My 6, 7, 3 is a tear to a newspaper.
My 5, 4, 1 is damper than moist.
My 1, 7, 6, 4 is to become weary.
My 5, 7, 6, 9 helps electricity to flow.
My 8, 10, 2 is an attempt at this puzzle.
My whole could have been used to create this puzzle.
Hint
The first letters of the words are: R, W, T, W, T.
Answer
Typewriter.
Rip, wet, tire, wire, try.
??
Puzzle 6
Last week I travelled from London to Leeds, a distance I measured as 174 miles.
I started at 9.15am and completed the journey with an average speed of 40 miles per hour.
On the way back, in the evening, I travelled exactly the same route, starting at 5.15pm. The traffic was light, and I completed the journey with an average speed of 60 miles per hour.
What was the overall average speed for the round trip?
After the recent BrainBashers annual marathon, the judges were comparing notes to determine who finished where. From their notes, can you help them reconstruct the final result?
Max Merrymood beat Toby Trent and Jesse Jackson. Pat Piper beat Jesse Jackson, Toby Trent, and Alex Ardle. Zeb Zebra lost to Pat Piper. Glenn Goodfellow beat Toby Trent Zeb Zebra beat Frankie Flint. Glenn Goodfellow lost to Frankie Flint and Pat Piper. Toby Trent beat Billie Brick. Alex Ardle beat Zeb Zebra, Kelly Kingfisher, and Glenn Goodfellow. Kelly Kingfisher lost to Glenn Goodfellow and Max Merrymood. Billie Brick beat Kelly Kingfisher. Max Merrymood lost to Alex Ardle and Zeb Zebra. Frankie Flint beat Toby Trent, Max Merrymood, and Billie Brick. Toby Trent lost to Jesse Jackson and Alex Ardle. Jesse Jackson beat Glenn Goodfellow and Billie Brick.
Hint
Try rewriting the clues so that those who finished ahead are written first.
Answer
Pat Piper (P)
Alex Ardle (A)
Zeb Zebra (Z)
Frankie Flint (F)
Max Merrymood (M)
Jesse Jackson (J)
Glenn Goodfellow (G)
Toby Trent (T)
Billie Brick (B)
Kelly Kingfisher (K)
Reasoning
If we number the clues, write each name using a single letter, and rewrite the clues so that those who finished ahead are written first:
M beat T and JP beat J, T, and AP beat ZG beat TZ beat FF and P beat GT beat BA beat Z, K, and GG and M beat KB beat KA and Z beat MF beat T, M, and BJ and A beat TJ beat G and B
By (2): P A
By (8): P A Z
By (5): P A Z F
By (12): P A Z F M
By (1): P A Z F M J
By (14): P A Z F M J G
By (4): P A Z F M J G T
By (7): P A Z F M J G T B
By (10): P A Z F M J G T B K
?
Puzzle 8
As I was going to St Ives,
I met a man with seven wives.
Each wife had seven sacks,
Each sack had seven cats,
Each cat had seven kits.
Kits, cats, sacks and wives,
How many were going to St. Ives?
This is a very old puzzle, and appeared in a manuscript dated around 1730. It is thought to refer to a town in Cornwall, UK.
If we were to count everyone and everything, including all of the kits, cats, sacks and wives, we would have:
Me = 1
Man = 1
Wifes = 7
Sacks = 7 x 7 = 49
Cats = 7 x 7 x 7 = 343
Kits = 7 x 7 x 7 x 7 = 2401
