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At last month's rehearsal, four top athletes competed in two 400-metre qualifiers.
As the results were expected to be mislaid, various notes were taken to ensure the accuracy of the overall placings:
No one finished both races in the same position. In both races, Sam beat the runner whose surname was Watson. Billie Taylor came third in the second race, and Pat came last in the first race. In the second race, the athlete whose surname was Arnold won, and the athlete whose surname was Bowler came last. In the first race, Billie beat Jamie, but Jamie beat Sam.
Can you determine who finished where in each of the races?
Answer
Race1 Race2
————————————————————————
#1 Billie Sam
Taylor Arnold
————————————————————————
#2 Jamie Pat
Bowler Watson
————————————————————————
#3 Sam Billie
Arnold Taylor
————————————————————————
#4 Pat Jamie
Watson Bowler
Reasoning
The four names were: Billie, Jamie, Pat, Sam
The four contestants were: Arnold, Bowler, Taylor, Watson.
By (3), Billie Taylor came third in the second race, and Pat came last in the first race, giving:
Race1 Race2
————————————————————————
#1
————————————————————————
#2
————————————————————————
#3 Billie
Taylor
————————————————————————
#4 Pat
By (5), in the first race Billie beat Jamie, and Jamie beat Sam, giving:
Race1 Race2
————————————————————————
#1 Billie
Taylor
————————————————————————
#2 Jamie
————————————————————————
#3 Sam Billie
Taylor
————————————————————————
#4 Pat
By (2), Sam beat the runner with the surname Watson in the first race, which means that Pat's surname is Watson, giving:
Race1 Race2
————————————————————————
#1 Billie
Taylor
————————————————————————
#2 Jamie
————————————————————————
#3 Sam Billie
Taylor
————————————————————————
#4 Pat
Watson
By (1), Pat can't have also finished in last place in race 2, and by (2), Sam beat the Pat Watson, so Pat must have finished in second place in race 2. And Sam came first, therefore Jamie came last, giving:
Race1 Race2
————————————————————————
#1 Billie Sam
Taylor
————————————————————————
#2 Jamie Pat
Watson
————————————————————————
#3 Sam Billie
Taylor
————————————————————————
#4 Pat Jamie
Watson
By (4), in the second race the athlete whose surname was Arnold won, and the athlete whose surname was Bowler came last, so we know Sam and Jamie's surnames, and we can complete the grid:
Race1 Race2
————————————————————————
#1 Billie Sam
Taylor Arnold
————————————————————————
#2 Jamie Pat
Bowler Watson
————————————————————————
#3 Sam Billie
Arnold Taylor
————————————————————————
#4 Pat Jamie
Watson Bowler
Reasoning
Start by taking the cube root of 190,747, which is approximately 57.56.
The next highest prime number is 59:
190,747 ÷ 59 = 3,233
Let's try the next prime number, which is 61:
3,233 ÷ 61 = 53
53, 59, and 61, are all prime, and are consecutive, so this is the answer.
Double-Checking 53 x 59 x 61 = 190,747
??
Puzzle 547
Below are five phrases that have been altered. Rearrange the words so that when they are read aloud they will sound very similar to the required phrase. For example "Ducks Sits Hound Fa Mill Ear" = "Does it sound familiar".
crows dose my off wind
cab chalk clicks fizz lie lye ox soft
a crowed fall jest lobe Rick oath yell
beef four heap luck Yule
dud rough wharf whorls
Answer
my crows off wind dose = Microsoft Windows
lie fizz lye cab ox soft chalk clicks = Life is like a box of chocolates
jest fall oath a yell lobe Rick crowed = Just follow the yellow brick road
luck beef four Yule heap = Look before you leap
wharf rough dud whorls = War of the Worlds
???
Puzzle 548
Find two words, which are anagrams of each other, which complete this sentence:
Due to a recent outbreak of a ? infection in the zebra house, the local animal sanctuary had to ? their electron microscope correctly, to ensure rapid detection.
It is now four years since I first asked for support, and I would like to sincerely thank everyone who has helped me. BrainBashers doesn't show adverts, and I continue to depend on the ongoing support from everyone who enjoys the site.
