Can you find the country hidden in the following paragraph:
The local habitat around a railway track can be very interesting. For example, supporting the track is a sleeper, under which you can find the lesser-spotted great weevil.
The local habitat around a railway track can be very interesting. For example, supporting the track is a sleePER, Under which you can find the lesser-spotted great weevil.
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Puzzle 2
Assign every letter of the alphabet its numerical value: A=1, B=2, C=3, and so on, up to Z=26.
Can you find any common 6-letter words that have a total over 115?
For example, WIZARD = 23 + 9 + 26 + 1 + 18 + 4 = 81.
Workers with the surnames Baker, Teacher, Carpenter, and Plumber are currently attending an annual convention.
No-one is currently, nor has ever been, in the same occupation as their name, and no-one has had the same occupation twice. Charlie has never been a carpenter, and Mr Teacher is now a plumber. Davie used to be a teacher, but Mr Billie Baker never has. Mr Plumber is not called Eddie, and Mr Carpenter wasn't previously a teacher. The previous occupations were all different, and the current occupations are all different.
Can you determine the full names of each of the attendees, along with their current and previous occupation?
The previous occupation is followed by the current.
Reasoning
The four forenames are: Billie, Charlie, Davie, Eddie.
The four surnames are: Baker, Teacher, Carpenter, Plumber
The four occupations are: baker, teacher, carpenter, plumber.
By (3), we have Billie Baker:
Billie Baker – ? + ?
Teacher – ? + ?
Carpenter – ? + ?
Plumber – ? + ?
By (2), Mr Teacher is currently a plumber:
Billie Baker – ? + ?
Teacher – ? + plumber
Carpenter – ? + ?
Plumber – ? + ?
By (3) Mr Baker was not previously a teacher. By (4), neither was Mr Carpenter. And by (1) Mr Teacher can't have been either. Therefore, Mr Plumber used to be a teacher, and is called Davie:
Billie Baker – ? + ?
Teacher – ? + plumber
Carpenter – ? + ?
Davie Plumber – teacher + ?
By (3), Mr Baker has never been a teacher, and by (1), Mr Plumber can't currently be a teacher either. Also, by (1), neither can Mr Teacher. Therefore, Mr Carpenter must currently be a teacher:
Billie Baker – ? + ?
Teacher – ? + plumber
Carpenter – ? + teacher
Davie Plumber – teacher + ?
By (1), Mr Baker can't be a baker, so only Mr Plumber can currently be a baker. Leaving Mr Baker as a carpenter currently:
Billie Baker – ? + carpenter
Teacher – ? + plumber
Carpenter – ? + teacher
Davie Plumber – teacher + baker
By (1), only Mr Teacher could have previously been a carpenter:
Billie Baker – ? + carpenter
Teacher – carpenter + plumber
Carpenter – ? + teacher
Davie Plumber – teacher + baker
By (2), Charlie has never been a carpenter, and since Mr Teacher has, Charlie must be Mr Carpenter.
Billie Baker – ? + carpenter
Teacher – carpenter + plumber
Charlie Carpenter – ? + teacher
Davie Plumber – teacher + baker
By (1), we now know all of the occupations, and Eddie must be Mr Teacher:
Billie Baker – plumber + carpenter
Eddie Teacher – carpenter + plumber
Charlie Carpenter – baker + teacher
Davie Plumber – teacher + baker
