Puzzle Column Explores Statistical Deception and Wordplay
7 reported
A Guardian puzzle column published on June 22, 2026, presented solutions to three puzzles about deception. The first puzzle, "Super syllabus," described a scenario where a school cohort's median grade dropped from C to D despite every pupil's grade improving, achieved by adding new lower-scoring pupils. The second puzzle, "Peculiar poll," illustrated Simpson's Paradox using two market research polls of 125 people each, where both polls showed a policy more popular among men, but combined data revealed it was more popular among women. The third puzzle, "Anguish Languish," featured a wordplay contest where readers submitted English texts "translated" into similar-sounding nonsense words, with the winner being a nursery rhyme. The column was written by a puzzle setter who has been contributing since 2015.
What’s reported
The column presented solutions to three puzzles about deception.
In the "Super syllabus" puzzle, the median dropped from C to D despite every pupil's grade improving, by adding two new pupils scoring D or below.
The "Peculiar poll" puzzle used data from Smith Surveys (21/25 men, 80/100 women supporting) and Jones Polls (22/100 men, 5/25 women supporting).
Combined data showed 43/125 men (34%) and 85/125 women (68%) supported the policy, making it more popular among women.
This statistical phenomenon is called Simpson's Paradox.
The "Anguish Languish" contest winner was Edward Barrett for the nursery rhyme "Myriad Al tell 'em, eats fleas worse wight ass know."
The puzzle setter has been setting puzzles on alternate Mondays since 2015.
Key figures
Howard L Chase: US linguist who created Anguish Languish
Kit Yates: Author of "You Don't Know What You're M ss ng"
Edward Barrett: Winner of the Anguish Languish contest
Sources: The Guardian
