Puzzle 5
At last week's Girl Guide's picnic, four girls were tucking into their packed lunches. Jane had muffins but Denise didn't have orange juice. The girl who had blackcurrant juice also had scones and Frankie had blueberry juice. The girl who had cake also had strawberry juice, whereas Alice didn't have the strawberry juice nor toast. Can you work out who had which drink and which dessert?
Puzzle Copyright © Kevin Stone
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Hint
Denise had strawberry juice.
Answer
Alice had blackcurrant juice and scones.
Jane had orange juice and muffins.
Denise had strawberry juice and cake.
Frankie had blueberry juice and toast.
Puzzle 6
What number comes next in the sequence:
11 · 13 · 17 · 31 · 37 · 71 · 73 · 79 · 97 · ?
Puzzle Copyright © Kevin Stone
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Hint
A very tricky puzzle involving prime numbers.
Answer
101.
These are prime numbers, which, when reversed, are also prime.
Puzzle 7
Can you find three consecutive odd numbers that …
… total 1,287 when multiplied together?
Puzzle Copyright © Kevin Stone
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Hint
There are two different methods, one involves a cube root, and the other doesn't require a calculator.
Answer
9 x 11 x 13.
Reasoning #1
We're after three numbers that multiply together, so a good place to start is the cube root of 1,287, which is roughly 10.88.
Let's try dividing by the closest odd number to 10.88:
1287 ÷ 11 = 117
We're now after whole divisors of 117. Trying the odd numbers either side of 11 might work.
Trying either 9 or 13 gives the answer:
9 x 11 x 13 = 1,287
Trying the closest odd number to the cube root always works, and the other two numbers are the odd numbers either side.
Reasoning #2
We after three numbers that multiply together, but none of these can end in 5 (otherwise our answer would end in 0 or 5).
So, they can only end in 7, 9, 1 (e.g. 87, 89, 91), or 9, 1, 3 (e.g. 89, 91, 93).
However, if they ended in 7, 9, 1, the answer would end in 3 (because 7 x 9 x 1 = 63).
Therefore, they end in 9, 1, and 3 (because 9 x 1 x 3 = 27).
The first numbers we can try are 9, 11, 13:
= 9 x 11 x 13
= 99 x 13
= 100 x 13 − 13
= 1300 − 13
= 1,287
A calculator is not required!
Puzzle 8
Can you find a word that begins with the letter I …
… and by the addition of the letter A becomes another word that is pronounced the same?
Puzzle Copyright © Kevin Stone
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Hint
The final word starts with AI.
Answer
Isle becomes aisle.
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