BRAIN TEASERS

PUZZLE
What is unusual about this list of elements?
Protactinium
Radium
Praseodymium
Oxygen
Iron
Sulfur
Silicon
Oxygen
Nitrogen
Aluminium
Sulfur
Write their symbols and you get: PaRa PrOFeSSiONAlS (para professionals)

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CAN YOU SOLVE THESE PROBLEMS?

Answers below. Don't cheat.

1. A murderer is condemned to death. He has to choose between three rooms. The first is full of raging fires, the second is full of assassins with loaded guns, and the third is full of lions that haven't eaten in 3 years - Which room is safest for him?

2. A woman shoots her husband. Then she holds him under water for over 10 minutes. Finally, she hangs him. But 5 minutes later they both go out together and enjoy a wonderful dinner together - How can this be?

3. There are two plastic jugs filled with water. How could you put all of this water into a barrel, without using the jugs or any dividers, and still tell which water came from which jug?

4. What is black when you buy it, red when you use it, and gray when you throw it away?

5. Can you name three consecutive days without using the words Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday, or Sunday?

6. 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 was 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!



ANSWERS
1. The third. Lions that haven't eaten in three years are dead.

2. The woman was a photographer. She shot a picture of her husband, developed it, and hung it up to dry.

3. Freeze them first. Take them out of the jugs and put the ice in the barrel. You will be able to tell which water came from which jug.

4. The answer is Charcoal. In Homer Simpson's words: hmmmm... Barbecue.

5. Sure you can: Yesterday, Today, and Tomorrow!

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



***

Here is a brain exercise whose aim is to stimulate the connections or associations between words in your temporal lobe.

In the left column you have a pair of words. Your goal is to find a third word that is connected or associated with both of these two words.

The first pair is PIANO and LOCK. The answer is KEY. The word key is connected with both the word piano and the word lock: there are KEYS on a piano and you use a KEY to lock doors….

Key is what is called a homograph: a word that has more than one meaning but is always spelled the same.

Ready to stimulate connections in your temporal lobe(s)? Enjoy! (Solutions are below. Please don’t check them until you have trid to solve all the pairs!)

1. LOCK – PIANO

2. SHIP – CARD

3. TREE – CAR

4. SCHOOL – EYE

5. PILLOW – COURT

6. RIVER – MONEY

7. BED – PAPER

8. ARMY – WATER

9. TENNIS – NOISE

10. EGYPTIAN – MOTHER

11. SMOKER – PLUMBER




Solutions

1. LOCK – PIANO > KEY

2. SHIP – CARDÂ > Deck

3. TREE – CAR > Trunk

4. SCHOOL – EYEÂ > Pupil (Exam and Private are also possible)

5. PILLOW – COURTÂ > Case

6. RIVER – MONEYÂ > Bank (Flow is also possible)

7. BED – PAPERÂ > Sheet

8. ARMY – WATERÂ > Tank

9. TENNIS – NOISEÂ > Racket

10. EGYPTIAN – MOTHERÂ > Mummy

11. SMOKER – PLUMBERÂ > Pipe

**********

Here’s a quick quiz to test your memory and thinking skills which should work out your temporal and frontal lobes. See how you do!
- Name the one sport in which neither the spectators nor the participants know the score or the leader until the contest ends.
- What famous North American landmark is constantly moving backward?
- Of all vegetables, only two can live to produce on their own for several growing seasons. All other vegetables must be replanted every year. What are the only two perennial vegetables?
- What fruit has its seeds on the outside?
- In many liquor stores, you can buy pear brandy, with a real pear inside the bottle. The pear is whole and ripe, and the bottle is genuine; it hasn’t been cut in any way. How did the pear get inside the bottle?
- Only three words in Standard English begin with the letters “dw” and they are all common words. Name two of them.
- There are 14 punctuation marks in English grammar. Can you name at least half of them?
- Name the one vegetable or fruit that is never sold frozen, canned, processed, cooked, or in any other form except fresh.
- Name 6 or more things that you can wear on your feet beginning with the letter “S.”

1. The one sport in which neither the spectators, nor the participants, know the score or the leader until the contest ends: boxing

2. The North American landmark constantly moving backward: Niagara Falls (the rim is worn down about two and a half feet each year because of the millions of gallons of water that rush over it every minute.)

3. Only two vegetables that can live to produce on their own for several growing seasons: asparagus and rhubarb.

4. The fruit with its seeds on the outside: strawberry.

5. How did the pear get inside the brandy bottle? It grew inside the bottle. (The bottles are placed over pear buds when they are small and are wired in place on the tree. The bottle is left in place for the entire growing season. When the pears are ripe, they are snipped off at the stems.)

6. Three English words beginning with “dw”: dwarf, dwell, and dwindle.

7. Fourteen punctuation marks in English grammar: period, comma, colon, semicolon, dash, hyphen, apostrophe, question mark, exclamation point, quotation marks, brackets, parenthesis, braces, and ellipses.

8. The only vegetable or fruit never sold frozen, canned, processed, cooked, or in any other form but fresh: lettuce.

9. Six or more things you can wear on your feet beginning with "s": shoes, socks, sandals, sneakers, slippers, skis, skates, snowshoes, stockings, stilts.

********
WHAT IS THE RELATION


Exercise multiple areas of your brain by trying to answer this riddle:

A blind beggar had a brother who died. What relation was
the blind beggar to the brother who died?
“Brother” is not the answer.

Now, your brain’s turn. What is the answer?

tick tick tick tick…


still working on it? …

Explanation (answer at bottom):
This puzzle is very simply stated and yet stumps those who have not heard it before, because the listener tends to make an implicit assumption about gender – in this case that a blind beggar is a man.

*********









I'm in a zoo
But not in a jungle
I rarely come in pairs
But I'm in every puzzle

Answer: The letter 'Z'

*******



What comes next in this sequence:

Hydrogen Helium Lithium Beryllium Boron ==?==



Answer:


Carbon: from the atomic numbers in increasing order

********

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 AF
BR RE
FO NE
GO AF
HO KE
JO EW
LE IN
LO AM
LO MB
SO PE



Answer:


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

******

Starting with WARM, change one letter at a time, and end with COOL? Each change leaves the other letters in their original places and must result in a proper word.


Answer:


WARM, WORM, WORK, CORK, COOK, COOL or
WARM, WORM, WORD, WOOD, WOOL, COOL

*****

This equation is correct, how though?

8 + 8 = 91



Answer:


Turned upside down it becomes 16 = 8 + 8.

*****

If yesterday was Saturday's tomorrow and tomorrow was Wednesday's yesterday, what day would it be today?


Answer:


Monday.

*****

As I was going to St. Ives,
I met a man with seven wives.
Each wife had seven sacks,
Each sack had seven cats,
Each cat had seven kits.
Kits, cats, sacks and wives,
How many were going to St. Ives?


Answer:


One, only I was going to St. Ives.

*******

Below you will find 10 well-known seven letter words, with only their endings remaining. Can you determine the words?

....igy
....aoh
....erg
....ynx
....lth
....mox
....ovy
....esh
....awe
....ipt



Answer:


Prodigy, pharaoh, iceberg, pharynx, stealth, flummox, anchovy, refresh, overawe, receipt.

*****

Using these letters: AAADDEEEEKSSSS complete this square. The square reads the same across as down:

R * * *
* * * *
* * * *
* * * K



Answer:


R E A D
E A S E
A S K S
D E S K

*****

From me to you with LOVE: how many times does the word LOVE appear in this grid?

L V E V O L E E V O L E V O L
O O V E O O E V O L L V V O L
V L O V E V V O O O L O V E O
E O L O V E O L V L E L E V V
E V O L E E L E O L E V O L E
V V O L V V O L O V O L O V E
O V O L O O V V O L E L O L E
L V O L L L E L O V E L O V E
E V L O V E V V O L O V E V E
E E L L E V O L O E E V O L E
L V V O L L L V L L V L L L V
L O E V V O E O O E V O L O O
O L V E V E V V V E V O L V L
V O O E L E E E E E L O V E O
E V L E V O L O V E V O L O V



Answer;


73 times.

******

Using a tap, a three gallon container and a five gallon container, can you measure exactly 4 gallons, you may empty the containers down the drain?


Answer:


Here are the contents of the container after each stage:


A(3) B(5)
0 5 fill B
3 2 fill A from B
0 2 empty A
2 0 fill A from B
2 5 fill B
3 4 fill A from B
0 4 empty A

The now leaves 4 gallons in container B.

*****

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 VOKAHLIUPPW will be a real word.

OVAL
POST
SKIN
MALT
WHEN
SLAB
MISS
FUND
APED
SPED
SWAY



Answer:


Paperweight: opal, past, spin, melt, wren, swab, mess, find, aged, shed, stay.

******

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

..pay
..lad
..ior
..eue
..rva
..day
..voc
..yss
..gun
..pty
..til
..cay
..uke
..uze
..noe



Answer:


Repay, salad, prior, queue, larva, today, havoc, abyss, begun, empty, until, decay, fluke, gauze, canoe.

******

Starting with a five letter word, change one letter to create a new word. This word is then changed by one letter to create another new word. For example, DOG, DIG, FIG etc. These words in turn mean:

a gaggle of geese
a device for measuring time
what you can do with a mouse
a baby chicken
a device to prevent wheels from moving
a surprise
a small house
a pile of cards
a small piece of wood
unable to move



Answer:]


Flock, clock, click, chick, chock, shock, shack, stack, stick, stuck.

*****

Below are some proverbs with their vowels removed:

*bs*nc* m*k*s th* h**rt gr*w f*nd*r.
Ch*ldr*n *nd f**ls m*st n*t pl*y w*th sh*rp kn*v*s.
D*g d**s n*t **t d*g.
M*d*r*t**n *n *ll th*ngs.
Y** c*n't k*d * k*dd*r.



Answera;


Absence makes the heart grow fonder.
Children and fools must not play with sharp knives.
Dog does not eat dog.
Moderation in all things.
You can't kid a kidder.

********

In the following line, cross out nine letters such that the remaining letters spell a well known animal.

ENILNEEPLETHTAENRST



Answer:


Elephant. Cross out the letters NINE LETTERS.

********

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

...rnt
...few
...ryo
...yme
...rak
...urd
...ynx
...mpi
...hom
...ovy
...lpt
...hma
...voy
...web
...mur



Answer:


Learnt, curfew, embryo, enzyme, anorak, absurd, larynx, scampi, fathom, groovy, sculpt, asthma, convoy, cobweb, murmur.

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Many years ago, befor modern educashun in the new millenium, one problem in skools was baseic speeling and grammer. To conbat this and rays acheivement, teechers were adviced to start at the very begining, at the yungest age. Once they had managed to breath new life into leessons, progres came quickly - sucess was then garanteed. How many speeling errors would modern skolars identify in this paragraph?


Answer:


21: Many years ago, before modern education in the new millennium, one problem in schools was basic spelling and grammar. To combat this and raise achievement, teachers were advised to start at the very beginning, at the youngest age. Once they had managed to breathe new life into lessons, progress came quickly - success was then guaranteed. How many spelling errors would modern scholars identify in this paragraph?

***********

What three letter word best completes the below words?

LO...E
EDU...E
VA...E
S...TER
S...HE
...ER

Answwer:


CAT: locate, educate, vacate, scatter, scathe, cater.

******

The following words have had their vowels removed, can you find the missing animals?

SLTH
RCN
MNKY
LLGTR
LPHNT
LND
GT
BR
BBN
CYT



Answer:


Sloth, racoon, monkey, alligator, elephant, eland, goat, bear, baboon, coyote.

**********

Starting with COOL, change one letter at a time until you have the word HEAT. Each change leaves the other letters in their original places and must result in a proper word. What is the minimum number of steps required to achieve this change?


Answer:


5 steps: COOL, COAL, COAT, BOAT, BEAT, HEAT.

********





Can you find a five letter word, which, when typed in upper-case, reads the same upside down?


Answer:


SWIMS.

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Here is a well known proverb with the consonants removed. What is the proverb?

A **i*** i* *i*e *a*e* *i*e.

Answer:


A stitch in time saves nine

**********

Which fruit comes next in this sequence:

banana pear kiwi tomato

Choose from: peach lemon plum guava.


Answer:


Guava, the second letter of the words are the vowels in order.

*********

Can you find the hidden nine letter word in this grid? Starting with any letter you may move in any direction, including diagonally to spell out the letters of the word in their correct order.

H L E C
L E H E
A A N G
E N A G



Answer:


Challenge.

******

A family photo contained:

one grandfather, one grandmother,
two fathers, two mothers,
six children, four grandchildren,
two brothers, two sisters,
three sons, three daughters,
one father-in-law, one mother-in-law, one daughter-in-law

29 people you may think, but no, what is the least number of people here?


Answer:


8: four children (2 boys and 2 girls), their mother and father, the mother's mother, and the father's father.

*******

Find a number whose double exceeds its half by exactly 99.


Answer:


66.

******

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.

BAKE
SWAP
OPAL
DYED
ARKS
SNOW
LUMP
ACES
MELT
SPUN
RANT



Answer:


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

*******

I was walking down Mulberry Lane,
I met a man doing the same.
He tipped his hat and drew his cane,
And in this rhyme I said his name.

What was the man's name?


Answera;


Andrew: He tipped his hat and drew his cane.

*****

Below you will find 10 well-known six letter words, with only their endings remaining. Can you determine the words?

...era
...cil
...uld
...nis
...nda
...phy
...may
...ese
...eum
...axy



Answer:


Camera, pencil, should, tennis, agenda, trophy, dismay, cheese, museum, galaxy.

****

Using these letters: AAADDEEEEKSSSS complete this square. The square reads the same across as down:

R * * *
* * * *
* * * *
* * * K



Answer:


R E A D
E A S E
A S K S
D E S K

*****

Below are ten words, from each word, remove a single letter and rearrange the remaining letters to find ten new words which are related to each other.

ENERGY
DOORMAN
CLEAREST
WEIGHT
OUTLIVE
EMBARK
CALMER
SOLEMN
VOIDING
ARCHERY



Answer:


Green, maroon, scarlet, white, violet, amber, cream, lemon, indigo, cherry.

*******

Starting with HATE, change one letter at a time until you have the word LOVE. Each change leaves the other letters in their original places and must result in a proper word. What is the minimum number of steps required to achieve this change?

HATE
....
....
....
LOVE



Answer:


HATE, DATE, DOTE, DOVE, LOVE or
HATE, LATE, LAVE, LOVE or
HATE HAVE HOVE LOVE.

******

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

BAKE
CURE
MAZE
PEST
NEAT
ROPE
PORT
FOOD
POKE
SODA



Answer:


Strawberry: base, cute, mare, peat, newt, robe, poet, ford, pore, soya.

******

A man wants to transport a fox, a chicken and some corn across a river. He has a rowboat, but it can only carry the man and one other item. If the fox and the chicken are alone together, the fox will eat the chicken. If the chicken and the corn are alone together, the chicken will eat the corn. How does the man do it?


Answer:


He takes the chicken and then comes back. He then takes the fox and brings the chicken back. He then takes the corn and comes back. Finally he takes the chicke

******

How should GHOTI be pronounced?


Answer:


FISH: the GH as in ENOUGH, the O as in WOMEN, the TI as in MOTION.

******

Below you will find 10 well-known seven letter words, with only their endings remaining. Can you determine the words?

....igy
....aoh
....erg
....ynx
....lth
....mox
....ovy
....esh
....awe
....ipt



Answer:


Prodigy, pharaoh, iceberg, pharynx, stealth, flummox, anchovy, refresh, overawe, receipt.

******

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

green out light bird boat club cook



Answer:


House.

*****

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 spr
ful oun pro ann ope ock
nce een oat est liv ion
nou sev ion ast hou akf
bre bea ens dim bed seb


Answer:


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

******

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?


Answer:


£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.

*****

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



Answer:


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

*******


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?


Answer:


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

******

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?


Answer:


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.

******

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.



Answer:


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

*******


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


Answer:


Queue.

******

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?

PINK
TENT
MOST
MUCH
THEN
LEAP
SOOT
AREA
TIRE
MARE



Answer:



SOOT + TIRE = TORTOISE
MOST + MARE = MARMOSET
MUCH + PINK = CHIPMUNK
AREA + TENT = ANTEATER
LEAP + THEN = ELEPHANT

*********


What four related words are merged here:

SWAS PURI UINM NTTU MGER MNER



Answer:


Spring, summer, autumn and winter.

********



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



Answer:


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

********

What is missing from this sequence:

teloiv ogidni eulb ==?== wolley egnaro der



Answer:


neerg: these are the colours of the rainbow reversed.

******



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?


Answer:


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.

*******




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



Answer:


77.

*********

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!


Answer:


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

*******


.


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?

BAG
DED
DIA
UOA
IDE
OEL
UMS
PIY
GOU
NAL
CRA
UMB
DTY



Answer:


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

******

What is represented by this BrainBat?

E
L
G
G
U
R
T
S



Abswer;


Uphill struggle.

**********



What number comes next in this sequence:

0 10 1110 3110 132110 1113122110 ==?==



Answer:


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.

*****

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











Answer:


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.

*********






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?



Answer;


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.

*******

*******

an you find the anagrams of the following words?

COAGULATE
CAVITATES
BACTERIAL
BALANCERS
HEADLAMPS
MILESTONE
TELEPHONY
DIGNIFIES
UNNOTICED



Answer :

CATALOGUE
ACTIVATES
CALIBRATE
BARNACLES
LAMPSHADE
LIMESTONE
POLYTHENE
SIGNIFIED
CONTINUED
*******



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



Answer:


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

*********

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.

ICON
CREW
FARM
OILY
CHOP
ARID
FUND
WAIT
GNAT
TEAR



Answer:


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

********

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

ban*
*a*i*et
*aiz*
s**th
na*e*
*eco*
*ocu*
*la*e
**nk
f*x
be**re
e*ui*
ot*er
wis*
*oast



ANSWER;

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

*********



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?

BAG
DED
DIA
UOA
IDE
OEL
UMS
PIY
GOU
NAL
CRA
UMB
DTY



Answer:


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

**********





What number comes next in this sequence:

0 10 1110 3110 132110 1113122110 ==?==




Answer

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.

********

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

ban*
*a*i*et
*aiz*
s**th
na*e*
*eco*
*ocu*
*la*e
**nk
f*x
be**re
e*ui*
ot*er
wis*
*oast


ANSWER;


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

*********



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





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
********


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?


Answer:


A window!

*********


Puzzle 25

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











Answer:


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.

*******

Below are thirteen 5 lettered 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). Can you determine the original words?

__UST
_UE_N
O_O_E
__AND
_A_ER
ID_O_
_UC_Y
E_I_T
HEA__
TOU__
_RIE_
_RY_T
H_M_N



Answer:


Joust, queen, ozone, brand, water, idiom, lucky, exist, heavy, tough, fried, crypt, human.

or

Joust, queen, ozone, brand, wafer, idiom, lucky, exist, heavy, tough, tried, crypt, human.

******








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?



Answer:

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.

********

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 Swede
Colour : Yellow Blue Red Green White
Beverage : water tea milk coffee beer
Smokes : Dunhill Blend Pall Mall Prince Blue Master
Pet : cats horses birds fish dogs

********

Can you find the anagrams of the following words?

COAGULATE
CAVITATES
BACTERIAL
BALANCERS
HEADLAMPS
MILESTONE
TELEPHONY
DIGNIFIES
UNNOTICED







CATALOGUE
ACTIVATES
CALIBRATE
BARNACLES
LAMPSHADE
LIMESTONE
POLYTHENE
SIGNIFIED
CONTINUED

**********

A man once married his widow’s sister.

How is this possible?

Answer:

The man married one woman, who died. He married her sister and then himself died, making a widow of the second wife. Thus he once married his widow’s sister.


WHO ARE WE?

Twice six are eight of us,
Six are but three of us,
Nine are four of us,
What can we possibly be?

Would you know more of us?
I'll tell you more of us.
Twelve are but six of us,
Five are but four of us, now do you see?
-Don Lemon
*********

Is it possible a person can tell lie and speak truth at the same time?
Yes, it is possible. It is called 'liar paradox'.

Socrates swears that he will speak only falsehoods about you.

Then he says, “You are a stone.”

*********

This shows that a man can lie and speak the truth at the same time.

**********

Can God make a stone so big that he can’t lift it?

This seems to cast doubt on God’s omnipotence.

But suppose he can create such a stone but simply hasn’t. Does that solve the difficulty?

***********
What do DEEDED, MUUMUU, CEDED, and YUMMY have in common?

Each is typed with a single finger.

***********

1. A clock strikes six in 5 seconds. How long does it take to strike twelve?
Answer: Not 10 seconds, but 11 — one second per interval.

2. A bottle and its cork together cost $1.10. The bottle costs a dollar more than the cork. How much does the bottle cost?
Answer: Not $1.00, but $1.05.

***********



.



A woman visits a jewelry store and buys a ring for $100.

The next day she returns and asks to exchange it for another. She picks out one worth $200, thanks the jeweler and turns to go.

“Wait, miss,” he says. “That’s a $200 ring.”

“Yes,” she says. “I paid you $100 yesterday, and I’ve just given you a ring worth $100.”

And she trips lightly out of the store.