vos Savant puzzle spoiled by typography...

In Marilyn vos Savant's column last Sunday, she presented a reader's puzzle:

'What do these words have in common: BIKE BOX CHECKBOOK CHEEK DECKED HEED HIDE.'

The answer is supposed to be that they all are unchanged by vertical reflection.

However, as presented in the Boston Globe, this wasn't true.

In the typeface used for the puzzle, the K was drawn in such a way that it was NOT vertically symmetrical. Often a K is drawn with northeast and southwest strokes both issuing from the center of the vertical stroke. But in the typeface used in my copy of _Parade_, the northeast stroke issued from near the bottom of the vertical stroke, and the southwest stroke issued _from the northeast stroke_ without joining the vertical stroke at all:

/ / / / / |/

In the answer, which stated that the letters BCDEHIKOX are vertically symmetrical, a different typeface was used. Oddly enough, the letter K was not symmetrical in this typeface either

I noticed the same thing in one of the San Fran. newspapers. Probably the Chronicle but it was laying around in a restaurant and I didn't pay much attention to which paper it was from.

Yes, and it's also that way in the Courier font in which I read these messages. But I solved the puzzle by being OK with 'close enough'.

Jeannie sorry about my previous message; I'll remember the spoiler space next

To say that, 'vos Savant puzzle spoiled by typography,' sounds more like excuse making than anything else. Consider that there were plenty of people that were able to solve the puzzle regardless.

A part of being a good puzzle solver is not taking everything you see too literally. The ability to abstract from one form to another is one of many qualities that make up a good solver.

Also, if the font had been adjusted just for this puzzle, it might have given away the answer, since a solver might get suspicious of the change in font. Why should vos Savant risk tipping her hand? I think the font used made the puzzle a little more difficult, but to say it was spoiled is an exageration IMHO.