Puzzle 5
Chess Contest - Logic Puzzles
At the local games evening, four friends were competing in the chess and croquet competitions.
Frankie beat Glen in chess, Dale came third, and the 16-year-old won.
Frankie came second in croquet, the 15-year-old won, Dale beat the 18-year-old, and the 19-year-old came third.
Emery is 3 years younger than Glen.
The person who came last in chess came third in croquet, and only one person got the same position in both games.
Can you find the ages of the people and their positions in the two games?
Puzzle Copyright © Kevin Stone
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Hint
How old could Glen be?
Answer
Name Age Chess Croquet
Dale 15 3 1
Emery 16 1 4
Frankie 18 2 2
Glen 19 4 3
Reasoning
The possible ages are: 15, 16, 18, 19.
Breaking the clues down, and numbering them:
Frankie beat Glen in chess.
Dale came third (chess).
The 16-year-old won (chess).
Frankie came second in croquet.
The 15-year-old won (croquet).
Dale beat the 18-year-old (croquet).
The 19-year-old came third (croquet).
Emery is 3 years younger than Glen.
The person who came last in chess came third in croquet.
Only one person got the same position in both games.
By (4), Frankie came 2nd in croquet.
Name Age Chess Croquet
Dale
Emery
Frankie 2
Glen
By (2), Dale came 3rd in chess.
Name Age Chess Croquet
Dale 3
Emery
Frankie 2
Glen
By (8), Emery is 15 or 16, and Glen is 18 or 19.
By (9), the person who came 4th in chess, came 3rd in croquet, and by (7), they are 19. This can't be Dale (3rd in chess), or Frankie (2nd in croquet), or Emery (aged 15 or 16), so it must be Glen.
Name Age Chess Croquet
Dale 3
Emery
Frankie 2
Glen 19 4 3
By (6), Dale can't have been 4th in croquet, so must be 1st. Leaving Emery in 4th.
Name Age Chess Croquet
Dale 3 1
Emery 4
Frankie 2
Glen 19 4 3
By (10), only one person got the same position in both games, this can't be Emery 4th in both (as Glen is already 4th in chess), so must be Frank, 2nd in both. Leaving Emery 1st in chess.
Name Age Chess Croquet
Dale 3 1
Emery 1 4
Frankie 2 2
Glen 19 4 3
By (3) and (5) we know the ages of the winners in each competition, and Frankie is therefore 18.
Name Age Chess Croquet
Dale 15 3 1
Emery 16 1 4
Frankie 18 2 2
Glen 19 4 3
Puzzle 6
Can you find anagrams of each of the words below?
Each of the words has more than one anagram, but the initial letters of the correct anagrams form another anagram related to the word QUESTION.
bruise
warned
please
listen
veined
trance
Puzzle Copyright © Kevin Stone
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Hint
Find anagrams of the words in this order: PLEASE, TRANCE, LISTEN, WARNED, VEINED, BRUISE.
Answer
ANSWER.
Reasoning
The initial letters are RWASEN, which is an anagram of ANSWER.
bruise becomes rubies
warned becomes wander
please becomes asleep
listen becomes silent
veined becomes envied
trance becomes nectar
Puzzle 7
Customer services at BrainBashers headquarters received the following letter recently.
Luckily, our top puzzle solvers were able to determine the meaning and help Sam South.
Can you work out what the problem was?
D-a- K-v-n,
- ---ld l-k- -- c-m-la-n ab--- -h- --- --- -f m- ----------.
-h-s- l-----s d- n-- a---a- -- b- ---k-ng c----c-l-.
As --- can s--, -h-- a-- m-ss-ng f--m -h-s d-c-m-n-.
- ---ld b- v--- g-a--f-l -f --- c--ld c----c- -h-s ---bl-m -mm-d-a--l-.
K-nd --ga-ds.
Sam S---h.
Puzzle Copyright © Kevin Stone
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Hint
What letters are missing?
Answer
The letter was written on a typewriter that has a problem with the top row of letters – they did not print correctly. The letter should have read:
Dear Kevin,
I would like to complain about the top row of my typewriter.
These letters do not appear to be working correctly.
As you can see, they are missing from this document.
I would be very grateful if you could correct this problem immediately.
Kind regards.
Sam South.
Puzzle 8
Using exactly four straight lines, without taking your pen off the (virtual) paper, can you join all nine dots?
A Charming Puzzle – Twentieth Century Standard Puzzle Book, A. Cyril Pearson.
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Hint
Think outside the box.
Answer
Start from the top left dot, and go past the top right dot, and then diagonally down to the bottom left dot, back up to the top left dot, and diagonally down to the bottom right dot.
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