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.
In my collection of classical music, I have a range of pieces that last 6, 7, 8 and 9 minutes.
The piece by Bach lasts 8 minutes, and the CD lasts longer than the piece by Holst. The piece on DAT tape is longer than the piece by Beethoven. The single lasts 7 minutes, and the album does not contain any Holst. The piece by Butler is on the DAT tape.
Can you determine which piece of music is in which format, and how long each lasts?
Answer Composer Format Length
Beethoven album 6
Holst single 7
Bach CD 8
Butler DAT 9
Reasoning
By (1), the piece by Bach lasts 8 minutes. By (3), the single lasts 7 minutes. Composer Format Length
6
single 7
Bach 8
9
By (4), the piece by Butler is on the DAT tape. But, by (2), this can't be the shortest, so it must be 9 minutes long. Composer Format Length
6
single 7
Bach 8
Butler DAT 9
By (1), the CD can't be the shortest, so must be 8 minutes long. Composer Format Length
6
single 7
Bach CD 8
Butler DAT 9
The album must therefore be 6 minutes long, and by (3) doesn't contain any Holst. Composer Format Length
album 6
Holst single 7
Bach CD 8
Butler DAT 9
Which means that the album was the piece by Beethoven. Composer Format Length
Beethoven album 6
Holst single 7
Bach CD 8
Butler DAT 9
?
Puzzle 211
Start with a five-letter word.
At each step, the current word is changed by one letter to create the next word.
These words in turn mean:
a gaggle of geesea device for measuring timewhat you can do with a mousea baby chickena device to prevent wheels from movinga surprisea small housea pile of cardsa small piece of woodunable to move
Answers flock = a gaggle of geeseclock = a device for measuring timeclick = what you can do with a mousechick = a baby chickenchock = a device to prevent wheels from movingshock = a surpriseshack = a small housestack = a pile of cardsstick = a small piece of woodstuck = unable to move
?
Puzzle 212
Can you find every occurrence of the word LOVE that appears in this grid (horizontally, vertically, or diagonally)?
The hint will reveal the number of times it occurs, but where are they?
Note: this puzzle is not interactive, and the letters cannot be selected.
