Puzzle 1
Each of these words can be split in half, and two letters can be placed in the middle to create a new six-letter word.
The four added pairs of letters, in order, spell an 8-letter word. What is that word?
lend
liar
pale
coin
For example:
door + ct = do + ct + or = doctor
suit + nl = su + nl + it = sunlit
Puzzle Copyright © Kevin Stone
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Hint
The 8-letter word begins with the letter G.
Answer
Generous.
lend + ge = le + ge + nd = legend
liar + ne = li + ne + ar = linear
pale + ro = pa + ro + le = parole
coin + us = co + us + in = cousin
Puzzle 2
Painter Pete, our local DIY expert, is renovating the local hospital.
He has to number each of the rooms in the hospital with plastic numbers.
However, he has run out of the number 9.
Unfortunately, he has no spare 6's available, which certainly would have been useful.
How many 9's must Pete buy in order to number all 1,000 rooms?
Puzzle Copyright © Kevin Stone
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Hint
Don't forget the extra 9's in 90, 91, etc.
Answer
300.
Reasoning
Start with: 9, 19, 29, 39, 49, 59, 69, 79, 89, 90, 91, 92, 93, 94, 95, 96, 97, 98, 99 – which is 20 9's.
We then repeat this for 100, 200, 300, up to 900 – which is 200 9's.
But from 900 to 999 we have an extra 100 9's as each starts with a 9.
So the total is 300.
Puzzle 3
What is the smallest positive integer, which, when multiplied by 6 …
… gives a number consisting of only 8's?
Puzzle Copyright © Kevin Stone
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Hint
Try working backwards.
Answer
148.
148 x 6 = 888.
The easiest way is to divide successive 8's by 6 until you get an integer:
8 ÷ 6 = 1.3333
88 ÷ 6 = 14.666
888 ÷ 6 = 148
Puzzle 4
Traffic was bad going to work this morning. I only managed to average 30 mph.
How fast must I go home tonight, along the same route, to average 60 mph for the entire round trip?
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Hint
It doesn't matter what the distance is, so try a random distance.
Answer
This cannot be done.
It does not matter how far the trip is, let's assume that it is random distance, say 60 miles, and remembering that Time = Distance ÷ Speed.
The morning trip took 60 miles ÷ 30 mph = 2 hours.
To average the required 60 mph, we would have to travel the total distance (of 120 miles) in 2 hours. However, we've already used all of the two hours for the morning trip!
Choosing any random distance would also show that it can't be done.
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