Puzzle 57
Can you find anagrams of each of the words below?
Each of the words has more than one anagram, but the initial letters of the correct anagrams form another anagram related to the word QUESTION.
bruise
warned
please
listen
veined
trance
Puzzle Copyright © Kevin Stone
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Hint
Find anagrams of the words in this order: PLEASE, TRANCE, LISTEN, WARNED, VEINED, BRUISE.
Answers
ANSWER.
Reasoning
The initial letters are RWASEN, which is an anagram of ANSWER.
bruise becomes rubies
warned becomes wander
please becomes asleep
listen becomes silent
veined becomes envied
trance becomes nectar
Puzzle 58
Pre-Championship Rehearsal - Logic Puzzles
At last month's rehearsal, four top athletes competed in two 400-metre qualifiers.
As the results were expected to be mislaid, various notes were taken to ensure the accuracy of the overall placings:
No one finished both races in the same position.
In both races, Sam beat the runner whose surname was Watson.
Billie Taylor came third in the second race, and Pat came last in the first race.
In the second race, the athlete whose surname was Arnold won, and the athlete whose surname was Bowler came last.
In the first race, Billie beat Jamie, but Jamie beat Sam.
Can you determine who finished where in each of the races?
Puzzle Copyright © Kevin Stone
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Hint
Look at Clue 3 first, and then Clue 5.
Answer
Race1 Race2
————————————————————————
#1 Billie Sam
Taylor Arnold
————————————————————————
#2 Jamie Pat
Bowler Watson
————————————————————————
#3 Sam Billie
Arnold Taylor
————————————————————————
#4 Pat Jamie
Watson Bowler
Reasoning
The four names were: Billie, Jamie, Pat, Sam
The four contestants were: Arnold, Bowler, Taylor, Watson.
By (3), Billie Taylor came third in the second race, and Pat came last in the first race, giving:
Race1 Race2
————————————————————————
#1
————————————————————————
#2
————————————————————————
#3 Billie
Taylor
————————————————————————
#4 Pat
By (5), in the first race Billie beat Jamie, and Jamie beat Sam, giving:
Race1 Race2
————————————————————————
#1 Billie
Taylor
————————————————————————
#2 Jamie
————————————————————————
#3 Sam Billie
Taylor
————————————————————————
#4 Pat
By (2), Sam beat the runner with the surname Watson in the first race, which means that Pat's surname is Watson, giving:
Race1 Race2
————————————————————————
#1 Billie
Taylor
————————————————————————
#2 Jamie
————————————————————————
#3 Sam Billie
Taylor
————————————————————————
#4 Pat
Watson
By (1), Pat can't have also finished in last place in race 2, and by (2), Sam beat the Pat Watson, so Pat must have finished in second place in race 2. And Sam came first, therefore Jamie came last, giving:
Race1 Race2
————————————————————————
#1 Billie Sam
Taylor
————————————————————————
#2 Jamie Pat
Watson
————————————————————————
#3 Sam Billie
Taylor
————————————————————————
#4 Pat Jamie
Watson
By (4), in the second race the athlete whose surname was Arnold won, and the athlete whose surname was Bowler came last, so we know Sam and Jamie's surnames, and we can complete the grid:
Race1 Race2
————————————————————————
#1 Billie Sam
Taylor Arnold
————————————————————————
#2 Jamie Pat
Bowler Watson
————————————————————————
#3 Sam Billie
Arnold Taylor
————————————————————————
#4 Pat Jamie
Watson Bowler
Puzzle 59
Here we have a rectangular room, measuring 30 feet by 12 feet, and 12 feet high.
There is a spider in the middle of one of the end walls, 1 foot from the ceiling (A).
There is a fly in the middle of the opposite wall, 1 foot from the floor (B).
What is the shortest distance that the spider must crawl in order to reach the fly?
The Spider and the Fly – The Canterbury Puzzles, Henry Ernest Dudeney.
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Hint
Going down and across the floor isn't the only route.
Answer
40 feet.
Explanation Diagram
If you imagine the room to be a cardboard box, you can 'unfold' the room in various ways, and each route gives a different answer.
We can use Pythagoras' theorem (a2 + b2 = c2) to calculate the distances:
distance2 = horizontal2 + vertical2
distance = √(horizontal2 + vertical2)
Route #1
distance = 1 + 30 + 11 = 42 feet.
Route #2
horizontal = 6 + 30 + 6 = 42 feet.
vertical = 10 feet.
distance = √(422 + 102) ≈ 43.174 feet.
Route #3
horizontal = 1 + 30 + 6 = 37 feet.
vertical = 6 + 11 = 17 feet.
distance = √(372 + 172) ≈ 43.178 feet.
Route #4
horizontal = 1 + 30 + 1 = 32 feet.
vertical = 6 + 12 + 6 = 24 feet.
distance = √(322 + 242) = 40 feet.
Puzzle 60
Below you will find 15 well-known six-letter words, with only their endings remaining.
Can you find the words?
---cil
---hid
---nze
---ese
---lug
---som
---uxe
---uum
---arm
---amo
---rby
---ink
---sai
---too
---fen
Puzzle Copyright © Kevin Stone
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Hint
The first letters of the words are: P, O, B, C, U, R, D, V, D, D, N, S, B, T, D.
Answers
---cil = pencil
---hid = orchid
---nze = bronze
---ese = cheese
---lug = unplug
---som = ransom
---uxe = deluxe
---uum = vacuum
---arm = disarm
---amo = dynamo
---rby = nearby
---ink = shrink
---sai = bonsai
---too = tattoo
---fen = deafen
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