Trick of Mind

Puzzlaria explores space ...

noreply@blogger.com (Zaux) — Wed, 10 Mar 2010 04:40:00 +0000

Puzzlarian scientists Cam and Chris have finally realized their dream of a manned space mission. To make the best use of available quarters on the spacecraft, beds are arranged in bunk-bed fashion:

bottom bunk - A
second bunk - B
third bunk --- C
fourth bunk -- D

Crew member names:
Knightmare Carter
Karl Dare
Ross Flandry
Boris Kinnison

Crew expertise:
tiddlywink expert
crossword expert
sudoku expert
kenken puzzle expert

Although the craft is automatic and requires little invovlement by the crew, each has assigned roles:
photographer
diary keeper
first aid provider
dietician

1. The diary keeper's bunk is immediately above that of Karl Dare, who is the sudoku expert, and graduated from Puzzlarian State University.
2. The first aid provider comes from Puzzletown; the dietician has not been assigned bunk A.
3. Bunk B is Knightmare Carter's.
4. Photographer Ross Flandry is not the crossword expert.

From the given, can you list which person is assigned to which bunk? ... and what is each crew member's expertise and role on the filght?

Tiddlywink Meetings

noreply@blogger.com (Zaux) — Tue, 09 Mar 2010 02:48:00 +0000

Since Ross was elected president of the Tiddlywink Association, his days seem to be filled with meetings. And to make matters worse, his new assisitant is a scatter-brain who can't keep anything organized. I asked the assistant for a meeting with Ross and she said, "Jeez! I don't think he has any free time today. I'm trying to sort it all out now."

I glanced at the assistant's work area ... there were scraps of paper with notes all over her desk.

The notes:
1. Ross's first meeting is at 9:30AM, but that isn't the 'tournament' meeting, which will take place on the 4th floor.
2. He will not be meeting Curtis Paulson on the 3rd floor or at 10AM, but he'll be on the 5th floor for his 11AM meeting.
3. The meeting with Cam Stephens about 'tournament registration' is the one immediately before that on the 3rd floor.
4. Knightmare Johnson's office is on the 2nd floor, where Ross will be immediately before his meeting on the 6th floor.
5. The last name of the person he is meeting at 2PM to discuss 'violators of tournament rules' is longer than that of the person with whom he'll be discussing the new 'tournament judge'.
6. Ross's meeting with Chris Smith is not about 'complaints'.
7. Karl Sprighton is one of the people Ross will meet with today.
8. The last meeting of the day will be at 4PM.

It is now 8:30AM ...

Will you help Ross's assistant organize his itenerary for the day ... so he will be at the right meeting at the correct time? His itenerary should include:
Meeting time
Which floor of the building the meeting is on
The person who requested the meeting
and
The topic to be discussed

My puzzle#1

Ragknot@gmail.com (Ragknot) — Mon, 08 Mar 2010 13:12:00 +0000

My puzzle#1
Series : 4,1,?,3,7
Find “?”

Thanx!!
Borris

(Boris sent me this to post for him.)

Dad, look at my grades ...

noreply@blogger.com (Zaux) — Mon, 08 Mar 2010 02:35:00 +0000

Ragknot's son came home from school with his report card ... he was excited about his grades. Rather than showing his report card, he wrote all the info on a sheet of paper and handed it to his dad ... oh yeah, knowing that his dad loves puzzles, he scrambled the information. Here's the info Ragknot received from his son:

1. In history, a class taught by Mr. Wright, my numerical grade was more than 7 points higher than the class in which my teacher commented "Excellent progress".

2. In one class, my grade was only 65, and the teacher said it was "disappointing"; it was not science and not Miss Cramm, who is not the science teacher.

3. My French teacher described it as "another good year", and French is not the class where I scored 70.

4. Mr. Masters commented "sound work".

5. In Mrs. Caine's class, I scored 76.

6. I got an 80 in Math.

One of my grades not mentioned above is an 89.

My teacher not mentioned above is Mrs. Markham.

One teacher commented "good effort".

The class not mentioned above was English.

Dad, considering how bad my grades were, this is quite an improvement. I know you love a puzzle ...

Can you help Ragknot decide which teacher teaches which subject, the score in each class, and which teacher made which comment?

The Game of Cards UPDATE

noreply@blogger.com (Zaux) — Sun, 07 Mar 2010 16:32:00 +0000

When posting puzzles, I change wording to avoid direct copy, and as all of you know, I usually attmept to personalize the puzzles using names of frequent visitors to ToM. I try to avoid error, but when re-wording and personalizing, it is quite easy to make a mistake. Sometimes, one or two words in a sentence can alter the logic of the entire scenario.

Those of you who attempted the puzzle "The Game of Cards" were dealing with an error. I checked the wording before posting, and twice after posting ... still I missed it. With Knightmare's and Cam's persistence in suggesting maybe an error was made, I checked once again .... this time it slapped me in the face. An ammendent has been added to hopefully make the problem solve-able. Here's a link to the puzzle: The Game of Cards

Sometimes, the author of the puzzle makes a mistake ... but this time, it was the poster ... ME. I apologize for the frustration. The problems and puzzles are difficult enough without an error in the statement.

Some Fruit Punch

noreply@blogger.com (Jin) — Sun, 07 Mar 2010 10:21:00 +0000

There is a party tonight at the Puzzlaria Tavern and Ross asked me to get some orange juice and pineapple juice for the Fruit Punch he is preparing. Being already giddy with all the drinks I had had, I tried some mixing of my own. Grabbing the large orange juice jar (lets call it jar O), I added enough juice into the second jar containing pineapple juice (jar P) till its contents were doubled. Then, I poured some of the mixture back into jar O to double its contents.

Fairly sloshed now, I decide a good way to settle matters would be to again pour from Jar O into Jar P to double P’s contents and proceed to do so. At this point I realize there is an equal quantity of pineapple juice in each jar. If Jar P now has one more litre of orange juice than pineapple juice, can you tell this poor muddle-headed soul, how much more orange juice than pineapple juice there is in Jar O?

Help me! The party is in full swing and Ross is getting impatient !!

Boxing in Puzzlaria

noreply@blogger.com (Zaux) — Sun, 07 Mar 2010 06:28:00 +0000

The Puzzlarian Arena is having its first night of boxing (pugilism to some of you). Chris, the gaming director, gave the information to the local printer so that posters could be printed and displayed around town. After arranging everything and giving the info to the printer, Chris went on vacation.

The next morning the printer decided to print the Boxing Event poster as the first project of the day. He discovered a problem ... he had one of the sheets with some of the information, but apparently he had accidentally shredded the other one. He knew that Chris could not be reached, so he began to look at the info he had:

(there's four fights at different weight classes)

1. Rocky Silva, one of the welterweight boxers, should appear in the section of the poster diagonally opposite the fight containing the name Buster Adams.

2. The second name in section B is that of Jack Killick.

3. Sonny Todd is not one of the heavyweights featured in section C.

4. Joe Ivey will box Randy Robinson.

5. The surname of the second fighter in the featherweight bout, who is not Buster Adams, is shorter than that of the second fighter in the middleweight bout.

First boxers: Joe Ivey, Ray Quinn, Rocky Silva, and Sonny Todd
Second boxers: Buster Adams, Frank Garner, Jack Killick, and Randy Robinson
Weights: featherweight, heavyweight, middleweight, and welterweight

Poster Layout:

Bout A:```````````````Bout B:
First`` _____ ````````First``_____
Second _____ ````````Second_____
Weight _____````````Weight _____

Bout D:``````````````Bout C
First`` _____````````First```_____
Second _____````````Second _____
Weight _____ ```````Weight`_____

Short One

noreply@blogger.com (Knightmare) — Sat, 06 Mar 2010 23:45:00 +0000

What number is 5 less than 3 times a quarter of itself?

Old man Puzz rejects the design.

Ragknot@gmail.com (Ragknot) — Sat, 06 Mar 2010 19:56:00 +0000

Puzz from Puzzlaria laughed at Cam's answer to the fence design.
But he rejected it very quickly. He said his horses wouldn't like
that design.

Puzz said he needed a fenced area of about 12 acres for his
horses to run and play and he was going to add a riding trail
for his grandchildren. He thought a circle would be nice.

He added some specifications. Fence wire was $1 per foot
for a three wire fence, and posts were $5 each. Posts were
to be placed at 15 to 18 foot intervals. It needed a 16 foot opening
for his gate which he already owned.

So his required design calls for the best cost per acre for 11.9 to 12.1 acres.

Fair Amount

noreply@blogger.com (Knightmare) — Sat, 06 Mar 2010 05:09:00 +0000

Dual Aspect is walking down the street when someone on the sidewalk offers him a game.For a fee,he can pick two bills from a bucket that contians five $5 bills,ten $10 bills and twenty $20 bills.

As he has to do the picking blindfolded,what is the fair amount he should be charged to play this game?

The Game of Cards

noreply@blogger.com (Zaux) — Sat, 06 Mar 2010 03:08:00 +0000

The Puzzlarian Tavern offers various games to maintain the interest of their drinkers ... oops, I meant patrons. Four of the regular customers are engaged in a game of cards.

(in this game, ace is 1, all numbered cards are their number value, jack is 11, queen is 12, and king is 13)

Each player is holding 3 cards ... one heart, one club, and one spade.

a) the player holding the 4 of clubs is also holding a spade whose value is higher than that held by the man with the 3 of hearts

b) Knightmare has a spade whose value is 3 lower than that held by Cam, who has a heart with a value more than 3 lower than the club he is holding.

c) the player with the 7 of clubs and the 6 of spades has a heart whose value is 5 higher than the heart held by Ross.

d) the spade Chris has, is a higher value than his club, but a lower value than his heart.

Name the 3 cards in each player's hand.

(amendment: clue b - after the apostrophe, should read "who has heart with a value more than 3 lower" ... clue b has been corrected)
(Cards held:
Hearts: A, 3, 8, K
Clubs: 2, 4, 7, J
Spades: 5, 6, 9, Q)

Who's driving ... ?

noreply@blogger.com (Zaux) — Fri, 05 Mar 2010 18:43:00 +0000

It was Halloween ... the night was cold, dreary, and it was raining. Cam's car engine stopped on a desolate road ... he reached for his cell phone and then remembered it was on the nightstand by his bed, charging. He raised the collar on his jacket, fully zipped it, donned his weather-proof full-brimmed hat ... and ventured into the darkness along the highway.

After 10 minutes of slowly walking in the cold rain, a car eased up beside him. It momentarily stopped. He opened the passenger door and enterred. After closing the door, he turned to thank the driver ... no one was driving. The car began to move again. As it approached a curve, he reached to turn the steering wheel, but an arm magically came through the window and steered the car around the curve. He thought, maybe an angel had intervened, was protecting him and offering transportation on this cold, miserable night. Being delighted to be in the car, out of the rain, he relaxed and fell asleep.

When Cam awakened, the car was sitting at a gas station, in what appeared to be a one stoplight community. He exited the car, noticed a bar across the street and headed that way. He ordered a double Scotch and was telling the bartender what had happened when two men enterred the bar. The two men approached Cam.

What did the two men say to Cam? ... and what question did they ask?

The Warden gets fired ...

noreply@blogger.com (Zaux) — Fri, 05 Mar 2010 01:59:00 +0000

One of the prisoners who chose the right door and was released, reported the sadistic practices of the warden. The warden has received notice that he has been relieved of resposibilities at the prison .... today is his last day. He decides to have one more round of fun:

Prisoner 1:
(three doors are offered ... one hiding a lady and two containing tigers ... only one of the signs is true)
Sign 1: A TIGER IS IN THIS ROOM
Sign 2: A LADY IS IN THIS ROOM
Sign 3: A TIGER IS IN ROOM 2

Prisoner 2:
(3 doors ... the sign on the door containing the lady is true ... at least one of the other two signs are false)
Sign 1: A TIGER IS IN ROOM 2
Sign 2: A TIGER IS IN THIS ROOM
Sign 3: A TIGER IS IN ROOM 1

Prisoner 3:
(one room contains a lady ... another has a tiger ... and the third room is empty. The sign on the door containing the lady is true. The sign on the door of the room with the tiger is false. the sign on the empty room could be true or false. Find the room with the lady.)
Sign 1: ROOM 3 IS EMPTY
Sign 2: THE TIGER IS IN ROOM 1
Sign 3: THIS ROOM IS EMPTY

The warden decided to make his last game a bit more challenging.

Prisoner 4:
(one room has a lady ... the other rooms have a tiger or are empty. The sign on the door with the lady is true ... the signs on the tiger rooms are false ... emtpy room signs can be true or false)
Sign 1: THE LADY IS IN AN ODD-NUMBERED ROOM
Sign 2: THIS ROOM IS EMPTY
Sign 3: EITHER SIGN 5 IS RIGHT OR SIGN 7 IS WRONG
Sign 4: SIGN 1 IS WRONG
Sign 5: EITHER SIGN 2 OR SIGN 4 IS RIGHT
Sign 6: SIGN 3 IS WRONG
Sign 7: THE LADY IS NOT IN ROOM 1
sign 8: THIS ROOM CONTAINS A TIGER AND ROOM 9 IS EMPTY
Sign 9: THIS ROOM CONTAINS A TIGER AND 6 IS WRONG

The prisoner looked at the signs and said, "This problem is unsolvable!"
The warden: "I know!"
The prisoner: "At least tell me if room 8 is empty?
The warden: "ok ... " the warden proceeded to answer the question about room 8.
The prisoner: "Thank you ... now I can make my decision."

This is the last appearance of the evil warden ... but these prisoners still need help choosing doors! Which doors should they choose?

The Warden's Game

noreply@blogger.com (Zaux) — Thu, 04 Mar 2010 21:11:00 +0000

As in "The prison doors (2)", The prison doors (2) , the warden has set up several fiendish situations for several prisoners. Here are are the door and sign situations:

Prisoner 1:
(one sign is true, and the other is false)
Sign 1: EITHER A TIGER IS IN THIS ROOM OR A LADY IS IN THE OTHER ROOM
Sign 2: A LADY IS IN THE OTHER ROOM

Prisoner 2:
(If a lady is in room 1, then the sign on the door is true ... if it contains a tiger, then the sign is false. In room 2, a lady in the room means the sign is false, and a tiger means the sign is true. It is still possible that both rooms have a lady, or both rooms have a tiger, or that one room has a lady and the other one a tiger.)
Sign 1: BOTH ROOMS CONTAIN LADIES
Sign 2: BOTH ROOMS CONTAIN TIGERS

Prisoner 3:
(same rules apply as for prisoner 2)
Sign 1: AT LEAST ONE ROOM CONTAINS A LADY
Sign 2: THE OTHER ROOM CONTAINS A LADY

Prisoner 4:
(same rules apply as for prisoner 2)
Sign 1: IT MAKES NO DIFFERENCE WHICH ROOM YOU PICK
Sign 2: THERE IS A LADY IN THE OTHER ROOM

Prisoner 5:
(same rules apply as for prisoner 2)
Sign 1: IT DOES MAKE A DIFFERENCE WHICH ROOM YOU PICK
Sign 2: YOU ARE BETTER OFF CHOOSING THE OTHER ROOM

Prisoner 6:
(same rules apply as for prisoner 2 ... the signs have not yet been posted on the doors. The prisoner asked how he was suppose to choose a room when the signs aren't mounted. The warden informed him that a solution was possible without knowing which sign should be on which door.)
Sign (not posted): THIS ROOM CONTAINS A TIGER
Sign (not posted): BOTH ROOMS CONTAIN TIGERS

Will you help these prisoners choose the correct doors, and escape this madman warden?

The prison doors (2) ...

noreply@blogger.com (Zaux) — Thu, 04 Mar 2010 18:20:00 +0000

So, you guys helped the first prisoner, who was presented by the warden with a door selection delimma, to choose the right door and to secure his freedom. His vacant cell quickly filled with a new occupant.

The warden walked the prisoner down the corridor. There were now different signs on the two doors.

Left sign: AT LEAST ONE OF THESE ROOMS CONTAINS A LADY

Right sign: A TIGER IS IN THE OTHER ROOM

The prisoner: "Warden, are the statements on the signs true?"
The warden: "They are either both true or both false. If you are lucky and pick the room with the lady, I will set you free."

Which door should the prisoner select?

Broken Tomato

Ragknot@gmail.com (Ragknot) — Thu, 04 Mar 2010 16:51:00 +0000

How do you fix a broken tomato?

A riddle from our 3 year old!

The prison doors ...

noreply@blogger.com (Zaux) — Thu, 04 Mar 2010 04:35:00 +0000

The prisoner sat and listened to the evil scenario the warden was revealing. The warden stood and said, "Follow me."

The warden lead the prisoner down a corridor which had two doors, faily close together.

On the left door was a sign: IN THIS ROOM THERE IS A LADY AND IN THE OTHER ROOM IS A TIGER
On the right door was another sign: IN ONE OF THESE ROOMS THERE IS A LADY, AND IN ONE OF THESE ROOMS THERE IS A TIGER

The prisoner smiled: "Warden, I guess you are about to tell me that one of the signs states the truth and the other is false."

The warden: "This wouldn't be much fun if they were both true, now would it? However, just to show my fair nature ... if you select the correct door, you will earn your freedom. Yet, select the wrong door ... and I will have a vacancy ... and room for another pawn in one of my fun games."

The prisoner: "Is it also possible that there could be a lady behind each door ... or a tiger behind each door?"

The warden: "Ah ... you are too smart to be incarcerated ... those are possibilities. Choose wisely."

Which door should the prisoner choose?

Damn the Dow

noreply@blogger.com (Ross) — Wed, 03 Mar 2010 20:07:00 +0000

Zaux and Cam each have $1000 to invest in a particular stock. They are given inside information that in the coming week, the price will go up by 10% on Monday, then down by 10% on Tuesday, up by 10% on Wednesday, down 10% on Thursday. Friday is a bank holiday and the market is closed.

Zaux buys the stock at the opening bell on Monday and sells at the closing bell on Wednesday. Cam buys at the opening bell on Wednesday and sells at the opening bell on Thursday. Who ends up richer?

noreply@blogger.com (Jin) — Wed, 03 Mar 2010 14:25:00 +0000

The Fencers

Three visitors to Puzzlaria are having beer in the Puzzlaria tavern and each is boasting about how fast and efficiently he can build a fence around a field. Zaux is interested in their anecdotes and challenges them to fence in the largest possible area using a unit length of fence. Visitor A makes a circle with his piece of fence and says that since a circle is the perfect shape, his design is the best. Visitor B fences in a square shaped area and immediately regrets it. Visitor C sets his up in a straight line and waffles on about infinitesimal calculus, trying to prove how it is an infinite fence enclosing an infinite area. (Don't ask me how; I am mathematically challenged!)

Cam happens to drop by and laughing at the three, beats them all with his own ingenious design. Zaux is only too happy to declare him the winner. Can you figure out what Cam did?

Knightmare's Empty Refrigerator

noreply@blogger.com (Zaux) — Wed, 03 Mar 2010 05:22:00 +0000

Knightmare got off the couch and went to the refrigerator to replenish his snack tray. OH NO! The beer supply was depleted and there was no dip for chips. He grabbed the car keys and went outside. He had forgotten that Chris had borrowed his vehicle to attend the Tiddly Wink championships in Puzzletown. He decided to walk to the store at the top of the long hill.

He walked up the hill at a rate of one and a half miles per hour. On the trip back home, he walked down the hill at four and a half miles per hour. It took him six hours to make the round trip.

How far was it to the top of the hill?
... and how many of you believe Knightmare walked for six hours? :)

Will they meet?

noreply@blogger.com (Chris) — Wed, 03 Mar 2010 02:20:00 +0000

Two friends arranged to meet at a railway station, but they'd arrive between 1pm and 2pm, would wait for up to 15 minutes and leave if the other didn't turn up during that time. What is the probability that they actually meet?

NB if they meet, it must be between 1pm and 2pm.

Serial Killer

noreply@blogger.com (Chris) — Wed, 03 Mar 2010 00:57:00 +0000

Provided by Cam.

Given the following series: 56__194__442__848__1484__2446__3854__?

What is the number corresponding to the 8th term, the 42nd term and the 200th term ?

The Discus Throw

noreply@blogger.com (Zaux) — Tue, 02 Mar 2010 18:55:00 +0000

This year at the Puzzlarian Annual Games event, the discus throw was quite popular. After many rounds of competition, the field was narrowed to 4 people:

Knightmare
Neal
Kapakoi
Jin

Because of inexperienced judges, there were discrepancies in the distance measures. Cam, a game expert was asked to evaluate the results and to determine a winner. He decided the first thing to do would be to interview the 4 participants. Their comments are listed:

(note: no two make the same number of false statements)

Knightmare:
1. Kapakoi did not win the discus throw.
2. I was second.
3. Kapakoi and I trained together.

Neal:
1. Knightmare was the winner.
2. I placed a close second.
3. Kapakoi and I trained together.

Kapakoi:
1. Neal was the winner.
2. I did not train with anyone.
3. Knightmare was second.

Jin:
1. Knightmare was not the winner.
2. Neal was second.
3. Kapakoi and I trained together.

To whom did Cam present the discus throw trophy?

An Unexpected Trick

clarencetay.2005@gmail.com (C) — Tue, 02 Mar 2010 08:27:00 +0000

There was a logic master and his pupil, who were playing a new game called The Dead Giveaway.

The logic master told his pupil the rules, "Here on the table is a special deck with 4 red cards and 3 black ones. Shuffle the cards and draw them 1 by 1. If you draw a red card, I'll give you half of your money, but if you draw a black one, you'll give me half of your money."

The pupil sees there is 1 more red card than black, so he agrees to the rules and plays the game. After all 7 cards were drawn, the pupil realized he ended up with lesser money than before! Shocked, he told his master about this, but he replied with a smile.

Why did the pupil lose some of his money? And if he started with $100, how much was he left with?

The Number Problems

clarencetay.2005@gmail.com (C) — Tue, 02 Mar 2010 06:43:00 +0000

Hey guys, I'm new here and I sure got nice ToMs for you!

1. The following numbers are arranged in a special order:

8 5 4 9 1 7 6 3 2 0

Can you figure out how are they arranged?

2. A man wanted to stay in a room in a 5-star hotel for 5 years. The manager said his room costs $1000 per year and the fee raises $40 per year. The man replies, "I cant afford that, its too expensive!" So the manager thus offers his room for $500 per six months and the fee raises $10 per six months. The man thanks the manager for his kindness by making the fee lower. However, he failed to see the sly smile that passed over the managers face.

So had the manager really offered the man a better deal? Why?