
James

I'm not getting far with this. They say ' A problem shared is a problem halved', so here are some observations and thoughts to encourage discussion:

James has provided five lists of populous US cities and their state's two-letter abbreviation. The members are presented alphabetically by
city name along with their individual fulfilment count. The lists are
now named A, B, C, D and E, but they were originally presented in the order C, E and A. The number of members of each list is as follows:

A 1
B 4
C 7
D 9
E 12

This suggests the fulfilment criteria is more stringent in List A than List E, but while some members belong to several lists, for example Baltimore appears in List C and in List E. Curiously, New York, which is the sole member of List A does not appear in List C, nor List E. Why
would that be the case?

Good question. For now I'll just say it follows necessarily from the definitions of the lists.

It sure seems that my puzzle was too difficult. :-(
Sorry. And puzzlers are annoyed by now, so additional hints
are likely to be ignored.
Solution is NOT obscure, but much easier for Americans than Brits, I think.

With exceptions -- List A and 3 of the 4 cities on List B -- I would NOT expect anyone to be able to write down the lists even given the definition. But I thought the cities might trigger the right guess.
David's observation that the first five list sizes are the ascending sequence 1, 4, 7, 9, 12 is helpful.
The puzzle was NOT intended to be tricky or obscure. The definition is:
The x'th list contains ____ ____ which ______ _'__ __ ____ __ ______.

The fulfilment counts in each list sum to 24. That points me to letters, letter spacing, or something similar, but I haven't found anything to reliably match. Others items counted in 24s: hours in a day, years since 2000, months in two years.

Yes, there are about 24 {some shorter span} in
the longer span which is the {_______ __ ___ ___}.

Evidently this puzzle was much more difficult than I'd thought. Sorry. :-(

Condolences,
James

____________________

Evidently this puzzle was much more difficult than I'd thought. Sorry. :-(

maybe you can email me the answer(s)... Thank you.
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From Newsgroup: rec.puzzles


SPOILER, SPOILER, SPOILER
Old excerpt used as spoiler warning space.

HenHanna@NewsGrouper <user4055@newsgrouper.org.invalid> posted:

James Dow Allen <user4353@newsgrouper.org.invalid> posted:

David Entwistle <qnivq.ragjvfgyr@ogvagrearg.pbz> posted:

On 13/09/2025 17:59, James Dow Allen wrote:

Hints:
* Population sizes are very relevant.
* The fulfillment counts in each list sum to 24.

James Dow Allen <user4353@newsgrouper.org.invalid> posted:

James Dow Allen <user4353@newsgrouper.org.invalid> posted:

I prepared several closely-related lists of U.S. cities.
Following are three of the lists:

List A
24 New York, NY

And here's a fourth list:

List B
3 Baltimore MD
10 Chicago, IL
4 Los Angeles, CA
7 Philadelphia PA

List C
3 Baltimore, MD
2 Boston, MA
3 Brooklyn, NY
4 Chicago, IL
3 Los Angeles, CA
1 New Orleans, LA
8 Philadelphia, PA

List E
1 Baltimore, MD
5 Boston, MA
2 Charleston, SC
1 Chicago, IL
1 Cleveland, OH
3 Detroit, MI
1 Houston, TX
2 Los Angeles, CA
3 New Orleans, LA
3 Philadelphia, PA
1 Phoenix, AZ
1 St. Louis, MO

I should have posted List A in the original post.
I was afraid that would make the puzzle too easy.

Evidently this puzzle was much more difficult than I'd thought. Sorry. :-(

Condolences,
James

maybe you can email me the answer(s)... Thank you.

I'll just tell everyone.

Once every ten years the Census Bureau publishes a list of the
cities in the U.S.A. ranked by population. New York City has had the
highest population in all 24 censuses, and thus is the only entry on List A.

Baltimore, Philadelphia, Chicago, and Los Angeles have all been the
#2 city.

List C
3 Baltimore, MD
2 Boston, MA
3 Brooklyn, NY
4 Chicago, IL
3 Los Angeles, CA
1 New Orleans, LA
8 Philadelphia, PA

Brooklyn, across the East River from New York City, was the 3rd largest city
in 1860, 1870 and 1880; was pushed down to #4 in 1890 when Chicago became #2. Brooklyn was no longer eligible in 1900: It had joined with four other "boroughs" to form what would soon be called "the biggest city in the world."

I think UK'ers may outnumber US'ers here at R.P. but this was a trivia quiz
for Americans. I would have trouble naming the largest UK cities with confidence.

I like submitting puzzles, but not if they're stupidly difficult.
Anyone want a Knights-Knaves-Knarks puzzle which is fun and challenging?
It is NOT ridiculously hard: a friend solved it in a quarter-hour.

Cheers,
James
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