Puzzle 1
Four friends were discussing the colours of the flowers they had for the local flower show, from this year, and last.
There were four different colours: red, green, blue and yellow.
No-one entered the same colour flower twice.
The entrant who currently has the green flowers, used to have yellow.
Betty, who is not Mrs Long, currently has the blue flowers.
Mrs Kipper, who now has yellow flowers, used to have blue.
Neither Mrs Annie Ford, nor Mrs Jester, have ever owned yellow flowers.
Cybil is not Mrs Kipper.
Diane and Annie have entered four different colours in total.
Can you determine the full names, and colours of the flowers the ladies currently have, and previously had?
Puzzle Copyright © Kevin Stone
workings
hint
answer
print
Share link: https://www.brainbashers.com/puzzle/zegx
Hint
Start with Betty, Mrs Kipper, and Ada, as these are three different people.
Answer
Now Last
Annie Ford Red Green
Betty Jester Blue Red
Cybil Long Green Yellow
Diane Kipper Yellow Blue
Reasoning
By (3), Betty currently has Blue flowers.
Now Last
Betty Blue
By (4), Mrs Kipper currently has Yellow flowers, and used to have Blue.
Now Last
Betty Blue
Kipper Yellow Blue
By (5), we know Annie Ford's name.
Now Last
Betty Blue
Kipper Yellow Blue
Annie Ford
By (6), Mrs Kipper must be Diane, and the remaining person's name is Cybil.
Now Last
Betty Blue
Diane Kipper Yellow Blue
Annie Ford
Cybil
By (2), whoever currently has the Green flowers used to have Yellow, but by (5) this can't be Annie Ford, so this must be Cybil. Which means that Annie must currently have the Red flowers.
Now Last
Betty Blue
Diane Kipper Yellow Blue
Annie Ford Red
Cybil Green Yellow
By (3), Betty isn't Mrs Long, so must be Mrs Jester. Therefore Cybil must be Mrs Long.
Now Last
Betty Jester Blue
Diane Kipper Yellow Blue
Annie Ford Red
Cybil Long Green Yellow
By (1), Annie Ford must have previously had Green, and Betty Jester had Red.
Now Last
Betty Jester Blue Red
Diane Kipper Yellow Blue
Annie Ford Red Green
Cybil Long Green Yellow
Puzzle 2
Can you find the book titles hidden in these phrases?
ROME OR OSLO? ANDREW, JULIE, TO VISIT.
WARM TOO FEW, THE SUBWORLD SNEEZES
AN I MALL? SHOPS, FAR MALLS?
GO NEXT, GO! WITHOUT OTHER I DWINDLE. GO!
WATER. SHIP, BOAT. STORM! DOWN RAIN!
BRAVERY IN A NEW AGE, WORLD'S HOPE.
For each word in the title, new letters are added of the same length, and then the spacing is changed, and punctuation is added.
For example:
BOOK TITLE
BOOK 1234 TITLE 12345
BOOK NIGH TITLE APTUP
BOOKNIGHTITLEAPTUP
BOO, KNIGHT. IT LEAPT UP!
Puzzle Copyright © Kevin Stone
workings
hint
answers
print
Share link: https://www.brainbashers.com/puzzle/zzec
Hint
Try removing the spaces and punctuation.
Answers
ROME OR OSLO? ANDREW, JULIE, TO VISIT.
ROMEO ROSLO AND REW JULIET OVISIT
= ROMEO AND JULIET
WARM TOO FEW, THE SUBWORLD SNEEZES
WAR MTO OF EW THE SUB WORLDS NEEZES
= WAR OF THE WORLDS
AN I MALL? SHOPS, FAR MALLS?
ANIMAL LSHOPS FARM ALLS
=ANIMAL FARM
GO NEXT, GO! WITHOUT OTHER I DWINDLE. GO!
GONE XTGO WITH OUTO THE RID WIND LEGO
= GONE WITH THE WIND
WATER. SHIP, BOAT. STORM! DOWN RAIN!
WATERSHIP BOATSTORM DOWN RAIN
= WATERSHIP DOWN
BRAVERY IN A NEW AGE, WORLD'S HOPE.
BRAVE RYINA NEW AGE WORLD SHOPE
= BRAVE NEW WORLD
Puzzle 3
My current age is the age of my favourite book (which is 14 years old) plus one third of my age.
How old will I be when my favourite book is twice its current age?
Puzzle Copyright © Kevin Stone
workings
hint
answer
print
Share link: https://www.brainbashers.com/puzzle/znth
Hint
A little algebra might help.
Answer
I will be 35 in 14 years.
Reasoning
I am currently 21.
If X is my current age, then:
X = 14 + X
—
3
so
2X = 14
——
3
and
2X = 42
So
X = 21
I am currently 21 and my favourite book is currently 14 years old, when it is 28 years old (double its age) I will be 35.
Puzzle 4
Which word is the odd one out:
seventy
brawl
clover
proper
carrot
swing
emerged
crafty
travel
sacred
stone
plunge
Puzzle Copyright © Kevin Stone
workings
hint
answer
print
Share link: https://www.brainbashers.com/puzzle/zbff
Hint
Try removing some letters.
Answer
Carrot.
Reasoning
Each of the other words remains a real word if you remove the first and last letter:
s-event-y
b-raw-l
c-love-r
p-rope-r
c-arro-t *
s-win-g
e-merge-d
c-raft-y
t-rave-l
s-acre-d
s-ton-e
p-lung-e
next >
Note: BrainBashers has a Dark Mode option. For BrainBashers, I'd recommend not using your browser's built-in dark mode, or any dark mode extensions (sometimes you can add an exception for a specific website).