After visiting one of my very old relatives, I travelled home in their old jalopy. The car was old and battered, it had a leak from the petrol tank, and I was stuck in second gear.
This meant that I could only travel along at a steady 30 miles per hour and managed a paltry 20 miles per gallon of fuel.
At the start of the journey, I had placed exactly 10 gallons of fuel into the tank. I knew though, that the fuel tank lost fuel at the rate of half a gallon per hour.
Just as I arrived home, the car stopped because it had run out of fuel and I had only just made it.
How far was it from my relative's house to my home?
Reasoning
I was travelling at 30mph at a rate of 20 MPG, so I was using 1.5 gallons every hour for the driving itself.
I was also losing 0.5 gallons every hour. In total, I was using 2 gallons every hour.
Therefore, to use all of the 10 gallons I started with, I travelled for 5 hours.
5 hours at 30mph is 150 miles.
??
Puzzle 198
At a recent motorsport gathering, four proud owners were gathered around the silver sports car, each discussing their pride and joy.
Alex was overheard bragging about his brand new Stellar. The person whose surname was Smith went to great lengths to explain to Billie the virtues of his blue Lunar. The person whose surname was Wilshaw, and Dale, were already good friends. The person whose surname was Richards showed everyone a recent photo of his red Orbital. The person whose surname was Stone listened intently while Charlie kept talking about his green Galactic.
Who owns which car?
Reasoning
By (2) the Lunar was Blue, and was owned by Mr Smith.
By (4) the Orbital was Red, and was owned by Mr Richards.
By (5) the Galactic was Green, and was owned by Charlie.
Therefore, the Stellar was silver, and by (1) was owned by Alex. Smith Blue Lunar RichardsRed Orbital Charlie Green Galactic Alex Silver Stellar
By (2), Mr Smith wasn't called Billie, so it must have been Billie Richards, and Dale Smith.
By (5) Mr Stone wasn't called Charlie, so it must have been Charlie Wilshaw, and Alex Stone. Dale Smith Blue Lunar Billie RichardsRed Orbital Charlie Wilshaw Green Galactic Alex Stone Silver Stellar
??
Puzzle 199
What is missing from this sequence:
Greenland · New Guinea · Borneo · Madagascar · ? · Sumatra · Honshu
