In This Shoe…
Fill the three missing numbers (using words) in the shoe below.
Remark: The missing words can be of any length.
SOLUTION
You should fill the words FIVE, THREE, FOUR to get:
“In this shoe, there are five H’s, three O’s, and four T’s.”
Category: Puzzles
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Bicycle Tracks
You are chasing a criminal riding a bicycle, and you find his tracks left in the dirt. By investigating the tracks, can you determine which direction the criminal has fled to: left or right?
SOLUTION
The front wheels of the bicycle are traveling more distance and making sharper turns. Thus, the red tracks (as shown on the image below) correspond to the front wheel, and the green tracks correspond to the back wheel.
Then, since the back wheel is always pointing towards the front wheel, we conclude that the bicycle is moving towards the right.
Terrible Rebuses 1
Recognize the phrases depicted by the “terrible rebuses” below.
SOLUTION
- No use over spilled milk.
- Two wrongs don’t make a right.
- The squeaky wheel gets the grease.
- When there is a will, there’s a way.
STANDARD Word
Given the word STANDARD, take away two letters and then add three digits to make a logical sequence.
SOLUTION
Remove the two letters A to get ST-ND-RD and then add the digits 1, 2, 3 to get 1ST-2ND-3RD.
Toasting Bread
Your toaster is broken, so you decide to toast your bread in a pan. The pan can hold three slices of bread at a time and takes 1 minute to toast one of their sides. How much time would it take you to toast four slices of bread on both sides using the pan?
SOLUTION
It would take you 2 minutes and 40 seconds. Label the slices with A, B, C, D, their top sides A1, B1, C1, D1, and their bottom sides A2, B2, C2, D2.
- Toast A1, B1, C1 for 40 seconds.
- Toast A2, B2, D1 for 40 seconds.
- Toast A1, C2, D2 for 20 seconds.
- Toast A2, C2, D2 for 20 seconds.
- Toast B1, C1, D1 for 20 seconds.
- Toast B2, C2, D2 for 20 seconds.
FEATURED
Puzzle Tournament 4
Puzzle Prime’s fourth puzzle tournament was organized on February 26, 2022. Congrats to REDCROUTONS who solved all the puzzles (even found a small mistake in one of them)!
You have 60 minutes to solve 6 puzzles, each worth 1 point. Upload your solutions as a pdf, document, or image, using the form below. Good luck!
Time for work: 1 hour
Each problem is worth 1 point. Use the form at the bottom of the post to send your solutions.
1. The Grid
by Puzzle Prime
Figure out how the last portion (7×5 in yellow) of the grid should be colored in black and white.
2. Hexado
by Dr. DJ Upton
Place arrows along hexagon edges so that the number of arrows pointing to each hexagon equals the number of dots inside, adhering to the following rules:
- Arrows cannot be touching.
- Arrows cannot be placed on dashed edges.
SHOW EXAMPLE
3. Segments
by Puzzle Prime
Use at most 27 segments to create the largest number with distinct digits.
Notes: For example, the number 273914 would use 5+3+5+6+2+4=25 segments.
4. Constellations
by Raindrinker
Connect the stars with lines, so that the number inside each star corresponds to the number of lines connected to it, and the number outside each star corresponds to the total number of stars in its group.
Note: No line connecting two stars can pass through a third star.
SHOW EXAMPLE
5. Chess Connect
by Puzzle Prime
The starting and ending positions of 6 chess pieces are shown on the board. Find the trajectories of the pieces, if you know that they do not overlap and completely cover the board.
Notes: The pieces can not backtrack. Two trajectories can intersect diagonally but can not pass through the same square. Only the Knight has a discontinuous trajectory.
SHOW EXAMPLE
6. Broken Square
by Puzzle Prime
Use exactly 5 out of these 16 pieces to build a 7×7 grid, without overlapping.
Note: You can rotate the pieces, but you cannot mirror them.
100 Guests in 99 Rooms
One hundred people entered a hotel that had 99 rooms, and each of them asked for their own room. In order to solve the problem, the bellboy did the following:
He asked the 100th guest to wait for a while with the 1st guest in room number 1, so that there were 2 guests inside. Then he took the 3rd guest to room number 2, the 4th guest to room number 3, and so on, until finally taking the 99th guest to room number 98. At the end he returned to room number 1 and took the 100th guest to room number 99, which was still vacant.
How is it possible that the bellboy was able to find a free room for everyone?
SOLUTION
The bellboy was not able to find a free room for everyone. The two people who were taken to room number 1 were guest 1 and guest 100. Thus, the 2nd guest ended up without a room.
Beaten and Burned
Ripped from my mother’s womb,
Beaten and burned, I become a bloodthirsty killer.
What am I?
SOLUTION
The answer is IRON ORE.
Died on the Fourth of July
During a trivia night, the following question appeared:
“Among the first five US presidents, Washington, Adams, Jefferson, Madison, and Monroe, there were 3 who died on the fourth of July. Can you guess which ones?”
After nobody answered the question, the following hint was given:
“These three presidents were consecutive ones.”
Then, all contestants immediately managed to answer the question. Can you?
SOLUTION
Because of the way the question was worded, it was clear that the fifth president, James Monroe, was one of them. Otherwise, the trivia question would have been “among the first four US presidents” instead of “among the first five”. Since the three presidents that died on fourth of July were consecutive ones, they were Jefferson, Madison, and Monroe.