Puzzle Corner Volume 2

(First published Spring 1992)
Shortcuts to puzzles: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13


No. 1: "Magic Square 111"

The box below is a Magic Square. This means that the numbers add up to the same total in every direction.

Every row, column and diagonal adds up to 111. But there are some numbers missing! Fill in the missing numbers. They are all different.

1) Answer
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No. 2: "Horace's Doughnut"

Hungry Horace has bought a large doughnut to share with his friends at a party. Horace has invited eight people to his house, including Greedy Graham and Fat Freda. The doughnut has a hole in it like this:

Fortunately, none of Horace's friends mind how much they get, as long as they get something. How can Horace cut the doughnut into nine pieces USING AS FEW STRAIGHT CUTS AS POSSIBLE?

1) Answer
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No. 3: "Lemonink"

To help you wash down last week's doughnut, this week's puzzle features a glass of lemonade. And to help you write down the answer to this week's puzzle I have also included a glass of ink.

I have two glasses the same size. One contains 100 ml of lemonade and the other contains 100 ml of ink.

I take a spoonful of lemonade and stir it into the ink, and then take a spoonful of the mixture and stir it back into the lemonade. Which glass contains least of the contents of the other one?

1) Answer
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No. 4: "Chain Reaction"

Chains. Make-up. What's the connection? The answer lies in a film. The DIY chain of shops, TEXAS, once made a film about their new eye make-up. They called it "The Texas Chain Store Mascara". I digress.

Below you can see several bits of broken chain. I have been told to join up all the pieces to make a complete necklace using all twenty links.

However, it is a very fiddly job, and it takes one minute to cut one link, and two minutes to join it up again. How long will it take me to finish the necklace?

1) Answer
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No. 5: "Catastrophe"

1) Answer
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No. 6: "Coloured Cube Conundrum"

Muddled Milly was having great difficulty in the Maths lesson the other day. The teacher had been explaining the difference between odd and even numbers, and then decided to ask Milly a question:

Teacher: "Seven is an odd number. How can you make it even?"
Milly: "Take away the S ?"

I have 64 identical wooden cubes, which I can fit together to make one big cube.

One day I decided to paint this large cube on all six sides. How many little cubes ended up with paint on them?

1) Answer
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No. 7: "Baffling Bath Water"

The cold tap in my bath lets the water in at the rate of 15 litres per minute. The hot tap fills the bath at the rate of 10 litres per minute. The plug hole lets the water out of the bath at the rate of 12 litres per minute. The bath holds a maximum of 520 litres. I turn both taps on, but forget to put the plug in. How many minutes does it take for the bath to overflow? Is it:

A) 10 B) 12 C) 15 D) 30 E) 40 F) 50 ?

1) Answer
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No. 8: "Don't Mention Mint Sauce"

Six wolves catch six lambs in six minutes.

How many wolves will be needed to catch sixty lambs in sixty minutes?

No, the answer is not sixty. Try again!

1) Answer
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No. 9: "Order! Order!"

The story is told of the enterprising young farmer who crossed a sheep with a frog. Before long he had a sign outside the farm: "Woolly Jumpers For Sale".

I digress again. Let's have some order round here...

Write out the numbers from 1 to 20 in words:

One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, ten, eleven, twelve, thirteen, fourteen, fifteen, sixteen, seventeen, eighteen, nineteen, twenty.

Now put them in ALPHABETICAL order. Which number stays where it is?

1) Answer
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No. 10: "The Change Will Do You Good"

Sugary Sue runs a small shop which sells sweets which run in price from 1p to £1 with every value in between. One day Hungry Horace came in to spend some of his £1 pocket money.

What is the smallest number of coins that Sue needs to set aside to guarantee having exactly the right change for whatever Horace will buy?
(Sue needs coins which can make up any amount between 1p and 99p.)

1) Answer
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No. 11: "The Mysterious Egg and Box Puzzle"

1) Answer
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No. 12: "Don't Pay Any Less, Mrs Mess"

Mrs Mess was buying a set of garden furniture. The bill was seventy pounds. She gave the attendant what she thought were two £50 notes, (actually two £100 notes) expecting £30 change. The attendant didn't notice either, so he gave Mrs Mess what he thought were three £10 notes (actually three £50 notes).

Who ended up better off than they should?

1) Answer
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No. 13: "The Easter West"

The Easter West is the train which runs only in the Easter Holidays (hence the name), and only between the East and West coasts. (Hence the name!)

It has an engine at each end, and fourteen carriages in between. Each engine is 15m long, and each carriage is 20m long. Tea and coffee cost 45p and hot cross buns cost 55p.

Hungry Horace buys a cup of tea and two buns then goes to one end of the train. He then runs the full length of the train at 5m per second. Somebody at the other end then tells him that he is the slowest traveller on board. Which end did Horace start from?

1) Answer
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Answers


No. 1 : "Magic Square 111"

Interestingly, all these numbers are odd, and (apart from the 1) prime.

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No. 2: "Horace's Doughnut"
Two possible solutions are shown below:

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No. 3: "Lemonink"

The actual answer was that BOTH glasses contained the same amount of the other liquid in them. Each glass ends up with 100ml in it as before; the first glass (lemonade) has some of the lemonade replaced by ink, and this bit of lemonade can be found in the second glass (ink) where it is replacing the same amount of ink. Gettit?

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No. 4: "Chain Reaction"

Just 15 minutes!! That's a surprise, isn't it? I'm sure you're on the very edge of your seat to know how it's done.

I'll tell you anyway.

TOTAL TIME: 15 MINUTES.

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No. 5: "Catastrophe"

The instructions as given would have produced something like this:

What's missing? Feet, tail and whiskers at least!

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No. 6: "Coloured Cube Conundrum"

56 little cubes ended up with paint on them. The big cube measures 4 x 4 x 4 and contains 2 x 2 x 2 little cubes at the centre. These 8 little cubes are the only ones not to get painted, which leaves 56 which do. Let me try a little diagram:

Underneath the shaded squares is a smaller cube measuring 2 x 2 x 2 (ie. made of 8 little cubes):

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No. 7: "Baffling Bath Water"

Option E (40 minutes). Let's see how it's done:

Cold tap fills at 15 litres / minute. Hot tap fills at 10 litres / minute.

Therefore water enters at 25 litres / minute. (15+10)

Plug hole empties at 12 litres / minute.

Therefore bath fills up at 13 litres / minute. (25-12)

Bath hold 520 litres.

Therefore bath overflows after 40 minutes. (520÷13)

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No. 8: "Don't Mention Mint Sauce"

I should also have said that the answer was not 10 either! This was a popular answer, but I'm afraid it was not correct. The right answer was SIX WOLVES. Let's see why:

6 wolves catch 6 lambs in 6 minutes. Multiply by 10:
The same 6 wolves catch 60 lambs in 60 minutes.
(Give them 10 times as long and they'll catch 10 times as many lambs.)

Another way of seeing the answer is to note that each wolf catches 1 lamb in six minutes. In 60 minutes, therefore, each wolf will catch 10 lambs (ten times as many). With 6 wolves, six times as many lambs will be caught.
Answer: 6 wolves - 60 lambs - 60 minutes.

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No. 9: "Order! Order!"

The only number which stays in the same place after they have all been put in alphabetical order is the number .... FIVE !

The new order is as follows:

EIGHT, EIGHTEEN, ELEVEN, FIFTEEN, FIVE , FOUR, FOURTEEN, NINE, NINETEEN, ONE, SEVEN, SEVENTEEN, SIX, SIXTEEN, TEN, THIRTEEN, THREE, TWELVE, TWENTY, TWO.

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No. 10: "The Change Will Do You Good"

Sugary Sue only needs to set aside 8 coins to guarantee being able to give any amount of change to Hungry Horace. There are several ways this can be done:

In each case it is possible to use just a selection of the 8 coins to make up any amount between 1p and 99p, as required. Horace gets his change!

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No. 11: "The Mysterious Egg and Box Puzzle"

An extra "egg & box" increases the price by 25p. So if we add another "egg & box" then the price goes up another 25p to 85p.

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No. 12: "Don't Pay Any Less, Mrs Mess"

Mrs Mess comes away better off than she should, by £20 in fact. Despite the warning in the title, Mrs Mess did pay less than she should have done!

Cost of furniture:

£70

Mrs Mess paid:

£100 x 2 = £200

Change received:

£50 x 3 = £150

Net payment:

£200 - £150 = £50

Profit for Mrs Mess:

£70 - £50 = £20

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No. 13: "The Easter West"

Horace started at the front of the train and ran towards the back. Then his speed relative to the ground is actually slower than everyone else's because he takes longer to pass any given point on the ground. It's a bit like walking down an up escalator. You would reach the top later than everyone else, so you are going up more slowly.

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Stephen Froggatt February 1999