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JAI SRI RAM
PUZZLES & RIDDLES
Compiled byS.Geethapriya
Price – Rs. 22.00
Published by
Sri Aanjineyaa Pathippagam
1849, P.K.N ROAD, MUTHU CYCLE COMPLEX,BYE PASS ROAD, SIVAKASI-626 189
CELL : 90034 - 58722
CONTENTS
PUZZLES
1. Math Puzzles 5
2. Riddles 11
3. Lateral Thinking Puzzles 20
4. Logical Puzzles 33
5. Word Puzzles 42
CONTENTS
ANSWERS
1. Math Puzzles 46
2. Riddles 52
3. Lateral Thinking Puzzles 57
4. Logical Puzzles 66
5. Word Puzzles 78
Bonus :
6. Fun Facts 81
5
MATH PUZZLES
6
1. Adding Up To 100
16,17,23,24,39,40
Adding together each of these numbers as
many times as you want, how do you reach a
sum of exactly 100?
2. Animal Math Puzzle
A small zoo had just mammals and birds.
When asked how many of each they had, the
zoo keeper said he had a total of 54 animals
with a 140 feet total between them all.
Assuming all the animals had all the feet
they should have, how many birds and how
many mammals were there?
7
3. Adding Up To 1000
Using the digit "8" 8 times (and no other
digits), add numbers together to reach a
sum of 1000
4. Add numbers from 1 to 9 to get
100
Look at the following:
1 + 23 - 4 + 5 - 6 + 78 + 9 = 106
Notice that the digits 1 through 9 are used in
order to arrive at 106. Using 1 through 9 in
order, and using only addition or subtraction,
create an equation that equals 100.
5. Age Problem
Mary is 54 years old, and her mother is 80.
8
How many years ago was her mother three
times the age of her daughter Mary?
6. How Many Flowers
In a bouquet of flowers, all but two are roses,
all but two are tulips, and all but two are
daisies. How many flowers are in the
bouquet?
7. 24 from Spare Parts
Using only and all the numbers 3, 3, 7, 7,
along with the arithmetic operations +,-,*,
and /, can you come up with a calculation
that gives the number 24? No decimal points
allowed.
[For example, to get the number 14, we
could do 3 * (7 - (7 / 3))]
9
8. 100 Meter Race
Andy, Barry, and Carl race each other in a
100-meter dash. They each run at a constant
speed throughout the sprint. Andy beats
Barry by 20 meters, and Barry beats Carl by
20 meters. How many meters does Andy
beat Carl by?
9. Average Salary
Five coworkers want to know what the
average of all their salaries is, but refuse to
reveal ANY information about their own
salaries to their coworkers. How can they
calculate the average?
10
10. Find the number
A certain number consists of two digits. The
number is equal to five times the sum of its
digits. If you add 9 to the number, the order
of its digits is reversed. What is the number?
11. How many Cigarettes ?
A man collects cigarette stubs and makes
one full cigarette with every 8 stubs. If he
gets 64 stubs how many full cigarettes can
he smoke?
11
RIDDLES
12
1. Can you name five days of the week
without saying (or writing) Sunday,
Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday,
Thursday, Friday or Saturday?
2. Read this aloud right now:
The cow ate the
the green grass.
Did you get it right?
3. What number, when added to the
number three or multiplied by it, gives
the same result?
13
4. Count every " F" in the following
sentence (What could be easier than
that?):
Finished files are the result of years of
scientific study combined with the
experience of years.
How many did you find? Check at the
end of the newsletter to see if you
found them all.
5. I have three letters, and I read the
same forward and backwards. I rhyme
with a word that is important to
everyone. What word am I?
6. How can you cut a cake into eight
parts with just three cuts?
14
7. This is a most unusual paragraph. How
quickly can you find out what is so
unusual about it? It looks so ordinary,
you'd think nothing was wrong with it.
Actually, nothing IS wrong with it. But
it is not as ordinary as you might think.
If you think about it for a bit, you will
find out why it is truly so unusual. So
what is it? What is so unordinary about
this paragraph?
8. Peter picked one pepper more than
Paul. Pat picked one pepper more than
Pam. Peter and Paul picked 10 more
peppers than Pat and Pam. Peter, Paul,
Pat and Pam picked 60 peppers. How
many peppers did Peter pick?
15
9. If you call me by name, I am no more.
Who am I?
10. The maker doesn't want it, the buyer
doesn't use it, and the user doesn't see
it. What is it?
11. What occurs once in a minute, twice in
a moment, but never in a thousand
years?
12. Take 2 apples from 3 apples and what
have you got?
13. Break it and it is better, immediately
set and harder to break again. What is
it?
16
14. I'm as small as an ant, as big as a
whale. I'll approach like a breeze, but
can come like a gale. By some I get hit,
but all have shown fear. I'll dance to
the music, though I can't hear. Of
names I have many, of names I have
one. I'm as slow as a snail, but from
me you can't run. What am I?
15. Here on Earth it's almost always true,
that tomorrow will follow today. Yet
there is a place where yesterday
always follows today. Where is this
place?
17
16. What goes up and down, but doesn't
move?
17. What is the beginning of eternity, the
end of time and space; the beginning
of every end and the end of every
place?
18. What word starts with an "e", ends
with an "e" and contains only one
letter?
19. My thunder rolls beneath me, my
lightning flares above. I dust the crust,
and when I bust, all I touch will I shove.
What am I?
18
20. My host thinks I'm an irritation, a
bother, a pain. But he can't evict me,
so here I will remain. Then one day I'm
taken and ranked among my peers.
Can you guess just what I am? Then
you might call me dear.
21. A mile from end to end, yet as close to
you as a friend. A precious commodity,
freely given, seen on the dead and on
the living. Found on the rich, poor,
short or tall, but shared among
children most of all. What is it?
22. What is it that you must give before
you can keep it?
19
23. What is too much for one, enough for
two, and nothing at all for three ?
24. I can not be seen only heard and I will
not speak unless spoken to. What am
I?
25. Often held but never touched, always
wet but never rusts, often bites but
seldom bit, to use me well you must
have wit. What am I?
20
LATERAL THINKING
PUZZLES
21
1. Hanging above water
A man is found hanging in a room 30 feet off
the ground. There is nothing else in the room
except for a large puddle of water on the
ground. The police can't see any way the
man could have climbed the walls to get to
where he is hanging. How did this man hang
himself?
2. Doctor can’t operate
A father and his son are in a car accident.
The father dies instantly, and the son is
taken to the nearest hospital. The doctor
comes in and exclaims "I can't operate on
this boy." "Why not?" the nurse asks.
"Because he's my son," the doctor responds.
How is this possible?
22
3.Towards the sunset
A man and woman run through a field
holding hands. They bound toward the
sunset, happy as can be. Suddenly, the man
moves off of his straight-line course and
starts veering to his left. At the same time,
the woman begins running off to her right.
They continue this for a full minute, but
never let go of each others' hands. How is
this possible?
4. Defending the Bridge
Two soldiers, William and Ethan, are
assigned to guard a bridge, which connects
the West and East sides of the Great
Kingdom. Each soldier is ordered to stand at
an end of the bridge to make sure no
criminals cross. On one side of the bridge
23
stands William, watching over the West side
of the kingdom, and making sure no shady
characters try to cross the bridge. Ethan
stands on the other side of the bridge, facing
the East side of the kingdom with his rifle at
the ready in case any criminals try to pass
across. "Any criminals today?" William asks.
Ethan rolls his eyes. "What do you think?" he
asks. "You roll your eyes too much," William
says. How could William tell that Ethan was
rolling his eyes?
5. The Two Barbers
There is a small town in the Midwest with
exactly 2 barbershops, one on each side of
town. The barbershop on the west side of
town is pristine. Its floors are spotless, the
windows are always perfectly clear, and the
24
air always smells fresh. The barber has a
friendly smile, shined shoes, a well-groomed
head of hair, and a fancy shirt. The
barbershop on the east side of town is a
mess. Its floors and windows are dirty, and
the air smells of garbage. The barber always
has a grimace on his face. His skin is oily, his
hair is short and ragged, and he has food on
his clothes all the time.
A man travelling through the town realizes
he needs a haircut. Knowing the stories of
the two barbers, the man decides to go to
the dirty barbershop on the east side of
town. Why does he do this?
6. Blind in a Hardware Store
A blind man walks into a hardware store to
buy a hammer. There are hammers hanging
25
behind the front desk, but obviously the
blind man isn't able to see them. And yet a
few minutes later, he happily walks out of
the store, having just purchased a new
hammer. How did he do it?
7. Moochers
What belongs to you, but other people use it
more than you do?
8. Truck Crossing a Bridge
A truck stops at a weigh station at the
entrance to a bridge and is shown to weigh
exactly 2000 lbs. The operator of the weigh
station notes that the bridge can hold
exactly 2000 lbs, but would crumble if it
were subjected to even a fraction of an
ounce more. But he says that no other
26
vehicles ever cross over the bridge and so
it's fine if the truck crosses. The truck
continues on. Once the truck is halfway
across the 10-mile long bridge, a sparrow
flies over to the truck and lands on the hood.
The truck driver sees the bird lands and his
heart drops as he realizes the bridge is about
to collapse, but even after the bird lands, the
bridge doesn't crumble.
How was the bridge able to hold up despite
the extra weight from the bird?
9. Dead in Water and Glass
Romeo and Juliet are found dead in a small
puddle of water, surrounded by broken glass.
The apartment building they are found in is
located next to the city's main train station.
How did they die?
27
10. Rainy Day Elevators
A man lives on the 44th floor of his building.
On rainy days, when he gets home from
work, he takes the elevator all the way up to
his floor. But on sunny days, he goes up to
floor 20 and walks the rest of the way. Why
does he do this?
11. Men in Black
A man is wearing black. Black shoes, socks,
trousers, jumper, gloves and balaclava. He is
walking down a black street with all the
street lamps off. A black car is coming
towards him with its light off too but
somehow manages to stop in time. How did
the driver see the man?
12. Poison in the punch
A man went to a friend’s party and drank
28
some of the punch. He then left early. A
while later, everyone else at the party drank
the punch and subsequently died of
poisoning. Nobody had added anything to
the punch after the man had drank the
punch and the man is not Superman, either!!
Why didn’t the man die?
13. A Gun for Water, Anyone?
A man walks into a bar and asks the barman
for a glass of water. The barman pulls out a
gun and points it at the man.
The man says, “Thank you.” and walks out.
14. The Blind Beggar
A blind beggar had a brother who died. What
relation was the blind beggar to the brother
who died? (Brother is not the answer)
29
15. Three Switches and Three Bulbs
Three switches outside a windowless room
are connected to three light bulbs inside the
room. How can you determine which switch
is connected to which bulb if you may enter
the room only once?
16. Nutty Problem
A man is replacing a wheel on his car, when
he accidentally drops the four nuts used to
hold the wheel on the car, and they fall into
a deep drain, irretrievably lost. A passing girl
offers him a solution which enables him to
drive home. What is it?
17. Bar Problem
A man walked into a bar, and before he
could say a word, he was knocked
30
unconscious. Why?
18. Last Goodbye
Every morning a man kisses his wife good
bye, and takes the lift to the ground floor to
leave for work. One morning, as he's taking
the lift, he suddenly realizes that his wife has
died. How did he know ?
19.Friday
A man rode into town on Friday. He stayed
for three nights and then left on Friday. How
come?
20.Jason’s Death
Jason is lying dead, he has an iron bar across
his back and some food in front of him. Why
did he die?
31
21. Stuck under the bridge
Dingleberry Dave was driving his semi under
an overpass when suddenly he came to a
screeching halt. Dave wasn't paying enough
attention and inadvertently drove under the
overpass that was just barely as high as his
truck. The semi was wedged so tightly that
he could not go forward or backward. A
fellow trucker came by and told him how he
could easily get the semi out from under the
bridge. What did he suggest?
22. Ladder
Hardy Pyle was washing windows on a high-
rise office building when he slipped and fell
off a sixty foot ladder onto the concrete
sidewalk below. Incredibly, he did not injure
32
himself in any way. How was this possible?
23. Professor Bumble’s Fumble ?
Professor Bumble, who is getting on in years,
is growing absent minded. On the way to a
lecture one day, he went through a red light
and turned down a one-way street in the
wrong direction. A policeman observed the
entire scene but did nothing about it. How
could Professor Bumble get away with such
behavior?
24. Penguin’s Egg
Even if they are starving, natives living in the
Arctic will never eat a penguin's egg. Why
not?
33
LOGICAL PUZZLES
34
1. Mr. and Mrs. Aye and Mr. and Mrs. Bee
competed in a chess tournament. Of the
three games played:
a)In only the first game were the two
players married to each other.
b)The men won two games and the
women won one game.
c)The Ayes won more games than the
Bees.
d)Anyone who lost game did not play the
subsequent game. Who did not lose a
game?
2. Five boys were climbing a hill. J was
following H. R was just ahead of G. K was
between G & H. They were climbing up in
a column. Who was the second?
3. If a grasshopper halves the distance to a
wall on every jump, how many jumps will
35
he need to reach the wall if he starts from
ten feet away?
4. You have a basket containing ten apples.
You have ten friends, who each desire an
apple. You give each of your friends one
apple.
After a few minutes each of your friends
has one apple each, yet there is an apple
remaining in the basket. How?
5. You have three bags, each containing two
marbles. Bag A contains two white
marbles, Bag B contains two black
marbles, and Bag C contains one white
marble and one black marble. You pick a
random bag and take out one marble. It is
a white marble. What is the probability
that the remaining marble from the same
bag is also white?
36
6. A man is stranded on an island covered in
forest. One day, when the wind is blowing
from the west, lightning strikes the west
end of the island and sets fire to the
forest. The fire is very violent, burning
everything in its path, and without
intervention the fire will burn the whole
island, killing the man in the process.
There are cliffs around the island, so he
cannot jump off.
How can the man survive the fire? (There
are no buckets or any other means to put
out the fire)
7. A solid, four-inch cube of wood is coated
with blue paint on all six sides. Then the
cube is cut into smaller one-inch cubes.
These new one-inch cubes will have
either three blue sides, two blue sides, one
blue side, or no blue sides.
37
How many of each will there be?
8. Matthew leaves home in the morning to go
to school. At the moment he leaves the
house he looks at the clock in the mirror.
The clock has no number indication and
for this reason the boy makes a mistake in
interpreting the time (mirror-image). Just
assuming the clock must be out of order,
Matthew cycles to school, where he
arrives after twenty minutes. At that
moment the clock at school shows a time
that is two and a half hours later than the
time that Matthew saw on the clock at
home. At what time did he reach school?
38
9. A peasant is convicted in China. He gets
the death penalty. The judge allows him to
say a last sentence in order to determine
the way the penalty will be carried out. If
the peasant lies, he will be hanged, if he
speaks the truth he will be beheaded. The
peasant speaks a last sentence and to
everybody surprise some minutes later he
is set free because the judge cannot
determine his penalty.
What did the peasant said?
10. You've got two jars, one of them fits
exactly 5 liters, the other one fits exactly 3
liters. How could you get exactly 4 liters
with these two jars? It is allowed to spoil
some water.
39
11. At a nice sun shiny day, a man rowed with
his boat to an island in the middle of a big
lake. On the island he caught some fish.
Then he decides to return with his rowing
boat. After 10 meters of rowing he looks
behind him, but to his big surprise there is
no island anymore. What happened to the
island?
12. Suppose you have five bags filled with the
same type of coins and a weighting
machine. One of this bags is completely
filled with fake coins, the other bags
contain only real ones. A real coin weights
10 gram and a fake one 11 gram.
What is the minimal number of times you
need to use the weighting machine in
order to find the bag with the fake coins?
40
13. Two fathers and two of their sons are
going to fish. In total they catch three
fishes. All of them take one complete fish
at home. How is this possible?
14. Nine billiard-balls are lying in front of you.
Except for one they all have the same
weight. The exception is a little bit heavier
than the others. What is the minimal
number of times you have to use a
balance in order to find the wrong billiard
ball?
15. A bookworm eats a straight way through a
encyclopedia consisting of ten parts. Each
part has 1000 pages. The bookworm starts
on the front cover of the first part and
ends on the back cover of the last part.
From how many pages did the bookworm
eat?
41
16. A man would like to take a new health
insurance. An officer taking care of these
matters says to the man: "Please tell me
how many children you have." The man
answers: "I have three of them." The
officer: "What are the ages of your
children?". The man answers: "The
product of the ages is equal to 36." The
officer replies: "This is not enough
information Sir!". "Sorry that I was a little
bit unclear, but the sum of the ages is
equal to the number of shops in front of
your office," says the man. The officer:
"This still isn't enough information Sir!".
The man replies: "My oldest child loves
chocolate." The officer: "Thanks for your
cooperation, I now know the ages." Are
you as smart as the officer? Then give the
ages of the children.
42
WORD PUZZLES
43
1. Name the only English word that ends
in the letters "mt"?
2. What are the only four words in the
English language that end in "dous."?
3. Find at least two English words that
have "uu" in them.
4. What is black when you buy it, red
when you use it, and gray when you
throw it away?
5. Name a word that has all five vowels in
it, in the same order they are found in
the alphabet.
6. Which sound occurs in the English
language but has no letter to represent
it?
44
7. What is the longest English word that
can be spelled without repeating a
letter?
8. Can you find an English word that has
the six vowels, A, E, I, O, U and Y, in
their alphabetical order? For example,
there is the word "facetiously." What is
another one?
9. Take the letters ERGRO. Put three
letters in front of it, and the same
three letters behind to form a common
English word.
10. Rearrange these letters to form the
name of a famous writer:
I AM A WEAKISH SPELLER
45
ANSWERS
46
MATH PUZZLES- ANSWERS
47
1. Adding Up To 100
16 + 16 + 17 + 17 + 17 + 17 = 100
2. Animal Math Puzzle
38 birds (76 legs) and 16 mammals (64 legs)
3. Adding Up To 1000
8 + 8 + 8 + 88 + 888 = 1000
4. Add numbers from 1 to 9 to get 100
We can multiple solutions for this problem.
Some of them are
12+3-4+5+67+8+9 = 100.
1+2+3-4+5+6+78+9=100
1+2+34-5+67-8+9=100
1+23-4+5+6+78-9=100
1+23-4+56+7+8+9=100
Try yourself to get more solutions.
48
5. Age Problem
41 years ago, when Mary was 13 and her
mother was 39.
6. How Many Flowers
There are 3 flowers (1 rose, 1 tulip, and 1
daisy).
7. 24 from Spare Parts
7 * ((3 / 7) + 3) = 24
8. 100 Meter Race
Andy beats Carl by 36 meters.
It is tempting to guess that Andy beats Carl by
40 meters, but when Andy finishes and is 20
meters ahead of Barry, Barry is NOT 20 meters
ahead of Carl (he's only 16 meters ahead), and
it will take a couple more seconds before Barry
increases his lead over Carl to 20 meters.
49
To figure out the answer, we let Andy's speed
be A meter/second. So it takes him 100/A
seconds to finish the race. At this point, we
know that Barry has run 80 meters (since Andy
beats him by 20 meters). So Barry runs 80
meters in 100/A seconds, meaning that he is
running at a speed of (80/(100/A))
meters/second, or (8A/10) meters per second.
So we then know that it takes Barry
100/(8A/10) seconds to finish the race, or
125/A seconds. At this point, we know that Carl
has run 80 meters (since Barry beats him by
20 meters). So Carl runs 80 meters in 125/A
seconds, meaning that he is running at a
speed of (80/(125/A)) meters/second, or
80A/125 meters per second.
Now that we know Carl's speed, we just need
to figure out how far he had run when Andy
finished the race. Since Andy finished in 100/A
50
seconds, we can determine that Carl had run
(100/A) * (80A/125) = 8000/125 = 64 meters
when Andy finished the race.
And so Andy beat him by (100 -64) = 36
meters.
9. Average Salary
Let's call the workers: Worker 1, Worker 2,
Worker 3, Worker 4 and Worker 5.
Worker 1 picks a random positive number N
(which he doesn't tell anybody), add his salary
to it, and writes this number on a piece of
paper which he hands to Worker 2.
Worker 2 adds his salary to this number, writes
the new number on a different piece of paper,
and hands it to Worker 3.
Worker 3 does the same and hands a new
paper to Worker 4, who does the same and
hands a new paper to Worker 5, who does the
51
same and hands a new paper to Worker 4, who
does the same and hands a new paper to
Worker 5, who does the same and hands a
new paper back to Worker 1.
The number written on this final piece of paper
will be (N + the-sum-of-everybodys-salary).
So Worker 1 simply subtracts N from this
number and divides this final number by 5,
which is the average salary. At no point did
any worker gain any information about anyone
else's salary.
10. Find the number
45
11. How many Cigarettes ?
8+1=9
52
RIDDLES - ANSWERS
53
1. The day before yesterday, yesterday,
today, tomorrow, the day after tomorrow.
2. Most people read "The cow ate the grass"
when they first try this. However, "the"
actually appears twice in the sentence,
which is easily missed due to the way our
brains look for and find familiar patterns -
even when they are not there.
3. 1.5
4. The letter F appears six times in that
sentence. Most people think there are only
four (although those who speak English as a
second language seem to do better at this).
For some reason the brain doesn't identify
the Fs in "of".
54
5. Eye (rhymes with "I".)
6. Cut it as you normally cut a cake, in half with one
cut, and again with another, resulting in four pieces.
Then cut it horizontally in half. This third cut creates
eight pieces total.
7. It does not contain the letter "e", which is the
most common letter in the English language.
8. 18 Peppers
9. Silence
10. Coffin
11. The letter ‘M’
55
12. Two Apples
13. Record
14. Shadow
15. In a Dictionary
16. The temperature
17. The letter ‘e’
18. Envelope
19. Volcano
20. Pearl
56
21. Smile
22. Promise
23. Secret
24. An Echo
25. Tongue
57
LATERAL THINKING
PUZZLES
ANSWERS
58
1. Hanging above water
He stood on a tall block of ice and put the
noose around his neck. Once the ice melted,
he was hung, and all that was left was a
puddle of water on the ground.
2. Doctor can’t operate
The doctor is the boy's mother.
3. Towards the sunset
The man was facing forward, but the woman
was running backwards. The man's right
hand was holding the woman's right hand.
They both veered in the same geographic
direction, but it was the man's left and the
woman's right because the woman was
running backwards.
59
4. Defending the Bridge
William is on the east side of the bridge,
facing the West side of the kingdom, while
Ethan is on the west side of the bridge,
facing the East side of the kingdom. So
William and Ethan are facing each other, and
can see each other's faces.
5. The Two Barbers
Because there are only two barbers in the
town, the barbers must cut each-other's hair.
The barber on the west side of town has a
nice haircut, so the east-side barber must be
a good barber. On the other hand, the barber
on the east side of town has ragged hair,
meaning the west-side barber must not be
very good. So the man goes to the east-side
barber to get a better haircut.
60
6. Blind in a Hardware Store
He walks up the front desk where the clerk is
working and says "I'd like to buy a hammer."
7. Moochers
Your name.
8. Truck Crossing a Bridge
During the first 5 miles across the bridge, the
truck burned enough gas to account for the
weight of the sparrow, and thus it was not
over weight on the bridge.
61
9. Dead in Water and Glass
Romeo and Juliet are fish. A passing train
rattled the shelf their tank was sitting on and
knocked it off of the shelf. The tank broke
and the fish died from being out of the
water.
10. Rainy Day Elevators
The man is very short and cannot reach
button "44" in the elevator on sunny days.
On rainy days he has his umbrella with him
and is able to use it to press the button.
11. Men in Black
It was day time
62
12. Poison in the punch
The poison in the punch came from the ice
cubes. When the man drank the punch, the
ice was fully frozen. Gradually it melted,
poisoning the punch.
13. A Gun for Water, Anyone?
The man had hiccups. The barman
recognized this from his speech and drew
the gun in order to give him a shock.. It
worked and cured the hiccups, so the man
thanked the barman.
14. The Blind Beggar
The blind beggar was the sister of her
brother who died.
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15. Three Switches and Three Bulbs
Switch one light on for a minute; turn it off
and turn another on. Go into the room and
feel the off-bulbs. The warm one is
connected to the first switch, the on-bulb is
connected to the second.
16. Nutty Problem
Use one nut from each of the other three
wheels.
17. Bar Problem
The bar in question was an iron bar.
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18. Last Goodbye
His wife was on a life support machine in his
apartment. When he was taking the lift, the
electricity went out, and he realized that his
wife would then die.
19.Friday
The man’s horse was called Friday.
20.Jason’s Death
Jason is a mouse, in a mouse trap.
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21. Stuck under the bridge
He told Dingleberry Dave to let some air out
of his tires. This would make the truck lower
and allow him to pass through.
22. Ladder
He was standing on the bottom rung.
23. Professor Bumble’s Fumble ?
He was on foot.
24. Penguin’s Egg
The natives are penguins
66
LOGICAL PUZZLES
ANSWERS
67
1. Mrs.Bee did not lose a game
2. G. The order in which they are
climbing is
R – G – K – H – J
3. He will never reach the wall. If each
jump only goes half the distance, the
grasshopper will get closer and closer
to the wall but never actually get
there.
4. You give an apple each to your first
nine friends, and a basket with an
apple to your tenth friend.
Each friend has an apple, and one of
them has it in a basket.
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5. 2/3 (not 1/2)
You know that you do not have Bag B
(two black marbles) so there are three
possibilities
You chose Bag A, first white marble.
The other marble will be white
You chose Bag A, second white marble.
The other marble will be white
You chose Bag C, the white marble.
The other marble will be black
So 2 out of 3 possibilities are white.
Why not 1/2? You are selecting
marbles, not bags.
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6. The man picks up a piece of wood and
lights it from the fire on the west end
of the island.
He then quickly carries it near the east
end of he island and starts a new fire.
The wind will cause that fire to burn
out the eastern end and he can then
shelter in the burnt area.
The man survives the fire, but dies of
starvation, with all the food in the
forest burnt.
7. There are 24 with one side colored, 8
with three sides colored, 24 with two
sides colored, and 8 with no sides
colored.
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8. The difference between the real time
and the time of the mirror image is two
hours and ten minutes (two and a half
hours, minus the twenty minutes of
cycling).Therefore, the original time on
the clock at home that morning could
only have been five minutes past
seven: 7:05 and 4:55
The difference between these clocks is
exactly 2 hours and ten minutes (note
that also five minutes past one can be
mirrored in a similar way, but this is
not in the morning!).
Conclusion: The boy reaches school at
five minutes past seven plus twenty
minutes of cycling, which is twenty-five
minutes past seven!.
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9. The peasant said: "I shall be hanged!"
If the peasant was lying, he would be
hanged. But that's what the peasant
was saying. So he speaks the truth.
But if he speaks the truth, he would be
beheaded, so then he was not
speaking the truth. So it is impossible
for the judge to determine whether the
peasant speaks the truth or not. So
therefore the judge cannot determine
the penalty and sets the peasant free.
10. Fill the 5 liter jar completely. Then fill
the 3 liter jar using the 5 liter one
completely. Now there are 2 liters left
in the 5 liter jar. Now you empty the 3
liter jar and put the 2 liters
72
from the 5 liter jar in the 3 liter jar.
Then fill the five liter jar again
completely. Finally fill the 3 liter jar
completely using the 5 liter jar. One
liter still fits, since there were already
2 liters in that jar. So then 4 liters
remain in the 5 liter jar. You'll get
exactly 4 liters in this way.
11. Of course the island is still there. The
man is just looking in the wrong
direction. When you are rowing, you
are always going backwards.
12. Take 1 coin from the first bag, 2 from
the second, 3 out of the third, 4 from
the fourth and 5 coins from the fifth
bag. Now weigh all these coins
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together at once. If the fake coins are
in the first bag, the result of the
weighting will be 11 + 20 + 30 + 40 +
50 = 151 gram. Likewise, if the fake
coins are in respectively the second,
the third, the fourth and the fifth bag,
the result of the weighting will be 152,
153, 154 and 155 gram. Hence in this
way it is possible to find the bag with
the fake coins with weighting only
once.
13. The people which went for fishing, are
grandfather, father and son. Then
there are two fathers and two sons.
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14. Only two times!
Divide all nine billiard-balls in groups of
three balls. Put two of these groups on
the balance. Now there are two
possibilities. Either the balance
indicates a difference or it is indicates
that both groups have equal weight. In
both cases you can find the heavy
group, in the first case it is one the
balance, in the second case it is not.
From the heavy group you select two
balls, and you put one ball apart. Put
these two selected balls on the
balance. If the balance indicates an
equality, the heavy ball lies
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apart, if it does not the balance points
you to the heavy ball.
15. Assuming that the encyclopedia is
ordered in the usual way, the row of
books starts with the back side of part
one and ends at the front side of part
ten. If the bookworm starts at the front
cover of part one it does not has to go
through part one anymore, but starts
immediately in part two. The worm
follows the red way until part nine.
Then the worm is on the back side of
part ten.
So the the bookworm eated from 8000
pages.
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16. The product of the ages is 36. Using
this one can make the following
combination of ages:
1,36, 1 sum = 38
1,18, 2 sum = 22
1,12, 3 sum = 16
1, 9, 4 sum = 14
1, 6, 6 sum = 13
2, 9, 2 sum = 13
2, 6, 3 sum = 11
3, 3, 4 sum = 10
After the man had said that the
product of the ages is equal to 36, the
officer didn't have enough information.
Then he was told that the sum is equal
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to number of shops in front of the
office. He replied by saying that this
still isn't enough information. So the
sum of the ages should be 13, because
otherwise he would have known the
ages immediately. The last statement
is that that the oldest child loves
chocolate. So there is an oldest child.
Hence the officer concludes that the
ages of the children are 2, 2 and 9
years.
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WORD PUZZLES
ANSWERS
79
1. Dreamt.
2. Tremendous, horrendous, stupendous, and
hazardous.
3. There are at least four words: Muumuu, vacuum,
continuum, and residuum.
4. Charcoal.
5. There are at least two: facetious and
abstemious.
6. The sound found in the following words: vision,
version, treasure, pleasure.
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7. Uncopyrightable (15 letters).
8. Abstemiously (let me know if you find others).
9. UND(ERGRO)UND
10. William Shakespeare
81
FUN FACTS
82
The hardness of ice is similar to that of
concrete.
Most lipstick is partially made of fish
scales.
Your right lung takes in more air than
your left one does.
The human brain is 80% water.
Cockroaches can live for 9 days after
their head has been cut off.
By partially filling saucers with vinegar
and distributing the saucers around a
room, you can eliminate odors.
Business.com is currently the most
expensive domain name sold for $7.5
million.
Babies start dreaming even before
they’re born
83
Every time you lick a stamp you gain
1/10 of a calorie.
Did You Know, Donald Duck comics
were banned from Finland because he
doesn't wear pants.
Did You Know, Butterflies taste with
their feet.
Did You know, If you yelled for 8 years,
7 months and 6 days, you would have
produced enough sound energy to
heat one cup of coffee.
Did You Know? Coca-Cola was
originally green.
Did You Know? It is impossible to lick
your elbow.
84
Did You Know? Intelligent people have
more zinc and copper in their hair.
Did You Know? 25% of your bones are
located in your feet.
Did You Know? 40% of all indigestion
remedies sold in the world are bought
by Americans.
Other than fruit, honey is the only
natural food that is made without
destroying any kind of life.
All the platinum ever mined would fit
into an average-sized living-room!
All the gold ever mined could be
molded into a cube 60 feet high and 60
feet wide.
85
Mosquitoes have 47 teeth.
The best time for a person to buy
shoes is in the afternoon. This is
because the foot tends to swell a bit
around this time.
The average office desk has 400 times
more bacteria than a toilet.
The first product that Sony came out
with was the rice cooker.
The first domain name ever registered
was Symbolics.com.
The search engine Google got its name
from the word ëgoogolí, which refers to
the number one with a hundred zeros
after it.
The bark of an older redwood tree is
fireproof.
86
The average human body contains
enough:
Sulfur to kill all the fleas on an average
dog.
Iron to make a 3 inch nail.
Fat to make 7 bars of soap.
Carbon to make 900 pencils.
Phosphorous to make 2,200 match
heads.
Potassium to fire a toy cannon.
Water to fill a 38 litre/10 gallon tank.
The most commonly found blood-type
in the world is O positive while the
rarest is AB negative.
In some food products, and even
shampoos, the reddish coloring is
produced by the crushing of the
tropical Cochineal beetle.
87
10% of your bodyweight consists of
bacteria.
The human heart creates enough
pressure when it pumps out to the
body to squirt blood 30 feet.
A person cannot taste food unless it is
mixed with saliva.
The ant can lift 50 times its own
weight, can pull 30 times its own
weight and always falls over on its
right side when intoxicated.
The fingerprints of koala bears are
virtually indistinguishable from those
of humans, so much so that they could
be confused at a crime scene.
Porcupines float in water.
88
Snails can sleep for 3 years without
eating
111,111,111 x 111,111,111 =
12,345,678,987,654,321
Men can read smaller print than
women; women can hear better than
men.
Bullet proof vests, fire escapes,
windshield wipers, and laser printers
were all invented by women.
Studies show that if a cat falls off the
seventh floor of a building, it has about
thirty percent less chance of surviving
than a cat that falls off the twentieth
floor. It supposedly takes about eight
floors for the cat to realize what is
occurring, relax and correct itself.
89
Honey is the only food that doesn't
spoil.
To escape the grip of a crocodile's
jaws, push your thumbs into its
eyeballs - it will let you go instantly.
Leonardo da Vinci could write with one
hand and draw with the other at the
same time
If you stop getting thirsty, you need to
drink more water. For when a human
body is dehydrated, its thirst
mechanism shuts off.
Chewing gum while peeling onions will
keep you from crying
Your tongue is germ free only if it is
pink. If it is white there is a thin film of
bacteria on it.
The Titanic was the first ship to use the
SOS signal.
90
The pupil of the eye expands as much
as 45 percent when a person looks at
something pleasing.
The average person who stops
smoking requires one hour less sleep a
night.
Laughing lowers levels of stress
hormones and strengthens the
immune system. Six-year-olds laugh
an average of 300 times a day. Adults
only laugh 15 to 100 times a day.
The roar that we hear when we place a
seashell next to our ear is not the
ocean, but rather the sound of blood
surging through the veins in the ear.
91
Dalmatians are born without spots.
Bats always turn left when exiting a
cave.
Men’s shirts have the buttons on the
right, but women’s shirts have the
buttons on the left.
The owl is the only bird to drop its
upper eyelid to wink. All other birds
raise their lower eyelids.
The reason honey is so easy to digest
is that it’s already been digested by a
bee.
Roosters cannot crow if they cannot
extend their necks.
The color blue has a calming effect. It
causes the brain to release calming
hormones.
92
Every time you sneeze some of your
brain cells die.
Your left lung is smaller than your right
lung to make room for your heart.
When you blush, the lining of your
stomach also turns red.
It cost 7 million dollars to build the
Titanic and 200 million to make a film
about it.
The attachment of the human skin to
muscles is what causes dimples.
The sound you hear when you crack
your knuckles is actually the sound of
nitrogen gas bubbles bursting.
When hippos are upset, their sweat
turns red.
93
Human hair and fingernails continue to
grow after death.
It takes about 20 seconds for a red
blood cell to circle the whole body.
The plastic things on the end of
shoelaces are called aglets.
The only part of the body that has no
blood supply is the cornea in the eye.
It takes in oxygen directly from the air.
In most watch advertisements the time
displayed on the watch is 10:10
because then the arms frame the
brand of the watch (and make it look
like it is smiling).
94
Colgate faced big obstacle marketing
toothpaste in Spanish speaking
countries. Colgate translates into the
command “go hang yourself.”
The only 2 animals that can see behind
itself without turning its head are the
rabbit and the parrot.
Intelligent people have more zinc and
copper in their hair.
Whip makes a cracking sound because
its tip moves faster than the speed of
sound.
The human heart creates enough
pressure while pumping to squirt blood
30 feet
95
Did You know that...
There where no plastic bags in India
before 1985?
The longest station name on the Indian
Railways is
Venkatanarasimharajuvariapeta?
India is the world's largest mango
producer?
The biggest ant in India is about an inch?
India used sugar before any other
country?
Before 1896 India was the only diamonds
producing country in the world?
The first bathrooms is said to have been
built in India about 4500 years ago?
India is a home of 200 million cows ?
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