Puzzle 558
Three teachers were discussing how long they had been teaching.
Alex and Billie had been teaching for a total of 36 years.
Charlie and Billie had been teaching for a total of 22 years.
Charlie and Alex had been teaching for a total of 28 years.
How long had each been teaching?
Puzzle Copyright © Kevin Stone
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Hint
If we look at all of the clues, each person appears exactly twice.
Answer
Alex had been teaching for 21 years.
Billie had been teaching for 15 years.
Charlie had been teaching for 7 years.
Reasoning
If we look at all of the clues, each person appears exactly twice.
So the total of the three clues gives us two lots of Alex + Billie + Charlie = 36 + 22 + 28 = 86.
So, Alex + Billie + Charlie = 43 years.
In each clue we are given two of the people, so we can use this to find the missing person:
Charlie and Billie had been teaching for a total of 22 years, which means that Alex must be: 43 − 22 = 21 years.
Charlie and Alex had been teaching for a total of 28 years, which means that Billie must be: 43 − 28 = 15 years.
Alex and Billie had been teaching for a total of 36 years, which means that Charlie must be: 43 − 36 = 7 years.
Reasoning With Algebra
Let Alex = A, Billie = B and Charlie = C, then:
[1] A + B = 36
[2] C + B = 22
[3] C + A = 28
If we use [3] − [2] we have:
[4] A − B = 6
If we use [1] + [4] we have:
2A = 42
A = 21
By [1] B = 15. By [3] C = 7.
Puzzle 559
Can you find every occurrence of the word LOVE that appears in this grid (horizontally, vertically, or diagonally)?
The hint will reveal the number of times it occurs, but where are they?
Note: this puzzle is not interactive, and the letters cannot be selected.
Puzzle Copyright © Kevin Stone
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Hint
The word LOVE appears 73 times.
Answer
The word LOVE appears 73 times.
Puzzle 560
hwayetritipzl
omnltesnhsuze
Puzzle Copyright © Kevin Stone
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Hint
The puzzle contains the question.
Answer
26.
Reasoning
The puzzle reads 'how many letters in this puzzle'.
The puzzle's letters alternate between the top and bottom lines.
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