Puzzle 1
If I buy a melon and a coconut, the cost will be £1.19.
If I buy a melon and a pineapple, the cost will be £1.45.
If I buy a coconut and a pineapple, the cost will be £1.40.
What are the individual prices?
Puzzle Copyright © Kevin Stone
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Hint
A little algebra might help.
Answer
Pineapple = 83p, coconut = 57p, melon = 62p.
Reasoning
If we assign the letters P, C and M to the fruits, and work in pence we have:
(1) M + C = 119
(2) M + P = 145
(3) C + P = 140
Using (2) − (1) we have:
(4) P − C = 26
And (3) + (4) gives:
2P = 166
P = 83
This can then be substituted back into (2) and (3).
Puzzle 2
Richard, Kevin, and James like coffee …
… Andrew, Anne, and John don't.
Does Simon like coffee?
Puzzle Copyright © Kevin Stone
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Hint
Look at the number of letters in each name.
Answer
Yes.
Because there is an odd number of letters in the name.
Puzzle 3
What is the next number in this sequence:
100 · 365 · 24 · 60 · ?
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Hint
The answers are related to time.
Answer
60.
The numbers represent 100 years in a century, 365 days in a year, 24 hours in a day, 60 minutes in an hour and 60 seconds in an minute.
Puzzle 4
Bungled Heist all logic puzzles
After a local bungled heist, five suspects were being interviewed by the police.
Eventually, the police managed to get a confession.
Below is a summary of their statements, and it turns out that exactly 5 of these statements were true.
Would you make a good detective? Can you work out who committed the crime?
Alex said:
It wasn't Brook
It was Charlie
Brook said:
It wasn't Alex
It was Dale
Charlie said:
It wasn't Dale
It wasn't Brook
Dale said:
It wasn't Emery
It was Alex
Emery said:
It wasn't Charlie
It was Dale
Puzzle Copyright © Kevin Stone
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Hint
How many statements would be true if the culprit was Alex?
Answer
Emery committed the crime.
Reasoning
If we assume that Alex was the culprit, we can see that there would be 6 true statements, but we know there were exactly 5 true statements, so it can't be Alex.
We can repeat this will all five suspects and quickly see that only Emery being the culprit would result in exactly 5 statements being true.
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