Apparently every American kid grows up knowing that Santa's reindeer-critters are named Donner, Blitzen, Vixen and the others. This wasn't part of the mythos here -- we heard of Rudolph, and that was all. I found the others names first in the 1980s on an early AppleMac game, and had no idea what they referred to.

Which is no excuse for not knowing *now*, I know. Especially as I purport to speak basic Murrican, yanno?

<Annie> Like YYYY ...

Voters of the best moves in our game, 11.Nbd2 and 25.Ng4, had in mind an attacking plan, ending, after a long series of moves, with this final position (see my earlier post for details):

click for larger view

<Queen, Bishop and King are only splendid cripples, and pawns, even those that reach the final row, are condemned to creep in two dimensions, and no Tower will ever rise or descend -- no: flight has been given only to the Springer!>

A few weeks ago, during my regular round-up of recent pop-science books, I bought a copy of 'This is your brain on Music', by Daniel Levitin. It looked interesting, and the author has been both a neuroscientist and a heavyweight music producer.

It might have helped me to solve some problems relating to the 'prodigy effect' -- why are chess, music, and maths almost alone in producing child prodigies?

The answer probably has something to do with the fact that all three activities -- or subsets of the activities -- can be seen as pure syntax: the manipulation of a set of rules. No 'experience' is required, of the kind you'd need to write a good poem or novel. No great understanding of human psychology is needed -- you just get 'inside' the thing and speak it fluently like a language.

Chess, music and mathematics all piggyback on a language acquisition module hardwired into the human brain. It's very formal, very syntactic: ideal for rules, and best learned thoroughly before the age of ten. After that, you'll have a 'foreign accent'.

I can get far enough inside chess or math so my foreign accent doesn't stand out, but I have no 'fluency' in music. I've watched and listened to people who have, and it's amazing.

Anyhoo ... remember that hard-to-solve numerical clue, based around megahertz frequencies of piano notes and the 12th root of 2 ... ?

I'd have got it in 30 seconds if I'd bothered to read the first chapter of Levitin's book.

So it goes. Sometimes the answer really *is* under your nose all along ...

I do love music of all sorts, but my favorite is, of course, Bach's <The Art of the Fugue>. They are mathematical. I am sure you know Hofstadter's book <Gödel, Escher, Bach: An Eternal Golden Braid>.

I remember physically *leaping* on a copy of GEB when it came out, poor student though I was. I was familiar with Godel, Escher and Bach -- mainly Escher, but I knew who the other two *were* ... and anyone writing about recursion and metalinks ... well, I wasn't going to miss *that*.

I also recall being puzzled that my colleagues in the arts/lit game weren't especially bothered about GEB, while my friends in math/physics loved it. And could deal comfortably with its literary side, while the literature types tended to be put off by the merest hint of math.

you must try my Duck Curry,

While we wait for the 2010 Clue Hunt to become reviewable again, here's the breakdown on this year's winners:

<MostlyAverageJoe>: -- 5 -- [#18, 24, 26, 34, 37]

<BVer>: -- 5 -- [#16, 30, 57, 62, 63]

<acirce>: -- 3 -- [#14, 22, 33]

<crawfb5>: -- 3 -- [#8, 11, 29]

<Domdaniel>: -- 3 -- [#27, 41, 52]

<NakoSonorense>: -- 3 -- [#25, 38, 53]

<kvasir>: -- 3 -- [#12, 46, 60]

<The heavensmile>: -- 3 -- [#10, 28, 56]

<Kevinatcausa>: -- 2 -- [#44, 45]

<druid>: -- 2 -- [#2, 23]

<childintime>: -- 2 -- [#7, 47]]

<shalgo>: -- 2 -- [#13, 36]

<tpstar>: -- 2 -- [#19, 59]

<Sastre>: -- 2 -- [#39, 58]

<FrankCastle>: -- 1 -- [#1]

<Simonkaser>: -- 1 -- [#3]

<hms123>: -- 1 -- [#4]

<PhonyBenoni>: -- 1 -- [#49]

<Oliveira>: -- 1 -- [#5]

<shrdlu>: -- 1 -- [#6}

<garrykasparov>: -- 1 -- [#9]

<OhioChessFan>: -- 1 -- [#15]

<AnimusetOblivio>: -- 1 -- [#17]

<JonathanJ>: -- 1 -- [#20]

<artsemthon>: -- 1 -- [#21]

<metamushroom>: -- 1 -- [#31]

<SamAtoms>: -- 1 -- [#32}

<Chancho>: -- 1 -- [#35]

<guimoco>: -- 1 -- [#40]

<SwitchingQuylthulg>: -- 1 -- [#55]

<maxxowar>: -- 1 -- [#42]

<henryaw>: -- 1 -- [#43]

<dakgootje>: -- 1 -- [#48]

<pulsar>: -- 1 -- [#50]

<imag>: -- 1 -- [#51]

<devilish>: -- 1 -- [#54]

<jrlepage>: -- 1 -- [#61]

<bittonP>: -- 1 -- [#64]

Note: <MAJ> thus becomes the first to reach the maximum 5 wins in two different years, and also overtakes <SwitchingQuythulg> to move into overall 1st position.

Four-year totals:
<MAJ>: 13
<SQ>: 12
<Dom>: 11
... with groups on 9 and 8 close behind.

An unusual feature this year was that, after <MAJ> excluded himself by reaching 5, no less than 7 different contestants reached 3. <BVer> burst from this pack with two late wins, to achieve the dubious honour of excluding himself from #64. <BVer> (#62-63) and <Kevinatcausa> (#44-45) also managed the relatively rare feat of solving two clues in succession. When you're hot ...

(1) Bach, and some other pre-Romantic composers with a strong formal element.

(2) Music with words -- Dylan, etc. Particularly those where words and an offbeat musical sensibility are combined (John Cale, Scott Walker, Beefheart...).

And yet, for all Dennett's amicable reason, it was patently obvious his effort to 'reach out' to believers (by not *obviously* insulting them) was going nowhere. Maybe it's better just to have a bit of Hitch-style fun ...