I hope that you enjoyed this year’s special Christmas Mac Riddles, episode 79. Here are my solutions to them.

1: I might have brought medicine or supplies by parachute, but instead just transfer files. What am I?

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AirDrop

I might have brought medicine or supplies by parachute (an airdrop), but instead just transfer files (what it does, between Macs and devices). What am I?

2: Although I sound like the place in Brevard County where you’d drink cocktails before launch, I just add gaps. What am I?

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Space bar

Although I sound like the place in Brevard County (where Cape Canaveral is, in Florida) where you’d drink cocktails before launch (a bar for space men and women perhaps), I just add gaps (what it does). What am I?

3: Named after precious chalk, I’m known as both a chainsaw and duct tape, but to many I’m simply incomprehensible. What am I?

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Perl

Named after precious chalk (pearl, which is calcium carbonate), I’m known as both a chainsaw (known as a ‘Swiss Army chainsaw’) and duct tape (or the ‘duct tape of the Internet’), but to many I’m simply incomprehensible (it is). What am I?

4: Catgut, steel, spun cotton, or codepoints.

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String

Catgut (a violin string), steel (a guitar string), spun cotton (a bit of old string), or codepoints (a String formed of Unicode characters).

5: Defined by Ken the mathematician nearly sixty years ago, I need a whole new keyboard, and still run on your Mac. What am I?

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APL

Defined by Ken the mathematician (Ken Iverson defined the original language APL in his 1962 book ‘A Programming Language’, whose initials form its name) nearly sixty years ago (1962), I need a whole new keyboard (as the language uses operators formed from maths and Greek characters, it needs a totally different keyboard), and still run on your Mac (Dyalog APL). What am I? (See also Wikipedia.)

I look forward to your putting alternative cases.