Random Puzzles 

Workings

Hint
Ellen liked shrimp, but didn't like eels.

Answer
No.

None of them liked food that started with the same letter as their name.

Workings

Hint
They all end in IST.

Answer
Choose from: anthologist, pathologist, phonologist, protagonist.

Workings

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.

Workings

Hint
You can either fix the distance rowed and see what numbers work, or you can fix the number of hours.

Answer
12 miles.

In the morning, rowing at 2 miles per hour, they rowed for 6 hours. In the afternoon, rowing at 4 miles per hour, they rowed for 3 hours.

There are a number of ways of working this out, and here are two of them:

Method 1
If we assume the distance the rowed upstream to be D miles, we know the morning took (D ÷ 2) hours, and the afternoon took (D ÷ 4) hours, with a difference of 3 hours. So:
 D   D
 - – - = 3
 2   4

Multiplying throughout by 4 gives:

 2D – D = 12

So:

 D = 12 miles

They rowed 12 miles upstream.

Method 2
If we assume they rowed for H hours upstream, we know they travelled H x 2 miles in the morning. In the afternoon, they rowed for (H – 3) hours, and travelled (H – 3) x 4 miles. We know these distances are the same, so:

 2H = (H – 3) x 4

Giving:

 2H = 4H – 12

Rearranging gives:

 12 = 2H

So:

 H = 6 hours

They rowed for 6 hours upstream at 2 miles per hour, which is a total of 12 miles.