Puzzle 1
During a recent club trip to the seaside, I sat at the rear of the bus.
I noticed a strange thing: Ann, Kevin, Matilda, and Nathaniel were all sitting on the left side of the bus.
Even more curious was the fact that Jack, Amelia, Isabella, and Maximilian were all sitting on the right side of the bus.
On which side was James sitting?
Puzzle Copyright © Kevin Stone
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Hint
Look at the lengths of the names.
Answer
James was sitting on the left.
Members with an odd number of letters in their name sat on the left, and members with an even number sat on the right.
Puzzle 2
I really must replace my BrainBashers word processor.
I recently spell checked my document, and it managed to misrepresent one letter in each of the words.
What were the original words?
A lake sees. Then a sea I fee, is bakes he thank if toe money what thee bake. Money bakes me roast lice.
Puzzle Copyright © Kevin Stone
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Hint
In each word, exactly one letter is wrong.
Answer
I like bees. When I see a bee, it makes me think of the honey that they make. Honey makes my toast nice.
Puzzle 3
Can you complete this sentence using words which are anagrams of each other?
Only the ? students could solve the hard ? equation.
Puzzle Copyright © Kevin Stone
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Hint
Both words begin with the letter B.
Answer
Brainy and binary.
Puzzle 4
Two friends were driving from their home to Manchester, Alex drove the first 90 miles, and Billie took over for the remainder of the journey.
On the way back, Alex drove to begin with, and Billie took over for the last 100 miles.
Who drove the furthest?
Puzzle Copyright © Kevin Stone
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Hint
It doesn't matter how far it was to Manchester, so you can use any distance.
Answer
Billie.
Reasoning
If we call the one way distance T, we know that:
On the way there, Alex drove 90 miles, and Billie drove (T − 90) miles.
On the way back, Alex drove (T − 100) miles, and Billie drove 100 miles.
So, in total, both ways:
Alex drove 90 + (T − 100)
= T − 10
Billie drove (T − 90) + 100
= T + 10
Therefore, Billie drove 20 miles more than Alex.
