Maths Puzzles

Puzzle 1

Are there more inches in a mile or Sundays in a thousand years?

Inches in a mile: there are 63,360 inches in a mile and about 52,000 Sundays in a thousand years.

Puzzle 2

Starting in the bottom left corner and moving either up or right adding up the numbers along the way, what is the largest sum you can make?

28:

Puzzle 3

On my local railway track there is a tunnel which is 5 miles long. A train, which was 440 yards long, entered the tunnel at a speed of 50 miles per hour. How long did it take for the whole of the train to pass completely through the tunnel? [Note: there are 1760 yards in a mile].

6 minutes and 18 seconds. The train has to effectively travel 5.25 miles at 50 mph. Time = Dist / Speed = 5.25 / 50 = 0.105 hours = 6.3 minutes = 6 minutes 18 seconds. QED.

Puzzle 4

Yesterday my mother asked me to buy some stamps. Stamps, in the land of BrainBashers, are available in 2p, 7p, 10p, 15p and 20p denominations. For three types of stamp I was asked to buy five of each. For the other two types of stamp, I was asked to buy six of each. Unfortunately I forgot which I was supposed to buy five of and which to buy six of. Luckily my mother had given me the exact money required to buy the stamps, £3.00 and the shopkeeper was able to give me the correct stamps. Which stamps did I buy?

Five lots of 2p, 7p and 15p and six lots of 10p and 20p. The shopkeeper rightly figured that I required five lots of each of the stamps, which came to £2.70, he also knew I required two more stamps which added up to the difference. QED.

Puzzle 5

At midnight on Sunday, December 31st, Professor Stone set two of his analogue clocks to the correct time. One of his clocks gains one minute every hour and the other loses two minutes every hour.

1. When will the clocks next show the same time as each other?2. When will the clocks both show the correct time?

1. Midnight after 10 days, which is 240 hours later. They both show 4 o'clock, one clock has gained 240 minutes (4 hours) and the other has lost 480 minutes (8 hours).2. Midnight after 30 days, which is 720 hours later. They both now show 12 o'clock.

Puzzle 6

At the recent BrainBashers Olympics, the 100 metres heats were closely monitored. Each contestant had to run in two races so that the average place could be determined. Only one runner finished in the same place in both races. Alan was never last. Charlie always beat Darren. Brian had at least one first place. Alan finished third in at least one of the races. Both Darren and Charlie had a second place. What were the two results?

Race 1: Brian, Charlie, Alan, Darren.Race 2: Charlie, Darren, Alan, Brian.

To explain - since Charlie always beat Darren and Darren had a second place, one race must have been Charlie first and Darren second. Brian therefore won the other race with Charlie second. Since only one runner finished in the same place in both races, this must have been Alan in third. QED.

puzzle 7

The river Pregel runs through the town of Konigsburg. In the river are two islands, connected to each other and the rest of the city by seven bridges. The students of Konigsburg often challenge each other to try to make a trip crossing all seven bridges exactly once - can you find the path they have to take in order to do this?

There is no such route. This is a very famous mathematical problem which was first posed by Euler (pronounced Oiler). It was a founding problem in graph theory, an area of mathematics which is very important in modern times, and is used in everything from cryptography to route optimisations.

Puzzle 8

By changing the second letter of each word below, you can make another valid word. Can you change each word such that the second letters will reveal an eleven letter word when read downwards. Therefore, what now reads AWPYRNUCEPA will be a real word.

BAKESWAPOPALDYEDARKSSNOWLUMPACESMELTSPUNRANT

Investigate: bike, snap, oval, deed, asks, stow, limp, ages, malt, stun, rent.

Puzzle 9

On my local railway track there is a tunnel which is 5 miles long. A train, which was 440 yards long, entered the tunnel at a speed of 50 miles per hour. How long did it take for the whole of the train to pass completely through the tunnel? [Note: there are 1760 yards in a mile].

6 minutes and 18 seconds. The train has to effectively travel 5.25 miles at 50 mph. Time = Dist / Speed = 5.25 / 50 = 0.105 hours = 6.3 minutes = 6 minutes 18 seconds. QED.

Puzzle 10

Using the BrainTracker grid below, how many words can you find? Each word must contain the central R and no letter can be used twice. The letters do not have to be connected. Proper nouns are not allowed, however, plurals

are. There is at least one nine letter word. Excellent: 29 words. Good: 24 words. Average: 16 words.

T I F

O R O

N P T

Common words: fir, FOOTPRINT, for, fort, front, intro, iron, noir, nor, or, poor, port, portion, print, profit, proof, proton, rift, riot, rip, roof, root, rot, torn, tort, trio, trip, troop, trot.

All words: fir, firn, FOOTPRINT, for, forint, fort, frit, fritt, fro, front, inro, intort, intro, iron, nitro, noir, nor, nori, or, orpin, ort, pirn, poor, poori, port, portion, print, prion, pro, prof, profit, pronto, proof, proton, rif, rift, rin, riot, rip, roof, root, rot, roti, roto, tiro, tor, tori, torn, toro, torot, tort, tortoni, trio, trip, triton, troop, trop, tropin, trot.

Puzzle 11

Below are ten words which have been split in half. The first column has all of the starts and the second column has all of the ends. Can you pair the letters and remake the ten words?

BO   AFBR   REFO   NEGO   AFHO   KEJO   EWLE   INLO   AMLO   MBSO   PE

Bomb, brew, foam, gone, hope, joke, leaf, loaf, loin, sore.

Puzzle 12

This famous river has a number of cities along its course. What is its name?

Mississippi: the diagram is actually the word "mississippi" on its side.

Puzzle 13

Which word does not belong with the others:

dgo act ehors ceffio elrttu ekmnoy

ceffio: this is an anagram of office, the others are animals (dog, cat, horse, turtle, monkey).

Puzzle 14

A bank customer had $100 in his account. He then made 6 withdrawals, totalling $100. He kept a record of these withdrawals, and the balance remaining in the account, as follows:

Withdrawals     Balance left     $50             $50      25              25      10              15       8               7       5               2        2               0     ---             ---    $100             $99

When he added up the columns as above, he assumed that he must owe $1 to the bank. Was he right?

There is no reason whatever why the customer's original deposit of $100 should equal the total of the balances left after each withdrawal. The total of withdrawals in the left-hand column must always equal $100, but it is purely a coincidence that the total of the right-hand column is close to $100. For example:

Withdrawals     Balance left      $5             $95      10              85      85               0     ---             ---   $100             $180

Puzzle 15

Using the BrainTracker grid below, how many words can you find? Each word must contain the central C and no letter can be used twice, however, the letters do not have to be connected. Proper nouns are not allowed, however, plurals are. There is at least one nine letter word. Excellent: 19 words. Good: 17 words. Average: 14 words.

O N T

T C I

N E N

Common words: cent, cite, coin, con, cone, content, CONTINENT, cot, ice, icon, innocent, nice, notice, octet, once, tic, tonic.

All words: cent, cento, cine, cion, cite, coin, con, cone, coni, conin, conine, conn, conte, content, CONTINENT, cot, cote, etic, ice, icon, innocent, nice, nocent, noetic, notice, octet, once, ontic, otic, tic, tinct, tonetic, tonic.

Puzzle 16

There are three houses, and three utilities: gas, electricity and water. Your task is to connect each house to all three utilities. Therefore each house will have three lines and each utility will also have three lines. However, you cannot cross lines. You cannot pass lines through houses or utilities. You cannot share lines. Can you draw the 9 lines required?

This puzzle is a classic one which has no solution in 2D. However, if you place the items on a doughnut shape in 3D you can solve it. In the picture below, E is linked to 3 by going over the top and re-entering through the hole

in the middle.

Puzzle 17

There is a closed room with a light in it. Outside, there are 3 light switches. You can flick any of the switches any number of times. You can only open the door and go into the room once. You know that the light is initially off. How can you determine which light switch operates the light?

Leave switch 1 alone. Flick switch 2 for 1 hour, then flick back. Flick switch 3. Now look. If the light is on, then the switch is 3, if the light bulb is warm, then switch 2, else switch 1.

puzzle 18

BrainBashers electronic pocket word processor is playing up again. In each of the well know sayings below, every word has one letter that is wrong. What should each sentence read?

Ill food thinks dust dome so in and.Chat yog sea it chat yog wet.Top mane corks smoil tie froth.Beast sand moonest bended.Sore sweed yess waste.Bed sly it fight, shipherd's defight.

All good things must come to an end.What you see is what you get.Too many cooks spoil the broth.

Least said soonest mended.More speed less haste.Red sky at night, shepherd's delight.

Puzzle 19

Yesterday my mother asked me to buy some stamps. Stamps, in the land of BrainBashers, are available in 2p, 7p, 10p, 15p and 20p denominations. For three types of stamp I was asked to buy five of each. For the other two types of stamp, I was asked to buy six of each. Unfortunately I forgot which I was supposed to buy five of and which to buy six of. Luckily my mother had given me the exact money required to buy the stamps, £3.00 and the shopkeeper was able to give me the correct stamps. Which stamps did I buy?

Five lots of 2p, 7p and 15p and six lots of 10p and 20p. The shopkeeper rightly figured that I required five lots of each of the stamps, which came to £2.70, he also knew I required two more stamps which added up to the difference. QED.

Puzzle 20

Using the BrainTracker grid below, how many words can you find? Each word must contain the central G and no letter can be used twice. The letters do not have to be connected. Proper nouns are not allowed, however, plurals are. There is at least one nine letter word. Excellent: 17 words. Good: 14 words. Average: 10 words.

I E D

S G T

V I E

Common words: dig, digest, DIGESTIVE, digit, digits, digs, edge, edges, get, gets, gist, give, gives, sedge, siege, sieged, vestige.

All words: dig, digest, DIGESTIVE, digit, digits, digs, edge, edges, edgiest,

egest, egis, ged, geds, gee, geed, gees, geest, gest, geste, get, gets, gid, gids, gie, gied, gies, gist, git, gits, give, gives, sedge, seg, siege, sieged, teg, tegs, veg, vegie, vegies, vestige, vig, vigs.

Puzzle 21

There are 5 houses in 5 different colours. In each house lives a person of a different nationality. The 5 owners drink a certain type of beverage, smoke a certain brand of cigar, and keep a certain pet. Using the clues below can you determine who owns the fish?

The Brit lives in a red house.The Swede keeps dogs as pets.The Dane drinks tea.The green house is on the immediate left of the white house.The green house owner drinks coffee.The person who smokes Pall Mall rears birds.The owner of the yellow house smokes Dunhill.The man living in the house right in the middle drinks milk.The Norwegian lives in the first house.The man who smokes Blend lives next door to the one who keeps cats.The man who keeps horses lives next door to the man who smokes Dunhill.The owner who smokes Blue Master drinks beer.The German smokes Prince.The Norwegian lives next to the blue house.The man who smokes Blend has a neighbour who drinks water.

This puzzle is usually attributed to Einstein, who may or may not have written it. The German owns the fish and the table below details the full answer:

Nationality: Norweg   Dane    Brit       German   SwedeColour     : Yellow   Blue    Red        Green    WhiteBeverage   : water    tea     milk       coffee   beerSmokes     : Dunhill  Blend   Pall Mall  Prince   Blue MasterPet        : cats     horses  birds      fish     dogs

Puzzle 22

The BrainBashers safe has a rather unusual control panel. In order to open the safe you have to press every single button once only, in the correct sequence, ending on the button marked E. Each button clearly states which button to press next, for example, 2U means move up 2 buttons and 3R means move right 3 buttons. Can you determine which button you must start with?

6D 6D 1R 1R 1R 1R 1D

2D 1D 1U 2L 1R 2D 2L

2U 4R 1U 3R 2D 5L 2L

1R 3U 1U 2D E 2D 3L

3U 1L 1U 2L 2D 2L 1L

1R 3R 1U 3U 2U 1D 2U

1U 2R 1U 5U 2L 1R 2U

Start with the 2U which is on the 6th row down and the 7th column across.

Puzzle 23

At midnight on Sunday, December 31st, Professor Stone set two of his analogue clocks to the correct time. One of his clocks gains one minute every hour and the other loses two minutes every hour.

1. When will the clocks next show the same time as each other?2. When will the clocks both show the correct time?

1. Midnight after 10 days, which is 240 hours later. They both show 4 o'clock, one clock has gained 240 minutes (4 hours) and the other has lost 480 minutes (8 hours).2. Midnight after 30 days, which is 720 hours later. They both now show 12 o'clock.

Puzzle 24

What is represented by this BrainBat?

sdraw

Backwards.

Puzzle 25

Using the BrainTracker grid below, how many words can you find? Each word must contain the central U and no letter can be used twice, however, the letters do not have to be connected. Proper nouns are not allowed, however, plurals are. There is at least one nine letter word. Excellent: 50 words. Good: 35 words. Average: 25 words.

S R O

T U A

N A T

Common words: ASTRONAUT, aunt, aunts, aura, auras, auto, nut, nuts, our, ours, oust, out, outran, rout, routs, run, runs, runt, runts, rust, rut, ruts, sauna, snout, sour, stout, strut, stun, stunt, sun, taunt, taunts, taut, tour, tours, tout, touts, trout, truant, truants, trust, turn, turns, tutor, tutors, unto, urn, urns, us.

All words: ASTRONAUT, aunt, aunts, aura, auras, auto, autos, nous, nu, nus, nut, nuts, onus, our, ours, oust, out, outran, outs, outsat, roust, rout, routs, ruana, ruanas, run, runs, runt, runts, rust, rut, ruts, santour, santur, saturant, sau, sauna, snout, sou, sour, stour, stout, strunt, strut, stun, stunt, sturt, sun, sura, sutra, sutta, tau, taunt, taunts, taus, taut, tauts, tonus, torus, tour, tours, tout, touts, trout, trouts, truant, truants, trust, tun, tuna, tunas, tuns, turn, turns, tut, tutor, tutors, tuts, un, uns, unto, urn, urns, ursa, us, ut, uta, utas, uts.

Puzzle 26

Place the words below into pairs. You will then have 5 lots of eight letters, each of which is an anagram of another word. What are the original 5 words?

PEERTIMEDATEWALLJUNETONESNOBSEATPALEVILE

 [Ref: ZZEQ] © Kevin Stone [Protected Puzzle]

Antelope = pale + tone, juvenile = vile + june, repeated = peer + date, snowball = snob + wall, estimate = time + seat.

Puzzle 27

Below you will see six glasses. Three of these glasses contain orange. Moving only ONE glass, can you arrange the glasses such that those containing the orange are together?

 [Ref: ZNAW]

Simply take the second glass and pour the orange into the fifth glass.

Puzzle 28

My BrainBashers electronic world atlas has developed a fault, I did a listing of miles from England to particular countries and here is the result:

Spain     14,000 milesFiji      12,000 milesGermany   18,000 milesBrazil    16,000 milesIndia     16,000 miles

How far away did it list Iceland as?

 [Ref: ZZKL] © Kevin Stone [Protected Puzzle]

20,000: each vowel is worth 4,000 miles and each consonant is worth 2,000.

Puzzle 29

I have a drawer full of socks. There are 40 socks of each colour, brown and grey, evenly mixed. In the morning, when it is very dark, I need to pull out a pair of socks of the same colour. How many must I pull out of the drawer to ensure that I have at least one pair of matching socks?

 [Ref: ZMMS] © Kevin Stone [Protected Puzzle]

Three socks. Whichever I pull out first, the second will either match, or I will have one of each, ready for the third sock.

Puzzle 30

Using the BrainTracker grid below, how many words can you find? Each word must contain the central F and no letter can be used twice. The letters do not have to be connected. Proper nouns are not allowed, however, plurals

are. There is at least one nine letter word. Excellent: 33 words. Good: 26 words. Average: 21 words.

O N O

A F T

E R N

 [Ref: ZYAI] © Kevin Stone [Protected Puzzle]

Common words: afoot, aft, after, AFTERNOON, fan, far, fare, fat, fate, fear, feat, fen, fern, feta, foe, font, foot, footer, for, fore, fort, forte, frat, fret, fro, front, oaf, of, oft, often, raft, roof.

All words: afoot, afore, aft, after, AFTERNOON, arf, ef, eft, fa, fan, fane, fanner, fano, fanon, far, fare, faro, fat, fate, fear, feat, fen, fer, fern, fet, feta, fetor, foe, foetor, fon, font, foot, footer, for, fora, fore, fort, forte, frae, frat, frena, fret, fro, froe, front, fronton, nonfat, oaf, of, oft, often, ofter, raft, ref, reft, roof, tref.

Puzzle 31

Can you draw the following without lifting your pen from the paper, or going over the same line twice, or crossing any line?

 [Ref: ZEXG]

Puzzle 32

Can you find the anagrams of the following words?

COAGULATECAVITATESBACTERIALBALANCERSHEADLAMPSMILESTONETELEPHONYDIGNIFIESUNNOTICED

 [Ref: ZKRV] © Kevin Stone [Protected Puzzle]

CATALOGUEACTIVATESCALIBRATEBARNACLESLAMPSHADELIMESTONEPOLYTHENESIGNIFIEDCONTINUED

Puzzle 33

A long train, half a kilometre long, is about to enter a long tunnel. The tunnel is 10k long. If the speed of the train is 35kph, how long will it take for the entire train to pass through the tunnel - from the front of the train entering to the end of the train leaving the tunnel?

 [Ref: ZRWF]

The train takes 18 minutes. The front of the train has to initially travel 10k to leave the tunnel, and then a further 0.5k until the rear of the train has left the tunnel - a total of 10.5k. Which takes 60 * (10.5 / 35) = 18 minutes.

Puzzle 34

What is represented by this BrainBat?

ZZZEZZEZZEZZEZZZ

 [Ref: ZCGX] Copyrighted

Diagonally - the E's are along the diagonal.

Puzzle 35

Using the BrainTracker grid below, how many words can you find? Each word must contain the central R and no letter can be used twice, however, the letters do not have to be connected. Proper nouns are not allowed, however, plurals are. There is at least one nine letter word. Excellent: 100 words. Good: 80 words. Average: 60 words.

E T A

G R N

L E C

 [Ref: ZQKW] © Kevin Stone [Protected Puzzle]

Common words: acre, agree, alert, alter, anger, angler, antler, arc, are, art, canter, car, care, cart, cartel, cater, center, central, centre, cereal, claret, cleaner, clear, crag, crane, crate, create, eager, ear, earl, earn, eater, enlarge, enrage, enter, era, erect, eternal, gear, general, genre, gentler, glare, gnarl, grace, grant, grate, great, green, greet, lager, lancer, large, later, learn, learnt, lectern, leer, near, neater, nectar, race, rag, rage, ran, rang, range, rant, rat, rate, react, reagent, real, recant, recent, rectal, RECTANGLE, reel, reenact, regal, regent, relate, relent, renal, rent, rental, tar, tare, tear, tern, trace, trance, treacle, tree.

All words: acre, ager, agree, alert, alter, anger, angler, antler, antre, ar, arc, are, arete, argent, argle, art, artel, cager, caner, canter, car, care, careen, caret, carl, carle, carn, carnet, cart, carte, cartel, cater, centare, center, centra, central, centre, cerate, cere, cereal, clanger, claret, cleaner, clear, crag, crane, crate, create, creel, crenate, crenel, eager, eagre, ear, earl, earn, eater, ecarte, eger, egret, elater, enlarge, enrage, enter, entera, enteral, er, era, ere, erect, erg, ergate, ern, erne, eternal, galere, gar, garnet, gear, genera, general, genre, gentler, gerent, glancer, glare, gleaner, gnar, gnarl, grace, gran, grant, grantee, grat, grate, great, greaten, gree, green, greet, lacer, lager, lancer, lar, laree, large, later, leaner, lear, learn, learnt, lectern, leer, leger, nacre, narc, near, neater, nectar, negater, race, rag, rage, ragee, rale, ran, rance, ranee, rang, range, rant, rat, rate, ratel, re, react, reagent, real, rec, recane, recant, recent, reclean, recta, rectal, RECTANGLE, ree, reel, reenact, reg, regal, regale, regent, regental, reglet, regna, regnal, relace, relate, relent, relet, renal, rent, rental, rente, ret, retag, rete, taler, tangler, tanrec, tar, tare, targe, tarn, tear, teleran, tenrec, terce, tercel, terga, tergal, tern, terne, trace, trance, treacle, tree, treen.

Puzzle 36

Messrs Butcher, Baker, Carpenter and Plumber are currently attending another convention. No-one is currently, nor ever has been in the same profession as their name and no-one has had the same profession twice.

Alan is now a butcher, whereas Mr Brian Butcher used to be a baker. The person who is now a carpenter used to be a butcher. Charlie has never been a baker, Mr Darren Carpenter has never been a butcher and Mr Baker is not now a carpenter. Can you determine their full names, along with their current and previous professions?

 [Ref: ZFDI] © Kevin Stone [Protected Puzzle]

                 Current   PreviousAlan Baker       Butcher   CarpenterBrian Butcher    Plumber   BakerCharlie Plumber  Carpenter ButcherDarren Carpenter Baker     Plumber

Puzzle 37

This chess King has to visit every square on the 5x5 board, once, and once only. However, this King can only move up/down or left/right, and cannot move diagonally. How can the King complete this challenge?

 [Ref: ZPWE]

This cannot be done, no matter what route the King takes, there will always be at least one square unvisited.

Puzzle 38

Question 7 on the local BrainBashers pub quiz was:

Name an ancient invention, which is still used in some parts of the world today, that allows people to see through walls.

What can this be?

 [Ref: ZUAM]

A window!

Puzzle 39

What is represented by this BrainBat?

 [Ref: ZJZO] © Kevin Stone [Protected Puzzle]

Top hat.

Puzzle 40

Using the BrainTracker grid below, how many words can you find? Each word must contain the central F and no letter can be used twice, however, the

letters do not have to be connected. Proper nouns are not allowed, however, plurals are. There is at least one nine letter word. Excellent: 11 words. Good: 8 words. Average: 7 words.

F I T

C F D

U L I

 [Ref: ZNZC] © Kevin Stone [Protected Puzzle]

Common words: cliff, cuff, DIFFICULT, fit, fitful, flit, flu, fluid, if, lift, tiff.

All words: cliff, clift, cuff, cuif, DIFFICULT, duff, fid, fil, fit, fitful, flic, flit, flu, fluid, fluidic, fuci, fud, if, iff, lift, luff, tiff, tuff.

Puzzle 41

Alex, Bret, Chris, Derek, Eddie, Fred, Greg, Harold, and John are nine students who live in a three storey building, with three rooms on each floor. A room in the West wing, one in the centre, and one in the East wing. If you look directly at the building, the left side is West and the right side is East. Each student is assigned exactly one room. Can you find where each of their rooms is:

1. Harold does not live on the bottom floor.

2. Fred lives directly above John and directly next to Bret (who lives in the West wing).

3. Eddie lives in the East wing and one floor higher than Fred.

4. Derek lives directly above Fred.

5. Greg lives directly above Chris.

 [Ref: ZQJZ] © Chris Joh

From the highest floor to lowest we have:

West    Centre  East====    ======  ====Harold  Derek   EddieBret    Fred    Greg Alex    John    Chris

Puzzle 42

Using all of the letters A to Z, each once only, complete these words:

ban**a*i*et*aiz*s**thna*e**eco**ocu**la*e**nkf*xbe**ree*ui*ot*erwis**oast

 [Ref: ZVZH] © Kevin Stone [Protected Puzzle]

Bank, cabinet, maize ,sixth, navel, decoy, focus, glaze, junk, fox, beware, equip, otter, wish, roast.

Puzzle 43

What is represented by this BrainBat?

C H I M A D E N A

 [Ref: ZREJ]

Made in China.

Puzzle 44

What does this equation simplify to?

(x - a) * (x - b) * (x - c) * ... * (x - z) = ?

 [Ref: ZTDR]

0: since one of the terms is (x - x).

Puzzle 45

Using the BrainTracker grid below, how many words can you find? Each word must contain the central C and no letter can be used twice, however, the letters do not have to be connected. Proper nouns are not allowed, however, plurals are. There is at least one nine letter word. Excellent: 36 words. Good: 28 words. Average: 21 words.

R O C

I C L

D E O

 [Ref: ZRNU] © Kevin Stone [Protected Puzzle]

Common words: cider, circle, circled, cleric, clod, cod, code, coil, coiled, cold, colder, colic, color, colored, coo, cooed, cool, cooled, cooler, cord, core, cored, cried, CROCODILE, decor, dice, dicer, docile, ice, iced, lice, recoil, relic, rice, roc.

All words: cedi, ceil, cel, ceorl, cerci, ceric, cero, cicero, cider, circle, circled, cire, cleric, clerid, clod, coco, cod, code, codec, coder, coed, coil, coiled, coiler, coir, col, cold, colder, cole, coled, colic, color, colored, coo, cooed, cooer, cool, cooled, cooler, cor, cord, core, cored, credo, cried, croc, croci, CROCODILE, deco, decolor, decor, dice, dicer, doc, docile, dolce, dolci, ice, iced, lice, loci, loco, locoed, oceloid, odic, oleic, orc, rec, recoil, relic, rice, riced, roc.

Puzzle 46

During a recent police investigation, Chief Inspector Stone was interviewing five local villains to try and identify who stole Mrs Archer's cake from the mid-summers fayre. Below is a summary of their statements:

Arnold:  it wasn't Edward         it was Brian

Brian:   it wasn't Charlie         it wasn't Edward

Charlie: it was Edward         it wasn't Arnold

Derek:   it was Charlie         it was Brian

Edward:  it was Derek         it wasn't Arnold

It was well known that each suspect told exactly one lie. Can you determine who stole the cake?

 [Ref: ZFSC] © Kevin Stone [Protected Puzzle]

Charlie committed the terrible crime. The way to solve this puzzle is to look at each clue. We know that exactly one of each person's statements is true.

Looking at Arnold's statements, let's check to see 'it was Brian' is true? If 'it was Brian' is true, then we know the other statement is false, therefore it was Edward. This is a contradiction. Hence we now know it wasn't Brian, nor Edward (as 'it wasn't Edward' must be the true statement). Looking at Charlie's statement, we can similarly determine that it wasn't Arnold either. Edward's statement gives us that it wasn't Derek, which leaves only Charlie as the culprit. It is always wise to check this against the other clues. QED.

Puzzle 47

When the day before yesterday was referred to as the day after tomorrow, the day that was then called yesterday was as far away from the day we now call tomorrow as yesterday is from the day which we shall now be able to speak of last Monday as a week ago yesterday. What day is it?

 [Ref: ZSJQ]

Thursday. Let the day number be D3 (arbitrary), then the day before yesterday is D1, so for it to be referred to as the day after tomorrow makes it D6, the day then called yesterday was D5 - which is as far away from the day we now call D4, i.e. was a day ahead. This is the same as yesterday, D2, is from Tuesday. So D2 is one day ahead of Tuesday = Wednesday and we want D3 = Thursday. QED.

Puzzle 48

Answer quickly. Starting with an empty barrel, which happens first?

2/3 full1/4 empty1/2 full3/4 empty

 [Ref: ZBEQ] Submitted by: Ameer Sabri

3/4 empty: since 3/4 empty means 1/4 full.

Puzzle 49

Everything Mr Red owns is red, he lives in a red bungalow and his chairs are red, his tables are red. His ceiling, walls and floor are all red. All of his clothes are red, his shoes are red, even his carpet, television and phone are red. What colour are his stairs?

 [Ref: ZDTF]

He doesn't have any stairs because he lives in a bungalow!

Puzzle 50

Using the BrainTracker grid below, how many words can you find? Each word must contain the central R and no letter can be used twice, however, the letters do not have to be connected. Proper nouns are not allowed, however, plurals are. There is at least one nine letter word. Excellent: 38 words. Good: 31 words. Average: 25 words.

C O N

O R D

T C U

 [Ref: ZTMT] © Kevin Stone [Protected Puzzle]

Common words: concord, concur, condor, CONDUCTOR, contour, cord, cordon, corn, court, croon, crud, cur, curd, curt, doctor, donor, door, dour, nor, occur, odor, odour, or, our, rod, root, rot, rotund, round, rout, run, runt, rut, torn, tour, trod, turn, unroot, urn.

All words: concord, concur, condor, CONDUCTOR, contour, cor, cord, cordon, corn, cornu, cornuto, court, croc, croon, croton, crouton, crud, cur,

curd, curn, curt, doctor, donor, door, dor, dour, durn, duro, duroc, nor, nurd, occur, odor, odour, or, orc, ordo, orotund, ort, our, roc, rod, rondo, rood, root, rot, roto, rotund, round, rout, run, runt, rut, tor, torc, torn, toro, tour, trod, turn, unroot, untrod, urd, urn.

Puzzle 51

At a musical recital five students (John, Kate, Larry, Mary and Nick) performed five musical pieces. Two by Bach, two by Mozart and one by Vivaldi. There were three violinists and two pianists. Each student performed only one piece, and played only one instrument. Find the order of the students, their respective instruments and the composer, with the following conditions:

1. The composers were not played consecutively. Vivaldi was played last and Mozart was played first.

2. There was one piano piece that was played between two violin pieces, and two violin pieces between the first and last piano piece.

3. There were no piano pieces by Mozart.

4. Kate played third.

5. Nick played the piano, and immediately followed John, who played a piece by Mozart.

6. Mary did not play a piece by Vivaldi.

 [Ref: ZCSB] © Chris Joh

1 = John played Mozart on the Violin2 = Nick played Bach on the Piano3 = Kate played Mozart on the Violin4 = Mary played Bach on the Violin5 = Larry played Vivaldi on the Piano

Puzzle 52

What number comes next in this sequence:

0 10 1110 3110 132110 1113122110 ==?==

 [Ref: ZJVJ]

311311222110: each terms describes the previous one. We start with 0, which is one zero = 10. 10 is one one, one zero = 1110. 1110 is three ones, one zero = 3110, etc.

Puzzle 53

Below are thirteen words, each of which has had two letters removed. The remaining letters are in the correct order. Between them, the thirteen words have had the letters A-Z removed, each once only. Can you find the original words?

BAGDEDDIAUOAIDEOELUMSPIYGOUNALCRAUMBDTY

 [Ref: ZTNI] © Kevin Stone [Protected Puzzle]

Badge, dazed, diary, quota, index, vowel, bumps, pigmy, ghoul, final, crack, jumbo, dusty.

Puzzle 54

What is represented by this BrainBat?

 [Ref: ZUWG] Copyrighted

Milk shake.

Puzzle 55

Using the BrainTracker grid below, how many words can you find? Each word must contain the central D and no letter can be used twice, however, the letters do not have to be connected. Proper nouns are not allowed, however, plurals are. There is at least one nine letter word. Excellent: 64 words. Good: 42 words. Average: 30 words.

M E N

S D O

I N I

 [Ref: ZFCD] © Kevin Stone [Protected Puzzle]

Common words: demo, demon, demons, demos, den, denim, denims, dens, die, dies, dim, dime, DIMENSION, dimes, dims, din, dine, dines, dins, do, doe, does, dome, domes, don, done, dons, dos, dose, end, ends, id, ides, idiom, idioms, ids, inside, iodine, iodise, ionised, mend, mends, mid, midi, midis, mind, minds, mined, mod, mode, modes, mods, nod, node, nodes, nods, nosed, ode, odes, send, side, sinned, snide, sod.

All words: de, deism, demo, demon, demons, demos, den, denim, denims, dens, die, dies, dim, dime, DIMENSION, dimes, dims, din, dine, dines, dins, dis, disme, do, doe, does, dom, dome, domes, domine, domines, dominie, dominies, doms, don, done, donne, dons, donsie, dos, dose, ed, eidos, emodin, emodins, end, ends, id, idem, ides, idiom, idioms, ids, imid, imide, imides, imido, imids, indie, indies, inned, inside, iodin, iodine, iodines, iodins, iodise, iodism, ionised, med, medii, mend, mends, mid, midi, midis, mids, mind, minds, mined, misdo, misdone, mod, mode, modes, modi, mods, monde, mondes, monied, nide, nides, nidi, nod, node, nodes, nodi, nods, noised, nosed, od, ode, odes, ods, onside, send, side, sinned, sned, snide, sod, sonde.

Puzzle 56

Without using any reference material can you find the hidden countries. In each case, the letter indicates the first letter of the country in question, the number represents the number of letters in the country. For example, E7 would be England.

B10 E5 F4 F7 J5 L13 N9 S11 T7 Z6

 [Ref: ZQFR] © Kevin Stone [Protected Puzzle]

Bangladesh , Egypt , Fiji , Finland , Japan , Liechtenstein , Nicaragua , Switzerland , Tunisia , Zambia.

Puzzle 57

By changing the second letter of each of the words below, can you make another valid word. You have to change each word such that the second letters will reveal a ten letter word when read downwards. Therefore, what now reads CRAIHRUANE will be a real word.

ICONCREWFARMOILYCHOP

ARIDFUNDWAITGNATTEAR

 [Ref: ZVQX] © Kevin Stone [Protected Puzzle]

Rhinoceros: iron, chew, firm, only, coop, acid, fend, writ, goat, tsar.

Puzzle 58

We have been quite lucky with the weather recently, it has got steadily warmer each day, over the last five days. By this, I mean that the temperature rose by the same amount each day. The average temperature was 2 degrees C and I know it froze on two occasions. I also know the product of the temperatures was over 500 degrees but below 2,000 degrees and each temperature was an integer. What were the last 5 temperatures?

 [Ref: ZHIR] © Kevin Stone [Protected Puzzle]

The temperatures were -6, -2, 2, 6, 10 degrees C. Each day increased by a steady 4 degrees.

Puzzle 59

What is represented by this BrainBat?

       E      L     G    G   U  R TS

 [Ref: ZVPG] Copyrighted

Uphill struggle.

Puzzle 60

Using the BrainTracker grid below, how many words can you find? Each word must contain the central G and no letter can be used twice. The letters do not have to be connected. Proper nouns are not allowed, however, plurals are. There is at least one nine letter word. Excellent: 109 words. Good: 80 words. Average: 50 words.

N I T

S G A

U R E

 [Ref: ZEDM] © Kevin Stone [Protected Puzzle]

Common words: aegis, age, agent, ague, anger, angriest, angst, argent, argue, auger, easing, eating, erasing, gain, gainer, gait, gaiter, gantries, garnet, gas, gate, gaunt, gear, genius, gent, genus, get, giant, gin, girt, gist, gnat, gnu, grain, granite, grant, grate, gratis, great, grin, grist, grit, grunt, guest, guinea, guise, guitar, gun, gust, gut, ingest, nag, rag, rage, rang, range, rating, regain, reign, resign, resting, rig, ring, rug, ruing, rung, rusting, sag, sage, sang, searing, seating, sign, SIGNATURE, signer, signet, sing, singe, singer, snag, snug, stag, stage, stager, staring, sting, stinger, strange, string, strung, stung, sugar, suing, sung, surge, tag, tang, tangier, tearing, teasing, tiger, ting, tinge, tug, urge, urgent, usage, using.

All words: aegis, ag, age, ageist, agent, agents, ager, agers, ages, agin, agist, ague, agues, aigret, aigrets, anger, angers, angriest, angst, argent, argents, argue, argues, argus, astringe, auger, augers, augite, augites, earing, earings, easing, easting, eating, eatings, egis, eng, engirt, engs, erasing, erg, ergs, gae, gaen, gaes, gain, gainer, gainers, gains, gainst, gait,

gaiter, gaiters, gaits, gan, gane, ganister, gantries, gar, garnet, garnets, garni, gars, gas, gast, gaster, gastrin, gat, gate, gates, gats, gaun, gaunt, gaunter, GAUNTRIES, gaur, gaurs, gear, gears, gen, genius, gens, gent, gents, genu, genua, genus, gest, get, geta, getas, gets, giant, giants, gie, gien, gies, gin, gins, girn, girns, girt, girts, gist, git, gits, gnar, gnars, gnat, gnats, gnu, gnus, grain, grains, gran, granite, granites, grans, grant, grants, grat, grate, grates, gratin, gratine, gratins, gratis, great, greats, grin, grins, grist, grit, grits, grue, grues, grunt, grunts, guan, guans, guar, guars, guest, guinea, guineas, guise, guitar, guitars, gun, gunite, gunites, guns, gurnet, gurnets, gust, gustier, gut, guts, gutsier, ingate, ingates, ingest, ingesta, ingrate, ingrates, nag, nags, negus, rag, rage, rages, ragi, ragis, rags, rang, range, ranges, rangiest, rasing, rating, ratings, reagin, reagins, reg, regain, regains, regina, reginas, regius, regna, regs, reign, reigns, renig, renigs, resign, resting, retag, retags, reusing, rig, rigs, ring, rings, rug, ruga, rugae, rugate, rugs, ruing, rung, rungs, rusting, sag, sage, sager, sagier, sang, sanger, sarge, sating, sauger, sauteing, seagirt, searing, seating, seg, segni, sengi, sering, seringa, sign, SIGNATURE, signer, signet, sing, singe, singer, snag, snug, stag, stage, stager, stagier, staig, stang, staring, sting, stinger, strang, strange, string, strung, stung, sugar, suing, sung, surge, tag, tags, tang, tangier, tangs, targe, targes, taring, tearing, teasing, teg, tegs, tegua, teguas, terga, tiger, tigers, ting, tinge, tinges, tings, tragi, tragus, triage, triages, trig, trigs, trueing, trug, trugs, truing, tug, tugs, tung, tungs, ungirt, unitage, unitages, unrig, unrigs, urge, urgent, urges, usage, using.

Puzzle 61

Here is snippet of section C of the curious multiple-choice entrance exam into the exclusive BrainBashers puzzle club.

1. The first question with C as the correct answer is:

A. 3B. 4C. 1D. 2

2. The first question with A as the correct answer is:

A. 4B. 2C. 3D. 1

3. The first question with D as the correct answer is:

A. 1B. 2C. 4D. 3

4. The first question with B as the correct answer is:

A. 2B. 4C. 3D. 1

 [Ref: ZDUV] © Kevin Stone [Protected Puzzle]

1. D2. C3. A4. B

Puzzle 62

Within the BrainBashers school, the science department has three disciplines. In total, 280 students study chemistry, 254 students study physics and 280 students study biology. 97 students study both chemistry and physics, 138 students study both physics and biology, 152 students study both chemistry and biology. 73 students study all three disciplines. Can you determine how many students there are in the science department? The answer is well below 814.

 [Ref: ZZYU] © Kevin Stone [Protected Puzzle]

500 students. The answer is most easily seen if three intersecting circles are drawn, and the numbers inside each section worked out.

Puzzle 63

An errand boy was collecting boxes of cakes for the Summer Fair. He collected boxes from various people in his local village and each box was labelled in Roman Numerals with the number of cakes in the box. By the time the errand boy had collected the last box, he was quite hungry, and really needed to eat at least one cake. Luckily the last box was marked with an underlined XI, meaning there were 11 cakes in it. He had the brain wave of turning the box around and underlining the number again to give the impression there were IX, that is 9 cakes. However, after eating the 2 cakes, he was still hungry. How can he change the number shown on the box again and eat more cakes?

 [Ref: ZQRR] Idea by Alvin Kong

He could add an S to the IX to give the impression there were supposed to be 6 cakes in the box, so eating 5 cakes in total.

Puzzle 64

This is an unusual paragraph. I'm curious how quickly you can find out what is so unusual about it. It looks so plain you would think nothing is wrong with it. In fact, nothing is wrong with it! It is unusual though. Study it, and think about it, but you still may not find anything odd. But if you work at it a bit, you might find out. Try to do so without any coaching!

 [Ref: ZINO]

The letter 'e', which is the most common letter in the English language, does not appear once in the paragraph.

Puzzle 65

Using the BrainTracker grid below, how many words can you find? Each word must contain the central H and no letter can be used twice. The letters do not have to be connected. Proper nouns are not allowed, however, plurals are. There is at least one nine letter word. Excellent: 46 words. Good: 30 words. Average: 20 words.

E A R

T H E

B N I

 [Ref: ZCWW] © Kevin Stone [Protected Puzzle]

Common words: bath, bathe, beneath, berth, birth, breath, breathe, earth, earthen, either, ether, habit, hair, hairnet, hare, hat, hate, he, hear, heart, heat, heater, heir, hen, her, herb, here, hernia, hi, HIBERNATE, hint, hire, hit, neither, nether, reheat, than, the, thee, their, then, there, thin, three.

All words: aether, ah, airth, anther, bah, baht, baith, bath, bathe, bather, beneath, berth, bertha, beth, birth, breath, breathe, earth, earthen, eath, eh, either, eth, ethane, ether, ha, habit, hae, haen, haet, hair, hairnet, hant, hare, hart, hat, hate, hater, he, hear, heart, hearten, heat, heater, heir, hen, henbit, hent, her, herb, here, hereat, herein, hern, hernia, herniae, herniate, het, hi, HIBERNATE, hie, hin, hint, hinter, hire, hit, INBREATHE, inearth, inhere, ither, nah, neath, neither, nether, nth, rah, rath, rathe, rehab, reheat, rhea, tahr, thae, than, thane, the, thebaine, thebe, thee, thein, theine, their, then, thenar, there, therein, thin, thine, thir, three.

Puzzle 66

How many times does the word JULY appear in this grid?

Y J U L Y U J U L Y U J U L Y L J U L Y Y Y Y J L Y L U J U U J J J J L Y L L U Y Y Y Y Y J U U U U U L U U J L L L L L Y L U J L J U J J J J Y U U U Y Y U J Y Y J U J Y U Y J J J J L J U L Y L U J U L Y J U U Y U U L U Y L U J U Y U L L L J J L Y J Y J Y J U L Y J Y Y U U J Y J U L Y L Y U L L L J L L J U L Y L U L U J U U U J Y Y Y Y L Y J Y J U J J L U J J U L Y L Y L U J U J Y L U J J U U U J U L Y L U J Y L U J J U J U J Y J U L Y L Y L U J

 [Ref: ZZIM] © Kevin Stone [Protected Puzzle]

77.

Puzzle 67

100 prisoners are locked up in individual cells, unable to see, speak or communicate in any way with each other. There is a central living room with a single light bulb, the bulb is initially off and no prisoner can see the light bulb from their own cell.

Every day, the warden picks a prisoner at random, and that prisoner goes to the central living room. While there, the prisoner can toggle the bulb if they wish (off to on, or on to off). At any point, any prisoner can claim that all 100 prisoners have been to the living room. If they are wrong then all 100 prisoners will locked up forever! However, if they are correct all of the prisoners are set free.

Before the random picking begins, the prisoners are allowed to discuss a

plan. What is their best plan to determine when all 100 prisoners have visited the living room?

 [Ref: ZAWX]

One person is chosen as the Counter. When a prisoner enters the living room, if the light is off they turn it on - but only if they have never switched it on before. When the Counter enters the room, if the light is on, they will turn it off. When the Counter has turned the light off 99 times, they will know that 99 prisoners have turned it on, and therefore every one of them has visited the living room and this will allow them all to be set free. QED.

Puzzle 68

My 10, 8, 3 is a boisterous lad.My 9, 4, 8, 7 is the underground part of a tree.My 6, 5, 7 is admired by some.My 3, 4, 1, 7 can be used to keep a door shut.My 2, 1, 7, 6, 9 is where we pray.My whole is where some discoveries are made.

 [Ref: ZOOD] © Kevin Stone [Protected Puzzle]

Laboratory: yob, root, art, bolt, altar.

Puzzle 69

If cat and a half can catch a mouse and a half in a day and a half how many mice can 3 cats catch in 3 days?

 [Ref: ZSSR]

Six mice: if a cat and a half can catch a mouse and a half in a day and a half - this means that one cat catches one mouse in a day and a half. Therefore in 3 days, one cat catches 2 mice. Therefore 3 cats will catch 6 mice in 3 days.

Puzzle 70

Using the BrainTracker grid below, how many words can you find? Each word must contain the central G and no letter can be used twice, however, the letters do not have to be connected. Proper nouns are not allowed, however, plurals are. There is at least one nine letter word. Excellent: 53 words. Good: 42 words. Average: 33 words.

N F R

O G A

L Y D

 [Ref: ZTJR] © Kevin Stone [Protected Puzzle]

Common words: ago, agony, along, angry, argon, daylong, dog, drag, dragon, DRAGONFLY, fag, fang, flag, flagon, flog, fog, frog, gad, gadfly, gal, gaol, glad, gland, glory, gnarl, gnarly, go, goad, goal, god, godly, gold, golf, gory, grad, grand, grandly, gray, groan, gyro, lag, log, long, nag, organ, rag, rang, yoga.

All words: ag, agly, ago, agon, agony, algor, along, angry, argol, argon, dag, dang, daylong, dog, dogy, dong, donga, drag, dragon, DRAGONFLY, fag, fang, flag, flagon, flog, flong, fog, fogy, frag, frog, gad, gadfly, gal, gan, ganof, gaol, gar, gay, glad, glady, gland, glary, glory, gnar, gnarl, gnarly, go, goa, goad, goal, god, godly, gold, goldarn, golf, gonad, gor, goral, gory, grad, gran, grand, grandly, gray, groan, gyral, gyro, gyron, lag, lang, largo, log, logan, logy, long, nag, nog, orang, orangy, organ, organdy, orgy, rag, rang, rangy, yang, yoga.

Puzzle 71

The four clowns in this puzzle all competed for the much-prized 'Clown of the Year' award recently. There were 30 clowns in total who entered the competition and each had to make the judges laugh.

From the clues below, can you work out each clown's name, the town he or she came from, what place each clown was awarded and the most comical moment of each clown's routine?

1. The Budsworth clown finished one place lower than Strumpy who is not from Witfield.

2. The judges roared with laughter as one clown cycled across a tightrope, wobbled, screamed and fell head first into a pool of water. He finished two places below Boo Boo who was not from Witfield.

3. The clown who finished in 7th place lost points when her big red nose fell off during her manic routine. This involved being hit with a giant rubber mallet by her assistant who was supposed to hit her on the shoulder but unfortunately had something in his eye at the time and accidentally bashed her in the face instead.

4. Tambo was disappointed when his usually masterful custard pie antics failed to impress the judges sufficiently to secure the award. He was not the clown from Stockville whose final placing was lower than the Shrimpton clown.

Clowns: Boo Boo, Grego, Strumpy, TamboTowns: Budsworth, Shrimpton, Stockville, WitfieldPosition: 2nd, 4th, 5th, 7thRoutine: Custard Pie, Flower, Rubber Mallet, Unicycle

 [Ref: ZPQT] © Rodins Ltd

Name           Town                 #         Routine Boo Boo  Shrimpton   2nd  FlowerStrumpy  Stockville  4th  UnicycleTambo    Budsworth   5th  Custard PieGrego    Whitfield   7th  Rubber Mallet

The positions that the four clowns could finish are 2nd, 4th, 5th and 7th. The Budsworth clown finished one place below Strumpy (1) so Strumpy must have been 4th and the Budsworth clown 5th. The (male) clown on the unicycle finished two places below Boo Boo (2) so must have been 7th or

4th. Since the clown who came 7th was female, the clown on the unicycle must have been 4th and is Strumpy and Boo Boo came 2nd. Tambo (male) is not the clown who came 7th (3), 2nd (Boo Boo) or 4th (Strumpy) so came 5th with his custard pie act (4) and Grego came 7th with her rubber mallet so by elimination, Boo Boo's act involved the flower. The Budsworth clown (Tambo) came 5th, neither Strumpy (1) nor Boo Boo (2) came from Whitfield so the clown from Whitfield was Grego (7th). The Shrimpton clown was placed higher than the Stockville clown (4) so came 2nd and the Stockville clown came 4th.

Puzzle 72

Hidden in the grid below are 6 hidden animals, once you have crossed of the hidden animals, you should be left with seven letters, which spell another animal. The letters are hidden in sequence using the move of a chess knight. For example, if the first letter of one of the animals was the top-right F, then the second letter could only be either F or A.

 [Ref: ZDWI] © Kevin Stone [Protected Puzzle]

Hamster, the hidden animals were leopard, elephant, antelope, giraffe, kangaroo, goat:

Puzzle 73

During the recent BrainBashers cipher convention, a Morse code contest took place. The contest consisted of a Morse code transmission where the spaces between the letters and words were missing. Can you decipher the sequence and find 10 related words?

Luckily, BrainBashers has provided you with a listing of the Morse code characters. Good luck!

 [Ref: ZCCR] © Kevin Stone [Protected Puzzle]

Summer, Monday, Wednesday, evening, spring, midnight, hour, clock, week, month.

Puzzle 74

What is represented by this BrainBat?

Schubert's Symphon

 [Ref: ZIAF]

Schubert's Unfinished Symphony.

Puzzle 75

Using the BrainTracker grid below, how many words can you find? Each word must contain the central M and no letter can be used twice, however, the letters do not have to be connected. Proper nouns are not allowed, however, plurals are. There is at least one nine letter word. Excellent: 21 words. Good: 16 words. Average: 12 words.

O T AT M IU C A

 [Ref: ZGGN] © Kevin Stone [Protected Puzzle]

Common words: aim, am, atom, atomic, AUTOMATIC, cam, coma, ma, mat, matt, mica, mitt, moat, mot, mu, mutt, omit, tam, tom, tomcat, um.

All words: aim, am, ama, ami, amia, amu, atma, atom, atomic, AUTOMATIC, cam, coma, ma, mac, mat, matt, maut, mi, miaou, mica, mitt, mo, moa, moat, moc, mot, mott, mu, mut, mutt, om, omit, tam, tatami, tom, tomcat, um, umiac.

Puzzle 76

During a recent plane and train spotting contest, five eager entrants were lined up ready to be tested on their spotting ability. They had each spotted a number of planes (26, 86, 123, 174, 250) and a number of trains (5, 42, 45, 98, 105). From the clues below, can you determine what colour anorak each was wearing, their position, their age (21, 23, 31, 36, 40) and the number of trains and planes spotted?

1. Simon spotted 44 less trains than planes.2. Keith was 36 years old.3. The person on the far right was 8 years younger than Simon, and spotted 174 planes.4. James was wearing a beige anorak and spotted 37 trains fewer than Simon.5. The person who was wearing a green anorak, was 19 years younger than the person to his left.6. Steven spotted 105 trains and 250 planes.7. The person in the centre was 31 years old, was wearing a blue anorak and spotted 42 trains.8. Alan, who was on the far left, spotted 26 planes, and spotted 72 trains more than planes.9. The person who was wearing a red anorak, was 4 years older than Keith and was not next to the person wearing a blue anorak.10.The person who was next to the 31 year old but not next to the person who spotted 26 planes, was wearing a orange anorak, and spotted 45 trains.

 [Ref: ZJCD] © Kevin Stone [Protected Puzzle] - Created using Brain Cell

#   Name         Anorak     Age     Planes     Trains 1 Alan    red     40    26      982 Steven  green   21   250     1053 Simon   blue    31    86      424 Keith   orange  36   123      455 James   beige   23   174       5

Puzzle 77

Hidden below are eight, 7 letter words. Each word begins with the central S and you can move one letter in any direction to the next letter. All of the letters are used exactly once each. What are the words?

G N L K R T E

E I E O X A E

K R N I H M N

E A Y S E A P

R E P P A W O

N E A G U E O

R N E S A D E

 [Ref: ZCGQ] © Kevin Stone [Protected Puzzle]

Sixteen, shampoo, seaweed, sausage, spanner, speaker, syringe, snorkel.

Puzzle 78

You have the misfortune to own an unreliable clock. This one loses exactly 20 minutes every hour. It is now showing 8.00am and you know that is was correct at midnight, when you set it. The clock stopped 10 hours ago, what is the correct time now?

 [Ref: ZLMT] © Kevin Stone [Protected Puzzle]

10:00pm: since the clock is losing 20 minutes every hour, for every real hour that has passed, the clock will only show 40 minutes. Since the clock shows 8:00am, we know that 480 clock minutes have passed. This therefore equals 720 real minutes and hence 12 hours. The clock stopped 10 hours ago and so the time must now be 10.00pm. QED.

Puzzle 79

What is missing from this sequence:

teloiv ogidni eulb ==?== wolley egnaro der

 [Ref: ZVUZ] © Kevin Stone [Protected Puzzle]

neerg: these are the colours of the rainbow reversed.

Puzzle 80

Using the BrainTracker grid below, how many words can you find? Each word must contain the central F and no letter can be used twice, however, the letters do not have to be connected. Proper nouns are not allowed, however, plurals are. There is at least one nine letter word. Excellent: 22 words. Good: 17 words. Average: 13 words.

L T T

B F U

E R Y

 [Ref: ZVLN] © Kevin Stone [Protected Puzzle]

Common words: belfry, BUTTERFLY, elf, felt, flu, flue, flute, flutter, fluttery, fly, flyer, fret, fry, fuel, fur, furl, fury, left, tuft, tufty, turf.

All words: belfry, BUTTERFLY, ef, eft, elf, felt, fer, ferly, fet, feu, fey, fleury, fley, flu, flub, flue, flute, fluter, flutey, flutter, fluttery, fluty, fluyt, fly, flyer, flyte, fret, fretty, fry, fub, fuel, fur, furl, fury, fytte, left, lefty, ref, refly, reft, tref, tuft, tufter, tufty, turf, turfy.

Puzzle 81

Four friends were competing in the internationally renowned BrainBashers Bog Snorkelling competition. As usual, the judges were a little careless and once again, they managed to loose the results. Luckily, a number of spectators were able to remember the following snippets of information:

Only one person wore the same number as the position they finished. Gary, who didn't wear green, beat Barry. Larry beat the person who wore yellow. The person who wore number 3, wore green. The person who wore number 2 finished first whereas Harry came last. The person who finished second wore green, Barry wore yellow and the person wearing red beat the person wearing blue.

Can you work out who finished where, the number and colour they wore?

 [Ref: ZRZH] © Kevin Stone [Protected Puzzle]

#   Name       Wore     Colour 1 Gary   2     red2 Larry  3     green3 Barry  1     yellow4 Harry  4     blue

Puzzle 82

Below you will find 15 well-known six letter words, with only their endings remaining. Can you determine the words?

...cil

...hid

...nze

...ese

...lug

...som

...uxe

...uum

...arm

...amo

...rby

...dst

...sai

...too

...fen

 [Ref: ZFLW] © Kevin Stone [Protected Puzzle]

Pencil, orchid, bronze, cheese, unplug, ransom, deluxe, vacuum, disarm, dynamo, nearby, amidst, bonsai, tattoo, deafen.

Puzzle 83

My brother, Julian, is a little simple. I recently asked him to buy me some ribbon for my daughter's pretty pink bonnet. He went to the haberdashery shop for the required length but accidentally interchanged the feet and inches. When I measured the resulting ribbon I only had 5/8 of the length I required. How much ribbon did I originally ask for?

 [Ref: ZHFJ] © Kevin Stone [Protected Puzzle]

I asked for 7 feet, 4 inches and my brother brought me 4 feet, 7 inches. If we label what I asked for as A feet and B inches, which is (12 x A + B) inches, then I actually received B feet and A inches, which is (12 x B + A) inches. Which means that:

   (5 / 8) x (12 x A + B) = (12 x B + A)

Simplifying gives:

   A = (91 / 52) x B

As B is the number of inches, it can only be between 1 and 12 and must give A as a whole number of feet. B = 4 is the only possible value, which means that A = 7. So I originally asked for 7 feet, 4 inches. QED.

Puzzle 84

What four related words are merged here:

SWAS PURI UINM NTTU MGER MNER

 [Ref: ZAAF] © Kevin Stone [Protected Puzzle]

Spring, summer, autumn and winter.

Puzzle 85

Using the BrainTracker grid below, how many words can you find? Each word must contain the central D and no letter can be used twice, however, the letters do not have to be connected. Proper nouns are not allowed, however, plurals are. There is at least one nine letter word. Excellent: 30 words. Good: 23 words. Average: 18 words.

S S I

G D E

U D I

 [Ref: ZFGG] © Kevin Stone [Protected Puzzle]

Common words: did, die, died, dies, dig, digs, disguise, DISGUISED, disuse, disused, dud, dude, dudes, duds, due, dues, dug, guide, guided, guides, id, ides, ids, issued, side, sided, sides, suds, sued, used.

All words: de, did, didie, didies, die, died, dies, diesis, dig, digs, dis, disguise, DISGUISED, diss, dissed, disuse, disused, dud, dude, dudes, duds, due, dues, dug, dugs, dui, ed, ged, geds, gid, giddies, gids, gied, gude, gudes, guid, guide, guided, guides, guids, guised, gussied, id, ides, ids, issued, side, sided, sides, sudd, sudds, suds, sudsed, sued, used.

Puzzle 86

Place the words below into pairs. You will then have 5 lots of eight letters, each of which is an anagram of an animal. What are the original 5 animals?

PINKTENTMOSTMUCHTHENLEAPSOOTAREATIREMARE

 [Ref: ZSKP] © Kevin Stone [Protected Puzzle]

SOOT + TIRE = TORTOISEMOST + MARE = MARMOSETMUCH + PINK = CHIPMUNKAREA + TENT = ANTEATERLEAP + THEN = ELEPHANT

Puzzle 87

Many years ago, a cruise liner sank in the middle of the Pacific Ocean. The survivors luckily landed on a remote desert island. There was enough food for the 220 people to last three weeks. Six days later a rescue ship appeared, unluckily this ship also sank, leaving an additional 55 people stranded on the island to now share the original rationed food. The food obviously had to be re-rationed, but everyone was now on one-half of the original ration, so how many days in total would the food last for, from the day of the original sinking?

 [Ref: ZNSV] © Kevin Stone [Protected Puzzle]

30 days: originally there was enough food for 220 people for 21 days, which totals 4620 rations. After 6 days 1320 rations were eaten. Therefore there were now 3300 rations for 275 people, which would last for another 24 days at one-half ration per person. Which is 30 days in total from the original sinking.

Puzzle 88

Geoff and I were playing on the roundabout at the local park. It was very large and we stood on opposite sides and we spun the roundabout anti-clockwise. I threw a ball to Geoff. Did the ball go to Geoff, or did it go to the right of him or the left of him?

 [Ref: ZBBY]

Since the roundabout moved while the ball was travelling to Geoff, the ball went to the right of him (i.e. his left).

Puzzle 89

What common word has 4 vowels, one after the other?

 [Ref: ZAKM]

Queue.

Puzzle 90

Using the BrainTracker grid below, how many words can you find? Each word must contain the central O and no letter can be used twice, however, the letters do not have to be connected. Proper nouns are not allowed, however, plurals are. There is at least one nine letter word. Excellent: 29 words. Good: 24 words. Average: 19 words.

Y T H

L O O

G Y M

 [Ref: ZGOR] © Kevin Stone [Protected Puzzle]

Common words: gloom, gloomy, go, goo, got, hog, holy, hoot, hot, log, logo, loo, loom, loot, lot, moo, moot, moth, MYTHOLOGY, oh, ohm, ooh, to, tog, tom, too, tool, toy.

All words: glom, gloom, gloomy, go, goo, got, goy, ho, hog, holm, holt, holy, homy, hooly, hoot, hooty, hot, hotly, hoy, lo, log, logo, logy, loo, loom, loot, lot, loth, mho, mo, mog, mol, molt, molto, moly, moo, mool, moot, mot, moth, mothy, myology, MYTHOLOGY, oh, ohm, oho, ology, om, ooh, oot, oy, tho, thymol, to, tog, tom, too, tool, toom, toy, toyo, yo, yogh, yom.

Puzzle 91

At the local games evening, four lads were competing in the Scrabble and chess competitions. Liam beat Mark in chess, James came third and the 16 year old won. Liam came second in Scrabble, the 15 year old won, James beat the 18 year old and the 19 year old came third. Kevin is 3 years younger than Mark. The person who came last in chess, came third in Scrabble and only one lad got the same position in both games. Can you determine the ages of the lads and the positions in the two games?

 [Ref: ZIWD] © Kevin Stone [Protected Puzzle]

Name       Age     Scrabble     Chess James  15   1         3Kevin  16   4         1Liam   18   2         2Mark   19   3         4

Puzzle 92

Starting in the bottom left corner and moving either up or right, adding up the numbers along the way, what is the largest sum which can be made?

 [Ref: ZWSC] © Kevin Stone [Protected Puzzle]

38:

Puzzle 93

Below are thirteen 5 lettered, everyday words, each of which has had two of its letters removed. In total these 26 letters are A-Z. The remaining letters in each word are in the correct order. There are no words which are spelled differently based upon location (favour/favor, etc) and there are no plurals. Can you determine the original words?

AAEAVEUIEGONPOTVIE

ACTMETBEPUGELANRAEBON

 [Ref: ZIJL] © Kevin Stone [Protected Puzzle]

Amaze, brave, quiet, wagon, pivot, vixen, yacht, comet, bleep, judge, flank, grape, bonus.

Puzzle 94

If the Manchester Quartet can play Beethoven's 9th Symphony in 12 minutes, how quickly can the Birmingham Trio play it?

 [Ref: ZCQZ]

In the same time, the time taken to play should not rely on the number of players!

Puzzle 95

Using the BrainTracker grid below, how many words can you find? Each word must contain the central C and no letter can be used twice, however, the letters do not have to be connected. Proper nouns are not allowed, however, plurals are. There is at least one nine letter word. Excellent: 51 words. Good: 40 words. Average: 30 words.

E O L

E C S

E P T

 [Ref: ZOEX] © Kevin Stone [Protected Puzzle]

Common words: clop, clops, close, closet, clot, clots, colt, colts, cop, cope, copes, cops, copse, cost, cot, cots, elect, elects, scope, sec, sect, select, spec, TELESCOPE.

All words: cee, cees, cel, celeste, cels, celt, celts, cep, cepe, cepes, ceps, cete, cetes, clepe, clepes, clept, clop, clops, close, closet, clot, clots, col, cole, coles, cols, colt, colts, cop, cope, copes, cops, copse, cos, coset, cost, cot, cote, cotes, cots, elect, elects, escot, pec, pecs, scop, scope, scot, sec, sect, select, socle, spec, TELESCOPE.

Puzzle 96

Six men, whose names are Fred Alberts, Larry Smith, Brian Martin, Marty Jones, Bill Edison, and John Fox were in an elevator together. Suddenly, the lights went out. When the lights came back on, Fred Alberts was found stabbed. Other detectives have investigated. They have questioned the suspects, the witnesses, and people who know the suspects. They have collected physical evidence (hair samples, fibre samples, etc.) from the crime scene. They have collected 14 clues, but have not been able to solve the crime. Therefore, they have called in the world's greatest detective, YOU. You must now examine the clues and solve the murder.

No two suspects have the same weight, colour shoes, colour umbrella, colour car, or hair colour.The suspect who owns a purple car was wearing tan shoes.The suspect who weighs 180 pounds owns a green car.Brian Martin owns a green car.The suspect who owns a black car was wearing blue shoes.The suspect who weighs 150 pounds was wearing tan shoes.Marty Jones was carrying a purple umbrella.John Fox has red hair.Larry Smith weighs 210 pounds.The suspect who weighs 190 pounds was wearing blue shoes.The suspect who was carrying a red umbrella is not the one who was wearing black shoes.

The murderer owns a black car.The suspect who owns a white car is not the one who weighs 170 pounds.Bill Edison was wearing brown shoes.The suspect who weighs 190 pounds is not the one who has red hair.

 [Ref: ZGSB] © David Leithauser

Marty Jones: Brian Martin owns a green car. The murderer owns a black car, so Brian Martin is not the murderer. The suspect who owns a black car was wearing blue shoes. The suspect who weighs 190 pounds was wearing blue shoes. The suspect who weighs 190 pounds is not the one who has red hair. Therefore, one suspect was wearing blue shoes, owns a black car, weighs 190 pounds, and is not the one who has red hair. But Bill Edison was wearing brown shoes, John Fox has red hair, Larry Smith weighs 210 pounds, and Brian Martin owns a green car. Therefore, the only suspect who could be this suspect is Marty Jones. Since this suspect, Marty Jones, owns a black car and the murderer owns a black car, he is the murderer.

Puzzle 97

A large fresh water reservoir has two types of drainage system. Small pipes and large pipes. 6 large pipes, on their own, can drain the reservoir in 12 hours. 3 large pipes and 9 small pipes, at the same time, can drain the reservoir in 8 hours. How long will 5 small pipes, on their own, take to drain the reservoir?

 [Ref: ZHRT] © Kevin Stone [Protected Puzzle]

21 hours and 36 minutes. The exact size of the pipes and reservoir does not matter. If we label the large pipes L, the small pipes S and if the reservior has a total of T litres, then:

   T / 6L = 12 which means L = T / 72

and

   T / (3L + 9S) = 8 which means that S = T / 108

we want

   T / 5S which gives 108 / 5 hours = 21.6 hours = 21 hours and 36 minutes.

Puzzle 98

What letter comes first in this grid?

_  T  T  F  FS  S  E  N  TE  T  T  F  FS  S  E  N  T

 [Ref: ZCIQ]

O: the letters are the first letters of the first numbers, One, Two, Three, etc.

Puzzle 99

Can you find 13 animals in this rather curious poem:

A person, as simple we are.Catch the kid o'er the bridge.Follow the chief, oxtail soup we like.Anagram ANPI gives us PAIN, cower under a ridge.

 [Ref: ZVQF] © Kevin Stone [Protected Puzzle]

Ape, ass, ewe, cat, kid, doe, fox, ox, nag, man, pig, cow, ram.

Puzzle 100

Using the BrainTracker grid below, how many words can you find? Each word must contain the central C and no letter can be used twice, however, the

letters do not have to be connected. Proper nouns are not allowed, however, plurals are. There is at least one nine letter word. Excellent: 11 words. Good: 9 words. Average: 8 words.

A D B

O C D

A R R

 [Ref: ZYKT] © Kevin Stone [Protected Puzzle]

Common words: arc, cab, cad, car, card, CARDBOARD, carob, cob, cobra, cod, coda, cord, crab, doc.

All words: arc, arco, cab, cad, car, carb, carbo, carbora, card, CARDBOARD, carob, carr, cob, cobra, cod, coda, cor, cord, crab, doc, oca, orc, orca, roc.

Puzzle 101

You find yourself at the Greenjack table. Greenjack is similar to Blackjack, except that it is completely different. It is played with a deck of only 16 cards, divided into 4 suits: Red, Blue, Orange and Green. There are four cards in each suit: Ace, King, Queen and Jack. Ace outranks King, which outranks Queen, which outranks Jack - except for the Green Jack, which outranks every other card. If two cards have the same face value, then Red outranks Blue, which outranks Orange, which outranks Green, again except for the Green Jack, which outranks everything.

Here's how the game is played: you are dealt one card face up, and the dealer is dealt one card face down. The dealer then makes some true statements, and you have to work out who has the higher card, you or the dealer. It's that simple!

Round 3:You are dealt the Red Queen and the dealer makes three statements:

1. My card could lose to a Blue card.2. Knowing this, if I am more likely to have an Ace or a King than a Queen or

a Jack, then I have an Orange card. Otherwise, I don't.3. Given all of the information you now know, if I am more likely to have a Jack than an Ace, then I actually have a King. Otherwise, I don't.

Who has the higher card, you or the dealer?

 [Ref: ZGDD] © E.J. ShamblenWebsite: www.puzzlemonster.com

The dealer: After #1 you know that you have the Red Queen (RQ), and the dealer's card could be beaten by a blue card, so the dealer can only have one of the following cards: RK, RJ, BK, BQ, BJ, OA, OK, OQ, OJ, GA, GK, GQ. Of these 12 cards there are 6 Aces or Kings, therefore by #2 their card is not orange. The dealer now has one of the following cards: RK, RJ, BK, BQ, BJ, GA, GK, GQ. Of these 8 cards there are 2 Jacks and 1 Ace, therefore by #3 their card is a King, which beats your Queen. QED.

Puzzle 102

Hidden in the grid below are three boys names. Starting at any point, trace out the path of a chess knight. The last letter of one name starts the next one. What are the names?

 [Ref: ZQDY] © Kevin Stone [Protected Puzzle]

Kevin, Neil and Larry.

Puzzle 103

A trout's tail weighs eight pounds. Its head weighs as much as the tail and one-half of the body combined, and the body weighs as much as the head and tail combined. What does the whole trout weigh?

 [Ref: ZKSK] © Kevin Stone [Protected Puzzle]

64 pounds: the head weighs 24 pounds, the body weighs 32 pounds and the tail weighs 8 pounds.

Puzzle 104

In ancient days gone by a wealthy land owner challenges his two sons to a horse race. The one whose horse is slowest will inherit the entire estate. After a few days into the race, the brothers have made no progress and begin to wonder what to do. Upon the advice of a wise old man they jumped on the horses and raced as fast as they could to the finish line. What did the wise old man suggest?

 [Ref: ZTDG]

The wise man told them to switch horses as the race depended on the slowest horse.

Puzzle 105

Using the BrainTracker grid below, how many words can you find? Each word must contain the central C and no letter can be used twice, however, the letters do not have to be connected. Proper nouns are not allowed, however, plurals are. There is at least one nine letter word. Excellent: 48 words. Good: 35 words. Average: 28 words.

S C R

R C O

E W A

 [Ref: ZPEC] © Kevin Stone [Protected Puzzle]

Common words: ace, aces, acre, acres, arc, arcs, car, care, carer, carers, cares, cars, case, caw, caws, coarse, coarser, coca, core, corer, corers, cores, cosec, cow, cower, cowers, cows, crew, crews, crow, crows, escrow, race, racer, racers, races, roc, rocs, sac, scar, scarce, scarcer, scare, SCARECROW, score, screw, sec, soccer.

All words: ace, aces, acre, acres, arc, arco, arcs, car, care, carer, carers, cares, carr, carrs, cars, carse, case, caw, caws, ceca, cero, ceros, coarse, coarser, coca, cocas, cor, core, corer, corers, cores, corsac, corse, cos, cosec, cow, cower, cowers, cows, craw, craws, crew, crews, croc, crocs, crore, crores, crow, crower, crowers, crows, escar, escrow, oca, ocas, ocrea, orc, orca, orcas, orcs, race, racer, racers, races, rec, recs, roc, rocs, sac, scar, scarce, scarcer, scare, SCARECROW, scarer, score, scorer, scow, screw, sec, secco, serac, soccer, sowcar.

Puzzle 106

After a local art theft, six suspects were being interviewed. Below is a summary of their statements. Police know that exactly four of them told one lie each and all of the other statements are true. From this information can you tell who committed the crime?

Alan said:   It wasn't Brian   It wasn't Dave   It wasn't Eddie

Brian said:   It wasn't Alan   It wasn't Charlie   It wasn't Eddie

Charlie said:   It wasn't Brian   It wasn't Freddie

   It wasn't Eddie

Dave said:   It wasn't Alan   It wasn't Freddie   It wasn't Charlie

Eddie said:   It wasn't Charlie   It wasn't Dave   It wasn't Freddie

Freddie said:   It wasn't Charlie   It wasn't Dave   It wasn't Alan

 [Ref: ZUYK] © Kevin Stone [Protected Puzzle]

Charlie committed the crime.

Puzzle 107

My mother purchased 100 pounds of potatoes last week, which I knew to be exactly 99% water. After a week, drying in the sun, they had dried a little to become only 98% water. What was the total weight of the potatoes now?

 [Ref: ZDMV]

50 pounds: in the original 100 pounds, 99% was water, therefore the potato element weighed 1% = 1 pound. After drying the potato element still weighed 1 pound, which was now 2% of the total (and 98% water). Therefore the total must be 50 pounds, 49 pounds of water and 1 pound of the potato element.

Puzzle 108

A ship is docked in the harbour. Over the side hangs a rope ladder with rungs a foot apart. The tide rises at a rate of 9 inches per hour. At the end of six hours, how much of the rope ladder will still remain above water, assuming that 9 feet were above the water when the tide began to rise?

 [Ref: ZAUS]

Still 9 feet because the ladder will rise with the ship!

Puzzle 109

What is missing from this sequence:

Greenland, New Guinea, Borneo, Madagascar, ==?==, Sumatra, Honshu, Great Britain

 [Ref: ZHQY]

Baffin Island: from the largest islands in the world, in descending order.

Puzzle 110

Using the BrainTracker grid below, how many words can you find? Each word must contain the central B and no letter can be used twice, however, the letters do not have to be connected. Proper nouns are not allowed, however, plurals are. There is at least one nine letter word. Excellent: 24 words. Good: 20 words. Average: 15 words.

V D E

Y B O

R Y E

 [Ref: ZEJJ] © Kevin Stone [Protected Puzzle]

Common words: be, bed, bee, beer, bevy, bode, body, bore, bored, boy, bred, breed, by, bye, byre, derby, EVERYBODY, obey, obeyed, orb, rob, robe, robed, verb.

All words: be, bed, bee, beer, beery, bevor, bevy, bey, bo, bod, bode, body, bore, bored, boy, bred, brede, bree, breed, breve, bro, by, bye, byre, deb, debye, derby, doby, EVERYBODY, obe, obey, obeyed, obeyer, orb, orbed, orby, overbed, reb, rebody, rob, robe, robed, verb, yob.

Puzzle 111

You find yourself at the Greenjack table. Greenjack is similar to Blackjack, except that it is completely different. It is played with a deck of only 16 cards, divided into 4 suits: Red, Blue, Orange and Green. There are four cards in each suit: Ace, King, Queen and Jack. Ace outranks King, which outranks Queen, which outranks Jack - except for the Green Jack, which outranks every other card. If two cards have the same face value, then Red outranks Blue, which outranks Orange, which outranks Green, again except for the Green Jack, which outranks everything.

Here's how the game is played: you are dealt one card face up, and the dealer is dealt one card face down. The dealer then makes some true statements, and you have to work out who has the higher card, you or the dealer. It's that simple!

Round 2:You are dealt the Blue King and the dealer makes three statements:

1. My card would beat a Green King.2. Knowing this, if my card is more likely to be a Jack than a Queen, then my card is a King. Otherwise, it isn't.3. Given all of the information you now know, if my card is more likely to beat yours than not, then my card is Red card. Otherwise, it isn't.

Who has the higher card, you or the dealer?

 [Ref: ZVJV] © E.J. ShamblenWebsite: www.puzzlemonster.com

You: After #1 you know that you have the Blue King (BK) and the dealer's card is higher than the Green King, so the dealer can only have one of the following cards: RA, RK, BA, OA, OK, GA, GJ, therefore by #2 their card is a King. They are now left one of the following: RK, OK. Of these two, 1 could beat your card, therefore by #3 their card is not Red. So the dealer must have the Orange King, which your card beats. QED.

Puzzle 112

Without using any reference material can you find the hidden countries. In each case, the letter indicates the first letter of the country in question, the number represents the number of letters in the country. For example, E7 would be England.

H5 V9 D7 J7 F6 S6 E8 Z8 R7 Q5

 [Ref: ZSZX] © Kevin Stone [Protected Puzzle]

Haiti, Venezuela, Denmark, Jamaica, France, Sweden, Ethiopia, Zimbabwe, Romania, Qatar.

Puzzle 113

Last week I spent half of my money on a new jacket and then I spent half of that amount on some new trousers. I was left with £32.94. How much did I spend?

 [Ref: ZCXN] © Kevin Stone [Protected Puzzle]

£98.82: I started with £131.76 and I spent £65.88 on a new jacket, and then £32.94 on the trousers, a total spend of £98.82.

Puzzle 114

For being good at the garden fete, four children were each given two sweets. Jack had an orange sweet. The child who had a red one also had a blue one. No child had two sweets of the same colour. The child who had a green sweet also had a red one. Jim didn't have a red sweet and Joe had a green one. James didn't have an orange one and Jack had no blue sweets. Knowing that there were two sweets of each colour, can you tell the colours of the sweets each child had?

 [Ref: ZPJX] © Kevin Stone [Protected Puzzle]

Jack had an orange and a green sweet.Jim had an orange and a blue one.James had a red and a blue sweet.Joe had a green and a red one.

Puzzle 115

Using the BrainTracker grid below, how many words can you find? Each word must contain the central G and no letter can be used twice, however, the letters do not have to be connected. Proper nouns are not allowed, however, plurals are. There is at least one nine letter word. Excellent: 18 words. Good: 15 words. Average: 12 words.

O I L

C G O

S O Y

 [Ref: ZULM] © Kevin Stone [Protected Puzzle]

Common words: clog, clogs, cog, cogs, go, goo, igloo, igloos, log, logic, logo, logos, logs, slog, SOCIOLOGY, yogi, yogic, yogis.

All words: clog, clogs, cog, cogs, colog, cologs, go, goo, goos, goosy, igloo, igloos, isolog, log, logic, logics, logo, logoi, logos, logs, logy, ology, oologic, oology, slog, SOCIOLOGY, yogi, yogic, yogis.

Puzzle 116

You find yourself at the Greenjack table. Greenjack is similar to Blackjack, except that it is completely different. It is played with a deck of only 16 cards, divided into 4 suits: Red, Blue, Orange and Green. There are four cards in each suit: Ace, King, Queen and Jack. Ace outranks King, which outranks Queen, which outranks Jack - except for the Green Jack, which outranks every other card. If two cards have the same face value, then Red outranks Blue, which outranks Orange, which outranks Green, again except for the Green Jack, which outranks everything.

Here's how the game is played: you are dealt one card face up, and the dealer is dealt one card face down. The dealer then makes some true statements, and you have to work out who has the higher card, you or the dealer. It's that simple!

Round 1:You are dealt the Green Ace and the dealer makes three statements:

1. My card is higher than any Queen.2. Knowing this, if my card is more likely to beat yours, then my card is Blue. Otherwise it isn't.3. Given all of the information you now know, if your card is more likely to beat mine, then my card is a King. Otherwise it isn't.

Who has the higher card, you or the dealer?

 [Ref: ZGQN] © E.J. ShamblenWebsite: www.puzzlemonster.com

The dealer: After #1 you know that you have the Green Ace (GA) and the dealer's card is higher than any Queen, so the dealer can only have one of the following cards: RA, RK, BA, BK, OA, OK, GK, GJ. Of these eight, 4 could beat your card, therefore by #2 their card is not Blue. They are now left one of the following: RA, RK, OA, OK, GK, GJ. Of these six, 3 could beat your card, therefore by #3 their card is not a King. So the dealer has one of the following: RA, OA, GJ, all of which can beat your card. QED.

Puzzle 117

My BrainBashers electronic world atlas has developed another fault, I did a listing of miles from England to particular countries and here is the result:

Australia     500 milesPeru        8,000 milesIndia       4,500 milesScotland    9,500 miles

How far away did it list France as?

 [Ref: ZNHQ] © Kevin Stone [Protected Puzzle]

3,000 miles: take the alphabetic position of the first letter, half and then multiply by 1000. F = 6, halved = 3, * 1000 = 3,000.

Puzzle 118

Below, 10 nine letter words have been broken into chunks of three letters. These chunks have been mixed up, no chunk is used twice and all chunks are used. Can you determine what the 10 words are?

cer ent ead rat uti sprful oun pro ann ope ocknce een oat est liv ionnou sev ion ast hou akfbre bea ens dim bed seb

 [Ref: ZSQP] © Kevin Stone [Protected Puzzle]

Pronounce, beautiful, dimension, livestock, operation, announcer, bedspread, houseboat, seventeen, breakfast.

Puzzle 119

What 5 letter word can be added to the end of these words to make new words:

green out light bird boat club cook

 [Ref: ZJFH] © Kevin Stone [Protected Puzzle]

House.

Puzzle 120

Using the BrainTracker grid below, how many words can you find? Each word must contain the central P and no letter can be used twice, however, the letters do not have to be connected. Proper nouns are not allowed, however, plurals are. There is at least one nine letter word. Excellent: 26 words. Good: 20 words. Average: 15 words.

E E E

T P L

H O N

 [Ref: ZUNV] © Kevin Stone [Protected Puzzle]

Common words: elope, epee, help, hop, hope, lepton, lop, lope, nope, op, open, opt, peel, pelt, pen, pent, pet, phenol, phone, plot, poet, pole, pot, TELEPHONE, tepee, top.

All words: elope, epee, help, hep, holp, holpen, hop, hope, lept, lepton, lop, lope, neep, netop, nope, op, ope, open, opt, pe, pee, peel, peen, peh, pele, pelon, pelt, pen, pent, peon, pet, phenetol, phenol, phon, phone, phot, pht, plot, poet, poh, pol, pole, pone, pot, poteen, potheen, TELEPHONE, tepee, top, tope, topee, toph, tophe.

Puzzle 121

At the local sports club, some veteran members were photographed together for the annual awards ceremony. In the photograph, each member has a different coloured T-shirt on. Obviously, the number of awards each has won over the years counts towards their status within the club, however, it is also significant to let other members know how many relatives of theirs are eligible for membership. From the information given below, can you determine the positions of the five members in the photograph, their T-shirt colour, their age (40, 48, 60, 65, 74), the number of awards they have won (40, 75, 96, 125, 165) and the number of eligible relatives (5, 9, 30, 46, 60)?

The person who is wearing red, has 25 relatives more than Jeff and is not next to the person wearing blue. Jim is wearing orange and has 40 awards more than John. John has 51 awards more than his age and Jeff has 5 relatives. Jake has 75 awards and is 65 years old. The person on the far right has 37 fewer relatives than John, and is 40 years old. Jack, who is the first, is 60 years old, and has 20 awards less than his age. The person who is next to the person who has 46 relatives but not next to the person who is 60 years old, is wearing yellow, and has 96 awards. The person in the centre has 46 relatives, is wearing blue and has 125 awards. The person who is wearing green, has 30 more relatives than the person to the left of him.

 [Ref: ZCJP] © Kevin Stone [Protected Puzzle] - Created using Brain Cell

#   Name     T-shirt     Age     Relatives     Awards 1 Jack  red      60   30          402 Jake  green    65   60          75 3 John  blue     74   46         1254 Jeff  yellow   48    5          965 Jim   orange   40    9         165

Puzzle 122

What is this sequence?

 [Ref: ZGNX] © Kevin Stone [Protected Puzzle]

These are the numbers 1, 2, 3, etc, as seen on a calculator, but the digits are then cut in half and the left half is then mirrored.

Puzzle 123

Which of the following statements is true?

1. One of these statements is true.2. Two of these statements are true.3. Three of these statements are true.4. Four of these statements are true.5. Five of these statements are true.6. Six of these statements are true.

 [Ref: ZBIR]

Statement 1 is true.

Puzzle 124

What four related words are merged together:

TOUS RGQC URRO IAAN RLGS EEET ENE

 [Ref: ZFMM] © Kevin Stone [Protected Puzzle]

Orange, green, turquoise, scarlet.

Puzzle 125

Using the BrainTracker grid below, how many words can you find? Each word must contain the central F and no letter can be used twice, however, the letters do not have to be connected. Proper nouns are not allowed, however, plurals are. There is at least one nine letter word. Excellent: 28 words. Good: 22 words. Average: 19 words.

E A U

T F I

U B L

 [Ref: ZGBH] © Kevin Stone [Protected Puzzle]

Common words: aft, BEAUTIFUL, elf, fable, fail, fat, fate, fault, feat, felt, fib, fibula, file, filet, fit, flab, flat, flea, flu, flue, flute, fuel, futile, if, leaf, left, life, lift.

All words: aft, alef, alif, BEAUTIFUL, befit, ef, eft, elf, fa, fable, fail, fat, fate, fault, fauteuil, feal, feat, felt, fet, feta, fetal, fetial, feu, fiat, fib, fibula, fibulae, fie, fil, fila, file, filet, fit, flab, flat, flea, flit, flite, flu, flub, flue, flute, fub, fuel, futile, if, leaf, left, lief, life, lift, tubful, tufa.

Puzzle 126

Can you find the eleven hidden colours in the following paragraph:

Many injured animals are invited to live at the 'Toronto Range'. Stop in kangaroo corner and marvel at the lovely creatures within. Dig over the potato patch to find small furry caterpillars, but don't yell! Owls can be found swooping for edible rodents, earwigs or perhaps bluebottles in the undergrowth. The brown bear, Rob, lacks grace and may look like an ogre, enter at your own risk! Peacocks can be found showing their colourful wares, which look fantastic when viewed with our ultraviolet torch.

 [Ref: ZAXQ] © Kevin Stone [Protected Puzzle]

Many injured animals are invited to live at the 'Toronto Range'. Stop in kangaroo corner and marvel at the lovely creatures within. Dig over the potato patch to find small furry caterpillars, but don't yell! Owls can be found swooping for edible rodents, earwigs or perhaps bluebottles in the undergrowth. The brown bear, Rob, lacks grace and may look like an ogre, enter at your own risk! Peacocks can be found showing their colourful wares, which look fantastic when viewed with our ultraviolet torch.

Puzzle 127

Using the letters EEIIIISSSTTT complete this grid. The grid reads the same across as down.

 [Ref: ZIMZ] © Kevin Stone [Protected Puzzle]

The words are stir, tire, iris, rest.

Puzzle 128

Below, 10 nine letter words have been broken into chunks of three letters. These chunks have been mixed up, no chunk is used twice and all chunks are used. Can you determine what the 10 words are?

ely rec ant htn fer ortent cer por sin lig ianlio row use rar lib ivetfo sca ing ing far ethsom dif est dig imp mho

 [Ref: ZDBX] © Kevin Stone [Protected Puzzle]

Different, digestive, farmhouse, important, librarian, lightning, portfolio, scarecrow, sincerely, something.

Puzzle 129

Once upon a time, and old lady went to sell her vast quantity of eggs at the local market.

When asked how many she had, she replied:

Son, I can't count past 100 but I know that.

If you divide the number of eggs by 2 there will be one egg left.If you divide the number of eggs by 3 there will be one egg left.If you divide the number of eggs by 4 there will be one egg left.If you divide the number of eggs by 5 there will be one egg left.If you divide the number of eggs by 6 there will be one egg left.If you divide the number of eggs by 7 there will be one egg left.If you divide the number of eggs by 8 there will be one egg left.If you divide the number of eggs by 9 there will be one egg left.If you divide the number of eggs by 10 there will be one egg left.

Finally. If you divide the Number of eggs by 11 there will be NO EGGS left!

How many eggs did the old lady have?

 [Ref: ZFMU] Copyrighted

25,201 eggs. This puzzle has a few different methods for finding the solution, one of which is:

Find a number X into which all of the numbers from 2 to 10 divide evenly. You can do this by simply using 2*3*4*5*6*7*8*9*10, but you can find a smaller number by finding the prime factors, a subset of which can be used to form any number from 2 to 10. 2*2*2*3*3*5*7 will do. This comes out to be 2520, and is the lowest number into which all the numbers 2-10 divide evenly.

We can add 1 to this number to satisfy the first 9 constraints of the puzzle

(the remainder of 2521/2, 2521/3 ... 2521/10 is one), but this does not satisfy the last constraint, divisibility by 11.

Fortunately, we can multiply X (=2520) by any integer and add 1 and we will still satisfy constraints 1-9. So what Y do we multiply X by so that (X*Y) + 1 is divisible by 11. 2520/11 has a remainder of 1. So two 2520s divided by eleven would have a remainder of 1+1 = 2, and so forth...so ten 2520s divided by 11 would have a remainder of 10. This number plus one would divide eleven evenly, as well as also satisfy the first 9 constraints - therefore 25201 is the answer.

Puzzle 130

Using the BrainTracker grid below, how many words can you find? Each word must contain the central M and no letter can be used twice, however, the letters do not have to be connected. Proper nouns are not allowed, however, plurals are. There is at least one nine letter word. Excellent: 16 words. Good: 12 words. Average: 8 words.

O E W

H M S

E R E

 [Ref: ZXXT] © Kevin Stone [Protected Puzzle]

Common words: em, hem, home, me, mere, mesh, mew, more, mow, mower, ohm, seem, some, SOMEWHERE, whom, worm.

All words: em, eme, emeer, emeers, emes, ems, hem, heme, hemes, hems, herm, herms, hm, home, homer, homers, homes, me, meow, meows, mere, meres, mesh, mew, mews, mho, mhos, mo, mor, more, mores, mors, morse, mos, mow, mower, mowers, mows, ohm, ohms, om, omer, omers, oms, rehem, rehems, rem, rems, rom, roms, seem, seemer, seme, shmo, smew, some, SOMEWHERE, whom, worm, worms.

Please read:A personal appeal froman author of 549 Wikipedia articles

Kinetic theoryFrom Wikipedia, the free encyclopediaJump to: navigation, search

The temperature of an ideal monatomic gas is a measure of the average kinetic energy of its atoms. The size of helium atoms relative to their spacing is shown to scale under 1950 atmospheres of pressure. The atoms have a certain, average speed, slowed down here two trillion fold from room temperature.This article applies to gases; see also Kinetic theory of solids The kinetic theory of gases describes a gas as a large number of small particles (atoms or molecules), all of which are in constant, random motion. The rapidly moving particles constantly collide with each other and with the walls of the container. Kinetic theory explains macroscopic properties of gases, such as pressure, temperature, or volume, by considering their molecular composition and motion. Essentially, the theory posits that pressure is due not to static repulsion between molecules, as was Isaac Newton's conjecture, but due to collisions between molecules moving at different velocities.While the particles making up a gas are too small to be visible, the jittering motion of pollen grains or dust particles which can be seen under a microscope, known as Brownian motion, results directly from collisions between the particle and gas molecules. As pointed out by Albert Einstein in 1905, this experimental evidence for kinetic theory is generally seen as having confirmed the existence of atoms and molecules.

Contents

 [hide] 1 Postulates 2 Properties 2.1 Pressure and kinetic energy 2.2 Temperature and kinetic energy 2.3 Collisions with container 2.4 Speed of molecules 3 History 4 See also 5 References 6 External links

[edit] PostulatesThe theory for ideal gases makes the following assumptions:The gas consists of very small particles. This smallness of their size is such that the total volume of the individual gas molecules added up is negligible compared to the volume of the container. This is equivalent to stating that the average distance separating the gas particles is large compared to their size. These particles have the same mass. The number of molecules is so large that statistical treatment can be applied. These molecules are in constant, random and rapid motion. The rapidly moving particles constantly collide among themselves and with the walls of the container. All these collisions are perfectly elastic. This means, the molecules are considered to be perfectly spherical in shape, and elastic in nature. Except during collisions, the interactions among molecules are negligible. (That is, they exert no forces on one another.) This implies: 1. Relativistic effects are negligible. 2. Quantum-mechanical effects are negligible. This means that the inter-particle distance is much larger than the thermal de Broglie wavelength and the molecules are treated as classical objects. 3. Because of the above two, their dynamics can be treated classically. This means, the equations of motion of the molecules are time-reversible. The average kinetic energy of the gas particles depends only on the temperature of the system. The time during collision of molecule with the container's wall is negligible as compared to the time between successive collisions. More modern developments relax these assumptions and are based on the Boltzmann equation. These can accurately describe the properties of dense gases, because they include the volume of the molecules. The necessary assumptions are the absence of quantum effects, molecular chaos and small gradients in bulk properties. Expansions to higher orders in the density are known as virial expansions. The definitive work is the book by Chapman and Enskog but there have been many modern developments and there is an alternative approach developed by Grad based on moment expansions.[1] In

the other limit, for extremely rarefied gases, the gradients in bulk properties are not small compared to the mean free paths. This is known as the Knudsen regime and expansions can be performed in the Knudsen number.[edit] Properties[edit] Pressure and kinetic energyPressure is explained by kinetic theory as arising from the force exerted by molecules or atoms impacting on the walls of a container. Consider a gas of N molecules, each of mass m, enclosed in a cuboidal container of volume V=L3. When a gas molecule collides with the wall of the container perpendicular to the x coordinate axis and bounces off in the opposite direction with the same speed (an elastic collision), then the momentum lost by the particle and gained by the wall is:where vx is the x-component of the initial velocity of the particle.The particle impacts one specific side wall once every(where L is the distance between opposite walls).The force due to this particle is:The total force on the wall iswhere the bar denotes an average over the N particles. Since the assumption is that the particles move in random directions, we will have to conclude that if we divide the velocity vectors of all particles in three mutually perpendicular directions, the average value along each direction must be same. (This does not mean that each particle always travel in 45 degrees to the coordinate axes.).We can rewrite the force asThis force is exerted on an area L2. Therefore the pressure of the gas iswhere V=L3 is the volume of the box. The fraction n=N/V is the number density of the gas (the mass density ρ=nm is less convenient for theoretical derivations on atomic level). Using n, we can rewrite the pressure asThis is a first non-trivial result of the kinetic theory because it relates pressure, a macroscopic property, to the average (translational) kinetic energy per molecule which is a microscopic property.[edit] Temperature and kinetic energyFrom the ideal gas law

(1)where is the Boltzmann constant, and the absolute temperature,and from the above result we have we have then the temperature takes the form

(2)which leads to the expression of the kinetic energy of a moleculeThe kinetic energy of the system is N times that of a molecule The temperature becomes

(3)

Eq.(3)1 is one important result of the kinetic theory: The average molecular kinetic energy is proportional to the absolute temperature. From Eq.(1) and Eq.(3)1, we have

(4)Thus, the product of pressure and volume per mole is proportional to the average (translational) molecular kinetic energy.Eq.(1) and Eq.(4) are called the "classical results", which could also be derived from statistical mechanics; for more details, see .[2]Since there are degrees of freedom in a monoatomic-gas system with particles, the kinetic energy per degree of freedom per molecule is

(5)In the kinetic energy per degree of freedom, the constant of proportionality of temperature is 1/2 times Boltzmann constant. In addition to this, the temperature will decrease when the pressure drops to a certain point. This result is related to the equipartition theorem.As noted in the article on heat capacity, diatomic gases should have 7 degrees of freedom, but the lighter gases act as if they have only 5.Thus the kinetic energy per kelvin (monatomic ideal gas) is:per mole: 12.47 per molecule: 20.7 yJ = 129 μeV. At standard temperature (273.15 K), we get:per mole: 3406 J per molecule: 5.65 zJ = 35.2 meV. [edit] Collisions with containerOne can calculate the number of atomic or molecular collisions with a wall of a container per unit area per unit time.Assuming an ideal gas, a derivation[3] results in an equation for total number of collisions per unit time per area:[edit] Speed of moleculesFrom the kinetic energy formula it can be shown thatwith v in m/s, T in kelvins, and R is the gas constant. The molar mass is given as kg/mol. The most probable speed is 81.6% of the rms speed, and the mean speeds 92.1% (distribution of speeds).[edit] History

Hydrodynamica front coverIn 1738 Daniel Bernoulli published Hydrodynamica, which laid the basis for the kinetic theory of gases. In this work, Bernoulli posited the argument, still used to this day, that gases consist of great numbers of molecules moving in all directions, that their impact on a surface causes the gas pressure that we feel, and that what we experience as heat is simply the kinetic energy of their motion. The theory was not immediately accepted, in part because conservation of energy had not yet been established, and it was not obvious to physicists how the collisions between molecules could be perfectly elastic.

Other pioneers of the kinetic theory (which were neglected by their contemporaries) were Mikhail Lomonosov (1747),[4] Georges-Louis Le Sage (ca. 1780, published 1818),[5] John Herapath (1816)[6] and John James Waterston (1843),[7] which connected their research with the development of mechanical explanations of gravitation. In 1856 August Krönig (probably after reading a paper of Waterston) created a simple gas-kinetic model, which only considered the translational motion of the particles.[8]In 1857 Rudolf Clausius, according to his own words independently of Krönig, developed a similar, but much more sophisticated version of the theory which included translational and contrary to Krönig also rotational and vibrational molecular motions. In this same work he introduced the concept of mean free path of a particle. [9] In 1859, after reading a paper by Clausius, James Clerk Maxwell formulated the Maxwell distribution of molecular velocities, which gave the proportion of molecules having a certain velocity in a specific range. This was the first-ever statistical law in physics.[10] In his 1873 thirteen page article 'Molecules', Maxwell states: “we are told that an 'atom' is a material point, invested and surrounded by 'potential forces' and that when 'flying molecules' strike against a solid body in constant succession it causes what is called pressure of air and other gases.”[11] In 1871, Ludwig Boltzmann generalized Maxwell's achievement and formulated the Maxwell–Boltzmann distribution. Also the logarithmic connection between entropy and probability was first stated by him.In the beginning of twentieth century, however, atoms were considered by many physicists to be purely hypothetical constructs, rather than real objects. An important turning point was Albert Einstein's (1905)[12] and Marian Smoluchowski's (1906)[13] papers on Brownian motion, which succeeded in making certain accurate quantitative predictions based on the kinetic theory.[edit] See also