Solution to Imperfection

What do you get when you remove what is Perfect from The Immaculate Universe?

Solve the four puzzles. Each puzzle will give you a word suggested by perfection or perfect.

After you have the four words, the last page will tell you how to remove parts of them from The Immaculate Universe to find the answer.

Word 1

Solve the four horizontal clues in the 4 x 7 grid.

There are also three vertical clues. The three marked columns each spell a four-letter word. Two of them have to be unscrambled after you fill in the grid, but the one you want does not, and that's the word you're looking for.

Horizontal clues:

the 28th element, a common metal used by the U.S. Mint, between cobalt and copper in the periodic table	N I C K E L
the 28th state (gave up its sovereignty Dec. 29, 1845)	T E X A S
the 28th President, wanted to make the world “safe for democracy”	W I L S O N
the 28th Best Picture Oscar winner (1955), starring Ernest Borgnine	M A R T Y
	1 2 3

Vertical clues:

1. (unscramble) hang around; delay
2. (unscramble) one of the world's most popular foods
3. perfect, or, at least, not at all impossible

Word 1 (the answer to vertical clue 3): EASY

Word 2

Solve the four horizontal clues to find single words of 4, 7, 14, and 28 letters.

There are also seven vertical clues. One of them is a synonym for perfect, and that's the word you're looking for.

Clue words in UPPER CASE are anagrams of the answer.

Horizontal clues: Adjectives for the Perfect...

(except for the 28-letter one, which is just an anagram, but who knows more than one 28-letter word?)

fruit	R I P E
polygon	R E G U L A R
explanation (not as hard as a PROBLEM in CHINESE)	C O M P R E H E N S I B L E
MAN AIDS A MINISTER IN HIS BATTLES	A N T I D I S E S T A B L I S H M E N T A R I A N I S M
	1 2 3 4 5 6 7

Vertical clues:

1. Messrs. Carew and Steiger each take one when they go fishing
2. sultan (unscramble); mud (unscramble); ice (unscramble)
3. never teach them to sing (unscramble)
4. perfect
5. sediment or dregs (unscramble); otherwise (unscramble)
6. you can wear one on your head (unscramble)
7. period (unscramble); exist (unscramble); Tyson snack (unscramble)

Word 2 (the answer to vertical clue 4): PURE

Word 3

Solve the five clues A-E and count how many times you use each of the letters in your answers. Unscramble the six different letters used most frequently to form the word you're looking for.

You can get some help by filling in the 4 x 7 grid and transferring the letters from the answers into the corresponding spaces in the A-E answers.

Horizontal clues:

A. perfect, according to Kelvin	A B S O L U T E
B. perfect alignment of the planets	S Y Z Y G Y
C. cylindrical slang for perfect, ten years ago	T U B U L A R
D. imperfect form of iron (ore, actually)	H E M A T I T E
E. whole, pristine, intact, perfect	U N B R O K E N
	1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8

Cross clues:

Every 28-31 days	M O N T H L Y
	D3 A4 E8 C1 D1 C5 B4
former pirate refuge, nickname for our Bay Area: ___ Coast	B A R B A R Y
	A2 A1 C7 E3 D4 E4 B6
like necklaces, but near the feet	A N K L E T S
	C6 E2 E6 A5 D2 D7 B1
fertilized gametes	Z Y G O T E S
	B3 B2 B5 E5 D5 E7 A3

The six different letters used most frequently in the A-E answers: ETUABY

Unscramble to form Word 3: we often expect it from perfection: BEAUTY

Word 4

The number 28 is not only perfect, it's in the middle of a sequence of nine numbers that each belong to a different category. Fill in the category for each of the nine numbers. You will need only seven different letters to fill in all the boxed spaces in your answers. Take one of each of the seven different letters, plus a second copy of one of them, and unscramble. When you are done, you will have word 4.

For those not interested in number theory, some of the words have other clues.

24:	Product of consecutive integers	F A C T O R I A L
25:	Interesting factors; unhip	S Q U A R E
26:	Its factors add up to less than itself; inadequate; lacking something	D E F I C I E N T
27:	More interesting factors	C U B E
28:	Its factors add up to itself	P E R F E C T
29:	All multiples of its reciprocals repeat the same digits in the same order; sorcery; wizardry	M A G I C
30:	Its factors add up to more than itself; plentiful, copious, profuse, overflowing	A B U N D A N T
31:	Factors? What factors?	P R I M E
32:	Still more interesting factors (2 words)	F I F T H P O W E R

The seven different letters: "FISEDNH" plus another copy of one of them "I"

Unscramble. Note that the two copies of the same letter are marked with a *:

Word 4, the last word from part 1:	F I N I S H E D
	* *

The Last Word

What do you get when you remove what is Perfect from The Immaculate Universe?

Take all the letters in the four words and drop letters in pairs, i.e., two occurrences of the same letter:

Start with:	E A S Y P U R E B E A U T Y F I N I S H E D
Drop:	E E A A S S Y Y U U E E I I
Get:	P R B T F N H D
Add The Immaculate Universe:
Get:	P R B T F N H D THE IMMACULATE UNIVERSE
Delete Perfect:
Get:	B N H D T H I M M A U L A T U N I V E R S E
KEEP only paired letters:
Drop:	B D L V R S
Get:	N N H H T T I I M M A A U U E E
Keep only one letter from each pair:
Get:	N H T I M A U E

You're nearly done, but what you have is not quite perfect. Finally, you must change one of the letters into a different letter. Then you can unscramble the result to find out the answer to the question:

What do you get when you remove what is Perfect from The Immaculate Universe?

HUMANITY