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In The Restaurant at the End of the Universe, just before noticing the native spelled "FORTY-TWO" out of Scrabble letters, Arthur asks

"It's all been a bit of a waste of time for them, hasn't it?"

This question contains 42 letters. Probably coincidence, but if you had to pick an Ultimate Question of Life, the Universe, and Everything, this wouldn't be a bad one.

Gallifreyan
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spacecraft7
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    The Answer doesn't make sense as an answer to that question, though, so I don't see how it could be the Question with a capital Q. – wyvern May 15 '17 at 06:01
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    Yes, but the next letters taken from the Scrabble bag (in the radio series) spell What do you get if you multiply six by nine. Also not a bad one given the nature of the story. – Chenmunka May 15 '17 at 08:40
  • 6 x 9 is 42... in base 13! https://www.quora.com/The-Hitchhikers-Guide-to-the-Galaxy-creative-franchise-Why-does-six-times-nine-equal-forty-two – Goufalite May 15 '17 at 12:36
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    Adams responded : 'I may be a sorry case, but I don't write jokes in base 13.' – Professeur Dronte Sep 05 '18 at 05:02
  • 42 IS explained. You just have to read all of the books. – JRE Sep 05 '18 at 10:17
  • I doubt it's a coincidence, since Adams liked to play with words and phrases. But I also doubt it's The Question. More likely it's just Adams having fun. – Misha R Sep 16 '23 at 02:31

1 Answers1

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In short, Yes.

"The answer to this is very simple," Adams said. "It was a joke. It had to be a number, an ordinary, smallish number, and I chose that one. Binary representations, base 13, Tibetan monks are all complete nonsense. I sat on my desk, stared in to the garden and thought 42 will do. I typed it out. End of story."

42: THE ANSWER TO LIFE, THE UNIVERSE AND EVERYTHING - The Independent

All of the clever theories come up with over the years are nothing more than the human desire to find patterns where none exist, and come up with understandable explanations of inexplicable incidents.

Add to this the fact that Adams would regularly contradict himself from book to book. Not deliberately, he just never kept track of things, and often came up with new, better ideas, and didn't let what he'd done before restrain him.

Matt Smith, as the Doctor, stands with outstretched arms atop a stone on a set resembling Stonehenge, surrounded by people in Roman garb bearing torches. The text reads: "Rule 134: Never ignore a coincidence. Unless you're busy, in which case, always ignore a coincidence."

DavidW
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VBartilucci
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    How is this answering this question? You seem to be answering why he chose 42 not why the question is made up of 42 letters? – TheLethalCarrot Sep 05 '18 at 16:06
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    The point is that it is a coincidence, and any and all Clever Theories about hidden meaning in and connected to The Answer and its unknown Question are merely the products of a deranged imagination. – VBartilucci Sep 05 '18 at 17:04