Puzzles Archive
This is a list of the previous puzzles that have been sent out by
E-mail.
Don't forget to signup for "The MindBender" here.
To see the answer, click and hold your mouse button just to the right
of the red arrow 
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the answer and make it visible.
May 28, 2001
MindBender
Five Hunters
Five friends (named Doe, Deer, Hare, Boar, and Roe) come back from
hunting with five dead animals of the same names. Each has killed one
animal, not corresponding to his/her own name. Each has missed another
differently named animal, also not corresponding to his/her own name.
1. The deer was killed by the hunter who has the name of the animal
missed by Roe.
2. The doe was killed by the hunter who has the name of the animal
missed by Hare.
3. Deer, who missed a roe, was very disappointed to kill only a hare.
Who killed and missed what animals?
___________________________
Mini-MindBender for Kids
Young Animals
Most people know that a young cat is a kitten, a young dog is a
puppy, and a young fox is a kit. What are the young of a kangaroo,
an owl, a pigeon, a hawk, and a goose called?
___________________________
...Answer to MindBender
Five Hunters
Start with a matrix of the Hunters versus animals killed and missed.
| Animal Killed || Animal Missed |
| doe | deer | hare | boar | roe || doe | deer | hare | boar | roe |
Hunter | | | | | || | | | | |
_______________________________________________________________________________
Doe | | | | | || | | | | |
_______________________________________________________________________________
Deer | | | | | || | | | | |
_______________________________________________________________________________
Hare | | | | | || | | | | |
_______________________________________________________________________________
Boar | | | | | || | | | | |
_______________________________________________________________________________
Roe | | | | | || | | | | |
_______________________________________________________________________________
Fill in what we know -- the diagonals are definitely not possible
since each hunter did not kill or miss the animal with his/her own
name and Deer killed a hare and missed a roe. Indicate "definite"
items with ! and "definite not" items with X. Whenever we know
something (!), all other entries in that row and column are X.
This gives us:
| Animal Killed || Animal Missed |
| doe | deer | hare | boar | roe || doe | deer | hare | boar | roe |
Hunter | | | | | || | | | | |
_______________________________________________________________________________
Doe | X | | X | | || X | | | | X |
_______________________________________________________________________________
Deer | X | X | ! | X | X || X | X | X | X | ! |
_______________________________________________________________________________
Hare | | | X | | || | | X | | X |
_______________________________________________________________________________
Boar | | | X | X | || | | | X | X |
_______________________________________________________________________________
Roe | | | X | | X || | | | | X |
_______________________________________________________________________________
Using statement 2, the animal missed by Hare is either doe, deer,
or boar. The doe was killed by Hare, Boar, or Roe. Thus it must be
Boar who killed the doe. And it must be Hare that missed the boar.
Add in that any animal killed (or missed) cannot be missed (or
killed) by that same hunter. Also put ! in any row or column that
has only one cell that is not X. This gives us:
| Animal Killed || Animal Missed |
| doe | deer | hare | boar | roe || doe | deer | hare | boar | roe |
Hunter | | | | | || | | | | |
_______________________________________________________________________________
Doe | X | | X | | || X | | | X | X |
_______________________________________________________________________________
Deer | X | X | ! | X | X || X | X | X | X | ! |
_______________________________________________________________________________
Hare | X | | X | X | || X | X | X | ! | X |
_______________________________________________________________________________
Boar | ! | X | X | X | X || X | | | X | X |
_______________________________________________________________________________
Roe | X | | X | | X || ! | X | X | X | X |
_______________________________________________________________________________
Using statement 1, the animal missed by Roe is the doe. So,
the deer was killed by Doe. Filling in Xs horizontally and
vertically allows us to complete the killed side. Add in
that any animal killed (or missed) cannot be missed
(or killed) by that same hunter. Also put ! in any row or
column that has only one cell that is not X. This gives us
the completed solution matrix:
| Animal Killed || Animal Missed |
| doe | deer | hare | boar | roe || doe | deer | hare | boar | roe |
Hunter | | | | | || | | | | |
_______________________________________________________________________________
Doe | X | ! | X | X | X || X | X | ! | X | X |
_______________________________________________________________________________
Deer | X | X | ! | X | X || X | X | X | X | ! |
_______________________________________________________________________________
Hare | X | X | X | X | ! || X | X | X | ! | X |
_______________________________________________________________________________
Boar | ! | X | X | X | X || X | ! | X | X | X |
_______________________________________________________________________________
Roe | X | X | X | ! | X || ! | X | X | X | X |
_______________________________________________________________________________
This MindBender was modified from a puzzle in Pierre Berloquin's book,
"100 Games of Logic."
___________________________
Answer to Mini-MindBender for Kids
Young Animals
Kangaroo --- joey
Owl --- owlet
Pigeon --- squab
Hawk --- eyas
Goose --- gosling
This MindBender was modified from a puzzle in Jerry Stickels'
"Mindbending Puzzles" calendar for 2000.
June 4, 2001
MindBender
Word Square
Fill in the following word square with a total of 4 N's, 3 E's,
two each of S, A, P, and W, and one I (16 letters total) so that
each word can be read across and down.
_________________
| S | P | A | N |
_________________
| P | | | |
_________________
| A | | | |
_________________
| N | | | |
_________________
___________________________
Mini-MindBender for Kids
Driving
Jerry is always prompt. One day he told his wife, "If we drive at
40 miles per hour, we'll be 30 minutes late. But if we drive 50%
faster, we'll be right on time." How far did Jerry and his wife
need to drive?
___________________________
...Answer to MindBender
Word Square
_________________
| S | P | A | N |
_________________
| P | I | N | E |
_________________
| A | N | E | W |
_________________
| N | E | W | S |
_________________
This MindBender was modified from a puzzle in Dr. Abbie F. Salny's
"The Mensa 365 Brain Puzzlers Calendar" for 2001.
___________________________
Answer to Mini-MindBender for Kids
Driving
60 miles.
The distance or the rate times time must be equal for both speeds.
Thus, if it takes T hours at 60 miles per hour (and T + 0.5 hours
at 40 miles per hour), we have:
60*T = 40*(T+0.5) or 60*T = 40*T + 20 or 20*T = 20 or T = 1 hour at
60 miles per hour or 60 miles.
This MindBender was modified from a puzzle in Dr. Abbie F. Salny's
"The Mensa 365 Brain Puzzlers Calendar" for 2001.
June 11, 2001
MindBender
Poisoning
Four men (Smith, Jones, Rogers, and Carson) eat dinner together at a
square table in a restaurant. Suddenly, Smith cries out "I've been
poisoned," and falls over dead. Smith's companions were questioned by
the police and each made three statements, exactly one of which is
false for each man:
Jones: I didn't do it. I was sitting next to Carson. We had our usual
waiter today.
Rogers: I was sitting across from Smith. We had a new waiter today.
The waiter didn't do it.
Carson: Rogers didn't do it. The waiter poisoned Smith. We had a
new waiter today.
Assuming that only Smith's companions and the waiter are implicated,
who is the murderer?
___________________________
Mini-MindBender for Kids
Box It
Place the numbers 1 through 8 in the boxes below so that no two
consecutive numbered boxes are touching, not even at their
corners. For example, the box with 5 cannot touch the box with 4
or the box with 6.
HINT: Put the 1 in one of the two center boxes.
-------------
| | |
| | |
| | |
-------------------------
| | | | |
| | | | |
| | | | |
-------------------------
| | |
| | |
| | |
-------------
___________________________
...Answer to MindBender
Poisoning
Carson is the murderer.
Construct a table with the three men's statements down the first
column and then use the next four columns for assumed guilty parties.
Then in each column, fill in T for True or F for False for each
statement, assuming the guilt of the person at the top of that column.
Keep filling in T or F for each slot in the table until the assumed
guilt results in a conflict (indicated by "-X"), or proves true. Use
the fact that exactly one of each man's statements is false to help
fill in the table. Each slot in the table is filled with T or F to
indicate True/False and a number to indicate order. T1, for example,
indicates True, filled in at the first step in sequence for that
column; and F3 would indicate False filled in at the third step in
sequence for that column.
Assumed | | | | |
Guilty | Jones | Rogers | Carson | Waiter |
Person: | | | | |
Statements | | | | |
_______________________________________________________________________
Jones
_______________________________________________________________________
| | | | |
I didn't do it. | F1 | T1 | T1 | T1 |
| | | | |
_______________________________________________________________________
| | | | |
I was sitting next to Carson. | T2 | | T3 | |
| | | | |
_______________________________________________________________________
| | | | |
We had our usual waiter today. | T2-X | | F2 | |
| | | | |
_______________________________________________________________________
Rogers
_______________________________________________________________________
| | | | |
I was sitting across from Smith. | | | F3 | |
| | | | |
_______________________________________________________________________
| | | | |
We had a new waiter today. | | | T2 | T2-X |
| | | | |
_______________________________________________________________________
| | | | |
The waiter didn't do it. | T1 | T1 | T1 | F1 |
| | | | |
_______________________________________________________________________
Carson
_______________________________________________________________________
| | | | |
Rogers didn't do it. | T1 | F1 | T1 | T1 |
| | | | |
_______________________________________________________________________
| | | | |
The waiter poisoned Smith. | F1 | T2-X | F1 | T1 |
| | | | |
_______________________________________________________________________
| | | | |
We had a new waiter today. | T2-X | | T2 | F2-X |
| | | | |
_______________________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________________
This MindBender was modified from a puzzle in C. R. Wylie Jr.'s book,
"101 Puzzles in Thought & Logic."
___________________________
Answer to Mini-MindBender for Kids
Box It
One possible solution:
-------------
| | |
| 3 | 5 |
| | |
-------------------------
| | | | |
| 7 | 1 | 8 | 2 |
| | | | |
-------------------------
| | |
| 4 | 6 |
| | |
-------------
This MindBender was modified from a puzzle in Raymond Blum's book,
"Math Trick, Puzzles & Games."
June 18, 2001
MindBender
The Doctor
George Blank has a wife and a daughter. His daughter has a husband and
a son. The following facts refer to the five people I have mentioned:
1) One of the five people is a doctor and one of the other four is
the doctor's patient.
2) The doctor's offspring and the patient's older parent are of the
same sex.
3) The doctor's offspring is a) not the patient and b) not the
patient's older parent.
Who is the doctor?
___________________________
Mini-MindBender for Kids
Five Words
Change each of the following five words into five new words by
changing the second letter in each word. Make the changes so that
reading down the second letters (currently DLIHI) results in a fun
thing to do in winter or summer.
I D L E
S L I M
L I T E
S H O P
M I N D
___________________________
...Answer to MindBender
The Doctor
The facts refer to only the five people mentioned. From 2), the
doctor has an offspring, so the doctor cannot be the daughter's
son. Also from 2), the patient's parent is mentioned, so the
patient is either the daughter or the daughter's son. From 3a),
if George Blank or his wife is the doctor, the daughter is not
the patient. Also from 3a), if the daughter or the daughter's
husband is the doctor, the daughter's son is not the patient.
This leaves us with the following possible doctor-patient pairs:
DOCTOR PATIENT
A. George Blank His daughter's son
B. George's wife His daughter's son
C. George's daughter George's daughter
D. The daughter's husband George's daughter
Pair C is eliminated by 1). Pairs A and B are eliminated by the
combination of 2) and 3b). Therefore, Pair D is correct and the
daughter's husband is the doctor and the daughter is the patient,
and her father is her older parent.
This MindBender was modified from a puzzle in George J. Summers' book,
"Test Your Logic."
___________________________
Answer to Mini-MindBender for Kids
Five Words
I S L E
S K I M
L A T E
S T O P
M E N D
And the word formed by reading down the second letters is SKATE, a
fun thing to do in winter (ice SKATE) or summer (roller SKATE).
The MindBender moderator is the source for this Mini-MindBender.
June 25, 2001
MindBender
Number Wheel
A number wheel has all the numbers from 1 to N placed in order on
spaces on the wheel. Start at 1 and repeatedly move forward a
counting interval number of spaces (where a counting interval is a
number from 1 to N-1), moving around the wheel until you return to
1. What value of N is required if you want to be able to reach all
of the numbers from 1 through N before arriving back at 1,
regardless of what counting interval you choose? Choose your value
of N from 42, 43, 44, 45, or 46.
___________________________
Mini-MindBender for Kids
Spreading
A bacteria culture is growing in a petri dish. It doubles in area
every 30 minutes. It filled the whole petri dish at precisely
3:34 PM. At what exact time was the petri dish half full?
___________________________
...Answer to MindBender
Number Wheel
Choose 43. Because 43 is prime and has no smaller factors, you will
cycle through all the numbers before reaching 1 a second time.
This MindBender was modified from a puzzle in David J. Bodycombe's
book, "The Mammoth Puzzle Carnival."
___________________________
Answer to Mini-MindBender for Kids
Spreading
3:04 PM, exactly 30 minutes earlier.
This MindBender was modified from a puzzle in Victor Serebriakoff's
book, "The Mammoth Book of Mindbending Puzzles."
July 2, 2001
MindBender
Word Change
Change one letter at a time to change LOSE into FIND in four steps. At
each step, you should have a good English word.
L O S E
- - - -
- - - -
- - - -
F I N D
___________________________
Mini-MindBender for Kids
What Is It
Lucy had it first, Ethel had it last, Mary Lungel had it twice until
she married Peter Stevenson and never had it again. What is it?
___________________________
...Answer to MindBender
Word Change
One way is shown below. There may be other ways.
L O S E
L O N E
L I N E
F I N E
F I N D
This MindBender was modified from a puzzle in Dr. Abbie F. Salny's
"The Mensa 365 Brain Puzzlers Calendar" for 2001.
___________________________
Answer to Mini-MindBender for Kids
What Is It
The letter L.
This MindBender was modified from a puzzle on the RiddleNut.com's
Riddle-A-Day mailing list.
Subscribe by visiting http://www.riddlenut.com
July 9, 2001
MindBender
Marbles
A friend has a bag with 4 marbles in it -- 2 green, 1 purple, and
1 yellow. She draws two of the marbles from the bag and shows you
only one of those two. It is green. What is the probability that the
other one is also green?
___________________________
Mini-MindBender for Kids
Zoo Palindrome
A palindrome is a word, sentence, or group of words that reads the
same backward or forward. Decipher the following telegram (a
palindrome) sent by a Chinese zookeeper regarding the sleeping
habits of one of the animals. One letter has been filled in for you.
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ N _ _
___________________________
...Answer to MindBender
Marbles
1 in 5. Let the marbles be represented by G1, G2, P, and Y. Then
the possibilities are:
G1 G2
G1 P
G1 Y
G2 P
G2 Y
P Y Not possible since we already know that one marble is green
Of these possibilities, only 5 have at least one green marble and
only 1 possibility has two green marbles. So the probability is
1 in 5.
This MindBender was modified from a puzzle in Jerry Stickels'
"Mindbending Puzzles" calendar for 2000.
___________________________
Answer to Mini-MindBender for Kids
Zoo Palindrome
P A N D A H A D N A P
This MindBender was modified from a puzzle in Dr. Abbie F. Salny's
"The Mensa 365 Brain Puzzlers Calendar" for 2001.
July 16, 2001
MindBender
Number Square
If A, B, C, and D are numbers, determine their values and the
missing column and row totals in the following number square:
---------------------
| A | B | C | D | ???
---------------------
| A | A | A | B | 148
---------------------
| C | D | D | D | ???
---------------------
| C | C | A | B | 160
---------------------
156 ??? 155 ???
___________________________
Mini-MindBender for Kids
Missing Numbers
What are the two missing numbers in the series below?
HINT: Pay close attention to the question.
_ _ 3 3 7 7 2 3 6 5
___________________________
...Answer to MindBender
Number Square
Using the column one equation (A+A+C+C=156) and the row four
equation (A+B+C+C=160), we can determine that B=A+4. Using that
in the row two equation, we have A=36 and B=40. Using that in
the column one equation, we have C=42. Using A, B, and C values
and the column three equation, we have D=41. The complete
number square is:
---------------------
| 36 | 40 | 42 | 41 | 159
---------------------
| 36 | 36 | 36 | 40 | 148
---------------------
| 42 | 41 | 41 | 41 | 165
---------------------
| 42 | 42 | 36 | 40 | 160
---------------------
156 159 155 162
This MindBender was modified from a puzzle in Victor Serebriakoff's
book, "The Mammoth Book of Astounding Puzzles."
___________________________
Answer to Mini-MindBender for Kids
Missing Numbers
4 and 3. The numbers are the numbers of letters in the words of the
question.
This MindBender was modified from a puzzle on Humor Shack's Daily
Riddle email list.
Subscribe by visiting http://www.humorshack.com/subscribe
July 23, 2001
MindBender
One Liar
A theft has occurred. There are only four suspects: A, B, C, and D.
The following statements were made:
A: I didn't do it.
B: I didn't do it.
C: A did it.
D: A did it.
If only one is lying, who is guilty and who is lying?
___________________________
Mini-MindBender for Kids
Math Trick
There is a number that you could write on a piece of paper BEFORE
giving a friend directions so that you "predict" your friend's answer
to the following calculation. What is that number?
The directions are:
1. Write down any three digit number whose digits are in decreasing
(by 1) order.
2. Reverse that number.
3. Subtract the second from the first.
4. I have the predicted answer written on this paper.
___________________________
...Answer to MindBender
One Liar
A is guilty and A is also the one lying. If there is only one false
statement and two people say A did it, A must be guilty and must
also be lying since A said he didn't do it. You could also test the
four possible liars. Only A as the liar leads to no conflict in the
four statements and the conditions.
This MindBender was modified from a puzzle in Dr. Abbie F. Salny's
"The Mensa 365 Brain Puzzlers Calendar" for 2001.
___________________________
Answer to Mini-MindBender for Kids
Math Trick
The number is 198. It will always be 198 regardless of the original
number chosen.
This MindBender was modified from a puzzle in Raymond Blum's book,
"Mathemagic."
July 30, 2001
MindBender
Partial Square
Here is a partially completed magic square (where rows, columns,
and diagonals all total the same). Fill in the missing numbers to
complete the magic square.
_____________________
| | | | |
| 11 | | | 8 |
| | | | |
_____________________
| | | | |
| | 5 | 6 | 3 |
| | | | |
_____________________
| | | | |
| 4 | 1 | 2 | 7 |
| | | | |
_____________________
| | | | |
| | 10 | 9 | |
| | | | |
_____________________
___________________________
Mini-MindBender for Kids
Four Mistakes
This paragraph contains four errers. If you find all the mistakes,
you will recieve credit for solving this puzzle. Look carefuly and
see if you can find all of them.
___________________________
...Answer to MindBender
Partial Square
I hope you didn't ignore the possibility of negative numbers!
All rows, column, and diagonals must total 14 since row 3 totals
14. The rest is easy.
_____________________
| | | | |
| 11 | -2 | -3 | 8 |
| | | | |
_____________________
| | | | |
| 0 | 5 | 6 | 3 |
| | | | |
_____________________
| | | | |
| 4 | 1 | 2 | 7 |
| | | | |
_____________________
| | | | |
| -1 | 10 | 9 | -4 |
| | | | |
_____________________
This MindBender was modified from a puzzle in Victor Serebriakoff's
book, "The Mammoth Book of Mindbending Puzzles."
___________________________
Answer to Mini-MindBender for Kids
Four Mistakes
The errors are: 1) "errors" is spelled incorrectly; 2) "receive" is
spelled incorrectly; 3) "carefully" is spelled incorrectly; and 4)
there are only three errors, not four.
This MindBender is a very old puzzle, but I don't remember where I
saw it last.
August 6, 2001
MindBender
Chain
How many links do you need to cut in a chain that is 23 links long
so that you will be able to give someone any number of links from
1 to 23?
___________________________
Mini-MindBender for Kids
Blanks
Replace each "??" below so that each row, column, and diagonal adds
up to 125.
27 ?? 28 03 27
?? ?? 27 ?? 03
26 ?? 25 22 24
?? 24 23 23 ??
23 06 22 ?? 23
___________________________
...Answer to MindBender
Chain
Two cuts. Let O be an unbroken chain link and C be a cut chain link.
Then the following final chain configuration allows any number of
links from 1 to 23 to be given to someone:
OOO C OOOOOO C OOOOOOOOOOOO
This MindBender was modified from a puzzle at the rec.puzzles archive.
Check it out at:
http://einstein.et.tudelft.nl/~arlet/puzzles/
___________________________
Answer to Mini-MindBender for Kids
Blanks
Start by using addition and subtraction to fill in any row that is
missing only one number. Continue with any other such rows, columns,
or diagonals to complete the square.
27 40 28 03 27
42 27 27 26 03
26 28 25 22 24
07 24 23 23 48
23 06 22 51 23
This MindBender was modified from a puzzle in Victor Serebriakoff's
book, "The Mammoth Book of Astounding Puzzles."
August 13, 2001
MindBender
Auction
At an art auction, surprisingly, each painting went for the same
price (in whole dollars) and each customer bought only one painting.
There were more than 3 buyers but less than 100. The auction brought
in a total of $1698. How many customers were there and what did each
painting cost?
___________________________
Mini-MindBender for Kids
Kite Paper
In the six by six square of letters below, follow the directions
and then unscramble the remaining letters to get the answer to:
What kind of paper makes the best kites?
1. Cross out all the M's and Q's.
2. Cross out all the vowels in column 4.
3. Cross out the letters in row 2 that come before H in the alphabet.
4. Cross out all the consonants in row 5.
5. Cross out all the I's and U's.
1 2 3 4 5 6
1 M F Q O I U
2 D G Y R E C
3 M I Q E M P
4 Q U I L U I
5 W J E A X K
6 U P M Q A I
___________________________
...Answer to MindBender
Auction
1698 factors into its prime factors of 2, 3, and 283. The only
possible solution that satisfies the conditions is:
There were 6 customers and each painting sold for $283.
This MindBender was modified from a puzzle in Dr. Abbie F. Salny's
"The Mensa 365 Brain Puzzlers Calendar" for 2001.
___________________________
Answer to Mini-MindBender for Kids
Kite Paper
FLYPAPER
This MindBender was modified from a puzzle in Highlights
"Puzzlemania," a good thinking resource for young kids.
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If you have any riddles or MindBenders to add please
e-mail me or
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