| 211. A woman buys some tool from a man for $4.00 and
hands the man a $10 bill. The man has no change and goes into the butcher next door to get
change. He returns and gives the woman $6.00. After the woman leaves, the butcher from
next door comes and says, "listen up buddy, that was a counterfeit bill you gave
me." The man gives the butcher a good bill. How much has the man lost? |
Answer
19 |
| 212. A man was walking by a field and saw a small flock
of sheep tended by a shepherd. Ironically he said "Good day great shepherd with the
many sheep." The shepherd, seeing the irony, replied with a riddle: "If I had
double of what I have, and half of what I have, plus five and fifty more would make
100." How many sheep does the shepherd have? |
Answer
19 |
| 213. Billy begged his parents for a $90 game system. His
father told him he would have to earn the money. To help him get started, he said he
would provide him with supplies for a lemonade stand, and would match whatever amount of
money Billy made in the first day of sales with the exact square of that amount, no matter
how high it was. "So if you earn $2, I'll give you $4", his father said. On the
first day, twenty people each bought a glass for 15¢, bringing in $3. At first the father
thought that he had gotten off lightly until Billy brought to his attention that he owed
exactly as much as the game system cost. How did Billy outsmart his father? |
Answer
19 |
| 214. Joey's sock drawer is a mess. Even though Joey will
be wearing boots he does like to have his socks match for the evenings when he kicks off
those big boots. In his drawer, he has twenty black socks, fifteen red socks, thirty-two
green socks, five red and green plaid socks, two brown socks and five blue socks. Joey is
in a hurry. The light is burned out in his closet and he can't see the color of the socks.
The socks are of the same texture and material. Only the colors vary. How many socks must
he remove and take to view in the light, to be sure that he has at least one matching
pair? |
Answer
19 |
| 215. Gary is having a Christmas dinner with Gijs. Gary
brings five dishes and Gijs brings three dishes. At the last minute another friend,
Gerard, comes and eats with them. Gerard pays $4 as his share. If all the dishes have the
same value, how should the $4 be divided between Gary and Gijs? |
Answer
19 |
| 216. Molly, Milo, and Remus get $120 for burnishing the
floor of Schmemheimer's restaurant on Saturday morning. Molly arrives at 7:30AM. Two hours
later, Milo (a notorious oversleeper) joins her. They both work until 1:30PM. Old Remus,
pleading denture trouble, does not arrive till 1:00PM, and then stays an extra hour and a
half after Molly and Milo's departure to finish up the job. What is each worker's fair
share of the earnings? |
Answer
19 |
217. A shopkeeper places a large box of cucumbers outside
his shop in the early morning. The cucumbers way 200 kilograms in total and consist for
99% of water. At the end of the day, when the shopkeeper puts the same amount of cucumbers
back inside, the sun has evaporated some of the water in the cucumbers and therefore they
now consist for 98% of water. What is their wheight now (in total):
a. 198 kilogram
b. 199 kilogram
c. 175 kilgram
d. 100 kilogram |
Answer
19 |
| 218. At a Christmas dinner party, the food at one buffet table was
stacked on five large silver platters. The five platters fit into six locations on the
table, leaving one empty space. It can be done in 17 moves. |
A = Applesauce B
= Bread
D = Dessert C = Chicken
E = Entrée *** = Empty space
|
Answer
19 |
| 219. I was searching through my book shelves for an English nursery rhyme book when I
came upon a thick tome which had been gathering dust for years. When I took it out and
blew the dust from it, my son got excited and said, "I am going to count all the
digits of the page numbers on all the numbered pages". It was a pointless activity
and after a while he said, "I've counted 3947 digits!" Now my son is bright
enough, but doing such a tedious job he might slip up somewhere. To be sure, my daughter
and I took it upon ourselves to check my son's counting; my daughter counted 3941 digits
and I said that there were 3951, definitely. If one of us was right, how many numbered
pages do you think this book has? (Not counting the cover and non-numbered pages like
title page etc.) |
Answer
19 |
220. Mike was hard at work in the Professor's garden when I walked up the path.
"Busy?" I asked the old man, as he looked up from a strange wedge-shaped flower
bed that was quite new to me. "Clearing up." he replied. "The Professor
says this is special. A rye tangled triangle, he calls it, and we made each side an exact
number of feet." I smiled. "I guess that must make it special." "Sure
it does." Mike is loyal to his eccentric employer. "Area is twice the distance
around, and it's the biggest you could make that way." Number of square feet twice
the number of feet. That's what he meant. But what must the sides of that triangle have
been?
Please give the answer and the method to get the answer, in particular proving what you
say is the area of the biggest triangle is really the biggest. |
Answer
Proof
19 |
| 221. A guy gets on a bus with a five foot fishing pole. the driver says, "I am
sorry sir, but we do not allow objects over 4 feet in length to be taken on the bus".
The guy leaves and the next day, he shows up, has the 5 foot fishing pole with him, and is
allowed on the bus this time, What measures did he take to be able to bring the pole on
the next day? It's not collapsible, bendable, detachable, etc---the pole is still 5 feet
long when he brings it on the bus again. |
Answer
19 |
222. Two groups of tourists of two different nationalities, met in a hotel in London,
had dinner together and decided that the next morning they would all go and visit
Piccadilly Circus. None of them had a map of London but the representatives of each group
claimed to know how to reach the famous Square. Unfortunatly the two routes were different
so the day after the eight French tourists moved in the right direction while the
remaining oven.
How many tourist were there in the second group and where did they come from? |
Answer
19 |
| 223. Here's hoping that you all had a very happy Christmas. Amid all the festivities
you won't want to give much thought to a teaser, so here is something short - maybe I
should say long! Using any of the simple arithmetical signs, no factorial or other such
exotic symbols, what is the greatest number that can be expressed with only three digits? |
Answer
19 |
| 224. Take the name of a well-known performance venue. Drop the last letter and then
move 1/2 of the remaining letters from the front to the back, in order. You will get the
name of a performer often seen at the venue. What are the names of the venue and the
performer? |
Answer
19 |
225. Add the numbers 1-100 in your head and tell me how you got the answer!
The answer is 5050. |
Answer
19 |
| 226. Olaf and Sven were good friends, Olaf being a lawyer and Sven a businessman. One
day Olaf decided to borrow some money from Sven, who agreed, and Olaf promised to pay Sven
back once he won his first case. Years pass, and still Olaf have yet to pay Sven the
money. Furious, Sven decided to go to Court and sue Olaf , who defended himself. How
should the judge rule? |
Answer
19 |
227. I have found a magic spell in an old book which tells of five magic words that
bring to live inanimate objects. Alas, part of the page is missing and I can't read the
last word. However with the help of my crystal ball I learn that the last word is a three
letter word that uses only two letters of the alphabet. None of the letters are found in
the other four words of the spell.
"Vriguwa Jakofix brucholqum patis ???"
What is the maximum number of times I need to say the spell to find the right spell? |
Answer
19 |
228. Ted sipped his drink appreciatively, glancing around the cosy living room.
"You've got a nice home. All just the same as I recall it last time I saw you four
years ago. How old are your two kids now?" "Three now. Ann's had another
meantime." Charlie smiled. "If you multiply their three ages you get 96, But
they add up to the number of this house." "You're smart." Ted told him.
"But that still doesn't tell me for sure." His friend chuckled. "Sure it
does," he declared. "Think."
Well, what would you say? |
Answer
19 |
230.
There are 4 men (A,B,C & D), who are all buried up to their necks in the ground. They
can not move, turn round, look up or down, and can not use their hands or feet. They are
all about to get shot, unless one of them (it doesn't matter who) shouts out the colour of
his own hat to the executioner. They can not see their own hats, they can only see people
in front of them.
There is a solid brick wall between the men A & B. They each know that there are 2
blue hats and 2 red hats. They are not allowed to speak. If they call out the wrong answer
they all get shot. Then one minute later one of them shouts out the right color of his
hat. Who was it, and how did he know? |
Answer
19 |
| 231. You have two pill bottles, one marked Pill A, the other Pill B. You need to take
exactly one each per day. If you take 2 of the B's you will die. Okay, you shook one of
the A pills into your hand, however when you were shaking out the B pill, 2 accidentally
fell out. Now the pills look exactly alike, taste the same, are identical in markings. In
other words, one cannot tell them apart. What are you to do, what with 3 pills of
undetermined make-up in your hand? You cannot throw the 3 pills away because you need the
take them all. |
Answer
19 |
| 232. At a recent motorsport gathering, four proud owners were grouped together around
the red Ferrari, discussing their gleaming sports cars. Alan was overheard bragging about
his brand new silver Mercedes. Mr Smith went to great lengths to explain to Brian, the
virtues of his red Ferrari. Mr Wilshaw and David occasionally made eye contact. Mr
Richards showed everyone a recent photo of his green Rolls Royce. Mr Stone listened
intently while Charles went on about his blue Corvette. Who owns which car? |
Answer
19 |
| 233. "Okay, Bill. Let's start right away. And I mean right away. See you
later." Peter put down the receiver, went out to his bicycle, and set off from home
for Brent. When he met his brother, who had ridden from Brent, they sat a while at the
roadside eating sandwiches. "Too bad you're off to Aunt Ann the same day I'm riding
home," said Bill. "Anyway, you'll be back next week." "Sure,"
agreed Peter. "But let's go now." And the boys continued their journeys. It took
Bill a further 2 hours and 30 minutes to reach home, just 54 minutes more than his brother
to reach Brent. If each rode at a constant speed throughout his 36-mile trip, what was
Peter's speed. |
Answer
19 |
| 234. A man drives 100 miles at an average speed of 80 mph. He now has to make the
return journey and wants to increase his average speed for the complete trip to 95 mph.
What speed must he average for the return journey. |
Answer
19 |
235. "That Andy Alda is one rich salesman," complained Joe Klein to his
brothers. "As a matter of fact, Alda owns a hundred or more cars." Not
likely," replied Virgil. "I know for certain that he owns fewer than a hundred
cars." "Let's put it this way," piped in Frank. "Alda owns at least
one car."
If only one of these statements is true, how many cars does Andy Alda own? |
Answer
19 |
| 236. If Bob can mow Mr. Smith's lawn in 4 hours, and Bill can mow the same lawn in 3
hours, how long does it take if Bob and Bill mow simultaneously, with identical mowers,
they never cross each other's path, all the standard disclaimers apply. |
Answer
19 |
| 237. You have 100 cards (similar to playing cards), numbered from 1 to 100. They are
arranged in a row on a (long) table, in increasing order from left to right. (Card 1 is at
the far left, card 100 at the far right.) All cards are initially face down. First,
starting at the left end of the row and moving right, flip every card over. (So at this
point, all cards are face up.) Then, again starting at the left, flip every second card
(i.e., cards 2, 4,6,...). (So now all the even-numbered cards are face down again.) Then
flip every third card from the left. Then every fourth card, and so on, until finally
every 100th card is flipped. (This last step would only flip card 100, of course.) After
all this is done, some cards will be face up, others face down. Without actually doing all
the operations, can you predict which ones would be face up, and why? |
Answer
19 |
| 238. You've got someone working for you for seven days and a gold bar to pay them.
The gold bar is segmented into seven connected pieces. You must give them a piece of gold
at the end of every day. If you are only allowed to make two breaks in the gold bar, how
do you pay your worker? |
Answer
19 |
| 239. How many able-body creepy crawlies are in this room. There are three species. 21
heads and 100 feet. None of the creepy crawlies belong to mammals, birds, fish, amphibians
or reptiles. None of the three species have 0 feet and none have more than 8 feet. |
Answer
19 |
| 240. The number of ideas I have is always greater than the number of puzzles I post.
I am in a bit of a dip. This week I posted so many puzzles that: If I raised the number of
ideas I had to the power of puzzles I posted that week, I got the same number I would get
if I raised the number of puzzles to the power of ideas I had. How many puzzles could I
have been posting? |
Answer
19 |
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