Half Move Mate
White plays and mates in half a move. How is it possible?
SOLUTION
White completes his castle by putting the rook on f1 and mating Black.
Difficulty: Medium
Samuel Loyd (1841 – 1911), born in Philadelphia and raised in New York City, was an American chess player, chess composer, puzzle author, and recreational mathematician. As a chess composer, he authored a number of chess problems, often with interesting themes. At his peak, Loyd was one of the best chess players in the US and was ranked 15th in the world, according to chessmetrics.com.
High Tide
A boat has a ladder with six rungs on it. The rungs are spaced one foot from each other, the lowest one starting a foot above the water. The tide rises with 10 inches every 15 minutes.
How many rungs will be still above the water 2 hours later?
SOLUTION
Six rings – the ship and the ladder will be rising with the tide.
Penrose Railway Maze 3
Get from A to B, moving only over smooth lines, without reversing and making sharp turns.
SOLUTION
The solution is shown below.
The Dark Bridge
Four friends are trying to cross a bridge in complete darkness, but have only one flashlight. They need respectively 1, 2, 7, and 10 minutes to cross the bridge, and if any three of them step on the bridge at the same time, it will collapse. How many minutes do they need at least in order
SOLUTION
They need 17 minutes. Label the friends A (1min), B (2min), C (7min), D (10min). A and B cross the bridge, then A returns back with the flashlight. C and D cross the bridge, then B returns back with the flashlight. Finally, A and B cross the bridge.
In order to see that this is optimal, notice that when D crosses, he needs at least 10 minutes. If C crosses separately, this will make already 17 minutes in total. Therefore C and D must cross together, and A and B must be at that time on the two opposite sides of the bridge. From here it is easy to conclude that the friends indeed need at least 17 minutes.
The Factory
Find your way through the pipes from START to FINISH.
SOLUTION
The solution is shown below.
Chiming Wall Clock
Your grandma’s wall clock chimes the appropriate number of times at every whole hour, and also once every 15 minutes. If you hear the wall clock chime once, how much more time do you need to figure out what the time is, without looking at it?
SOLUTION
1 hour and 30 minutes. The wall clock will chime once at 12:15, 12:30, 12:45, 1:00, 1:15, 1:30, 1:45. If you hear 7 consecutive times just 1 chime, then the time is 1:45. If you hear less than that, you will easily find what the time is once again.
Careless Truck Driver
A truck driver was going the opposite way on a
SOLUTION
Because the truck driver was just a pedestrian on that day, not driving his truck.
Puddle of Water
A man is found in a room without any windows, with just one door which is locked from
SOLUTION
The man used a block of ice so that he could hang himself, and then the ice melted into the puddle of water.
Chess Cylinder
Imagine the following game occurs on a cylindrical board, on which the a-file and h-file are attached to each other. White plays first and mates Black in 2 moves.
SOLUTION
White plays Rook on a5, then Ra1#. He can’t take the pawn on a6, because Black will take back with the pawn on h7.
Sarah’s Mother
If Sarah’s mother is Barbara, then Barbara is the ??? of Sarah’s mother.
SOLUTION
The answer is NAME.
