2006 Puzzlers
| 12-25 | PUZZLER: A Long Word--With a Curious Property What is the longest word that meets these criteria? |
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| 12-18 | PUZZLER: A Hike Unlike Any Other We were plannning to hike from Point A to Point C via Point B. The trail marker told us that it was 8 hours from A to C. At Point B, the marker told us that it was 3 hours back to Point A and 3 hours to Point C. How could this be? |
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| 12-11 | PUZZLER: Friedrich Schringenrudder's Foppish Neckwear Fashion aside, why did aviator Friedrich Schringenrudder dress in a stylish, long, silk scarf before taking to the air? |
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| 12-04 | PUZZLER: Giacomo's Lackluster Bottles The mistakes of Italian glassblowers were called "bottles." We use this Italian word for "bottle" in the English language to this day. Its meaning is derived from its use by those Italian glassblowers. What's the word? |
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| 11-27 | PUZZLER: A Repair Kit Most Curious The repair kit contained the following set of numerals: a 0, five 1's, two 2'’s, a 3, a 4, a 5, a pair of 6'’s, a 7 and an 8. What were the numbers intended for? |
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| 11-20 | PUZZLER: Driving on the Wrong Side of the Road—for a Good Reason My host was driving on the wrong side of the road. "Why?" I asked. "To prevent damage to my car," she replied. How could driving on the wrong side of a two-lane road be less damaging to her car? |
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| 11-13 | PUZZLER: In Search of Odometric Evidence How did Jay prove to his skeptical brother, that he had seen his odometer roll past the 100,000-mile mark? |
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| 11-06 | PUZZLER: Fixing Ray's Lousy Math 76 = 24. ItÂ’s obviously incorrect. Fix this equation so that it makes sense by moving the four digits around. You canÂ’t introduce any new signs, however. |
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| 10-30 | PUZZLER: A New Sign for the Garage Tommy instructed the sign painter to paint, “Click and Clack’s Garage.” When it was done, Tommy said, “I don’t like it. " He then uttered a sentence that used a word on the sign five times in a row. It explained what was wrong. What did he say? |
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| 10-23 | PUZZLER: Doing the Math on the Ever-Slowing Drive After each mile you drive, you slow down one mile per hour. You start 75 miles from your destination, at 75 mph. How long are you driving? |
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| 10-16 | PUZZLER: What's in that pocket? It would fit into a box that was 2 inches x 1 inch x 1 inch. It made perfect sense that it should be there, but it never would have been there 50 years ago. What did Ray find in the pocket of his new jeans? |
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| 10-09 | PUZZLER: Tire mounting... with but a few letters WhatÂ’s the smallest number of letters needed to mark Sue's tires to guarantee that all four of them can get correctly installed in the spring? |
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| 10-02 | PUZZLER: A Company Move Like None Other Steve's boss relocated the company—and all sixty employees were closer to home. How could that be? |
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| 09-25 | PUZZLER: Crusty's Mysterious Brake Lights The officer pulls Crusty over and says, “I've watched you stop at two stop signs. I didn’t see any brake lights come on.” Crusty asks him to go and stand by the back of the car and he steps on the brake. The lights come on. How did Crusty pull it off? |
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| 09-18 | PUZZLER: The Striped Bass Fishing Competition A fishing contest that lasts for five days was won by a team that caught 30 fish. E very day, they got three more fish than they had the day before. How many fish did they catch on the last day? |
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| 09-11 | PUZZLER: "Equate this!" You have four numbers: 2,3,4, and 5. You also get one plus sign and one equal sign. Make an equation. |
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| 09-11 | PUZZLER: One Seat Left. Is It Yours? You're one of a 100 passengers. The first drops his boarding pass and takes a random seat. Every other passenger takes his assigned seat or, if taken, a random seat. You are the last passenger on. What are the chances that you sit in your assigned seat? |
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| 08-28 | PUZZLER: An Especially Challenging Glass of Water You have a four-ounce glass, a nine-ounce glass, and endless supply of water. You can fill or dump either glass. What's the fewest number of steps in which you can measure six ounces? |
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| 08-21 | PUZZLER: Saving the R.A.F. The bullet holes were all over the place on the R.A.F. planes -- in the wings and the fuselage, and seemingly distributed randomly on the undersides. So, where did the R.A.F. mathematician recommend extra armor, to save future missions? |
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| 08-14 | PUZZLER: A tale of two Malaysians... and a kid. Two Malaysians on a street corner. One is the father of the other's son. How could that be? |
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| 08-07 | PUZZLER: How the dispatcher saved the day The police dispatcher asked the heart attack victim to do one more thing. Minutes later, an ambulance was on its way to save his life. What did she ask? |
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| 07-31 | PUZZLER: The minister, the doctor, and the plumber In the room are three people: a minister, a doctor, and a plumber. The cop walks over to the minister and says, "You're under arrest." How does he know that it was the minister that pulled the trigger? |
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| 07-24 | PUZZLER: Manny the Miracle Worker With one question, Manny knew what was wrong with the old lady's car. How? |
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| 07-17 | PUZZLER: Evil King Raymond and the White Knight The gold box says, "Rowena's picture is in this box." The silver box says, "The picture ain't in this box." The lead box says, "The picture ain't in the gold box." Only one statement is true. Where's the picture? |
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| 07-10 | PUZZLER: Crusty Goes to Coleslawvania On a flight to Coleslawvania, Mr. and Mrs. Crusty realize that none of the passengers speaks English. Upon landing, however, they spy someone from the plane who does. Who is it? |
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| 07-03 | PUZZLER: Which state am I? Which state was the first to require driving on the right, had the first multi-lane highway—and was site of the first oil well? |
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| 06-26 | PUZZLER: A Very Late-Night Emergency Clutch Repair I directed my buddy to an all-night burger joint across the road, so he could relieve himself. Ten minutes later he returned, claiming that what he was carrying would solve our clutch problem and get us home. |
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| 06-19 | PUZZLER: Breaking the Sound Barrier—On Horseback Long before the advent of the train, travelers on horseback regularly broke the sound barrier. How'd they do it? |
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| 06-12 | PUZZLER: Tommy pushes the MG up a hill Tommy pushes the car up the hill three feet, then rests. During his rest, the car rolls back two feet. He repeats this routine. How long does it take him to push the MG up a 50-foot hill? |
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| 06-05 | PUZZLER: The Mysterious Event in the Lincoln Mark V. Lee was tooling around town in his old Lincoln Mark V, when something happened that he hadnÂ’t seen in probably ten years. What was it? |
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| 05-15 | PUZZLER: The Special, Non-moving Car Part A car is traveling at 60 mph. Can you name a part, or parts, of the car, that are not moving in relation to the road? |
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| 05-08 | PUZZLER: On the road to the Marrakesh Multiplex A pilgrim needs to make a journey between Casablanca and Marrakesh. It takes six days, but the most a pilgrim can carry for food and water is four daysÂ’ worth. How many people must start out together, so that one of them can make it? |
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| 05-01 | PUZZLER: The mysterious, 140 year-old, never-changing automotive part. In the 1870Â’s, every single automobile began using it. Today, most cars today use 6 or 7 of these items. The basic design has not changed, and the cost has stayed the same: a dime. What is it? |
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| 04-17 | PUZZLER: Hugh Louis Dewey and the Last Will and Testament Mr. Jones says, “If my child is a boy, then I will 2/3 of my estate to my son, and 1/3 to my wife. If my child is a girl, I leave 2/3 of my estate to my wife, and 1/3 to my daughter.” He dies. Mrs. Jones gives birth to twins. How to divide the estate? |
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| 04-10 | PUZZLER: RickÂ’s Innovative Starting Technique Rick had a box of roofing nails, eight bundles of roof shingles, three bags of concrete, the latest model 24-volt cordless drill and a clothes from the dry cleaner. How did he get his truck, with the missing spark plug wires, started? |
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| 04-04 | PUZZLER: How Tommy Flies His 746 around the World If Tommy flies one plane, and I fly the other plane as a refueling plane, I can give him some fuel and I can fly back to the island. WhatÂ’s the range of one of these 746Â’s? |
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| 03-27 | PUZZLER: A Mysterious Repair The dealer had replaced something that I did not ask to be replaced. I noticed he hadnÂ’t charged me. Then I realized why he had done what he did. It had to be done or it would have made the other repairs difficult. What did he do? |
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| 03-20 | PUZZLER: The Perils of Pickpocketing Postings Why did pickpocketing rates increase after the warning signs went up? |
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| 03-06 | PUZZLER: A Thousand Dollars—And a Bunch of Envelopes What's the fewest number of envelopes into which you can put any combination of one thousand, one-dollar bills, such that no matter what number of dollars I ask for, you can hand me the right combination of envelopes? |
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| 02-27 | PUZZLER: A Farmer, a Daughter—And an Unknown Number of Apples How many apples does the young man need to pick in order to leave half the apples plus half an apple at each of the three fence posts, and still have one left? |
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| 02-20 | PUZZLER: The Confederate Soldiers Who Left Home When the soldiers returned, many of them discovered their homes were gone. Thousands left, carrying something. It was a tool, which led to a name for these young men. What's the word? |
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| 02-13 | PUZZLER: Richard and the Bikini-clad Sisters How did Richard figure out which of the two bikini-clad sisters was older? |
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| 02-06 | PUZZLER: This Week's Puzzler: A Most Curious Rule Change In 1971, the NHTSA instituted a new rule for all automobile manufacturers. However, in the last few years, several manufacturers could not comply. NHTSA re-wrote the rule. Honda and GM were two of the manufacturers. Can you name two others, and the rule? |
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| 01-30 | PUZZLER: The Bistro Bottle Game You place a bottle on a small, round table; then I do, and so on. The game goes on. You lose if you move a bottle or knock one off. Is there a strategy to win? Do you want to go first or second? |
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| 01-23 | PUZZLER: The Pricey Oil Change As I pulled in to the gas station, on the face of the building I saw a huge sign that said, "Oil Change Special: 99.50." Where was I? |
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| 01-16 | PUZZLER: The Great Mind-Boggling Antifreeze Mixture Rosie's car has four quarts of antifreeze, and eight quarts of water. How much of this mixture does she have to drain out and replenish with straight antifreeze in order to get a 50/50 mixture? |
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| 01-09 | PUZZLER: A Dark and Stormy Night — and a Very Bad Idea It was a dark and stormy night. Out in my leaky old barn, I removed the differential from my tractor. I put a hay bale under the tractor to keep the tractor's rear end up in the air. Weeks later, the barn caught fire and burned to the ground. Why? |
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