The Great Book of Riddles: 250 Magnificent Riddles, Puzzles and Brain Teasers (Elsinore Puzzles)
Page 3
3. The Eyes
4. Gloves
5. A Needle and Thread
6. Icicles
7. A Cherry
8. A Robin’s Nest
9. A Snail
10. In a Dictionary
*Illustrations
Round 8: Number Puzzlers
1. Ten Fish
Ten fish I caught without an eye, and nine without a tail. Six had no head, and half of eight leapt out of my pail. Now tell me please, as I ask it, how many fish are in my basket?
2. A Simple Calculation
A baseball bat and ball cost $30 in total. If the bat costs $29 more than the ball, how much do they each cost?
3. Popularity Contest
How many friends do I have if all of them except two live in Los Angeles, and all of them except two live in Paris, and all of them except two live in Sydney?
4. Fractions
Two in a whole and four in a pair, and six in a trio you see; eight’s a quartet, but what you must get is the name that fits just one of me.
5. House Numbers
In a desperate and ill-conceived attempt to become popular with your new neighbours, you have decided to buy new house numbers for everyone in the street. If there are 100 houses in the street, and the numbers are sold as individual figures, how many number 9’s will you have to buy?
6. A Precocious Child
When asked how old he is, a child replies: In four years, I will be twice as old as I was three years ago. And a year after that I will be three times as old as I was five years ago.
How old is the child?
7. A Pyramid Sequence
What is the next number in the sequence below?
8. Two Hens
You have an opportunity to buy a hen. In fact, you have been offered a choice between two quite remarkable animals. One of the hens produces six dozen dozen eggs per month, and the other produces a half dozen dozen.
Admittedly, both seem impressive. Does it matter which hen you choose?
9. Making 100
Take four digits, all alike, and using whichever of the following signs you require, arrive at a total of 100.
÷, +, -, ×
Example: You choose number 2. You attempt 22x2x2, but the answer is only 88.
10. Any Answer You Wish?
How many letters are there in the answer to this question?1
Answers: Round 8
1. Zero
10 without an eye (I) is 0; 9 without a tail is 0; 6 without a head is 0; and half of 8 (if it is divided horizontally) is 0.
2. The bat costs $29.50 and the ball costs $0.50.
3. There are two possible solutions to this puzzle:
Three (one in each of the cities mentioned)
Or Two (and neither lives in any of the cities mentioned)
4. A Half
5. 20; for house numbers: 9, 19, 29, 39, 49, 59, 69, 79, 89, 90, 91, 92, 93, 94 ,95, 96, 97 , 98, and 99 (remember there are two nines here)
6. 10 years old
7. 312211. Each row describes the arrangement of numbers in the row that preceded it. So, in the row before this, there were “three ones, two twos, and two ones”.
8. Yes, it matters. While you may be perfectly satisfied with a half dozen dozen eggs per month (6x12=72); it is far less than six dozen dozen ( 6x144 = 846).
9. 99 + 9/9 =100
10. The straightforward answer is Four.
But more creatively, you could go for:
0
Ten letters
Eleven plus two
Twelve plus one
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Round 9: Brainbats
Each of these brainbats represents a common expression. Can you decipher them all? The answer to number 1 should help you get started.
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
10. If you’ve solved everything so far, this last brainbat will be an appropriate way to conclude the round:
Answers: Round 9
1. A Foot in the Door
2. Once Upon a Time
3. One Step Forwards, Two Steps Back
4. Water (H2O)
5. Long Time No See (The letter “C” has been removed from “CENTURY”). End of the Century is a valid alternative answer.
6. Three Blind Mice
7. Travel Back in Time
8. Safety in Numbers
9. Bermuda Triangle
10. Too Wise You Are, Too Wise You Be, I See You Are Too Wise For Me
*Illustrations
Round 10: Pure Logic 2
1. Introductions
There are 20 people at a party. If each of them is willing to shake hands only with people who are smaller than they are, how many people will shake hands in total?
2. The Logical Landlord
Thirteen people arrive at a small hotel, each wishing for a room of their own. The hotel only has twelve rooms. The landlord does not want to lose business and is afraid that he will lose all of the guests if he has to turn one of them away.
He proposes an idea that will allow all thirteen guests to have a room of their own:
The thirteenth guest will wait for a few minutes with the first guest in room 1. While the two of them wait there, the third guest can be led to room 2, the fourth guest to room 3, the fifth guest to room 4 etc. Finally the twelfth guest will be led to room 11, and the thirteenth guest can be collected from room 1 and led to the unoccupied room 12!
The guests are impressed with the landlord’s ingenuity, but suspect there’s a problem somewhere in his reasoning. Can you identify it?
3. 100 White Stones and 100 Black Stones
A pirate generously offers his captives a chance to live.
He places two large jars in front of them. One of them contains 100 white stones, and the other, 100 black stones. The captives may redistribute the stones however they wish between the two jars. When they have finished, the jars will be thoroughly shaken. The captives will then be blindfolded, and presented with one of the two jars to select a stone from. If they select a white stone, they will be set free, but if they select a black stone, they will be thrown overboard.
How should the captives distribute the stones to have the best chance of surviving?
4. Indivisible Cows
A farmer died and his seventeen cows were passed down to his three sons. However, the father’s will stipulated the following distribution of the cows: his oldest son should receive 1/2, the middle son 1/3, and the youngest 1/9.
Since half a cow is of no use to anyone, the brothers racked their brains for a practical solution. Eventually, they took their problem to a neighboring farmer, renowned for his sharp intellect. They left their neighbor’s farm with the perfect solution to the problem. What was it?
5. 1000 Coins
You have 1000 coins and wish to distribute them between ten bags, so that you can quickly hand over any number of coins by simply selecting the appropriate combination of bags. Regardless of whether you’re asked for 7 or 777 coins, you should be able to quickly provide the exact number of coins.
How should you distribute the coins between the bags?
6. A Sultry Night
In Waco, Texas, July nights are usually warm and dry. But on one particular evening you notice that it is raining heavily at midnight. Is it likely to be sunny again in 72 hours’ time?
7. Three Card Trick
Three playing cards are drawn from a standard pack and placed in a row in front of you. The color of the cards alternates. To the right of an ace is at least one queen. To the left of a queen is another queen. To the left of a spade is a heart. To the right of a spade is a spade
What are the three playing cards and how are they arranged?
8. Two Sacks of Gold
You are offered two sacks of gold: One of them weighs 60 pounds plus one third of its weight. The other weighs 40 pounds p
lus half its weight. Does is matter which sack you take?
9. A Puzzle by Lewis Carroll
The following riddle comes from a puzzle collection by Lewis Carroll, the author of Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland, and Through the Looking Glass. Be careful with this one!
A stick I found that weighed two pound:
I sawed it up one day,
In pieces eight of equal weight!
How much did each piece weigh?
10. A Jousting Tournament
King Arthur arranged a jousting tournament and invited knights from all across the realm to take part. Naturally, it would be a knockout tournament, with knights paired against each other and the winner proceeding to the next round.
517 knights responded to the invitation. This was a shame, Arthur thought, as it would have been far easier to arrange the tournament with only 512. He began trying to calculate how many jousts there would be in total: 258 in the first round, plus 129 in the second...Midway through his calculations however, Merlin entered his chambers and laughed at the effort the King was going to with his sums. “But it’s so simple!” he said, and instantly told the King how many jousts there would be.
How many jousts will there be, and how did Merlin arrive at the answer so quickly (and without any recourse to magic)?
Answers: Round 10
1. Zero. Nobody can shake hands, as one of the two people will always be taller than the other.
2. The confusion arises when the third guest is led to room number 2 and the second guest is passed over.
3. They should put one white stone in one of the jars, and the remaining 199 stones in the other. This gives them a 74.74% chance of being set free.
4. Their neighbor lent them a cow. This gave them eighteen cows in total. The oldest son could then take nine; the middle son, six; and the youngest son, two. The remaining cow could then be returned to their neighbor.
5. You should arrange the coins in ascending powers of 2.
Bag 1: 1 coin
Bag 2: 2 coins
Bag 3: 4 coins
Bag 4: 8 coins
Bag 5: 16 coins
Bag 6: 32 coins
Bag 7: 64 coins
Bag 8: 128 coins
Bag 9: 256 coins
Bag 10: 489 coins (all of the remaining coins)
Any number of coins between 1 and 1000 can be selected easily from this distribution.
For instance: 7 = Bag 1 + Bag 2 + Bag 3; 777 = Bag 10 + Bag 9 + Bag 6
6. No. In 72 hours’ time it will be midnight again. It may be dry, but it certainly won’t be sunny.
7. From left to right: Ace of Spades, Queen of Hearts, Queen of Spades
8. Assuming you wish to benefit financially from your decision, you would do better to take the sack that weighs 60 pounds plus one third of its weight. This sack weighs 90 pounds, whereas the other sack only weighs 80 pounds.
9. Lewis Carroll’s Answer:
In Shylock’s bargain for the flesh was found
No mention of the blood that flowed around:
So when the stick was sawed in eight,
The sawdust lost diminished from the weight!
10. 516. All but the champion will lose exactly one joust.
*Illustrations
Round 11: Listen Carefully
1. The Lesser of Three Evils
Unfortunately, you are condemned to death. But, in something approaching clemency, your captor allows you to choose which of his execution rooms to enter.
A) A room full of raging fires that never cease to burn
B) A room full of armed assassins, who will be rewarded handsomely for killing you
C) A room full of ferocious lions that haven't eaten in three years
Which room should you choose?
2. A Large Family
A father and mother have three daughters, and each daughter has one brother. How many people are in the family in total?
3. Presidential Succession
If the Vice President of the United States were to die, who would then be President?
4. A Blue Bungalow
There was once a blue bungalow. Everything in it was blue — the walls, the carpets, the furniture. The people who lived there even insisted that their guests wear blue clothes. What color were the stairs?
5. The Third Child
David’s mother had three children. The first child was named April; the second child was named May. What was the third child’s name?
6. A Bovine Mystery
A farmer had twelve prize cows. He arose one morning to find that all but nine of them had been stolen by cattle thieves. How many did he have left?
7. A Hungry Donkey
A donkey was tied to a rope 10-feet long. 20 feet away was a bale of hay that seemed especially appetizing to the donkey. To his delight, he found a way to reach it, and was not disappointed by its quality. How did he reach it?
8. Chasing Gold
If you are running a race, and you overtake the person in second place, what place do you move into?
9. Equally Matched
Two men were playing chess. They played three games, and although no games were drawn, they won the same number of games. How is this possible?
10. Excavation Logic
If it takes one man three days to dig a hole, how long would it take two men to dig half a hole?
Answers: Round 11
1. C) The room full of lions. If they haven’t eaten in three years, they will have starved to death.
2. Six. They share the same brother.
3. The current President would remain President.
4. It’s a bungalow, so there are no stairs.
5. David
6. Nine
7. Very easily — the rope was only tied at one end.
8. Second
9. They were not playing against each other.
10. It’s not possible to dig half a hole.
*Illustrations
Round 12: Words Words Words 2
1. A Seven-Letter Word
Three syllables in total, and so beginning with the first;
At two letters I am a male, at three I’m the converse.
Four letters and I’m male again but greater than of late,
At my full length my gender’s changed, but I’m equally as great.
2. The Any Which Way Word
SOS is read the same forwards, backwards, and even upside-down. What four-letter word also shares these properties?
3. Letter Sequence
What are the next three letters in this sequence?
4. Four Letters for Four Words
You receive a letter from an old colleague, who you haven’t heard from in many years. He wishes to remind you of a long outstanding debt you owe him. You are certain that you paid this off a long time ago and have no intention of wasting ink, or even keystrokes on the person behind this audacious claim. How can you clearly deny his assertion, using only four letters to stand-in for four words?
5. Another Letter Sequence
Look carefully at the following series of letters. Which other letter fits the pattern?
B C D E I K O X
Word Ladder Puzzles
The aim in the following five puzzles is to link two words together by a chain of other words. At each step, you may change one letter of the current word to create a new word, and thereby move closer to the target word.
For example, we can transform WOOD to COAL in three moves:
WOOD WOOL COOL COAL
6. EAST _______ _______ WEST
7. DOG _______ _______ CAT
8. WARM _______ _______ _______ COLD
9. HAND _______ _______ _______ _______ FOOT
10. SLEEP ______________ _______ _______ _______ DREAM
Answers: Round 12
1. Heroine
2. NOON
3. E, N, T (they are the initial letters of the numbers from one to ten)
4. I.O.U.O (I owe you nothing)
5. H. All of t
he letters can be flipped vertically and still be read.
6. East, Vast, Vest, West
7. Dog, Cog, Cot, Cat.
8. Warm, Ward, Word, Cord, Cold
9. Hand, Band, Bond, Fond, Food, Foot
10. Sleep, Bleep, Bleed, Breed, Bread, Dread, Dream
*Illustrations
Round 13: Pen and Paper
1. Hieroglyphics
Draw the next number in this sequence