At the recent BrainBashers downhill mountain bike race, four entrants entered the challenging slalom event.
Alex finished in first position. The entrant wearing number #2 wore red, but Drew didn't wear yellow. The person in last place wore blue, and Stevie wore number #1. Glen beat Stevie, and the person who finished in second wore number #3. The entrant in yellow beat the entrant in green. Only one of the entrants wore the same number as their final position.
Can you determine who finished where, the number, and colour they each wore?
Hint
Start by looking at where Alex finished, and where the person who wore #3 finished, and then use clue (6).
Answer Pos Name Wore Colour
1 Alex #2 red
2 Glen #3 yellow
3 Stevie #1 green
4 Drew #4 blue
Reasoning
The four colours were: blue, green, red, yellow.
The four contestants were: Alex, Drew, Glen, Stevie.
By (1), Alex was first.
1 Alex
2
3
4
By (4), the person who was second wore number #3.
1 Alex
2 #3
3
4
Looking at (6):
- first place (Alex) can't have worn #1, because, by (3), Stevie wore #1
- second place wore #3
- third place can't have worn #3, because it was worn by second place
- fourth place is the only entrant who could have worn the same number as their final position
Therefore, Stevie finished in third, and Alex wore #2.
1 Alex #2
2 #3
3 Stevie #1
4 #4
By (2), Alex wore red. By (3), the person wearing blue was last.
1 Alex #2 red
2 #3
3 Stevie #1
4 #4 blue
By (5), yellow beat green.
1 Alex #2 red
2 #3 yellow
3 Stevie #1 green
4 #4 blue
By (4), Glen beat Stevie.
1 Alex #2 red
2 Glen #3 yellow
3 Stevie #1 green
4 #4 blue
Leaving Drew in last place.
1 Alex #2 red
2 Glen #3 yellow
3 Stevie #1 green
4 Drew #4 blue
Reasoning
The last letter of September.
y = January
y = February
h = March
l = April
y = May
e = June
y = July
t = August
r = September
???
Puzzle 200
The local CD shop operates an unusual discount policy. The discount on the next purchase is worked out on the current purchase in the following way: for every whole pound spent you get 0.5% discount on the next purchase. For example, if you purchased £8.99 on the first purchase, you would then get a 4% discount on the next purchase and so on. You can make as many purchases as necessary.
You need to buy 7 CDs, costing, £11.50, £12.00, £12.00, £12.50, £13.00, £13.00 and £14.50. What is the cheapest method of buying them?
Answer
Purchase 1: £11.50, £12.00, £12.00, £12.50 = £48.00 (which gives a 24% discount on the next purchase). Purchase 2: £13.00, £13.00, £14.50 = £40.50 minus 24% discount = £30.78. For a total cost of £78.78.
