BrainBashers - Random Puzzles

Puzzle 197

The other day I was sitting in my local tavern, The Spyglass, which overlooks the sea, when in sailed my old friend the pirate Captain Conan Drum. "Well, shiver me barnacles!" he roared on seeing me. He too is a bit of a puzzle addict and so, after joining me for a glass of milk and telling me about his latest exploits on the high seas, he couldn't resist showing me his latest conundrum.

He reached into one of his jacket pockets and produced seven gleaming £5 coins, which he then proceeded to arrange on the table in front of me exactly as shown below. "Now, me lad." he said, with a mischievous look in his eyes. "I'll wager you'll not be able to solve this one. Take away two coins from this here arrangement to leave five coins across and three coins going down."

It was clear the wily old sea dog still had one or two tricks up his sleeve, as I couldn't for the life of me see how it could be done. Can you see through his skulduggery and solve it?

Coins Cross

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Puzzle 198

You've been asked to buy the cakes for the school party and you've been given $100 to buy 100 cakes.

Donuts cost 56c, chocolate eclairs cost $2.26 and iced rolls cost 92c.

How can you spend exactly all of the money on the 100 cakes?

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Puzzle 199

Moving from letter to letter using the moves of a chess knight, can you find the letters 'PUZZLES' in order?

Note: this puzzle is not interactive, and the squares cannot be clicked.

The moves of a knight are:

Knight's Move

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Puzzle 200

Unluckily, last week I lost my measuring tape. It was unlucky as I had to measure Billy's toy box.

Luckily though I could remember that the top had an area of 720 square inches, the side was 800 square inches, and the end was 360 square inches.

What were the true dimensions of the toy box?

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