Puzzle 1
Below, 10 nine-letter words have been broken into chunks of three letters.
The chunks have been moved around, no chunk is used twice, and all of the chunks are used.
Can you find the 10 words?
tin som mea and all ple
sca eth ile rbr man ssl
pol rec hai yes gra wat
ing ter ice eap erf ate
nwh pin obs ush row day
Puzzle Copyright © Kevin Stone
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Hint
One of the words is waterfall (wat + erf + all).
Answers
som + eth + ing = something
hai + rbr + ush = hairbrush
gra + ssl + and = grassland
pin + eap + ple = pineapple
pol + ice + man = policeman
mea + nwh + ile = meanwhile
wat + erf + all = waterfall
sca + rec + row = scarecrow
yes + ter + day = yesterday
obs + tin + ate = obstinate
Puzzle 2
How many squares of any size on this chessboard do not contain a rook?
Puzzle Copyright © Kevin Stone
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Hint
How many 2x2 squares are there?
Answer
There are 93 squares without a rook.
Reasoning
There are 60 squares of size 1x1.
There are 33 squares of size 2x2.
Giving a total of 60 + 33 = 93 squares.
Puzzle 3
Bog Snorkelling - Logic Puzzles
Four friends were competing in the internationally renowned BrainBashers Bog Snorkelling competition.
As usual, the judges were a little careless and once again, they managed to lose the results.
Luckily, a number of spectators were able to remember the following snippets of information:
Only one person wore the same number as the position they finished.
Gary, who didn't wear green, beat Barry.
Larry beat the person who wore yellow.
The person who wore number 3, wore green.
The person who wore number 2 finished first, whereas Harry came last.
The person who finished second wore green, Barry wore yellow, and the person wearing red beat the person wearing blue.
Can you work out who finished where, and the number and colour they wore?
Puzzle Copyright © Kevin Stone
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Hint
Start by looking at clue (5), and then at the first part of clue (6).
Answer
# Name Wore Colour
1 Gary 2 red
2 Larry 3 green
3 Barry 1 yellow
4 Harry 4 blue
Reasoning
By (5), the winner wore #2, and Harry finished last:
# Name Wore Colour
1 2
2
3
4 Harry
By (6), the person who finished second wore green, and by (4), wore #3:
# Name Wore Colour
1 2
2 3 green
3
4 Harry
By (1), only the person in last place could have worn the same number as the position they finished:
# Name Wore Colour
1 2
2 3 green
3 1
4 Harry 4
By (3), Gary didn't wear green (so can't have finished second) and beat Barry (so can't have finished third), which means that he must have finished first.
# Name Wore Colour
1 Gary 2
2 3 green
3 1
4 Harry 4
By (6), Barry wore yellow, so must have finished third:
# Name Wore Colour
1 Gary 2
2 3 green
3 Barry 1 yellow
4 Harry 4
By (6) the person wearing red beat the person wearing blue, giving:
# Name Wore Colour
1 Gary 2 red
2 Larry 3 green
3 Barry 1 yellow
4 Harry 4 blue
Puzzle 4
If...
7/28 of 64 is 16,
and 9/12 of 100 is 75,
and 3/9 of 33 is 11,
what is 5/15 of 45?
Puzzle Copyright © Kevin Stone
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Hint
This puzzle is easier than it first appears.
Answer
15.
Using normal mathematics!
5/15 of 45 = 1/3 of 45 = 15.
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