Puzzle 177
Alex Smith was born on December 25th, 1971, yet their birthday is always in the summer.
How is this possible?
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Hint
They can't have been born in the USA then.
Answer
They live in Australia, but they could have been born anywhere South of the equator, where the seasons are reversed.
Puzzle 178
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.
Puzzle 179
My first is in camel, and in hamster.
My second is in otter, but not in ferret.
My third is in mustang, but not in horse.
My fourth is in snake, and in asp.
My last is in tiger, and in panther.
What am I?
Puzzle Copyright © Kevin Stone
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Hint
The first letter is M.
Answer
Mouse.
Reasoning
My first is in camel, and in hamster = AEM
My second is in otter, but not in ferret = O
My third is in mustang, but not in horse = AGMNTU
My fourth is in snake, and in asp = AS
My last is in tiger, and in panther = ERT
Puzzle 180
This equation contains the numbers 1-8.
Can you complete it?
6.
.. x
————
....
Puzzle Copyright © Kevin Stone
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Hint
The answer begins with 3.
Answer
64 x 58 = 3712.
Reasoning
Since no digit is duplicated, neither number can end in 1, otherwise, the last digit of the answer would already have been used.
Neither number can end in 5 because the answer would then end in 5 or 0.
So the first number can only be 62, 63, 64, 67, or 68.
We can now look at what the second number can end with, and we find that...
if the first number was 62, the second number can only end in 4 or 7.
Why...
not 1 as previously explained
not 2 because we've already used that in the 62
not 3 because 62 x *3 would end in 6, which is already in the 62
not 5 as previously explained
not 6 because we've already used that in the 62
not 8 because 62 x *8 would end in 6, which is already in the 62
We can repeat this for the other possible first numbers and find that...
if the first number was 62, the second number can only end in 4 or 7.
if the first number was 63, the second number can only end in 4, 7, or 8.
if the first number was 64, the second number can only end in 2, 3, 7, or 8.
if the first number was 67, the second number can only end in 2, 3, or 4.
if the first number was 68, the second number can only end in 3 or 4.
Let's check these in turn...
If the first number was 62, the only possible values are:
62 x 14 = 868
62 x 34 = 2108
62 x 54 = 3348
62 x 74 = 4588
or
62 x 17 = 1054
62 x 37 = 2294
62 x 57 = 3534
62 x 87 = 5394
Only 4 calculations are required for each option, as we didn't need to check 62 x 84 as we already know that the answer would end in 8, or 62 x 47 as we already know that the answer would end in 4.
All of these answers fail as they don't contain all of the digits.
Similarly, we can look at 63, then 64, etc. For each of the numbers, we have to check the possible endings, but in each case, only 4 calculations are required (as seen in the examples above).
We (quickly?) find 64 x 58 = 3712.
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