Cluemeister's Corner

Thanks to everyone who participated in the first Cluemeister's Corner puzzle! You can find the answer to it here.

Let's see if we can boost responses into the double digits this time. :) October's puzzle is a bit less geeky and as such, a bit more accessible.

October Puzzle: The Atypically Typical President

Minicon 46 will mark Minicon's 44th year, and there've been 44 U.S. presidents! Coincidence?? I THINK SO. But just the same, it's a coincidence worth observing in puzzle form!

There's a paradox that asks us to consider the least interesting person in the world. Isn't this person (asks the paradox), by virtue of holding such a record, awfully interesting?? If so, who is really the world's least interesting person?

This puzzle, in a similar yet unscientific vein, asks who the least interesting U.S. president was. The Cluemeister will assemble a list of 42 properties distinguishing various presidents in unique objectively verifiable ways both substantial and trivial. The order of the list will then be randomized.

One president will thus be left out. (Grover Cleveland served twice, but will appear at most once on this list.) At the outset of creating this list, the Cluemeister doesn't know who the missing president will be--he intends to simply do research (mostly web-based) and locate unique presidential traits he finds remarkable until all the presidents but one have got one, and whoever is left over will be the answer to this month's puzzle. Mind you, this won't necessarily really be the least interesting president--it'll just be the last one the Cluemeister happens to run across a suitably objective fact for.

Let's see how it goes! In random order, then:

1. First Quaker president.
2. Last president to hold slaves in office.
3. Older than his successor by the smallest margin.
4. Incapacitated by stroke for over a year.
5. Oldest president to hold office.
6. Won Pulitzer Prize.
7. Youngest president to hold office.
8. Sworn in on an airplane.
9. Elected by the House of Representatives under a provision of the 12th Amendment.
10. First to "affirm", rather than "swear", the presidential oath of office.
11. Rhodes Scholar.
12. Resigned the presidency.
13. Ran for re-election as a Know-Nothing.
14. Married in the White House.
15. First president born after the Constitution was adopted.
16. Shortest president.
17. Raised by Jehovah's Witnesses.
18. First to preside over the National Christmas Tree.
19. First president elected by the House after an electoral college tie.
20. Never elected to public office.
21. Election settled by the Supreme Court.
22. First left-handed president.
23. First president murdered in office.
24. Longest-serving president.
25. First former senator elected president.
26. First vice-president of the U.S.
27. Directed the CIA.
28. Served on Supreme Court.
29. Not born in the contiguous United States.
30. Never married.
31. First sitting senator elected president.
32. First president to choose not to seek a second term.
33. Served longest without making any Supreme Court appointments.
34. Served in the senate after being president.
35. English not his first language.
36. Last president without a college degree.
37. First president to die in office.
38. First president to have a White House phone.
39. Received greatest percentage of electoral votes.
40. Last president to have a beard in his presidential portrait.
41. First president to ride in an automobile.
42. Killed a man in a duel.

Well, it was educational for the Cluemeister! Was it educational for you? Which United States president is missing from this list?

Because this puzzle's posting was delayed, we'll extend the deadline. Send answers to thorin (dot) tatge (at) pobox (dot) com until Sunday, November 7th. You can send comments, complaints, speculations and partial answers there as well. ;-) It's altogether possible that the Cluemeister has made a mistake, such as including an ambiguous fact, in which case he will want to hear about it.