Puzzle 1
How can you drop an egg exactly 30 feet …
… above a concrete floor without breaking the egg?
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Hint
What could cause the egg to break, and how can we prevent this?
Answer
If we drop the egg from somewhere above 30 feet high, the egg can fall 30 feet and be caught, while still above the floor.
Puzzle 2
Can you find every occurrence of the word MAY that appears in this grid (horizontally, vertically, or diagonally)?
The hint will reveal the number of times it occurs, but where are they?
Note: this puzzle is not interactive, and the letters cannot be selected.
Puzzle Copyright © Kevin Stone
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Hint
The word MAY appears 39 times.
Answer
The word MAY appears 39 times.
Puzzle 3
At the annual BrainBashers puzzle discussion conference, 20 people attended.
At the start of the conference, each person shook hands with every other person, how many handshakes took place in total?
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Hint
How many hands did the first person shake?
Answer
190.
The first person shook hands with 19 others, the second had already shaken hands with the first and therefore shook 18 hands, etc:
19 + 18 + 17 + 16 + 15 + 14 + 13 + 12 + 11 + 10 + 9 + 8 + 7 + 6 + 5 + 4 + 3 + 2 + 1 = 190
Puzzle 4
Yesterday I was asked to buy some stamps.
In the land of BrainBashers, stamps are available in denominations of 3p, 9p, 11p, 17p, and 21p (just these five different values).
For three denominations of stamp I was asked to buy eight of each, and for the other two denominations I was asked to buy nine of each.
Unfortunately, I forgot which I was supposed to buy eight of, and which to buy nine of!!
Luckily I had been given the exact money required to buy the stamps, £5.00, so the shopkeeper was able to work out the stamps I needed.
Which stamps did I have to buy?
Puzzle Copyright © Kevin Stone
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Hint
I bought at least 8 of each stamp.
Answer
Eight lots of 11p, 17p and 21p, and nine lots of 3p and 9p.
Reasoning
For three denominations of stamp I was asked to buy 8 of each, and for the other two denominations I had to buy 9 of each.
So I had to buy at least 8 of all five denominations.
This would be for a total of 8 x (3 + 9 + 11 + 17 + 21) = 488p = £4.88.
The remaining 12p has to buy the remaining 2 stamps, which must have been 3p and 9p.
Double-Checking
9 x 3 = 27
9 x 9 = 81
8 x 11 = 88
8 x 17 = 136
8 x 21 = 168
For a total of 27 + 81 + 88 + 136 + 168 = 500p = £5.
