Hidden in the grid below are eight, 7-letter words. Each word begins with the central P and you can move one letter in any direction to the next letter. All of the letters are used exactly once each. What are the words?
D
I
S
I
S
A
K
M
R
C
N
C
Y
E
A
C
Y
A
H
N
A
H
Y
S
P
I
B
L
I
E
R
O
L
L
S
C
M
P
U
R
A
T
M
U
I
L
A
E
R
Note: this puzzle is not interactive, and the letters cannot be clicked.
Answer
Here are the contents of the containers after each stage:
A B
0 11 fill B
7 4 fill A from B
0 4 empty A
4 0 fill A from B
4 11 fill B
7 8 fill A from B
0 8 empty A
7 1 fill A from B
0 1 empty A
1 0 fill A from B
1 11 fill B
7 5 fill A from B
0 5 empty A
5 0 fill A from B
5 11 fill B
7 9 fill A from B
0 9 empty A
This leaves 9 gallons in container B.
?
Puzzle 3
Which is larger:
seconds in a year.miles that light can travel in 3 minutes.
At the recent BrainBashers downhill mountain bike race, four entrants entered the challenging slalom event.
Alex finished in first position. The entrant wearing number #2 wore red, but Drew didn't wear yellow. The person in last place wore blue, and Stevie wore number #1. Glen beat Stevie, and the person who finished in second wore number #3. The entrant in yellow beat the entrant in green. Only one of the entrants wore the same number as their final position.
Can you determine who finished where, the number, and colour they each wore?
Hint
Start by looking at where Alex finished, and where the person who wore #3 finished, and then use clue (6).
Answer Pos Name Wore Colour
1 Alex #2 red
2 Glen #3 yellow
3 Stevie #1 green
4 Drew #4 blue
Reasoning
The four colours were: blue, green, red, yellow.
The four contestants were: Alex, Drew, Glen, Stevie.
By (1), Alex was first.
1 Alex
2
3
4
By (4), the person who was second wore number #3.
1 Alex
2 #3
3
4
Looking at (6):
- first place (Alex) can't have worn #1, because, by (3), Stevie wore #1
- second place wore #3
- third place can't have worn #3, because it was worn by second place
- fourth place is the only entrant who could have worn the same number as their final position
Therefore, Stevie finished in third, and Alex wore #2.
1 Alex #2
2 #3
3 Stevie #1
4 #4
By (2), Alex wore red. By (3), the person wearing blue was last.
1 Alex #2 red
2 #3
3 Stevie #1
4 #4 blue
By (5), yellow beat green.
1 Alex #2 red
2 #3 yellow
3 Stevie #1 green
4 #4 blue
By (4), Glen beat Stevie.
1 Alex #2 red
2 Glen #3 yellow
3 Stevie #1 green
4 #4 blue
Leaving Drew in last place.
1 Alex #2 red
2 Glen #3 yellow
3 Stevie #1 green
4 Drew #4 blue
