Reasoning
If we denote Alex by A, Billie by B, Charlie by C, and Drew by D and number the clues.
If Alex had three more sheep, then he'd have one fewer sheep than Billie.Whereas Drew has the same number as the other three shepherds put together.If Charlie had three fewer sheep, he'd have exactly three times the number of Alex.If they were evenly distributed, they'd each have eleven sheep.
By (4): A + B + C + D = 44
And, by (2), these are shared equally between A + B + C and D.
So D = 22, and A + B + C = 22 (*)
By (1): A + 3 = B − 1 A + 4 = B
By (3): C − 3 = 3A C = 3A + 3
Substitute B and C in (*):
A + (A + 4) + (3A + 3) = 22 5A + 7 = 22 5A = 15 A = 3
Kevin wants to go and see his brother, who lives across the valley, and he wants to take his three pets with him, a dog, a cat, and a mouse.
However, the shortest way to his brother's house involves a river crossing, and Kevin only has a very small boat that can carry him and just one of his pets.
He doesn't want to leave the dog alone with the cat, nor does he want to leave the cat alone with the mouse. However, the dog and mouse are great friends.
How can Kevin cross the river to see his brother, and make sure his pets are all happy?
Answer
He can take the cat across first and then come back.
Then take the dog across and bring the cat back.
Then take the mouse across and come back.
Finally, take the cat across again.
??
Puzzle 200
Below, 10 nine-letter words have been broken into chunks of three letters.
The chunks have been moved around, no chunk is used twice, and all of the chunks are used.
Can you determine what the 10 words are?
som one dbr pen rtm ber
nes ent ive eph eti ens
mes off eak eid sep win
erd tel day ter wed tem
aft apa own car ern oon
Hints
The first letters of the words are: W, E, S, A, S, C, O, T, W, A.
Answers
Windbreak, eiderdown, sometimes, afternoon, September, carpenter, offensive, telephone, Wednesday, apartment.
win + dbr + eak = windbreak
eid + erd + own = eiderdown
som + eti + mes = sometimes
aft + ern + oon = afternoon
sep + tem + ber = september
car + pen + ter = carpenter
off + ens + ive = offensive
tel + eph + one = telephone
wed + nes + day = wednesday
apa + rtm + ent = apartment
