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 Replies: 20 / Views: 2,348 |
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Pillar of the Community
United States
2200 Posts |
The New York Times newspaper is known for having one of the more challenging daily crossword puzzles. They also have something called "The Mini", which is a smaller crossword. A couple of days ago, one of the Mini clues read "Thinnest U.S. coins, at around 1/20th of an inch." Well, we all know that the thinnest U.S. coin was the "trime", or silver 3-cent piece. You would think that was the correct answer. But it turns out the answer is "dimes." At first I thought they made a colossal blunder. But then I realized they did specify the thickness, and that was the tip off that the answer was dime. Still, the clue's two elements conflicted with each other. While the dime is 1/20th of an inch thick, it's not the thinnest U. S. coin. (N.B.: As I looked into this today, I could not find the thickness of a trime listed anywhere--neither in the Red Book nor anywhere on the Internet. Anyone know?) |
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Bedrock of the Community
 United States
24898 Posts |
0.54 mm according to my digital caliper.
Inordinately fascinated by bits of metal with strange markings and figures
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Pillar of the Community
United States
2023 Posts |
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Pillar of the Community
United States
3342 Posts |
That would be 1/41.6th of an inch. NYT has let us down.
They might be talking about current coinage though.
"Two minutes ago I would have sold my chances for a tired dime." Fred Astaire
Edited by thq
05/05/2025 11:11 pm
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Moderator
United States
187582 Posts |
Interesting.  I would have guessed dime. Not for accuracy of the answer, but the phrase "one thin dime" would make it more common.  |
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Bedrock of the Community
United States
24898 Posts |
Quote:
but the phrase "one thin dime"  Inordinately fascinated by bits of metal with strange markings and figures
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Pillar of the Community
 United States
2200 Posts |
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That would be 1/41.6th of an inch. NYT has let us down. I just stacked 20 Roosies on top of each other. They came out to exactly an inch.  |
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Moderator
United States
187582 Posts |
Quote:
I just stacked 20 Roosies on top of each other. They came out to exactly an inch. Well done.  |
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Pillar of the Community
United States
5823 Posts |
I just assumed the puzzle was referring to U.S. coins currently being minted.
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Bedrock of the Community
United States
19112 Posts |
And one thin dime won't even shine your shoes...
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Pillar of the Community
United States
3342 Posts |
I like your thin dime Hondo. Like Fred Astaire I prefer to call it a tired dime.
I will not accept paper play money unless it has the Small Seals in addition to the Great Seal.
"Two minutes ago I would have sold my chances for a tired dime." Fred Astaire
Edited by thq
05/06/2025 4:00 pm
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Pillar of the Community
 United States
6451 Posts |
Presumably most people haven't even heard of a trime.
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Pillar of the Community
United States
4587 Posts |
There was a time when the NY Times crossword puzzle clues were carefully researched and vetted.
That ship has sailed like the Vasa.
-----Burton 50+ year / Life / Emeritus ANA member (joined 12/1/1973) Life member: Numismatics International, CONECA Member: TNA, FtWCC, NETCC, EveryCountry (online) coin club Owned by three cats and a wife of 40+ years (joined 1983) Author: 3rd Edition of the Sample Slabs book, https://www.sampleslabs.info/ |
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Moderator
Australia
16806 Posts |
US coins do not have legally defined thicknesses. Well, not directly. They do have legally defined compositions, weights and diameters, and the laws of mathematics state that if you know the mass, diameter and density of a cylinder, then the height (thickness) of that cylinder can be directly derived from that, mathematically. Doing the maths for a post-1853 trime, we get: Diameter: 14mm Composition: .900 fine silver (density 10.34 g/cm3) Weight: 0.75 grams This gives us: Volume: 0.07253 cm3 Radius in cm: 0.7 cm Volume = pi * radius^2 * height Height = Volume / (pi * radius^2) Height = 0.04711 cm So the theoretical thickness of a trime is just under 0.5 millimetres thick. That's an average; coins of course are not uniformly thick discs so an actual caliper measurement on an uncirculated well-struck trime is likely going to be higher as the coin will have a distinct edge rim and/or other high points which slightly increase the measured thickness.
Don't say "infinitely" when you mean "very"; otherwise, you'll have no word left when you want to talk about something really infinite. - C. S. Lewis
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Pillar of the Community
United States
5661 Posts |
The NYT crossword clues are always consistent with tense and plurality. So since the clue was "Thinnest U.S. coins. . ." the answer had to be in plural form. So "dimes" works, but "trime" does not.
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Pillar of the Community
United States
2200 Posts |
Quote:
The NYT crossword clues are always consistent with tense and plurality. So since the clue was "Thinnest U.S. coins. . ." the answer had to be in plural form. So "dimes" works, but "trime" does not. Yes, that's true. But it's still the wrong answer.  Edited by jpsned
05/07/2025 11:02 am
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Replies: 20 / Views: 2,348 |
Posted 05/05/2025 9:56 pm
