Puzzles

A puzzle is a mental challenge, usually suitable for one person to solve alone. Puzzles encompass a wide variety of mental challenges, from crosswords to conundrums to jigsaws. They can be trivially easy, frustratingly hard, or anywhere in between. The greatest pleasure comes from those where the solution involves some novel way of thinking, or looking at the problem from an unexpected viewpoint.

Math Puzzles

Answer
1	1	1	1
1	3	5	7
1	5	13	25
1	7	25	?

What comes next and why?

1, 11, 21, 1211, 111221, 312211

Hint: Only 1s 2s and 3s allowed. Answer

Two cars are 120 miles from each other on a straight road. They drive towards each other at 30 mph (relative to the road). At the instant they set off, a bird leaves one car, flying towards the other at 60 mph. When it reaches the second car it turns back to the first car, and continues flying back-and-forth till the cars pass each other. When the cars pass, how far has the bird flown? (Total distance, not 'how far from starting point.) Answer

Trick Questions

An encyclopedia consists of ten volumes (sitting next to each other, in order, on a shelf). Each volume contains one thousand pages. Excluding the covers of each volume, how many pages are between the first page of the encyclopedia and the last? Answer

Farmer Smith owns three pink pigs, four brown pigs, and one black pig. How many of Smith's pigs can say that it is the same color as another pig on Smith's farm? Answer.

Neil and Mark find a long piece of pipe in a vacant lot. It's wide enough that each boy can just manage to squeeze in and crawl from one end to the other. If Neil and Mark go into the pipe from opposite ends, is it possible for each boy to crawl the entire length of the pipe and come out the other end? Answer

Who's bigger: Mr. Bigger, Mrs. Bigger or their baby? Answer

Lateral Thinking Puzzles

Three switches outside a windowless room are connected to three light bulbs inside the room. How can you determine which switch is connected to which bulb if you may enter the room only once? Answer

A man is replacing a wheel on his car, when he accidentally drops the four nuts used to hold the wheel on the car, and they fall into a deep drain, irretrievably lost. A passing girl offers him a solution which enables him to drive home. What is it? Answer

Logic Puzzles

The Clinton Brothers (Bill and Ben) are identical twins. Ben is known to be totally truthful, and the other is a politician. You meet one of them at a fork in the road, and there's no sign to indicate which is the road to Washington (your destination). What single question can you ask the brother who is there, to discover the correct road? Assume that you don't know if it's Bill or Ben, and that politicians always lie... Answer

Miscellaneous Puzzles

Puzzles needn't be only text. Here is a graphical one. Move just two sticks to put the cherry in the wineglass. Answer

What seasonal 4-letter word is represented by the following? Answer

      A
     B C
    D E F
   G H I J
  K M N O P
 Q R S T U V
     W X
     Y Z

What's the next letter in the sequence?

O T T F F S S E ? Answer

What's the next letter in the sequence?

P O I U Y T R E W ? Answer

What word or expression is represented below? GIVE, GIVE, GIVE, GIVE, GET, GET, GET, GET Answer

General Knowledge Quizzes: # 1, # 2, # 3, # 4, # 5, # 6, # 7, # 8, # 9, # 10, # 11, # 12 • Arts: Literature, Movies, Music • Harry Potter: Harry Potter - General, Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince • History: American Civil War, Biography, History - General, Vikings • Science: Biology - Human Anatomy, Sci/Tech • Space: Space - Our Solar System, Space - The Moon • Geography, Humanities, Sports, Lateral Thinking Puzzles, Trick Questions, World, Zoids •

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