Puzzle 1
Below, 10 nine-letter words have been broken into chunks of three letters.
These chunks have been mixed up, no chunk is used twice and all of the chunks are used.
Can you determine the 10 original words?
RBR TIM SAG TEL LIG ENT
HEA DLI BLE WHI HTN FER
CAR AGE ESC ING IND WAT
TIL HAI USH DIF ETA NEW
RLW ALL ERF OPE ENT GHT
Puzzle Copyright © Kevin Stone
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Hint
These are the first letters of the words: T, T, H, D, W, L, H, W, C, N
Answer
TEL + ESC + OPE = TELESCOPE
TIM + ETA + BLE = TIMETABLE
HAI + RBR + USH = HAIRBRUSH
DIF + FER + ENT = DIFFERENT
WAT + ERF + ALL = WATERFALL
LIG + HTN + ING = LIGHTNING
HEA + DLI + GHT = HEADLIGHT
WHI + RLW + IND = WHIRLWIND
CAR + TIL + AGE = CARTILAGE
NEW + SAG + ENT = NEWSAGENT
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Puzzle 2
Last week I travelled from London to Leeds, a distance I measured as 174 miles.
I started at 9.15am and completed the journey with an average speed of 40 miles per hour.
On the way back, in the evening, I travelled exactly the same route, starting at 5.15pm. The traffic was light and I completed the journey with an average speed of 60 miles per hour.
What was the overall average speed for the round trip?
The answer is not 50 mph.
Puzzle Copyright © Kevin Stone
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Hint
Remember that Time = Distance ÷ Speed, and Speed = Distance ÷ Time.
Answer
48 miles per hour.
Reasoning
Using:
Time = Distance ÷ Speed
Speed = Distance ÷ Time
The outward journey took 174 miles ÷ 40 mph = 4.35 hours.
The return journey took 174 miles ÷ 60 mph = 2.9 hours.
So I travelled a total of 2 x 174 = 348 miles. I did this in a total of 4.35 + 2.9 = 7.25 hours.
My overall average speed was therefore 348 miles ÷ 7.25 hours = 48 miles per hour.
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Puzzle 3
Questionnaire - Logic Puzzles
Here is the latest BrainBashers questionnaire, how well can you do?
Q1. The first question with A as the correct answer is:
A. 2
B. 3
C. 4
Q2. The answer that appears most often is:
A. C
B. B
C. A
Q3. The answer to Question 1 is:
A. B
B. A
C. C
Q4. The answer that appears least often is:
A. A
B. C
C. B
Puzzle Copyright © Kevin Stone
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Answer
1. B
2. B
3. A
4. B
Reasoning
Q1 can't have A as its answer (otherwise it would contradict itself).
If Q1's answer was C (meaning Q4's answer was A), then Q3's answer would be C. However, Q2's answer should now be A, but this isn't allowed by Q1 (as Q4 is the first answer with A). This is a contradiction.
Therefore Q1's answer is B (meaning Q3's answer is A).
For Q2's answer to be C, Q4's answer would have to be A, which would contradict Q4. Therefore Q2's answer is B, making Q4's answer B.
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Puzzle 4
My local bus company has recently expanded and no longer has enough room inside its garage for all of its buses.
Twelve of their buses have to be stored outside.
If they decide to increase their garage space by 40% they will have enough room for all of their current buses, plus enough room to store another twelve in the future.
How many buses does the company currently own?
Puzzle Copyright © Kevin Stone
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Hint
Think about the 40% and how many buses that represents.
Answer
72 buses.
Reasoning
If they increase the garage space by 40% this will give them enough room to hold the 12 buses that are currently outside, plus 12 more buses in the future.
Therefore, the 40% increase is enough space for 24 buses.
This means that 40% of the current garage capacity is 24 buses.
So 10% of the current garage capacity is 6 buses.
And 100% of the current garage capacity is 60 buses.
If we add the 12 buses stored outside we have a total of 72 buses.
Double Checking
They currently have 72 buses, 12 of which are outside, so 60 are inside. Increasing their garage space (60 buses) by 40% will give room for 84 buses. Which is the 72 they currently have, with spaces for 12 more buses in the future. This confirms the answer.
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