My latest Math Games column contains some interesting methods for multiplication. Nyles Heise showed how EF4E75E7×EFA03229 could be calculated in a 22×93 rectangle with WireWorld logic. I had no idea that multiplication could be done so efficiently. The full article is here: http://www.maa.org/editorial/mathgames/mathgames_05_24_04.html The column includes a very nice article by Brian Silverman, The Virtual Computer. At http://www.mathpuzzle.com/, I show a new crossword discovery ... an 8×9 grid of french words reading across and down, found by Jean-Charles Meyrignac: D E C R O C H E S E C O E U R A N T R O N F L A N T E A T T R I S T E R P A R A P H E R A E M A C I E R A S R E I T E R A I S A S S E N A S S E I recently heard from Don Albers about the Martin Gardner Mathematical Games collection. They had to secure an enormous number of permissions, which delayed things, but he fully expects maa.org will be able to release the collection in late summer. --Ed Pegg Jr