The first group of trainee astronauts are all sitting around the table, waiting to start their first day of training.
From the clues given below, can work out where everyone sits?
Seat 1 is next to Seat 2 and Seat 8, etc. Seat 5 is across from Seat 1, and Seat 7 is across from Seat 3, etc. Seat 2 is a higher seat number than Seat 1, etc.
William is next to Alisa and Nick. William is across from George. Amanda is next to Sarah. Sarah is across from Eric. Nick is next to Eric. Sydney is in Seat 4 and sits next to George. George has a higher seat number than Sydney. Alisa is not in Seat 2.
Answer
Seat 1 = William
Seat 2 = Nick
Seat 3 = Eric
Seat 4 = Sydney
Seat 5 = George
Seat 6 = Amanda
Seat 7 = Sarah
Seat 8 = Alisa
Reasoning
Sydney is in Seat 4 and is next to George (Clue 6), so George is in either Seat 3 or Seat 5. But George has a higher seat number than Sydney (Clue 7). Therefore, George is in Seat 5.
William is across from George (Clue 2), and therefore is in Seat 1.
William is next to Alisa and Nick (Clue 1), so Alisa and Nick are in Seat 2 and Seat 8 (either way around). But Alisa is not in Seat 2 (Clue 8). Therefore, Alisa is in Seat 8 and Nick is in Seat 2.
Nick is next to Eric (Clue 5) so can only be in Seat 3.
Sarah is across from Eric (Clue 4), and therefore is in Seat 7.
Amanda is next to Sarah (Clue 3) and can only be in Seat 6.
??
Puzzle 18
Below you will find 15 well-known six-letter words, with only their endings remaining.
Can you find the words? ---rix---osy---few---oze---uum---wth---nda---nis---tem---pod---reo---hom---gan---amt---gen
A million grains of sand is a heap. If we remove one grain of sand from this heap, we will still have a heap.
We can now keep repeating (2) until we only have a single grain of sand remaining.
Is this a heap? Clearly not. But what went wrong with our thinking?
This is called the Sorites paradox (soros being Greek for "heap") and is a classic paradox that has no real answer.
Both (1) and (2) are true, and we can indeed keep removing one grain of sand until we have a single grain remaining. If we remove one more grain, we're left with nothing, is this still a heap?
When does the heap become a non-heap?
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Puzzle 20
This is a very special sequence and is complete, but what is the missing letter?
T · I · A · V · S · S · A · I · C · ? · W · I · T · M · L
