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Brain Teasers and Puzzles 



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Puzzle 1 



This BrainBashers safe has a rather unusual control panel.

In order to open the safe, you have to press every single button once only, in the correct sequence, ending on the button marked E.

Each button indicates which button to press next, for example, 2U means move up 2 buttons and 3R means move right 3 buttons.

Can you determine which button you must start with?

Puzzle Copyright © Kevin Stone

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Puzzle 2 



Below you will find ten common 6-letter words, however, every other letter is missing.

Can you determine the original words?
-s-e-d -p-a-g -r-f-r -y-r-d -r-f-e -a-b-n -a-e-a -o-d-g -s-f-l -i-s-e

Puzzle Copyright © Kevin Stone

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Puzzle 3 



This puzzle is called 'Mamma's Age', and is taken from 'Amusements In Mathematics' by Henry Ernest Dudeney (1917).

Tommy: "How old are you, mamma?"

Mamma: "Let me think, Tommy. Well, our three ages add up to exactly seventy years."

Tommy: "That's a lot, isn't it? And how old are you, papa?"

Papa: "Just six times as old as you, my son."

Tommy: "Shall I ever be half as old as you, papa?"

Papa: "Yes, Tommy; and when that happens our three ages will add up to exactly twice as much as to-day."

Tommy: "And supposing I was born before you, papa; and supposing mamma had forgot all about it, and hadn't been at home when I came; and supposing--"

Mamma: "Supposing, Tommy, we talk about bed. Come along, darling. You'll have a headache."

Now, if Tommy had been some years older he might have calculated the exact ages of his parents from the information they had given him. Can you find out the exact age of mamma?

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Puzzle 4 



Imagine a bottle recycling skip, empty other than one lonely bottle.

Every hour, on the hour, people come and put bottles into the skip.

The first hour, at noon, one person came and put a bottle in.

One hour later, two people each placed a bottle into the skip.

An hour later, four people each placed a bottle into the skip.

This doubling of people continued until 11pm, when the skip was finally full.

When was the skip exactly half full?

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