Category: Puzzles
Only Connect is a British television quiz show presented by Victoria Coren Mitchell. In the series, teams compete in a tournament of finding connections between seemingly unrelated clues.
A Square and an Invisible Point
There is a square drawn on a piece of paper and also a point marked with invisible ink. You are allowed to draw 3 lines on the paper and for each of them you will be told whether the point is on its left, on its right, or lies on the line. Your task is to find out whether the point is inside the square, outside the square, or on its boundary. How do you do it?
Draw one of the diagonals of the square. Then, draw the 2 lines containing the sides of the square that are on the same side as the invisible point.
It Turns Into a Different Story
It turns into a different story. What is it?
ANSWER: ✱✱✱✱✱✱ ✱✱✱✱✱✱✱✱✱
Note: This is Will Shortz’s favorite crosswords clue of all time.
The answer is SPIRAL STAIRCASE.
The Hardest Mate in 2
White to play and mate in 2.

Note: Magnus Carlsen spent almost 2 minutes solving this puzzle.
The first move is 1. Qa8. If Black plays Qd4, then White responds with Re3#. Otherwise, White plays either Nc5# or Nd6#, so that Black cannot capture the Knight neither with the Rook or the Queen.
Touch or Don’t Touch
For this puzzle/game, you need to keep presenting various words to your friends and telling them whether they are “TOUCH” or they are “DON’T TOUCH”. Below, we have listed several words from each category.
TOUCH: banana, proof, mouse, keyboard, promo, woman
DON’T TOUCH: cherry, solution, cat, screen, discount, girl
Can you guess what determines whether a word is “TOUCH” or “DON’T TOUCH”?
Words that make your lips touch when pronounced belong to the “TOUCH” category, while the others belong to the “DON’T TOUCH” category. The sounds “P”, “B”, “M”, and “W” that cause this are called “bilabial”.
Five Points, Ten Distances
Five points, A, B, C, D, and E, lie on a line. The distances between them in ascending order are: 2, 5, 6, 8, 9, X, 15, 17, 20, and 22. What is X?
We assume that the points are ordered A to E from left to right. We have AE = 22 and either AD = 20, BE = 17, or AD = 17, BE = 20. Without loss of generality AD = 20, BE = 17, and therefore AB = 5, BD = 15, DE = 2. The distance of 6 is associated with either BC or CD, and therefore the points are arranged in one of these two ways:
- AB = 5, BC = 6, CD = 9, DE = 2
- AB = 5, BC = 9, CD = 6, DE = 2
If it is the latter, we get the sequence of distances: 2, 5, 6, 9, 11, 14, 15, 17, 20, 22, which does not fit the provided sequence.
If it is the former, we get the sequence of distances: 2, 5, 6, 8, 9, 14, 15, 17, 20, 22, and therefore X = 14.
Mythological Maze
Connect the Squares
Connect the pairs of squares with non-interacting lines that do not cross the black boundary.

A solution is shown below.

Wacky Wordies 2
Can you figure out what phrases and sayings are represented in the Wacky Wordies below?

The answers are:
- Leave no stone unturned
- Foot in the door
- Go on a double-date
- Green with envy
- Look square in the eye
- Broken promise
- Pull up alongside the curb
- Excuse me
- High-grade performance
- Take on a big job
- Split the difference
- He came out of nowhere
- Wait on hand and foot
- Suit to a T
- Know it forward and back
- A period in history
- Crooked lawyer
- Get up on the wrong side of bed
- Sign on the dotted line
- Disorderly conduct