Hint
Start by imaging a sign saying 'BrainBashers Puzzles And Illusions'.
Answer
I commissioned an artist to paint a sign for BrainBashers that said 'BrainBashers Puzzles And Illusions', however, they made a terrible mistake.
The gaps between 'Puzzles' and 'And', and 'And' and 'Illusions' weren't the same, so the sign seemed oddly out of balance.
??
Puzzle 10
Using all of the letters A to Z, each once only, complete these common words. There are currently 3 different answers, can you find them all? --ust-ue-no-o-e--and-a-erid-o--uc-ye-i-thea--tou---rie--ry-th-m-n
During a recent gymnastics gala, four athletes competed in three events, the vault, the beam, and the floor.
Chris came third on the floor. The athlete who came second in the vault won the beam event. The athlete who came second on the beam won the floor. Emery beat Alex in every event. The athlete who won the vault came second on the floor. Billie came last in the vault.
Can you determine who finished where in each event?
Hint
Could Alex have come first or second in any event?
Answer Vault Beam Floor
#1 Emery Chris Billie
#2 Chris Billie Emery
#3 Alex Emery Chris
#4 Billie Alex Alex
Reasoning
By (1), Chris came third on the floor. By (6), Billie came last in the vault.
Vault Beam Floor
#1
#2
#3 Chris
#4 Billie
By (2), the athlete who came second in the vault won the beam event, let's mark these as X.
By (3), the athlete who came second on the beam won the floor, let's mark these as Y.
By (5), the athlete who won the vault came second on the floor, let's mark these as Z. Vault Beam Floor
#1 Z X Y
#2 X Y Z
#3 Chris
#4 Billie
By (4), Emery beat Alex in every event, therefore Alex can't have won any event, nor come second (because of X, Y, and Z). So, Alex came third on the vault, and last on the floor. Vault Beam Floor
#1 Z X Y
#2 X Y Z
#3 Alex Chris
#4 Billie Alex
Looking at the vault, Z can't be Chris because Z came second on the floor (but we know Chris came last). So, Z must be Emery, and X is Chris. Vault Beam Floor
#1 Emery Chris Y
#2 Chris Y Emery
#3 Alex Chris
#4 Billie Alex
Looking at the floor, Y is Billie. Vault Beam Floor
#1 Emery Chris Billie
#2 Chris Billie Emery
#3 Alex Chris
#4 Billie Alex
By (4), Emery beat Alex on the beam. Vault Beam Floor
#1 Emery Chris Billie
#2 Chris Billie Emery
#3 Alex Emery Chris
#4 Billie Alex Alex
At the recent spring fayre, four keen gardeners were displaying their fine roses.
In total there were four colours and each rose colour appeared twice.
From the clues below, can you tell who had which colour roses?
Gardener Green had a yellow rose. Gardener Yellow did not have a red one. Gardener Red had a blue rose, but not a green one. Gardener Blue did not have a yellow one. One person with a red rose also had a green one. One person with a yellow rose also had a blue one. One of the persons with a green rose had no red. Neither of the persons with a yellow rose had a green one. No person had two roses of the same colour. No two persons had the same two colour roses, and their names provide no clues.
Hint
Start by working out the pairings of the flowers.
Answer
Gardener Red
yellow + blue
Gardener Green
yellow + red
Gardener Yellow
blue + green
Gardener Blue
red + green
Stage 1 – Pairings
First, we work out the possible flower pairings (BGRY = blue, green, red, yellow).
By (8), Y can only be paired with B and R.
YB YR
By (5), we have RG.
YB YR RG
By (9) and (10), the remaining pairing can only be BG.
YB YR RG BG
Stage 2 - Matchings
Next, we match the flower pairings to the gardeners.
By (3), Gardener Red = Y + B
By (1), Gardener Green = Y + R (as YB has already been determined).
By (2), Gardener Yellow = B + G (as this is the only remaining pairing without R).
Leaving, Gardener Blue = R + G.
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