Puzzle 1
I travelled from London to Glasgow last week at 60 miles per hour, I had filled my petrol tank just before I left, so it was full with 25 gallons.
Unfortunately, my petrol tank sprang a leak immediately, and I only managed to drive 300 miles before I ran out of petrol.
My car does 30 miles per gallon, how fast was I losing petrol through the hole?
Puzzle Copyright © Kevin Stone
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Hint
How much petrol was used for the journey itself?
Answer
3 gallons each hour.
Reasoning
I drove 300 miles at 30 miles per gallon, so I used 10 gallons. Which means I lost the other 15 gallons.
I drove the 300 miles at 60mph, which took me 5 hours.
So I lost 15 gallons of petrol in 5 hours = 3 gallons per hour.
Puzzle 2
Can you find the hidden nine-letter word in this grid?
Starting with any letter move in any direction, including diagonally. The letters of the word are in the correct order.
T
U
D
T
L
I
C
I
T
I
F
D
D
F
F
I
Note: this puzzle is not interactive, and the squares cannot be clicked.
Puzzle Copyright © Kevin Stone
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Hint
The word starts with the letter D.
Puzzle 3
Start with a number larger than 0, square it, add 4, double, take away 3, times 4 and finally subtract the original number.
If you were now left with 20, what number did you start with?
Puzzle Copyright © Kevin Stone
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Hint
A little algebra might help.
Answer
1 /8 .
Reasoning
If we convert the question to algebra, we have:
((n^2 + 4) x 2 − 3) x 4 − n = 20
Expanding the brackets and simplifying gives:
(2n^2 + 8 − 3) x 4 − n = 20
(2n^2 + 5) x 4 − n = 20
8n^2 + 20 − n = 20
8n^2 − n = 0 (*)
8n − 1 = 0
8n = 1
n = 1 /8
In the equation marked (*) zero is also a potential solution, but as the question tells us that we "Start with a number larger than 0" we know that n can't be 0, and therefore we can safely divide by n.
Double-Checking
1 /8
squared = 1 /64
add 4 = 41 /64
double = 81 /32
take away 3 = 51 /32
times 4 = 201 /8
subtracting 1 /8 gives 20, as required.
Puzzle 4
Using the letters AAEEIIMMPPTT complete this grid. The grid reads the same across as down.
Note: this puzzle is not interactive, and the squares cannot be clicked.
Puzzle Copyright © Kevin Stone
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Hint
The bottom word begins with P.
Answer
L
I
M
P
I
D
E
A
M
E
A
T
P
A
T
E
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