There are 5 houses in 5 different colours. In each house lives a person of a different nationality. The 5 owners drink a certain type of beverage, smoke a certain brand of cigar, and keep a certain pet. Using the clues below can you determine who owns the fish?
The Brit lives in a red house.
The Swede keeps dogs as pets.
The Dane drinks tea.
The green house is on the immediate left of the white house.
The green house owner drinks coffee.
The person who smokes Pall Mall rears birds.
The owner of the yellow house smokes Dunhill.
The man living in the house right in the middle drinks milk.
The Norwegian lives in the first house.
The man who smokes Blend lives next door to the one who keeps cats.
The man who keeps horses lives next door to the man who smokes Dunhill.
The owner who smokes Blue Master drinks chocolate.
The German smokes Prince.
The Norwegian lives next to the blue house.
The man who smokes Blend has a neighbour who drinks water.
[Ref: ZHZK] Author: Albert Einstein (?).
Hint:
Answer:
This puzzle is usually attributed to Einstein, who may or may not have written it.
The German owns the fish and the table below details the full answer:
Nationality: Norweg Dane Brit German Swede
Colour : Yellow Blue Red Green White
Beverage : water tea milk coffee chocolate
Smokes : Dunhill Blend Pall Mall Prince Blue Master
Pet : cats horses birds fish dogs
Puzzle 2
Three people check into a hotel. They pay £30 to the manager and go to their room. The manager suddenly remembers that the room rate is £25 and gives £5 to the bellboy to return to the people. On the way to the room the bellboy reasons that £5 would be difficult to share among three people so he pockets £2 and gives £1 to each person. Now each person paid £10 and got back £1. So they paid £9 each, totalling £27. The bellboy has £2, totalling £29. Where is the missing £1?
[Ref: ZVTU]
Hint: Be careful of what you're adding.
Answer:
We have to be careful what we are adding together.
Originally, they paid £30, they each received back £1, they now have only paid £27. Of this £27, £25 went to the manager for the room and £2 went to the bellboy.
Puzzle 3
Here is snippet of section D of the curious multiple-choice entrance exam into the exclusive BrainBashers puzzle club.
Q1. Which is the first question where c) is the correct answer
a) Q3
b) Q4
c) Q1
d) Q2
Q2. Which is the first question where a) is the correct answer
a) Q4
b) Q2
c) Q3
d) Q1
Q3. Which is the first question where d) is the correct answer
a) Q1
b) Q2
c) Q4
d) Q3
Q4. Which is the first question where b) is the correct answer
Looking at the questions, only Q2 has an answer that doesn't reference itself directly. For example Q1 asks about c) as an answer, but its answer c) is Q1.
So it's easiest to look at Q2 first.
Q2's answer can't be b) (as this would be an immediate contradiction), so Q4's answer can't be a), so Q2's answer can't be a).
Q2 can therefore be either c) or d).
If Q2's answer was d), then Q1's answer would be a), so Q3's answer would be c), so Q4's answer would be d), so Q1's answer would be b). However this now contradicts itself, so Q2's answer can't be d).
Therefore Q2's answer must be c). Making Q3's answer a), making Q1's answer d), confiming Q2's answer is c). Leaving Q4's answer as b).
Puzzle 4
Read each line aloud without making any mistakes. If you make a mistake you MUST start again without going any further.
This is this puzzle
This is is puzzle
This is how puzzle
This is to puzzle
This is keep puzzle
This is an puzzle
This is idiot puzzle
This is busy puzzle
This is for puzzle
This is forty puzzle
This is seconds! puzzle
[Ref: ZSJE]
Hint: This is a forty second puzzle.
Answer: Now go back and read the THIRD word in each line from the top.
Puzzle 5
During the latest round of the BrainBashers triathlon, Keith was fourth. Adrian is not the oldest, but is older than Duncan, who was not second. The child who was next in age to the youngest, finished second. The child who finished in third place is older than the child who finished first. Billy is younger than the child who finished in third place. Can you determine who finished where and place the children in order of age?
Hint: Look closely at Question 1. It can't have A or B as its answer.
Answer:
1. C
2. D
3. B
4. C
5. B
A nice, complicated, and sometimes confusing puzzle.
Step 1
Question 1 can't be A, as this would mean that Q1 was the first question with B as the answer and therefore contradict itself.
Q1 can't be B as this would mean Q4 was the first question with B as the answer, but Q1 would actually be the first question with B as the answer.
If we test Q1 as having answer C, you'll see that Q3 points back to Q1 correctly and is logically consistent. This is a possibility.
If we test Q1 as having answer D, then Q2's answer is B, which points to Q4's answer being A, which means that there are 3 questions with D as the answer. Which would mean that Q3 and Q5 were both D, but Q3 would have to be A, as we're testing that Q1 is D.
Therefore Q1 has answer C. Since Q1 has answer C, we know Q3 has answer B.
Step 2
Looking at Q4 (how many questions can have D as the answer), clearly it can't be D (zero), as this would contradict itself. It can't be A (three) as we only have 2 questions without an answer.
If Q4 was B, then the remaining questions (Q2 and Q5) would both be D, which would make Q2 point to Q4 having C as an answer, which contradicts our guess of Q4 being B.
So Q4 must be C.
Which means that Q2 has answer D.
Which means that Q5 has answer B (as no other option is allowed and we must have two questions with answer B). QED!
Puzzle 7
Using the letters AAEEIIMMPPTT complete this grid with valid words. The grid reads the same across as down.
As I was going to St. Ives,
I met a man with seven wives.
Each wife had seven sacks,
Each sack had seven cats,
Each cat had seven kits.
Kits, cats, sacks and wives,
How many were going to St. Ives?
[Ref: ZNKT]
Hint:
Answer: One, only I was going to St. Ives.
Puzzle 9
If you are in a dark room with a candle, a wood stove and a gas lamp.
You only have one match, so what do you light first?
[Ref: ZVDJ]
Hint: The answer is obvious once you know.
Answer: The match!
Puzzle 10
Can you name four days which start with the letter "T"?
[Ref: ZHIM]
Hint: Thanksgiving isn't one of the answers.
Answer: Tuesday, Thursday, today, and tomorrow!
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Puzzle 1
Puzzle 2
