Puzzle 129
What are the next five letters in this sequence:
JAJWUTH
TFAPOW
JFDABHC
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Hint
This is a well known nursery rhyme.
Answer
AJCTA.
These are the initial letters from the nursery rhyme 'Jack and Jill went up the hill'. The letters represent 'and Jill came tumbling after'.
Puzzle 130
Assign every letter of the alphabet its numerical value: A=1, B=2, C=3, and so on, up to Z=26.
Can you find any common 6-letter words that have a total over 115?
For example, WIZARD = 23 + 9 + 26 + 1 + 18 + 4 = 81.
Puzzle Copyright © Kevin Stone
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Hint
There are many answers, however, Z doesn't appear very often.
Answers
Choose from: luxury, struts, stylus, syrupy, trusts, twisty.
Other less common words include: scuzzy, syrups, syzygy, trouty, trusty, tryout, trysts.
Puzzle 131
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.
Puzzle 132
Imagine a chessboard of size 20 x 20 instead of the normal 8 x 8.
How many squares, of any size, are there in total?
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Hint
How many 1 x 1 squares are there, how many 2 x 2, …?
Answer
2,870 squares.
Reasoning
We have squares sizes from 1 x 1 up to 20 x 20, and these are the counts:
1 x 1 = 400
2 x 2 = 361
3 x 3 = 324
4 x 4 = 289
5 x 5 = 256
6 x 6 = 225
7 x 7 = 196
8 x 8 = 169
9 x 9 = 144
10 x 10 = 121
11 x 11 = 100
12 x 12 = 81
13 x 13 = 64
14 x 14 = 49
15 x 15 = 36
16 x 16 = 25
17 x 17 = 16
18 x 18 = 9
19 x 19 = 4
20 x 20 = 1
Total = 400 + 361 + 324 + 289 + 256 + 225 + 196 + 169 + 144 + 121 + 100 + 81 + 64 + 49 + 36 + 25 + 16 + 9 + 4 + 1 = 2870.
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