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Can you solve this?

(78 Posts)
Beattie9 Thu 19-Apr-18 00:44:50

Algebra! Love it or hate it?

If it's the former, try this problem for size.

Usual arithmetical rules apply; the 'O' is a letter, not zero.

* CROSS
+ ROADS
DANGER

when S = 3

(Ignore the asterisk, just had difficulty lining up the characters!)

Beattie9 Thu 19-Apr-18 00:59:52

Observation Puzzle No. 1

Why are some of the letters placed above the line, whilst others are below it!

AEFHIKLMNTVWXYZ
BCDGJOPQRSU

Beattie9 Thu 19-Apr-18 01:09:27

Lateral Thinking Puzzle No. 1

You are in a two-storey house where DOWNSTAIRS, there are three light switches.

Each switch controls one of three light-bulbs located UPSTAIRS, but you don't know which switch controls which light. (As you might expect, you cannot see the light-bulbs from downstairs!)

What can you do so that you need to go upstairs just ONCE to determine which switch controls which light?

Squiffy Thu 19-Apr-18 12:19:06

Beattie9

Lateral Thinking Puzzle No. 1

You haven't said whether there's someone else in the house! In which case, you switch on one light and send them up to see which room it's in. Then you can switch a second light on and go upstairs yourself!

Beattie9 Thu 19-Apr-18 12:27:22

Squiffy
'It's good, but it's not the one' as Roy Walker used to say!

I'm afraid you're completely alone in this house but your answer does demonstrate lateral thinking! Keep going!

Squiffy Thu 19-Apr-18 12:36:03

Beattie Oh no, I'm supposed to be gardening - oh dear! grin

lemongrove Thu 19-Apr-18 12:47:24

D 1
O 2
S 3
E 4 Have to have a think about the others!
A 5
R 6
G 7
N 8
C9

ffinnochio Thu 19-Apr-18 12:56:28

Turn on one switch when it’s dark. Go outside and check which light is on upstairs. Do it again. This way you shouldn’t need to go upstairs even once if you’ve remembered the switch order.

I suspect this is not the answer you are looking for!

ffinnochio Thu 19-Apr-18 12:58:46

Top line has hard lines.
Bottom line has curved lines.

Beattie9 Thu 19-Apr-18 13:04:06

lemongrove

Well done on 'CROSSROADS'!

Now it's your turn to come up with a puzzle! (Oh, didn't I tell you that was in the rules? Silly me!)

Beattie9 Thu 19-Apr-18 13:10:16

ffinnochio
Very perceptive but I do like your answer to the lights puzzle!

The more correct procedure may be carried-out at any time of the day (you don't have to wait for darkness or go tramping around outside, it might be raining!)

With regard to the Observation Puzzle No. 1, CORRECT!

Your prize is for you to submit a puzzle!

Beattie9 Thu 19-Apr-18 13:20:24

Squiffy

Go and enjoy your gardening in the sunshine! The puzzles will still be here when you've finished!

Beattie9 Thu 19-Apr-18 15:34:05

Found this one in a Christmas cracker!

What might you expect to find in a bottle with the label:

'H-I-J-K-L-M-N-O' ?

cavewoman Thu 19-Apr-18 15:46:09

Pure water Beattie (Or H2O)

ffinnochio Thu 19-Apr-18 16:00:06

Light bulb - just turn two on at once!

Won’t be setting any quizzes (rule breaker), but will enjoy trying to answer them. ?

ffinnochio Thu 19-Apr-18 16:03:54

No, that won’t work.

yggdrasil Thu 19-Apr-18 16:22:28

Lateral Thinking Puzzle No. 1
Switch on #1 and #2, leave #3 off
After a few minutes, switch off #2
Go upstairs
The bulb for #1 will be on
The other 2 will be off, but #2 will be warm to the touch. Don't burn yourself :-)

Squiffy Thu 19-Apr-18 16:42:00

yggdrasil You've just beaten me to it - I thought the same!

Beattie9 Thu 19-Apr-18 17:37:23

cavewoman

Correct! Did you buy the same box of crackers as me?

Beattie9 Thu 19-Apr-18 17:40:15

yggdrasil and squiffy

That's the answer!

Since incandescent lamps (e.g. tungsten) have an efficacy of around 2-3% only, as light sources they make better heaters!

Beattie9 Thu 19-Apr-18 17:43:23

Anyone in the mood for another brain teaser?

Beattie9 Thu 19-Apr-18 18:02:12

In the film, 'Die Hard - With A Vengeance', Bruce Willis's and Samuel L Jackson's characters are given riddles to solve by bad guy, Jeremy Irons.

Many of the riddles are not worthy of mention here except perhaps, the one where they have to measure precisely 4 gallons of water using just two containers, one of 3-gallons and the other of 5-gallons capacity!

The solution offered in the film seems rushed and a bit ambiguous, so I wouldn't bother watching it right now! (And in any case, that would be cheating, wouldn't it?)

But I can tell you that there are two methods of achieving the 4-gallon goal!

Over to you!

Beattie9 Fri 20-Apr-18 11:47:10

Here is today's puzzle.

It's another Observational or Gestalt (if you prefer) problem!

Alphabet Gestalt No. 2

Why are some of the letters placed above the line, whilst others are below it!

AHIMOTUVWXY
BCDEFGJKLNPQRSZ

Beattie9 Fri 20-Apr-18 12:16:29

And something else for you to think about whilst the above puzzles are being worked-on by your sub-conscious mind:

Imagine you are having a telephone conversation with someone who never seen or experienced any of the following:

a banana
a magic-wand
a Toby jug
a die (as in dice)
an elephant

The object of this exercise centres on how descriptive you can be using words/speech only such that the person to whom you are speaking will recognise the item beyond all reasonable doubt, when they see it.

Naturally, there is no one correct answer for this exercise, but it may generate some interesting responses on the forum!

Feel free to suggest other items to be described!

Bathsheba Fri 20-Apr-18 14:06:36

Fill the 5 gallon container and pour it into the 3 gallon. This will leave 2 gallons which you then pour into whatever you are supposed to be measuring 4 gallons into. Then do the same again.