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AMAZING ESCAPE:
The heroic freedom fighter El Moustachio has been
confined in this enclosure by Capitano Juan Grande Porka.
There is no continuous path from Moustachio's
cell to the gate and freedom.
To escape, Moustachio needs to cut his way through the wire
fencing.
Fortunately he has found a heavy-wire cutting tool left
behind by a previous escapee.
Unfortunately the tool is now weather-worn and blunt and good for
cutting only ONE hole through the wire fence big enough for
Moustachio to crawl through. It will not cut at the corners.
Where should Moustachio cut the hole to continue on
his way to the gate?
Hint: You can help Moustachio without having to trace a route
through the
entire wire maze.
Answer
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THE THREE SISTERS:
Jenny is one of three sisters. Her age is 1/3rd
the sum of the ages of all three sisters. The ages of her two
sisters, Jody and Jan, total 36. Jody is 4 years younger than
Jan. They are not triplets and there are no twins. What
is the age of each sister?
Answer
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THE CHAIN BRACELET:
Vicky decided to extend her vacation at an expensive Mediterranean
resort for an extra week.
She was running short of spending money, so she made a deal with the resort
manager.
She had a semi-precious chain bracelet that had broken into a single string.
Never-the-less, the manager took a liking
to it.
The string consisted of seven linked rings. The deal was that Vicky would give
the manager one ring for each of the seven days she stayed on at the
resort.
The manager would have one ring on the first day, two rings on the second day,
three rings on the third day and so on until he had all seven rings for the
week.
Being a sentimentalist, he wasn't too happy about the
chain being broken up into separate rings, but agreed to the deal after Vicky
explained that she only had to make one cut in the chain.
Where did Vicky make the cut?
Answer |
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THE MASTERPIECE:
A rare painting is on loan to the city's 'Gallery of Classic
Art'. The gallery has a number of exhibition rooms, each room
displaying only the works of the painter after whom it is named.
Wally the watchman has the responsibility of guarding the valuable
masterpiece after the gallery has closed for the day. After the
staff has departed, he securely locks the foyer entrance then
follows the same routine on every shift. Starting from the foyer, he checks every room, passing through each
doorway of the gallery once (and once only).
His route finishes at the room where the loaned painting is on
display and where he remains on duty for the duration of his shift.
Which artist painted the rare masterpiece that Wally is guarding?
This is not a trick question.
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NEIGHBOURS:
Alfa, Bravo and Charlie live at three different houses in
Numerica street.
The street has many houses, all of them on one side of the street
only and consecutively numbered from 1 to the highest. Alfa and
Bravo do not live on the same side of Charlie, but Charlie's address
is closer to Alfa's than it is to Bravo's.
The total of their house numbers is 10, and no one lives
next to any of the others.
What are their respective house numbers?
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MINNIE'S GARDEN:
Minnie Stronii of the M'Hunga tribe is a disappointment to her
father, the Chief.
Minnie is not your typical anthropo-phagistra --- she is a
vegetarian.
She has converted her kraal into a vegetable garden
growing the six common kitchen vegetables
(a to f) listed above.
Different numbers represent different letters, with the same number representing the same letter.
Fill in the letters to see what vegetables Minnie
is growing.
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OLD MACDONALD'S FARM:
PREAMBLE: This puzzle is more of a mathematical problem. It is
the easiest one of a series I once wrote for those fool-hardy
puzzle-o-philes who enjoy driving themselves insane.
You may need to recall some simple early schoolwork. On the other
hand, if you were preoccupied researching the aerodynamics of paper
flight during math classes then you might prefer to give this
problem a miss.
PROBLEM: Old MacDonald had a farm and on his farm he had a goat
and to his goat he tied two ropes ---
a 9 meter rope and a 12 meter
rope, each rope attached to a peg firmly embedded in the ground.
The pegs were 15 meters apart.
Over how many square meters of grass could
the happy goat graze?
Okay, okay. Let us ignore the shape and size of the goat. Let us
assume that the goat is represented by the point at which the two
ropes are attached to the goat's collar.
For consistency, round off all figures to the nearest decimal point.
If you are tempted to peek at the answer but think you might regret
it, here is a hint --- The size of the grazing area is somewhere
between 55 and 66 square meters.
Answer |
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HIEROGLYPHICS:
While searching through the ruins of the ancient city of Saggbad,
Professor Rubble, the eminent archeologist, found a previously
undiscovered document of recorded events.
He was easily able
to decipher the unusual hieroglyphs and
understand the meaning of each line,
as he noted above.
What word (or name) does each glyph stand for?
bozo but flavia loho
love marry oona tease
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ALIENS:
A spaceship from the planet Plonk landed in the town square and the crew
stepped out to meet
the locals.
Unlike Earthlings, Plonks have three genders and all were represented among the
crew.
The males have 2 antennas, the females have 3 antennas and the tetras have 4
antennas.
There were 12 crew members with 32 antennas between them. There were more tetras
than females.
How many of each gender made up the crew?
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GROOVY:
Image from the "Zervos' Mindbenders"
series,
(1977-1980, Scientific Australian)
The SKRATCHI record company has just released its latest LP album "Cacophonus"
featuring those fine young lads "The Abominables".
The record has 10 tracks, 4 on one side and 6 on the other. It makes
exactly 130 revolutions for every track it plays. What is the total number of
grooves on (both sides of) the record?
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STREET MAP:
The tourist had just stepped off the bus at the
depot and was standing in front of one of those ubiquitous "You are here"
street map boards scratching his head. He asked a bright young local passerby if
she could direct him to his hotel 'The Hovel International'.
"Certainly", she replied cheerfully. "I will show you the longer, but more
scenic, route which I'm sure you will enjoy".
"Every straight line on the map is a different street.
Every place I will
point out is at the junction of two or more streets. You won't have to
pass any landmarks more than once and you won't have to enter or cross any
street you have already been on".
"You are now here at the depot". She pointed to
one of the streets leading away from the
depot.
"Go along this street and make a right turn here and other right turn here. This
will take you to the fountain".
"At the fountain make a right turn and continue, making another
right turn here and another right turn here. Continue on this street until you
come to the museum."
"At the museum turn right, then left and left again. Keep going until you
reach the gallery".
"At the gallery turn left then left again and you will come to the pond".
When you reach the pond turn right. You then only need to turn into one
more street and proceed to your hotel at the next junction".
"Got all that?". "Yep. Thank you". "You're
welcome. Have a nice day", she giggled and went on her way. Can you place these
landmarks on the map? --- depot, fountain, gallery, museum, pond, hotel.
Note: A left or right turn means turning into ANY street on that side.
Answer
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THE PIRATE'S TREASURE:
Buck O'Neer was a good pirate. He would only plunder other
pirates and give a hefty percentage of his booty to the needy and
the disadvantaged. He amassed many treasures during his profession
but was now retiring and wished to divide his booty among his three
daughters Unna, Dua, and Tria.
Some pieces of treasure had a greater value than others and some pieces were
desired by more than one daughter.
He didn't want them to squabble over who got what, so he came up
with a way to divide his treasure among them in fair and equitable
shares that would be to the satisfaction of the three girls.
How would you have shared out the treasure.? Click on answer to see
how Buck O'Neer solved his dilemma.
Answer
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TRANS-SIBERIAN RAILWAY:
Zastupnovich is the new engineer at the trans-Siberian
marshalling yards. He is not as simple as his name would imply.
He will have no trouble completing the following task assigned to
him.
Consider the layout of the seven track sections (t1 - t7) in fig.1.
The train is to be shunted such that it will be returned to the same
position but with the engine E facing in the opposite
direction and with the red wagon marked A now
coupled between wagons C and B as in fig.2.
How can this be done?
Only the train's engine can pass over the bridge, the
wagons can not.
The engine can pull or push from either end.
The wagons can be coupled or uncoupled from either end.
Every track section (t#) is long enough to accommodate the entire train. (Track sections
not drawn to scale.)
Answer
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A WEIGHTY PROBLEM:
Puzzles of this kind were popular in colleges and universities
during the 1990s but none of them asked for a weighing of more than 12 objects,
so I decided to make my puzzle a little more interesting with a solution just as
easy.
You have 27 billiard balls indistinguishable from each other except that
one of them is slightly (and imperceptively) heavier than the others.
How can you find the heavier ball by making only THREE weighings using a simple
balance scale as shown?
The scale's pans can hold any number of balls.
Answer
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THE AGE OF STEAM:
In this humdrum age of diesel there is still one old steam
faithful that maintains a regular service in a picturesque pocket of the
countryside. Once a day the train sets out from vineyard and runs along a circular
route that takes it past all stations on the line until it comes to Vineyard
again.
The train completes its round trip traveling one way only; clockwise on some
days and counter-clockwise on others to break the monotony for the regular
commuters. Here are some snippets about the journey.
1. There are at least two stations between Forestville and Vineyard.
2. There are fewer stations between Laguna and Riverside than there are between
Riverside and Cherrybrook.
3. There is at least one station between Maybelline and Vineyard.
4. Cherrybrook is not next to Vineyard or Laguna.
5. On clockwise runs the train passes only one other station from Forestville to
Waterfall.
6. On some days - depending on which way it is running - the train passes
exactly two other stations from Blueberry to Vineyard.
7. Whichever way it runs, the train never passes more than four other stations
between Maybelline and Cherrybrook.
In what order are the stations along the line?
Answer
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A BALANCING ACT:
Frugal 'Trader Tom' of the Klondike has a simple balance scale as shown
above. When he acquired the scale it came with a set of weights, most of
which have long since been lost. However he still has the 6, 9 and 11 ounce
weights.
When Diamond Lil asked for 12 ounces of tea and 14 ounces of sugar he was able
to satisfy her order by using the scale TWICE only. How?
Note: Any number of weights or purchases can be placed in either pan of the
scale.
Answer
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Rest symbols are
ignored; they are not a part of the code.
