The Messi problem from the Guardian

messi_futbol.py

"""

# https://www.theguardian.com/science/2022/dec/26/can-you-solve-it-argentinas-creative-genius
Replace the ten letters of the following sum with the ten digits 0,1,2, … 9,
such that the sum is correct.
Each letter represents a unique digit.
There are two solutions, so find the one with the largest MESSI.

   MESSI
+  MESSI
= FUTBOL

F = 1
M >=5
I != 0
L in [0, 4, 6, 8]
other constraints??

Here's a brute force approach - nothing clever here :)
We could really do better though....
 
"""
from random import choice
from typing import Tuple

M_OPTIONS: Tuple = (5, 6, 7, 8, 9)


def guess() -> Tuple[bool, int]:
    _all = [0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9]
    m = choice(M_OPTIONS)

    _all.remove(m)
    e = choice(_all)

    _all.remove(e)
    s = choice(_all)

    _all.remove(s)
    i = choice(_all)

    messi_str = f"{m}{e}{s}{s}{i}"
    messi = int(messi_str)
    messi_set = set(messi_str)
    futbol_str = str(messi * 2)
    futbol_set = set(futbol_str)

    is_futbol_set = len(futbol_set) == len(futbol_str)
    is_futbol_messi_diff_vals = not bool(futbol_set.intersection(messi_set))

    return (
        (True, messi) if is_futbol_set and is_futbol_messi_diff_vals else (False, messi)
    )


def find_first() -> int:
    isc, g = guess()
    while not isc:
        isc, g = guess()
    return g


def main():
    messi = find_first()
    print("Found a Messi!")
    print(f"MESSI={messi} FUTBOL={2*messi}")


if __name__ == "__main__":
    main()