Nine Fifty
Move the minus sign to make an expression equivalent to nine fifty.
SOLUTION
Move the minus sign to the top of the second vertical line to get “10 to 10”, i.e. 9:50.
Category: Insight
Mel Stover (1912-1999) is a Canadian magician who has created numerous puzzles, optical illusions, and mind games.
Five Acronyms
What do the following acronyms have in common?
- LCD display
- ATM machine
- PDF format
- ISBN number
- HIV virus
SOLUTION
All five are examples of the RAS syndrome (Redundant Acronym Syndrome syndrome) in which the last word of the acronym is repeated.
- Liquid-Crystal Display display
- Automated Teller Machine machine
- Portable Document Format format
- International Standard Book Number number
- Human Immunodeficiency Virus virus
6 Missing Letters
Fill the blanks with 6 different letters to read a meaningful sentence.
A _losopher of _sic in _na _ght about the _ances of _tch.
SOLUTION
You should add the 6 Greek letters φ (phi), μ (mu), χ (chi), τ (tau), ν (nu), π (pi), and get the sentence:
A philosopher of music in China taught about the nuances of pitch.
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.
Do Not Add E
Add a single letter at the end to create a meaningful word. You CANNOT add the letter E.
S E Q U E N C _
SOLUTION
You should add the letter F above the underscore to create the letter E and get the word SEQEUNCE.
1 2 3 4 5 ?
Can you guess what the question mark should be replaced with? The answer is not 6.
| 1 | 3 | 5 |
| 2 | 4 | ? |
SOLUTION
The missing symbol is R, as in a car’s gears.
Mammals in Cages
You walk into a room where there are three mammals held in cages:
- a trained dog doing tricks
- a monkey playing with blocks
- a lab rat traversing a maze
Which is the most intelligent mammal in the room?
SOLUTION
The answer is… YOU.
Rabbits, Owls, and Bears
If:
- RABBIT → FROG
- OWL → WOLF
- BEAR → SHEEP
- MOOSE → COW
then BUCK → ?
SOLUTION
The answer is CHICKEN.
RABBIT sounds like the noise a FROG makes, OWL sounds like the noise a WOLF makes, BEAR sounds like the noise a SHEEP makes, and MOOSE sounds like the noise a COW makes. Since BUCK sounds like the noise a CHICKEN makes, that’s the answer.
Discs, Planets, and Time
Which of the following is the odd one out and why?
- CD
- Venus
- Clock
- DVD
- Mars
- Watch
SOLUTION
The answer is Mars, since it spins counter-clockwise. All the other objects spin (or contain elements that spin) clockwise.
Peculiar Sequence of Words
What is the peculiar property of this sequence of words?
WHAT, HOLE, ALES, TEST
SOLUTION
If you take the first letter from each word, you will spell the first word in the sequence.
If you take the second letter from each word, you will spell the second word in the sequence.
If you take the third letter from each word, you will spell the third word in the sequence.
If you take the fourth letter from each word, you will spell the fourth word in the sequence.
| W | H | A | T |
| H | O | L | E |
| A | L | E | S |
| T | E | S | T |