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Puzzle 365
What word most logically goes in the brackets:
EASY [HEAD] HARD
OOZE [----] FACT
Take the first letter of the second word
+ the first letter of the first word
+ the second letter of the first word
+ the last letter of the second word.
The results of a recent Chess tournament between five close rivals is described below:
Dale finished before Alex. Emery finished after Bailey. Alex finished before Chris. Emery finished after Dale. Bailey finished before Alex. Dale finished after Bailey. Chris finished before Emery.
Who finished where?
Hint
Try rewriting each statement so that they are all 'finished before' statements instead.
Answer
Bailey won …
… then Dale, Alex, Chris, and Emery.
Reasoning
By placing the person who finished higher to the left, we have:
Dale finished before Alex (Dale > Alex)Emery finished after Bailey (Bailey > Emery)Alex finished before Chris (Alex > Chris)Emery finished after Dale (Dale > Emery)Bailey finished before Alex (Bailey > Alex)Dale finished after Bailey (Bailey > Dale)Chris finished before Emery (Chris > Emery)
From (1) and (3):
Dale > Alex > Chris
Adding (7):
Dale > Alex > Chris > Emery
Adding (6):
Bailey > Dale > Alex > Chris > Emery
Which is the final placing for all the players, and can be double-checked with the remaining clues.
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Puzzle 367
At midnight at the start of January 1st, Professor Stone set two old-fashioned clocks to the correct time.
One clock gains one minute every hour, and the other clock loses two minutes every hour.
When will the clocks next show the same time as each other? When will the clocks both show the correct time?
Hint
In order for the clocks to show the same time (e.g. 2 o'clock), what must the total time gained by one, and lost by the other, total?
Answers Midnight, 10 days later, when they will both show 4 o'clock. Midnight, 30 days later, when they will both show 12 o'clock. Reasoning #1
In order for the clocks to show the same time, the total time gained by one, and lost by the other, must be 12 hours.
For example, if the first clock were to show 2 o'clock, it would have gained 2 hours. In order for the second clock to also show 2 o'clock, it would have had to have lost 10 hours. This is a total of 12 hours gained and lost.
We know that for every hour that passes, the first clock gains one minute, and the second clock loses 2 minutes, for a total time gained and lost of 1 + 2 = 3 minutes.
The total time gained and lost will equal 12 hours when 12 x 60 ÷ 3 = 240 hours have passed. 240 hours = 10 days.
The first clock will have gained 240 x 1 minutes = 240 minutes = 4 hours.
The second clock will have lost 240 x 2 minutes = 480 minutes = 8 hours.
So, they will both show 4 o'clock, 10 days later.
Reasoning #2
In the first answer, we can see that 10 days later, the clocks both show 4 o'clock.
If we move forward another 10 days, both clocks would show 8 o'clock.
If we move forward another 10 days, both clocks would show 12 o'clock.
This will now be the correct time.
So, they will both show 12 o'clock, 30 days later.
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Puzzle 368
This is an annoying paragraph, in which you try to work out what is unusual about it. This paragraph has a quandary though. A solitary word has found a way to slink into this paragraph, to fox your fun, by going against all my jazzy plans. What is that word? Don't try to run a utility to assist you, that would spoil all of my attempts to absorb all of your avid skills in this mind-blowing prank.
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.
