Hint
How many large pipes are required to drain the reservoir in 24 hours?
Answer
21 hours and 36 minutes.
Reasoning
Looking at the first clue:
in 12 hours, 6 large pipes can drain 1 reservoir
in 24 hours, 6 large pipes can drain 2 reservoirs
(*) in 24 hours, 3 large pipes can drain 1 reservoir
Looking at the second clue:
in 8 hours, 3 large + 9 small pipes can drain 1 reservoir
in 24 hours, 3 large + 9 small pipes can drain 3 reservoirs
But, by (*), we know that in those 24 hours, 3 large pipes can drain 1 of those reservoirs.
Therefore, the other 2 reservoirs can be drained by the small pipes on their own:
in 24 hours, 9 small pipes can drain 2 reservoirs
in 24 hours, 1 small pipe can drain 2/9 reservoirs
multiply the hours by 9:
in 216 hours, 1 small pipe can drain 2 reservoirs
in 216 hours, 5 small pipes can drain 10 reservoirs
divide the hours by 10:
in 21.6 hours, 5 small pipes can drain 1 reservoir
21.6 hours = 21 hours and 36 minutes.
??
Puzzle 78
Below, 10 nine-letter words have been broken into chunks of three letters.
The chunks have been moved around, no chunk is used twice, and all of the chunks are used.
Can you determine what the 10 words are?
cer ent ead rat uti spr
ful oun pro ann ope ock
nce een oat est liv ion
nou sev ion ast hou akf
bre bea ens dim bed seb
Hint
The first letters of the words are: P, B, D, L, O, A, B, H, S, B.
Answers
pro + nou + nce = pronounce
bea + uti + ful = beautiful
dim + ens + ion = dimension
liv + est + ock = livestock
ope + rat + ion = operation
ann + oun + cer = announcer
bed + spr + ead = bedspread
hou + seb + oat = houseboat
sev + ent + een = seventeen
bre + akf + ast = breakfast
You find yourself playing a game with your friend.
It is played with a deck of only 16 cards, divided into 4 suits:
Red, Blue, Orange, and Green.
There are four cards in each suit:
Ace, King, Queen, and Jack.
All Aces outrank all Kings, which outrank all Queens, which outrank all Jacks, except for the Green Jack, which outranks every other card.
If two cards have the same face value, then Red outranks Blue, which outranks Orange, which outranks Green, again except for the Green Jack, which outranks everything.
Here's how the game is played: you are dealt one card face up, and your friend is dealt one card face down. Your friend then makes some true statements, and you have to work out who has the higher card, you or your friend. It's that simple!
Round 3:
You are dealt the Red Queen and your friend makes three statements:
My card could lose to a Blue card. Knowing this, if I am more likely to have an Ace or a King than a Queen or a Jack, then I have an Orange card. Otherwise, I don't. Given all of the information you now know, if I am more likely to have a Jack than an Ace, then I actually have a King. Otherwise, I don't.
Who has the higher card, you or your friend?
Hint
List all of the cards, and then eliminate some using (1).
Answer
Your friend.
Reasoning
You were dealt the Red Queen.
The possible cards, in order, are:
Green Jack
Red Ace
Blue Ace
Orange Ace
Green Ace
Red King
Blue King
Orange King
Green King
Red Queen (your card)
Blue Queen
Orange Queen
Green Queen
Red Jack
Blue Jack
Orange Jack
By (1), their card could lose to a Blue card (the Blue Ace), leaving:
Orange Ace
Green Ace
Red King
Blue King
Orange King
Green King
Red Queen (your card)
Blue Queen
Orange Queen
Green Queen
Red Jack
Blue Jack
Orange Jack
By (2), their card is not more likely to be an Ace or a King (6) than a Queen or a Jack (6), so their card is not Orange, leaving.
Green Ace
Red King
Blue King
Green King
Red Queen (your card)
Blue Queen
Green Queen
Red Jack
Blue Jack
By (3), their card is more likely to be a Jack (2) than an Ace (1), so their card is a King, leaving:
Red King
Blue King
Green King
Red Queen (your card)
All of which beat your Red Queen.
??
Puzzle 80
The infamous BrainBashers encyclopedia has been suffering from its usual problems again.
Below is a printout of reptiles and amphibians, but they have lost every other letter.
Can you replace the missing letters? -r-g-o-t-i-e-n-k--e-t-i-a-d-r-c-d-l--a-a-a-d-r-u-t-e-k-n-a-l-g-t-r
