Puzzle 53
Sports Day - Logic Puzzles
During the recent BrainBashers school sports day, four students were competing in the 400 metres hurdles.
Official figures mysteriously went missing just after the event, however, various spectators could remember the following information.
Alex won and wore red.
The student wearing number 1 came third.
Billie beat the student in yellow, but wasn't wearing number 2.
Only one student finished in the same position as the number they wore, but they didn't wear red.
Emery beat the student wearing number 3, and Glen wore yellow.
The student in green wore number 2.
A spectator remembered that one student wore blue, but couldn't remember anything else about them.
Can you determine the positions the students finished in, along with the numbers and colours they wore?
Puzzle Copyright © Kevin Stone
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Hint
What colour did Billie wear?
Answer
# Name Wore Colour
1 Alex 4 Red
2 Emery 2 Green
3 Billie 1 Blue
4 Glen 3 Yellow
Reasoning
(Clue 1) Alex won and wore Red. (Clue 5) Glen wore Yellow. (Clue 3) Billie wasn't wearing number 2, and (Clue 6) number 2 wore Green, so must be Emery. Leaving Billie in Blue.
# Name Wore Colour
1 Alex Red
? Glen Yellow
? Emery 2 Green
? Billie Blue
(Clue 2) Emery didn't come 3rd, and Alex won, so (Clue 5) Emery can't have come last, so must have come 2nd.
# Name Wore Colour
1 Alex Red
2 Emery 2 Green
? Glen Yellow
? Billie Blue
(Clue 3) Billie can't have been last, so came 3rd and (Clue 2) wore 1, leaving Glen in last place.
# Name Wore Colour
1 Alex Red
2 Emery 2 Green
3 Billie 1 Blue
4 Glen Yellow
(Clue 5) Emery beat the student wearing 3, so Glen must have worn 3. Leaving Alex wearing 4.
# Name Wore Colour
1 Alex 4 Red
2 Emery 2 Green
3 Billie 1 Blue
4 Glen 3 Yellow
Puzzle 54
Which of the shapes is identical to the first one?
There might be more than one.
Puzzle Copyright © Robert A. Hartmann
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Hint
Try to rotate them around in your head, but watch out for mirror images.
Puzzle 55
My first is in bridge, but not in ridge.
My second is in awake, and in mistake.
My third is in danger, but not in ranger.
My fourth is in strange, and in orange.
My fifth is in spline, and in nine.
My last is in river, and in diver.
My whole likes the darkness.
What am I?
Puzzle Copyright © Kevin Stone
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Hint
The first letter can only be B.
Answer
A badger.
Reasoning
My first is in bridge, but not in ridge = B
My second is in awake, and in mistake = A K E
My third is in danger, but not in ranger = D
My fourth is in strange, and in orange = R A N G E
My fifth is in spline, and in nine = I N E
My last is in river, and in diver = R I V E
Puzzle 56
A kind old person decided to give 12 sweets to each of the adults in the town, and 8 sweets to each of the children.
Of the 612 people in the town, exactly half of the adults, and exactly three quarters of the children took the sweets.
How many sweets did the kind old person have to buy?
Puzzle Copyright © Kevin Stone
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Hint
The number of adults and children doesn't matter.
Answer
3,672.
Reasoning
The actual number of adults and children doesn't actually matter.
If all of the people were adults, then half of them (306) would be given 12 sweets:
306 x 12 = 3672
If all of the people were children, then three quarters of them (459) would be given 8 sweets:
459 x 8 = 3672
If there were 512 adults (so 256 would get 12 sweets = 3072) and 100 children (so 75 would get 8 sweets = 600):
256 x 12 + 75 x 8 = 3672
We can change the numbers of adults and children, but it doesn't change the answer.
The reason for this lies in the fact that 1/2 adults x 12 sweets = 3/4 children x 8 sweets (both are 6).
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