Brain Traps

#1-50 | #51-100 | #101-150 | #151-200 | #201-250 | #251-300 | #301-350 | #351-400 | #401-450 | #451-Current

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450. The Bayview Swim Club

Ted and Joan like to reminisce about the day they first ran into each other. Both were members of the Bayview Swim Club and often swam laps in its huge pool. Ted always started in the middle of one end and swam to the middle of the other end. Joan started at the middle of one side and swam to the middle of the other side. Ted's laps (from one end to the other and back) took 18 minutes each; Joan's laps took 10 minutes each.

On the day they met, they both started swimming exactly at noon. Their respective speeds never varied. When they reached the same point in the pool at the same time, bang!!! -- they ran into each other.

Ted and Joan fondly remember the day and year of this event. Can you tell them its hour, minute and second?

Solution

12:22:30.

Since Ted takes 18 minutes to swim a full lap, it will take 9 minutes to go from one end to the other, and 4.5 minutes to go half that distance--to the middle of the pool, the only place that they would contact each other. From then on, he reaches the middle every 9 minutes. So Ted is at the middle at 12:04:30, 12:13:30, 12:22:30, 12:31:30, 12:40:30, 12:49:30, 12:58:30, 13:07:30, and so on.

Joan will reach the middle in 2.5 minutes, and every 5 minutes after that. So she is there at 12:02:30, 12:07:30, 12:12:30, 12:17:30, 12:22:30, 12:27:30, and so on. The minutes will always end in 2 or 7.

The first time that they coincide is 12:22:30. (The next would be 13:07:30.)

449. Book Reports

Four students wrote book reports on the same book. Each student described the main character in his or her report.
But their teacher could tell that these students didn't read very carefully, because each one described the main
character differently.

Each student got only one detail out of four right. What is the correct description of the main character of the book?

Solution

Heathcliff, who is tall, has short hair, and never wears an earring.

448. Creature Feature

    First, think of a person who lives in disguise,
    Who deals in secrets and tells naught but lies.
    Next, tell me what's always the last thing to mend,
    the middle of middle, and end of end?
    Finally, give me the sound often heard
    during the search for a hard-to-find word.
    Now string them together, and answer me this,
    What creature would you be unwilling to kiss?

Solution

A spider

Credit:
The Daily Tease

447. Family Tree

Ryan's only sister's husband's only mother-in-law's
only husband's mother met Ryan in the store.

What relation is she to Ryan?

Solution

His grandmother (on his father's side).

His brother-in-law's mother-in-law is his mother, her husband is his father,
and his father's mother is his grandmother.

Credit:
The Mensa Calendar (2001)

446. The Old Woman in a Shoe

There was an old woman who lived in a shoe, and the only food she had for her ten
children was six potatoes.

How did she make sure that each child had an equal share?

Solution

She mashed the potatoes and used a spoon.

Credit:
The Daily Tease

445. What Is It?

The Pope has it but he does not use it.
Your father has it but your mother uses it.
Nuns do not need it.
Your lady friend's husband has it and she uses it.

What is it?

Solution

A last name or surname.

Credit:
The Daily Tease

444. Water Balloon Fight

Robert and David were preparing to have a water balloon fight.

"No fair!" cried Robert. "You have 3 times as many as I do!"
David said, "Fine," and gave Robert 10 more balloons.

"Still not fair!" argued Robert. "You still have twice as many as I do."

How many more balloons must David give Robert for them to have the same number?

Solution

David must give Robert another 20 water balloons, giving them each 60.
Robert started with 30 water balloons and David with 90.

Credit:
The Daily Tease

443. I Can Be... What?

I can be written,
I can be spoken.
I can even be scary,
And leave you stirred or shaken!
Some get a fever thinking about me,
Some go into a panic.
Some stay awake for nights on end,
And some go plain manic!
But there's definitely an end in sight,
And that's what keeps everyone going along.
Now quickly guess, what could I be?
You can't afford to get me wrong!
What Am I?

Solution

An examination

Credit:
The Daily Tease

442. What's Next?

What are the next two letters in the following series and why?

   W A T N T L I T F S ? ?

   HINT: Look Carefully...

Solution

A W

The letters represent the first letter of each of the words in the question.
A W is for "and why."

Credit:
The Daily Tease

441. Up, Down, and All Around

What is the only four-letter word which, when CAPITALIZED, looks the same
from the front, back, above and below?

Solution

NOON

Credit:
The Daily Tease

440. What Am I? (2007)

Always old, sometimes new,
Never sad, sometimes blue.
Never empty, sometimes full,
Never pushes, always pulls.

What am I?

Solution

The moon.

Credit:
The Daily Tease

439. Whodunnit?

There was a rich, old man who died on a rainy, Sunday afternoon.
After some investigating the cops concluded he was murdered and
questioned the three suspects. They asked the maid, "What were
you doing at the time of the murder," and she replied, "I was
washing the dishes." They asked the butler what he was doing and
he said, "I was getting the mail." Then they asked the guard what
he was doing at the time of the murder and he answered, "I was
taking a shower."

Who killed the old man?

Solution

The butler did it, because there is no mail on a Sunday afternoon!

Credit:
The Daily Tease

438. The Shopping Spree

A person goes into four stores and spends all his money. He spends $1 to enter, one half
of the money in his pocket, and $1 to exit. He follows this procedure throughout all four
stores, using only paper money. He left the last store completely broke. How much money
did he start with?

Solution

$45.

In order to solve this riddle, begin at the last store. He exited using his last dollar,
therefore he had to have $3 when he entered. If you continue backwards from that point,
you will reach the "$45" answer.

Credit:
The Daily Tease

437. Quickies '07

1-----------------------------------------
 What phrase is shown in the figure below?
S-N-O-W

Solution

Dashing through the snow
2-----------------------------------------
 These words follow a logical progression:
DRAMA
RABBI
CYCLE
IDLED
TENSE
AFFIX

Which of these would be next?
HATCH
FLUTE
MEDIA
WIGGLE

Solution

WIGGLE: two A's, B's, C's, D's, E's, F's, G's
3-----------------------------------------
 Can you decipher this?
issues
issues
issues
issues
issues
issues
issues
issues
issues
issues

Solution

Tennis shoes (10 issues)

Credit:
The Daily Tease

436. Common Theme

Your task here is to change one letter in each of the following words, in order to find three (3) words
with a common theme.

STEER
CRASS
PESTER

Solution

STEER --> STEEL
CRASS --> BRASS
PESTER --> PEWTER

Each new word is an alloy.

Credit:
The Daily Tease

435. The School Concert

My son's school has fewer than 500 students. One-third, one-fourth, one-fifth,
and one-seventh of the total number of students are all whole numbers.
Coincidentally, their sum is exactly the total number students who attended the
school concert. How many students attended the school concert?

Solution

389

The lowest possible number of students that could attend the school is 420,
(3x4x5x7=420). The sum, then, of each fraction of 420 is, 140+105+84+60=389

Credit:
The Daily Tease

434. Out Shopping

At the end of a fun day of shopping you find that you have $9.60 in change in your pocket.
The money is made up of equal numbers of quarters, dimes and nickels. How many of each coin
do you have?

Solution

You have 24 of each coin.
(I hope you have a strong belt to hold up your pants!)

Credit:
The Daily Tease

433. A Basket of Eggs

A man is walking down a road with a basket of eggs. As he is walking
he meets someone who buys one-half of his eggs plus one-half of an egg.
He walks a little further and meets another person who buys one-half of
his eggs plus one-half of an egg. After proceeding further he meets another
person who buys one-half of his eggs plus one half an egg. At this point he
has sold all of his eggs, and he never broke an egg. How many eggs did the
man have to start with?

Solution

7 eggs.
The first person bought one half of his eggs plus one half an egg (3 1/2 + 1/2 = 4 eggs).
This left him 3 eggs. The second person bought one-half of his eggs plus one half an egg,
(1 1/2 + 1/2 = 2 eggs) leaving the man 1 egg. The last person bought one-half of his eggs
plus one-half an egg, (1/2 + 1/2 = 1 egg) leaving no eggs.

Credit:
The Daily Tease

432. ABC's

Complete the words below using three consecutive letters in
alphabetical order, e.g.,  _ _ A _ U S; by adding A B and C
it would become ABACUS.

     1.  C O _ _ E _

     2.  _ _ _ O R M

     3.  S O _ E _ _

     4.  _ U _ G _ L

     5.  S _ O _ _ Y

     6.  _ O B U _ _

Solution

1. Corset
2. Deform
3. Solemn
4. Cudgel
5. Snoopy
6. Robust

Credit:
The Daily Tease

431. Counting Money

What is the largest amount of money you can have in coins
and still not be able to make change for a dollar?

Solution

Three quarters, four dimes, and four pennies, for a total of $1.19.

Credit:
The Daily Tease

430. Cheap Theater

A man owns a theater with 100 seats. He charges men 5 dollars for admission,
women pay 2 dollars, and children may enter at the rate of 1 dollar for 10
children (the children must be in groups of 10). On one particular day, he
fills all 100 seats with paying customers, and when he counts the admission
fees, he finds that he has made exactly one hundred dollars. How many men,
how many women, and how many children attended the show?

Solution

11 Men, 19 Women, and 70 Children attended the show.

Credit:
The Daily Tease

429. What Am I?

I live above a star, and yet I never burn;
I have eleven neighbors, and yet none of them turn;
I am visited in sequence, first, last or in between;
PRS are my initials, now tell me what I mean.

What am I?

     [In some cases "my initials" are PQRS.]

Solution

The number "7" on a telephone keypad.

Credit:
The Daily Tease

428. M&M's

There's a bowl of M&M's. All but four are yellow.
All but four are red. All but four are green.
How many M&M's are in the bowl?

Solution

There are 6 M&M's:
2 yellow, 2 red, and 2 green

Credit:
The Daily Tease

427. Three Switches, One Light

There's a light bulb upstairs and three light switches downstairs, one of which controls the bulb
upstairs. How can you find the switch that controls the bulb upstairs by only making one trip
upstairs?

Solution

Turn one switch on for five minutes. Then turn that one off and turn the second one on and go
upstairs. If the light is off you know it isn't the second switch. Then FEEL the bulb to see
if it is warm. If it is warm then it was the first switch that was left on for five minutes.
If the bulb is neither warm nor illuminated then you know that the third switch, which was
never turned on, is the one that operates the bulb upstairs.

Credit:
The Daily Tease

426. Instant Bankruptcy

A man is pushing his car. He stops in front of a hotel and immediately knows he is bankrupt. How does he know?

Solution

He is playing a game of Monopoly, the car is his piece, and he stopped at Boardwalk
where someone else owns a hotel.

Credit:
The Daily Tease

425. Moving Timpeieces

A sundial is a timepiece that has the fewest number of moving parts.
Which timepiece has the most moving parts?

Solution

An hourglass.

Credit:
The Daily Tease

424. Painting 9's

A new medical building containing 100 offices had just been completed. Mark was hired to paint
the numbers 1 to 100 on the doors. How many times will Mark have to paint the number nine?

Solution

20 times.

9, 19, 29, 39, 49, 59, 69, 79, 89, 90,
91, 92, 93, 94, 95, 96, 97, 98, 99

(Note that 99 contains two nines.)

Credit:
The Daily Tease

423. Egg Timer

With a 7-minute hourglass and an 11-minute hourglass, can you explain the quickest way to
time a boiling egg for 15 minutes?

Solution

Start both hour glasses as the egg is dropped in the boiling water.
When the sand stops running in the 7-minute hourglass, turn it over.
When the sand stops running in the 11-minute hourglass,
turn the 7-minute hourglass over and leave the 11-minute hourglass.
When the sand stops in the 7-minute hourglass, 15 minutes will have elapsed.

Or an even simpler solution:
Start both timers at the same time. When the seven minute timer is done,
there will be four minutes left on the 11-minute timer. At that point,
start timing your boiling egg. Wait for the 11-minute timer to end
which will only be 4 minutes more. Then turn the 11-minute timer over
and wait for it to finish. 4 minutes plus 11 minutes is 15 minutes. Credit:
The Daily Tease

422. Prohibition

During prohibition, Swifty O'Brian was the fastest booze runner in Chicago's North Side.
One day, he was delivering twenty cases of Big Benny's finest hooch to four of his select
clients. The drops went like this:

How many cases did each of these watering holes receive?

Solution

Here's how Sifty's deliveries went:

Credit:
"The World's Greatest Puzzles" by Charles Barry Townsend

421. Store Elevator

Six people go into a store through the underground car park going to floors
1, 2, 3, 4, 5 and 6. Each person goes to a different floor in the same elevator,
which goes up stopping at each floor. Eddie's ride is the longest. Angie gets
out before Frankie but after Debbie. Charlie gets out first. Barbie leaves
before Debbie, who leaves at the third floor.

At what floor does each person leave?

Solution

Charlie leaves at the 1st floor.
Barbie leaves at the 2nd floor.
Debbie leaves at the 3rd floor.
Angie leaves at the 4th floor.
Frankie leaves at the 5th floor.
Eddie leaves at the 6th floor.

Credit:
The Daily Tease

420. Trial by Fire

A man is trapped in a room. The room has only two possible exits: two doors. Through the first door
there is a room constructed from magnifying glass. The blazing hot sun instantly fries anything or
anyone that enters. Through the second door there is a fire-breathing dragon. How does the man escape?

Solution

He waits until night time and then goes through the first door.

Credit:
The Daily Tease

419. Answer Letters

How many letters are there in the answer to this question?

Solution

Four. It's the only number that describes the number of letters in its own name.

Credit:
The Daily Tease

418. A Shot of Water

A man walks into a bar and asks the bartender for a glass of water. The bartender reaches under the
bar and brings out a gun and aims it at the man. The man says thank you and leaves. What happened?

Solution

The man had the hiccups and wanted a glass of water to help get rid of them. The bartender
could hear the hiccups when the man spoke, so he brought the gun out to scare the hiccups
away. It worked and the man thanked him and left, no longer needing the glass of water.

Credit:
The Daily Tease

417. Famous Achievements

For each number, unscramble the capitalized letters (the two groups in each line do not intermix)
to form first a famous person and then a famous work or theory of theirs.

1) LONE ROAD, known for painting PAPER SHUTTLES.

2) ACTIONS WANE, known for the TWO HEEL FORMATIONS.

3) HELICAL GNOME, known for painting CATHERINE FOOTMAN.

4) SITE NINE, known for the THRIFTY EYE VIOLATOR.

5) SUPERCONIC, known for the EITHER TOY CHRONICLE.

Solution

1) LEONARDO, known for painting THE LAST SUPPER.
2) ISAAC NEWTON, known for the THREE LAWS OF MOTION.
3) MICHELANGELO, known for painting THE CREATION OF MAN.
4) EINSTEIN, known for the THEORY OF RELATIVITY.
5) COPERNICUS, known for the HELIOCENTRIC THEORY.

Credit:
The Daily Tease

416. Unscrambler

Unscramble the words below, then take the letters from each word as instructed to form another word that is the answer to this teaser:

LIUQA Take letters 1 & 2
PDIET Take letters 1, 2, & 4
ETRSO Take letters 1 & 4
DONU  Take letters 1 & 4

Unscramble the letters you collected... what do you get?

Solution

LIUQA Take letters 1 & 2   - QUAIL, take Q,U
PDIET Take letters 1,2 & 4 - TEPID, take T,E,I
ETRSO Take letters 1 & 4   - STORE, take S,R
DONU  Take letters 1 & 4   - UNDO,  take U,O

Unscramble the above to get "Turquoise."

Credit:
The Daily Tease

415. Mrs. Archer's Cake

During a recent police investigation, Chief Inspector Stone was interviewing five local villains to try
and identify who stole Mrs Archer's cake from the mid-summers fayre. Below is a summary of
their statements:
 Arnold: It wasn't Edward
It was Brian
 Brian: It wasn't Charlie
It wasn't Edward
 Charlie: It was Edward
It wasn't Arnold
 Derek: It was Charlie
It was Brian
 Edward: It was Derek
It wasn't Arnold
It was well known that each suspect told exactly one lie. Who stole the cake?

Solution

Charlie committed the terrible crime.
Just run each suspect through the clues, and Charlie is the only one who fits.

Another of our Trappers took a more systematic approach:

From Brian's statements (was not Edward, was not Charlie) we know that it had to be either Edward or Charlie.

Arnold's statements (was Brian, was not Edward) mean that if he was lying about Edward, then it had to be Brian, but this conflicts with the fact that we know it had to be either Edward or Charlie. Consequently, Arnold's statements indicate that it wasn't Brian and wasn't Edward.

Charlie's statements (was Edward, was not Arnold) mean that if he was lying about Arnold (actually was Arnold) then the true statement had to be about Edward, but this again causes a conflict with the fact that it had to be either Edward or Charlie. Therefore, the lie is that Edward stole the Cake.

At this point, we have Charlie as the most likely suspect.

Derek's statements (was Brian, was Charlie) mean that if he was lying about Charlie, then it had to be Brian, but again, we know that it had to be either Charlie or Edward, so the lie was that Brian was guilty, and again, Charlie took the cake.

Edward's statements (was not Arnold, was Derek) mean that if he is telling the truth about Derek, then he must be lying about Arnold (or that Arnold was guilty), but this conflicts with the knowledge that it was either Edward or Charlie. Consequently, the lie that Edward told was that it was Derek.

At this point, the only consistent sets of stories--that lend any real information--indicate that Charlie was the culprit. Credit:
BrainBashers

414. Lost Your Marbles

Say that a bag contains 100 marbles: 30 red, 30 blue, 30 green, plus
a mix of 10 yellow and orange marbles. To be certain that you have
10 marbles of the same color, what is the minimum number you would
need to remove (without looking) from the bag?

Solution

Consider the unluckiest case: In whatever order, you manage to remove nine of the red
marbles, nine of the blue ones, nine of the green, and all ten of the yellow and orange mix.
So far, you've removed 37 of the marbles (9+9+9+10=37), yet you don't have 10 of any single color.
If you remove just one more marble, it will be red, blue, or green, and you will have 10 of the
same color.

So the answer is 38 marbles.

Credit:
Ask Marilyn (Parade magazine)

413. Spark Plugs

Charlie was checking. "I see that you sold seventy-four spark plugs today," he said.
"That's great, but how come so many?"

"Just regular service. Eight-cylinder, six-cylinder, and four-cylinder cars," replied Ben.
"A full set for every car, and there were twice as many fours as sixes."

How many eight-cylinder cars?

Solution

There were four eight-cylinder cars, three six-cylinder cars, and six four-cylinder cars.

Solution 1:
E = 74 - (n x 6) + 2(n x 4) where E mod 8 = 0

Solution 2:
Since there were twice as many fours as sixes, we can use the same variable for both,
only multiplying the fours by two.

74 = 8y + 6x + 2(4x)
74 = 8y + 6x + 8x
74 = 8y + 14x

Given this equation, there are only five possibilities for x which yield a value less than 74.
They are shown below with the remainder on the right. 

x  value  remainder
1   14      60
2   28      46
3   42      32
4   56      18
5   70       4
The only value in the remainder column divisible by eight is 32, therefore, there were 32/8
or four eight-cylinder cars.

Credit:
Entertaining Mathematical Teasers

412. Marathon Results

After the recent Trappers annual marathon, the judges were comparing notes to determine who
finished where. From their notes, can you help them to reconstruct the final result?

        Matthew Merryman beat Tom Trent and Jimmy James. Peter Piper beat Jimmy James, Tom Trent
        and Alan Ardman. Zach Zebra lost to Peter Piper. Graham Goodfellow beat Tom Trent. Zach
        Zebra beat Frank Finnegan. Graham Goodfellow lost to Frank Finnegan and Peter Piper. Tom
        Trent beat Brian Brick. Alan Ardman beat Zach Zebra, Kevin Kingfisher and Graham Goodfellow.
        Kevin Kingfisherlost to Graham Goodfellow and Matthew Merryman. Brian Brick beat Kevin
        Kingfisher. Matthew Merryman lost to Alan Ardman and Zach Zebra. Frank Finnegan beat Tom
        Trent, Matthew Merryman and Brian Brick. Tom Trent lost to Jimmy James and Alan Ardman.
        Jimmy James beat Graham Goodfellow and Brian Brick.

Solution 

Peter Piper
 Alan Ardman
  Zach Zebra
   Frank Finnegan
    Matthew Merryman
     Jimmy James
      Graham Goodfellow
       Tom Trent
        Brian Brick
         Kevin Kingfisher

Credit:
Brainbashers

411. Pizza!

If a teenager and a half can eat a pizza and a half in a day and a half,
how many pizzas can a dozen teenagers eat in three days?

Solution

24 pizzas.
One teenager can eat a pizza in a day and a half, or two pizzas in three days.

Credit:
The Mensa Genius Quiz Book

410. What's Wrong with His Story?

"I don't understand, Doc," complained Benny Jackson, a man who dedicates his life to trying
to impress women, but has yet to succeed.

"What happened this time?" Doc Jim asked as he sat down beside the troubled youth.

"You know Samantha Wilcox? Her father owns several prize horses and has won countless racing
medals with them, so Samantha won't look at a guy twice unless he's got a heart bigger for
animals than himself. I thought I had my story down right. Will you tell me where I went wrong?"

"Sure, what'd you tell her?"

"A few years back I decided I'd take my mule, Miss Molly, out with me to go gold mining. Several
months went by and I found nothing, but I kept looking. One day, I struck the motherlode. It was
cold, miserable weather, and Miss Molly wasn't feeling too good. So, instead of gettin' all that
gold I found, I stayed with her for weeks. Poor girl was pregnant, and after a few months of
waiting and nursing, she gave birth to a healthy baby. I didn't get the gold, I just brought the two home."

"Well, Ben, You're just lucky she didn't throw you out a window with a story like that!"

What was Benny's mistake?

Solution

Mules are sterile: they can't get pregnant, much less have healthy children!

Credit:
The Daily Tease

409. Scrambled Flowers

Can you figure out the following anagrams? They are types of flowers.

   1. Handy gear
   2. A silly arm
   3. Any hitch
   4. Doff a lid

Solution

1. Hydrangea
2. Amaryllis
3. Hyacinth
4. Daffodil

Credit:
The Daily Tease

408. Take a Letter

Take away my first letter and I remain the same.
Take away my second letter and I remain unchanged.
Take away my third letter and I am unchanged.
Take away all my letters and I am still exactly the same.
What am I?

Solution

A postman or a mailbox.

Credit:
The Daily Tease

407. Five Frenchmen

Georges, Patrick, Charlis, Samuel and Bruno are five Frenchmen. Georges knows English and Chinese.
Patrick knows Chinese and Japanese. Charlis knows Japanese and German. Samuel knows German and
English. Bruno knows them all: English, Chinese, Japanese and German.

In how many ways can they sit in a row, such that any two neighboring persons have no problems
in communication?

Solution

5 * 4 * 3 * 2 * 1 = 120

They're all Frenchmen--and speak French--so it doesn't matter in which order they sit.

Credit:
The Daily Tease

406. Christmas Stockings

Let's see, now, this year we have two sizes of stocking for the children. We have the "I've been
good" size and the "I've been very good" size! The number of toys in the large stocking is equal to
the number in the small stocking reversed. And the difference between the amounts in each is
one-eleventh the sum of the two amounts.

How many toys are in each stocking?

Solution

There were 54 toys in the larger stocking and 45 toys in the smaller.

54 is the reverse of 45. The sum of the toys in the two stockings is 99, and one-eleventh of
that number is 9, the difference between the number of toys in the two stockings.

Credit:
"World's Most Perplexing Puzzles" by Charles Barry Townsend

405. Baby Names

A pregnant lady already had children named Dominique, Regis, Michelle, Fawn, Sophie and Lara.
What will she name her next child (and why)?  Jessica, Karen, Abby or Tilly?

Solution

Tilly.
She is following the scale: Do, Re, Me, Fa, So, La, Ti.

Credit:
The Daily Tease

404. Put Out the Fire

There are three houses built exactly the same. One is filled with cotton, the other with wood, and
the third with iron. One day an arsonist sets them all on fire. Sirens were loudly coming to the scene.
People were screaming. At which house did the ambulance try to put out the fire first?

Solution

Ambulances don't put out fires.

Credit:
The Daily Tease

403. Spell Check

Who can't live without Spell Check in their email or word software? It's a great tool...Unless
you are poor Paula Abdul who transforms into "Pail Abut" when the Spell Checker has at her. The
following TV and Movie Celebrities have been Spell Checked and are ready for you to uncover their
true identities.

1. Court Coax
2. Action Cutter
3. Kite Wingless
4. Summon Cowbell
5. Mercy Stripe
6. Deli Moose
7. Camera Dies
8. Renew Sewage

Solution

1. Courtney Cox
2. Ashton Kutcher
3. Kate Winslet
4. Simon Cowell
5. Meryl Streep
6. Demi Moore
7. Cameron Diaz
8. Renee Zellweger

Credit:
The Daily Tease

402. Half As Far

Say that a husband and wife are driving to her mother's house. They have an appointment with a marriage counselor en route. After some time passes, the wife asks, "How far are we from our house?"

The husband replies, "Half as far as from here to Pollyanna's office."

A while after the appointment, they are 200 miles from where the wife asked her first question. She now asks a second question: "How far are we from Mother's house?"

The husband takes advantage of this golden opportunity and responds, "I told you already: Half as far as from here to Pollyanna's office."

How far apart are the two houses?

Solution

Let's say that the distance from home to Pollyanna's office is a, and the distance from Pollyanna's office to the wife's mother's house is b. So, the distance between the houses is a + b.

2/3a + 2/3b = 200 miles
2a + 2b = 600
a + b = 300

The houses are 300 miles apart.

Credit:
Ask Marilyn (Parade magazine)

401. The Barbecue Cook-Off

Four people entered the cook-off at the Barbecue Roundup (Bob, Bubba, Cathy, and Fred). They all had different last names (Kent, Kahn, Miser, and Tin) and entered different foods (brisket, pork butt, ribs, and sausage). Using the clues provided determine who brought what and how they placed in the competition (1st, 2nd, 3rd, or 4th).

1. The sausage did not come in last.
2. Mr. Miser came in third and was beaten by Bob's ribs.
3. The pork butt came in second.
4. Cathy came in two places behind Fred Tin.
5. Mr. Kent won.

Solution

Bob Kent came in 1st with his ribs.
Fred Tin came in 2nd with his pork butt.
Bubba Miser came in 3rd with his sausage.
Cathy Kahn came in 4th with her brisket.

Credit:
http://www.braingle.com/24328.html

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