Ping-pong pipe puzzle An empty steel pipe 25 centimeter long
is embedded in a concrete floor. The pipe has an internal diameter of 40
millimeters. The concrete floor has a tiny drain hole which means the pipe
in unable to hold any liquid.
A 38 millimeter ping-pong ball has been dropped into the pipe. You have
to get the ball out undamaged. All you have is a long length of fine chain
eg jewellers chain. How can you get the ball out?
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Two teasers in one package A man is tossing and turning in
bed at night, unable to sleep. Finally he sits up, picks up the telephone
by his bed, and dials a number. A voice answers. Without saying a word, he
hangs up, but then (TAKES THE PHONE OFF THE HOOK), lies down (ON THE BROAD
OF HIS BACK) and goes quickly to sleep. Why?
The first teaser is a popular classic. Simply read the above text but
ignore everything shown inside the brackets in UPPERCASE. It has a fairly
"standard" solution although you will probably find alternative solutions
which also fit the facts.
The second teaser is my own variant. Read all of the words. Can you
explain?
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series-1 I wrote down 1 and doubled it and continued
doubling it to produce the series 1 2 4 8 16 32 64 etc
Again I wrote down 1 and by using a simple mathematical method produced
the same doubling series BUT with an extra 1 at the start, thus 1 1 2
4 8 16 32 64 etc
What did I do?
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series-2 The Fibonacci series produces the next number in
the series by adding together the previous two.
I often think it ought, therefore, to start with 0 1 rather than 1 1,
Thus: 0 1 1 2 3 5 8 13 21 etc,. What do you think?
Anyway to my puzzle: Here is the normal 'Fib' series: 1 1 2 3 5 8
13 21 etc
Here is the series I mentioned above BUT this time I did not create it
by the method I described there. 0 1 1 2 3 5 8 13 21 etc
What did I do?
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Two hunters Two hunters share a camp.
Hunter A leaves camp and walks due south, then due east and then heads
off due north to get back to camp.
Hunter B leaves camp and walks due south, then due east and then heads
off due south to get back to camp.
How come the difference?
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Napkin-ring puzzle
I have this silver napkin-ring (aka a serviette-ring). It is a hollow
pipe 4 centimeters diameter by 4 centimeters long. The metal is about 1˝
millimeters thick. The ring has a raised ornamental pattern which makes
the outside slightly convex.
The ring containing a napkin was lying on the dining table. I slipped
the napkin from the ring leaving the ring in its original position on the
table.
Now, here is the puzzle: Suddenly, the ring which had been lying
horizontally was standing vertically on the table. It had turned 90
degrees. How come?
I had not picked it up and turned it. Nor had I slipped my finger into
the pipe and lifted it so as to tip it upright. Nor had I pushed from
above to roll it over into an upright position. In fact, at all times my
hands (ie fingers) remained in contact with the table. I used nothing to
assist me, not even the napkin. What did I do?
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Hanging by a thread A mountaineer is descending a mountain
by abseiling down its vertical cliffs (ie by sliding down a rope). He
stands on a ledge where he finds a convenient rock spike over which he
places his rope. The rope is 200 feet long and so hangs 100 feet down
either side of the rock. He grasps both halves of the rope simultaneously,
edges over the ledge, and slides down to the next ledge about 90 feet
lower. He then recovers his rope from the rock above by pulling on one
end. He attempts to repeat the process to descend the next cliff. Again,
he finds a rock spike over which he drapes his rope but the cliff is
nearly 190 feet high and there are no holds part way down the cliff, so he
cannot use his usual method. If he ties the rope to the rock he could
slide down the single rope. This would mean abandoning his rope, but he
needs the rope for the cliffs further below. What is he to do?
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Instant pentagon Because I needed a sheet of paper slightly
shorter than A4 I tore a 1" wide rectangular strip from one end.
I was absent-mindedly playing with this strip when suddenly I found I
had folded it into a regular geometrical figure. After trimming (or
folding) away the excess paper there was a perfect pentagon. Amazing!
What did I do?
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whodunit fraction Replace the letters with digits:-
EVE ----- = ·ITITITITITITITIT...... DID
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It goes on and on and up and up
Replace the letters with digits:-
BUB ----- = ·UPUPUPUPUP...... POP
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Hamlet haiku I have an addiction to Shakespearean plays and
poetry and puzzles and have combined all three to present the result here
as a haiku poem puzzle. Will the answer when it is finally discovered (or
revealed) prove to be, or not to be, unquestionable?
To be, or not to ...? Why can't I recall what's next?
That is the question. Does the third line refer to the
first question or the second?
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11 + 2 = ? ELEVEN PLUS TWO =
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Hands of Time!
Have you noticed that when clocks and watches (analog ones) are
advertised the hands are ALWAYS set at 10 past 10? Well, not exactly 10
past 10 but with the hour-hand and minute-hand set symmetrically either
side ot the center.
What precisely is the time that must be set to achieve this symmetry?
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Coded Greeting
What a strange code! Can you break it?
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Letter list Can you make any sense out of this?
1 N 2 L's 4 E's 6 S's
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Flying a 'Super Conny' The Lockheed 'Super Constellation'
passenger plane was introduced in 1951 and became the world's best
airliner. 129 passengers - 530 km/hr - 4 propellor engines. A sleek
aircraft easily recognisable because of its distinctive 3-finned
tail. Used as Air Force One by President Eisenhower.
Question: Rule 23 of Instructions for Flying a Lockheed "Super
Constellation" reads
'Pilots will not wear [........] when flying.'
What is the missing 'something'?
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Oldest is new, newest is old
A few dozen of these items are in date sequence - the oldest is on
the left and the newest is on the right. On closer examination it is
seen that the oldest item contains something that is new whereas the
newest item contains something that is old, and the rest are also in
reverse date sequence. What could these items be?
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What am I?
I'm sometimes red though I am blue
And though I'm white I'm sometimes green
And sometimes black and yellow, too,
Untwist this last line and I'm seen.
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Wonders of Nature A bird of paradise flies with a peacock.
A chamaeleon catches a fly. A toucan flies with a crane. A
swordfish is caught by a net while following a flying fish.
Can you explain?
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Stuttering vowels The words facetious and abstemious contain
the five vowels in alphabetical order with each vowel used once only.
If you were allowed to repeat any vowel while still maintaining
alphabetical order can you think of any words that would fit this pattern?
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Measuring Vinegar
A camp cook has a clear-glass
cylindrical bottle of more than 5 ounces capacity but which contains
precisely 5 ounces of vinegar. He also has an empty jug of 4-ounce
capacity. He needs a measure of 4 ounces of vinegar BUT in the original
bottle. How?
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Measure four pints How do you measure four pints from a
bucket of water if you only have a five-pint container and a three-pint
container?
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Timing 9 minutes How do you indicate 9 minutes from now, if
all you have is a 4-minute hourglass and a 7-minute hour glass?
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This is not about a puzzle that asks a question
but about a question that leaves me puzzled!
Voltaire: "Judge a man by his questions rather than by his
answers."
Consider this quotation to be a truth. I am asked if I agree or disagree.
I answer, "I agree with Voltaire, but what do you think of his quotation?"
Because my answer is true [ie, it agrees with a
declared truth], it ought be deemed good judgement and therefore superior
to any question. But this disagrees with the quotation. Although I pose
the quite sensible yet superficial question 'but what do you think of his
quotation?' it seems quite inferior when compared to my assessment of
Voltaire's 'truth'.
Alternatively, I could have answered, "I disagree with Voltaire, but
what do you think of his quotation?" This answer shows lack of judgement.
But is that to be ignored when judging me simply because I follow up by
asking a trivial question? Do I acquire a favorable judgement? Voltaire's
quotation would seem to demand "Yes!"
I'm not sure where I stand with Voltaire. When I agree with him he
would seem to disagree with me yet when I disagree with him he would seem
to disagree with that, too. I can't win!
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Puss poem puzzler Haiku are poems, originally Japanese,
which, in basic form, consist of 17 syllables arranged in three lines of
5, 7 and 5 syllables respectively. Some are quite beautiful. They also
lend themselves to fun. Here are the first two lines of a haiku by Adaline
More. You are asked to add the third line and answer both questions.
What killed the cat? Why do I want to know that?
..............................
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Tell-tale signs
UP A ..... ...... .... ..... .... ........ ..
...... EVER
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Artificial Intelligence or not?
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Alphabit
But what is this?
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Tomato sauce
A man is dead with a bullet in the heart.
Tomato sauce surrounds the fatal wound! Why?
Sherlock Holmes solves the mystery before he gets to the scene.
Can you match the deductive reasoning of Sherlock Holmes and solve it, too?
Go to The Tomato Sauce Case to find the clues.
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That's my boy!
Rembrandt's mother was taken to see a series of Rembrandt
self-portraits. She studied them intently and then pointed to the
middle one and said "That's my boy!"
Puzzle: How come?
This puzzle is also the basis of a Sherlock Holmes mystery - The Rembrandt Trio.
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53 Bicycles - double-dink!
There are two puzzle here. (1) is fairly well-known. (2) is my variant.
(1) There are 53 bicycles and three men in a room. One man gets shot.
Why?
(2) There are 53 bicycles and three men in a room. Two men get
shot. Why?
This puzzle is also the basis of a Sherlock Holmes mystery - The Two Death Cards.
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Bookworm - goes hungry
On a public library shelf, standing upright, are four books consisting of Volume 1
and Volume 2 of a 1st Edition and Volume 1 and Volume 2 of its 2nd Edition. Each
Edition has 1000 pages with each Volume being of 500 pages.
A hungry Bookworm, for his lunch, eats a worm-hole from page 1, Volume 1, Edition 1
to page 1000, Volume 2, Edition 2.
That night, Bookworm tells his friend Logiworm about his lunch. Logiworm points out
that had Bookworm thought logically he could have eaten twice as much by eating his
wormhole from page 500, Volume 1, Edition 1 to page 501, Volume 2, Edition 2.
Bookworm cannot see the logic of that argument but says he will follow Logiworm's
method for tomorrow's lunch. The next night Logiworm asks Bookworm, "Did you enjoy
you nice big lunch, today?" Bookworm replies, "No! I did not! I did exactly what
you told me to do and I haven't had a bite to eat. I'm hungry! So, please, don't
talk to me about logic!"
Can you explain what happened?
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Lunatickle - one small step
When I was handed some actual Moon rocks
I immediately took off my shoes and my socks.
I performed a feat, with my feet, that countless others for
hundreds of years have desired to do but failed to achieve.
I became the first person to do what?
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Fishy tale
Here is an easy puzzle that you can find in many places on the web:
There are two different 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?
Using that puzzle as a starting point, I have created this new one:
There are two buckets, one was
filled with fresh water with a fish in it and one filled with sea water with a fish in it. All of this water was put into a barrel, without using the buckets or any dividers. Each fish remained in its own water. I then went fishing in the barrel and caught a fish.
Can you explain?
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