Riddles and Brain Teasers Part 2 Questions

A collection of fun riddles and brain teasers for those who love puzzles and games.

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6. You have baked only one pie when 29 guests drop in unexpectedly for dessert. What is the fewest number of straight up-and-down slices you can make to divide the pie in 29 pieces? The portions need not be equal.

7. A clock has just struck five. During the next hour, several things are going to happen. Can you tell when, assuming that the clock's hands run continuously?

a. At which time will the two hands coincide?

b. At what time will the two hands first stand at right angles to each other?

c. At one point the two hands will form an angle of 30deg., the minute hand being before the hour hand. Then the former will pass the latter and presently make an angle of 60deg. on the other side. How much time will elaps between these two events?

8. When Hank was a year older than Bob was when Hank was a year older than Bob was when Hank was a year older than Bob is now, Bob was half as old as Hank will be when Bob is as old as Hank is now. One of these young men is in his teens, the other is not. How old are Hank and Bob?

9. The king was in need of a new steed, so he sent his royal guard to find the fastest horse in the kingdom. They returned with two horses, each with its owner. The captain of the guard complained to the king: "Neither of these men wants to part with his horse, and we don't know which is the faster." The king said, "Let there be a race to determine which horse shall be mine." The king ended up with the fastest horse in the kingdom. What were his final instructions before the race?

10. A sweater normally has a label on the inside of the back of the collar. If you turn the sweater inside out, and then put your right arm where the left arm usually goes and vice-versa, where will the label be? On the inside front, inside back, outside front, or outside back? No fair using a real sweater until you have given your answer.

11. The king has sentenced you to death. But His Magnanimity, a gambler at heart, has offered you a way out. You are handed 10 vials labeled hemlock and 10 labeled water. You are told you may distribute the vials any way you wish between two identical boxes, but that you may not put all the vials in one box. When you have finished, the king will reach into one of the boxes and randomly choose a vial, the contents of which you must then drink. How might you best divide the vials in the boxes to maximize your chances?

12. Can you supply the missing digits in this multiplication problem?

* * 7 *

* 7 *

* * * * *

* * * 2 *

8 * 5 *

* * * * * *

Answers

1. Reach into the crate labeled "apples and oranges." If you assume that your son told you the truth, that he switched all of the labels, then this crate cannot contain both apples and oranges. Thus, if you pull out an apple, this must be the crate of apples. If you pull out an orange, the crate of apples must be the one marked "oranges."

2. Ask either man what the other would say if you asked which door to take, then open the opposite door. Good luck. (You might instead ask either man what he himself would have said had you asked himself would have said had you asked him which door leads to heaven, then take him at his word.)

3. The boys had taken 72 apples.

4. Tip the barrel until the beer comes just to the top. If you can see any of the bottom of the barrel, it is less than half full.

5. There were 367 members of the Order on parade, this being the only number below 495 that satisfies all the conditions.

6. 7 cuts. The best way to visualize this is to consider that with each additional cut, you can add a maximum of as many pieces as there have been cuts. Thus, the first cut yields 2 pieces, the second 2 more, the third 3 more, etc. 2 + 2 + 3 + 4 + 5 + 6 + 7 = 29.

7. All of these problems are based on the fact that the minute hand moves 12 times as fast as the hour hand. Thus, D = 12d, where D is the distance traveled by the minute hand and d is the distance traveled by the hour hand in the same time interval.

a. 27 3/11 minutes after five (D = d + 25).

b. 10 10/11 minutes after five (D + 15 = d + 25).

c. 16 4/11 minutes. This is the same as the answer to (a) minus the answer to (b).

8. Hank is 21; Bob is 18. This may be arrived at algebraically by solving the two equations H - 3 = B and B - 6 = 1/2 (H + 3), H and B being Hank and Bill's current ages.

9. His instructions for the race continued: "Let each man ride the other's horse."

10. The label will be on the outside in back. Now try it.

11. You put one vial of water in one of the boxes and all the rest of the vials in the other. Then you have a 50-50 chance that the king will choose the box with only water, and 9 chances out of 19 if he chooses the other box.

12. 1 4 7 5

6 7 7

/ 1 0 3 2 5

1 0 3 2 5

8 8 5 0

/ 9 9 8 5 7 5

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