Puzzle 17
My shirt has 5 buttons, my cardigan has 2 buttons, and my suit jacket has no buttons.
How many buttons do my trousers have?
Puzzle Copyright © Kevin Stone
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Hint
It depends on the length of the word.
Answer
2 buttons.
The number of buttons is 10, minus the length of the word.
Puzzle 18
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 19
You can replace the dashes with the same four-letter word, and create two new words, one that starts with ARM, and one that ends in ING.
Can you find all possible four-letter words that work?
arm----
----ing
Puzzle Copyright © Kevin Stone
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Hint
There are 4 possible answers.
Answer
Band, load, lock, and rest, all create new words:
armband and banding
armload and loading
armlock and locking
armrest and resting
Note
Some dictionaries also allow ARMRACK, but others don't. So RACK is a unofficial possible answer.
Puzzle 20
Last week I spent half of my money on a new jacket, and then I spent half of that amount on some new trousers.
I was left with £32.94. How much did I spend?
Puzzle Copyright © Kevin Stone
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Hint
Try working backwards.
Answer
£98.82.
Reasoning
At the end I was left with £32.94, which was half of my remaining money, so before buying the trousers I must have had £65.88.
Again, this was half of my money, so before buying the jacket I must have had £131.76 at the start.
As I now had £32.94 remaining, I must have spent £98.82.
Double-Checking
I started with £131.76, and I spent £65.88 on a new jacket, and then £32.94 on the trousers, a total spend of £98.82.
