Silicon-chip logic is remorseless, but it can think laterally enough to flummox human minds. Up for the challenge? There's a prize to be won if you are
MATTHEW GINSBERG can't help feeling a little sorry for his crossword-solving computer program. He points to a recent New York Times clue: "Food or drink dispensers". The answer? "MachinesV". "How is a computer meant to figure that out?" Ginsberg asks. "It's not fair."
If you're stuck: it's "v ending machines", or vending machines. Plenty of people struggle with this more whimsical sort of crossword clue, which can combine general knowledge, word play and cultural references with a generous dose of lateral thinking. A silicon processor, armed only with remorseless logic, seems even less well equipped. It's all the more surprising, then, that Dr Fill, Ginsberg's baby, is now ...
To continue reading this article, subscribe to receive access to all of newscientist.com, including 20 years of archive content.
