Yahoo! UK & Ireland Answers blog

It’s hard not to have code-breaking on the mind with the film adaptation of Dan Brown’s Da Vinci Code currently in cinemas. Between questions on quantum cryptograpy and Caesar boxes, the Answers community is definitely into puzzles. Do you know of a puzzle too difficult to solve? Not even jade_falcon’s answer was challenging enough for asker connectthedotschm. There are thousands of unsolved mathematical puzzles and, according to Answerer etotheipi, getting the exact number is impossible too.

Do you do sudoku? Answerer edsawyer knows the best tactics for finishing one of those brain teasers. Or maybe you know of a better logic puzzle and would like to tell Sudharsha about it. Asker lewmoorhouse wants to know how sudoku puzzles are created and needs your answer now!

Some more puzzles on Answers:

· What do you get when you combine titanium, vanadium, and oxygen?

· How do you solve the cotton gin spring puzzle?

· Can you crack this code: 167145156144156… ?

Thanks for asking all these puzzling questions and sharing your decipherable answers with us!

– Yahoo! UK & Ireland Answers team

Still dreaming of seeing David Beckham, Frank Lampard et al grace the stage of the worlds greatest football competition?  Well, better act quickly – our Yahoo! Answers World Cup competition comes to an end on Wednesday 31^st May, so this is your last chance to build up as many entries as you can.

So long as you have registered, every best answer you obtain will gain you an entry into the draw.

With tickets to the FIFA World Cup at stake, do you need more of an incentive to get answering?

– Yahoo! UK & Ireland Answers team

We are pleased to present Yahoo! Answers UK & Ireland’s first featured user!

This is Pontac a self-confessed Answers addict and possibly the UK’s highest scorer to date! With over 13,000 points Pontac mainly frequents the Food & Drink category (where he is 2^nd in the leaderboard) and the UK section of Travel. His valuable answers can be found across the site and he prides himself on seeing the Asker get the information they are looking for.

“My user name is ‘Pontac’, taken from a rare and sadly almost vanished historic wine grape variety that I campaigned to keep” he explains. “I am very interested in unusual grape varieties and the wines they make, and have a website called `Unusual Wines’ www.winelabels.org (hosted by Yahoo!) which has labels of unusual varieties and funny and amusing names.”

Pontac hails from St Albans in the UK but has traveled and worked widely around the world:

“Such travel helps me answer questions. I have also lived a while in Sweden and in the USA, so with the knowledge of the US and UK I can help Answers on the culture clash between these two nations divided by a similar language. What comes to mind are the questions about ‘scones‘ and ‘biscuits‘, and there was a good one about the differences between the two countries. I also cook, so the recipe for scones is the one I use on Sundays at home.”

Pontac’s main interest and expertise lies in the wine industry, where he is a global correspondent and writer. He has just completed writing a book on wine entitled “Marilyn Merlot and the Naked Grape – Odd Wines From Around the World”. This will be released in the USA and UK on June 1st 2006.

Thank you for your contribution to Answers so far Pontac and we hope you will continue to share your knowledge with us.

– Yahoo! UK & Ireland Answers team

For an entire century the DJ has been shaping music, pushing boundaries, creating new styles, using technology and discovering the genres which we all love today. Yahoo! Music are honouring this 100^th birthday of the DJ with an exclusive collaboration with the new edition of the world renowned book – ‘Last Night a DJ Saved My Life: History of the DJ’.

The authors Bill Brewster and Frank Broughton are experts in all things DJ. Bill is co-owner of dance music label Forensic and has visited the four corners of the globe to gain a near encyclopedic knowledge of music history and the history of the DJ. Whereas Frank developed a passion for music and writing in the mid 80’s whilst working for influential style titles The Face, i-D, Details, Rolling Stone, Mixmag and Time Out: New York, where he was the founding clubs editor.

As part of these centenary celebrations, we have asked Bill and Frank to ask and answer questions around music and the DJ on Yahoo! Answers.

We will be posting Bill and Frank’s answers soon, so stay tuned! But in the meantime, if you have questions you would like to ask, why not post them in the Music category but be sure to add a link to it in the comments field of the blog too. That way we can ensure you get an expert answer to your question!

– Yahoo! UK & Ireland Answers team

It was a loose canon that let the Gunners down, as Arsenal lost the biggest battle in the club’s history, the UEFA Champions League final. Goalkeeper Jens Lehmann’s sending off in the 18th minute left them open to the full force of Barcelona’s firepower, leaving the Gunners to face a 70 minute onslaught.

Despite the handicap caused by Lehmann – who clearly “can still be a bit suspect on occasion” – it was Arsenal who scored first. Sol Campbell has a habit of scoring vital goals on big occasions, notably Euro 2004 and the 1998 World Cup, only for them to be cruelly disallowed. But this time there was no heartbreaking refereeing decisions, as he headed Arsenal into a 37 minute lead.

Arsenal then dug themselves into their trenches, facing wave after wave of world class Barcelona attacks from Ronaldinho and Eto’o. After some thrilling play for the neutral fan, finally Arsenal’s defences were breached, with two goals in the 76th and 80th minute from Belletti and Eto’o.

But the game so nearly could have been Arsenal’s. Hitting Barcelona on the break, Thierry Henry missed a great chance to take the cup back to north London. But even if he had won it for the Gunners, will Henry even be there next season? Speculation has been rife all year that Henry will sign for a new club this summer, perhaps even for Barcelona. We shall have to see, after the imminent and exciting prospect of the FIFA World Cup of course.

– Yahoo! UK & Ireland Answers team