Medium – Page 24 – Puzzle Prime

Gollum’s Riddle

Section: Casual Puzzles Category: Riddle

Difficulty: Medium

This thing all things devours,
Birds, beasts, trees, flowers,
Gnaws iron, bites steel,
Grinds hard stones to meal,
Slays king, ruins town,
And beats mountain down.

SOLUTION

The answer is TIME.

J. R. R. Tolkien July 25, 2017

2 Comments

Out of Place

Section: Brain Teasers Category: Insight

Difficulty: Medium

Which of the numbers below is out of place and why?

1011, 2223, 3940, 5646, 8910

SOLUTION

Every number except 5646 can be split into a sequence of consecutive numbers: 1011~10-11, 2223~22-23, 3940~39-40, 8910~8-9-10.

Puzzle Prime July 13, 2017

2 Comments

Two Games at Once

Section: Brain Teasers Category: Insight

Difficulty: Medium

The Devil offers you a deal – you have to play two games of chess simultaneously against the two best GrandMasters in the world, one with black pieces and one with white pieces. If you win at least 1 point from the two games, you will get whatever your heart desires, if you don’t – you will go straight to Hell. Would you accept the challenge?

SOLUTION

Accept the challenge. You can easily get 1 point by just repeating the moves of your opponents. For example, if the white GrandMaster plays e4, then you play e4 against the black GrandMaster. If the back GrandMaster plays e5, then you play e5 against the white GrandMaster and so on.

Unknown Author July 7, 2017

2 Comments

Digital Scale

Section: Brain Teasers Category: Insight

Difficulty: Medium Tags: Weighings

You have 10 unlimited piles of balls and one digital scale. All balls in a pile have the same weight, which is an integer between 1 and 9 grams. How many measurements do you need in order to find the weight of the balls in every pile?

SOLUTION

You need only one measurement – take 1 ball from pile 1, 10 balls from pile 2, 100 balls from pile 3, etc., and measure their total weight. The first digit of the number shown on the scale determines the weight of the balls in the 10th pile, the second digit determines the weight of the balls in the 9th pile and so on.

Unknown Author May 16, 2017

0 Comments

Wine and Water

Section: Brain Teasers Category: Mathematics

Difficulty: Medium

You have two 1 liter mugs – one of them halfway filled with water and the other one halfway filled with wine. You pour 300ml water from the first mug into the second one, stir it well, then pour 300ml of the mix from the second mug back to the first one. Now, do you have more water in the first mug than you have wine in the second one?

SOLUTION

If you have X ml water in the first mug, then in the second mug you have 500-X ml water and X ml wine. Therefore you have exactly as much water in the first mug as you have wine in the second one.

Unknown Author May 13, 2017

0 Comments

Hourglasses

Section: Brain Teasers Category: Deduction

Difficulty: Medium

You have a 7-minute hourglass and an 11-minute hourglass. How can you measure exactly 15 minutes with them?

SOLUTION

Turn both hourglasses upside down. When the time of the 7-minute hourglass runs out, turn it upside down. When the time of the 11-minute hourglass runs out, turn the 7-minute hourglass upside down again. Finally, when the time of the 7-minute hourglass runs out, exactly 15 minutes will have been passed.

Unknown Author May 7, 2017

3 Comments

Slowest Horse

Section: Brain Teasers Category: Lateral

Difficulty: Medium

Two friends made a bet whose horse is slower. After wondering for days what is the fastest and fairest way to figure out who wins the bet, they finally decided to ask a famous wise hermit for help. Upon giving them his advice, the two friends jumped on the horses and started racing back to the city as fast as they could. What did the hermit say?

SOLUTION

He told them to switch their horses and whoever gets to the city first will win the bet.

Unknown Author April 13, 2017

0 Comments

Illusion Maze

Section: Casual Puzzles Category: Maze

Difficulty: Medium

Find a path between the two squares in this Illusion Maze, created by Dave Phillips.

SOLUTION

The solution is shown below.

Dave Phillips March 16, 2017

0 Comments

Funky Mate

Section: Brain Teasers Category: Chess

Difficulty: Medium

Place only 2 rooks and 1 knight on the board, so that the Black player is mated.

SOLUTION

You can place the rooks on c5 and e5, and the knight on f5.

Unknown Author March 10, 2017

2 Comments

Angry Men

Section: Casual Puzzles Category: Maze

Difficulty: Medium

You must go through this maze, avoiding the 16 angry men’s batons. You are allowed to press once each of the four buttons on the walls, which make the men turn clockwise at 90 degrees.

SOLUTION

The solution is shown below.

Johann Sturcz February 10, 2017

0 Comments