Mental Floss

Question 1: Three spiders named Mr Eight, Mr. Nine & Mr Ten are crawling across a noticeboard in an office. One spider has 8 legs, one has 9 and the other has 10. "I think it's interesting.," says Mr Ten, "that none of us have the same number of legs as our names would suggest." "Who the heck cares?" replies the spider with 9 legs. How many legs does Mr Nine have ?

Question 2: Two guards were on duty outside a city building. One faced up the road to watch for anyone approaching from the north. The other faced down the road to see anyone approaching from the south. Suddenly one said to the other "Why are you smiling ?" How did the sentry know the other was smiling ?

Question 3: A terrorist hijacks an aeroplane transporting both passengers and valuable jewels. After taking the jewels, the terrorist demands two parachutes, puts one of them on and jumps leaving the other behind. Why did he ask for two ?

Question 4: Christine depended on a public telephone to make her daily calls, but her local phone was always out of order. Each day for a fortnight she reported this to her nearest Opstra office but nothing was done. Frustrated, she came up with a new plan. The next day she told the Opstra people something very different and the phone was repaired within the hour - what did she say ?

Question 5: Jane goes to the Doctor and and asks him to give her an all over check up. She says "I feel extreme pain whenever I touch any part of my body." The Doctor is confused Jane and orders a whole body x-ray. He asks Jane to come back to see him the next day. She does so and returns to the Doctor who then tells Jane .... ?

Question 6: If you put a coin into an empty bottle and insert a cork into the neck of the bottle, how can you remove the coin without taking the cork out or breaking the bottle ?

Question 7: You have 9 balls, 8 of which have the same weight. The remaining one is defective and heavier than the rest. You can use a balance scale to compare weights. What is the smallest number of measurements you need to identify the heavy ball?

Question 8: What is the difference between a crisp new five dollar note and a dirty torn one ?

Question 9: A sundial is the timepiece with the least number of moving parts. What timepiece has the most ?

Question 10: A man left his house to go to work. When he returned home he saw his house had been burgled. The burglars had taken many things, except for two one hundred dollar bills that he had left on the bench. Why weren't these taken ?

Question 11: You are the prisoner of a evil person who likes to play games. One day she brings you two glasses of transparent liquid. She tells you one is water and the other is poison, which if completely drunk will kill you. You are placed into an empty cell and told you have five minutes to drain one glass and leave the other full. (You must drink one glass.) What do you do ?

Question 12: At a recent birthday party, Christine was challenged to cut the cake into the maximum number of pieces using only four straight cuts. With little fuss she picked up a knife and did so. How many pieces did she manage to cut the cake into, and how ?
(Hint:)

Question 13: Before Mt Everest was discovered, what was the highest mountain in the world ?

Question 14: During one of his firebrand sermons, Father Ted put this riddle to the congregation. "What's better than God ? What's more evil than the devil ? Poor people have it and rich people want it and if you eat it you die ? What was he referring to ?

Question 15: The Pope has one, but he doesn't use it. Your father has it and your mother uses it. Nuns do not need it. Arnold Schwarzenneger has a long one and Michael J Fox's is small. What is it?

Question 16: Professor Frink was trekking through a remote jungle when he was captured by logic-loving cannibals. He was brought before the Chief and told "You may now speak your last words. If your statement is true, we will burn you at the stake. If your statement is false, we will boil you in oil." The Professor thought for a moment, then made his statement. Confounded, the clever cannibals realised they could do nothing but let him go. What did the Professor tell them ?

Question 17: A factory specialises in producing furniture 20% smaller than normal furniture. The furniture is not specifically designed for, or sold to, smaller sized people. Why might this factory make it ?

Question 18: There are many countries that begin with the letter "A". Two of these countries however differ from the rest. Which two are they and why ?

Question 19: You are standing at the centre of a long narrow island. The vegetation is very dry from a long drought. Suddenly it catches fire at one end of the island and a strong wind is blowing the fire toward you, burning the whole width of the island. There's no beach, only sheer cliffs and the sea is infested with killer sharks. What do you do ?

Question 20: What always occurs once in June, once in July and twice in August ?

Question 21: How can you build four pig pens so that you can hold nine pigs and so that each pen has an odd number of pigs ?

Question 22: You throw away the outside and cook the inside. Then you eat the outside and throw away the inside. What are you eating ?

Question 23: Mike claims he has a bottle of wine dated 86 BC. Do you believe him ?

Question 25: You are in a perfectly cubical room where the walls, ceiling and floor are mirrors. There is nothing else in the room. How many reflections can you see if, while facing in one direction, you can look up, down, forward, left and right ?

Question 26: There are 10 socks of each of the following colours in your drawer: Blue, Green, Red, Yellow & Black - a total of 50 socks. If the socks are randomly distributed in the drawer (i.e. not in pairs or any other grouping), and you are blindfolded, what is the minimum number of socks you must take from the drawer in order to be certain you have at least two socks of the same colour ?

Question 27: A man staggers out of a pub, everything he is wearing is black (including a ski mask as it is very cold.) He is stumbling down the middle of a road that has no street lights or illumination of any kind. A car is coming toward him with no headlights, but somehow manages to stop in time. How did the driver avoid hitting him ?

Question 28: A person is found deceased in the arctic with a pack on his back. What may have transpired ?

Question 29: There are two plastic jugs filled with water. How could you put all of this water into a larger container, without using the jugs or any dividers, and still tell which water came from which jug ?

Question 30: This is an unusual paragraph. I'm curious how quickly you can find out what is so unusual about it. It looks so plain you would think there's nothing wrong with it. In fact, nothing is wrong with it! It is unusual though. Study it, and think about it - you still may not find anything odd. But if you work at it a bit, you might find out. What is so unusual ?

Question 31: Train A and train B are crossing the Nullabor from coast to coast over a 3000 km stretch of track. Train A is going from east to west at 80km/hour. Train B is travelling from west to east at 100km/hour. Which train will be closer to the west coast when they meet ?

Question 32: A man and his son are in a car accident. The father dies at the scene but the child survives and is rushed to hospital. When he arrives, the surgeon says "I cannot operate on this boy, he is my son !" How can this be ?

Question 33: A woman had two sons born in the same hour of the same day of the same year, but they were not twins. How could this be ?

Question 34: A large heavyset man went to a party where he drank some punch and then left. Everyone else at the party drank the same punch and subsequently died of poisoning. The man did not die however. Why not ?

Question 35: Two people are going sky diving. One of them is a qualified sky diving instructor and the other is going for the first time. They both jump out of the plane and neither of their parachutes open. The instructor dies but the first timer survives. How is this possible ?

Question 36: Here is an old classic in logical thinking.
Four people are buried up to their necks in row, all facing in the same direction. They cannot move their heads and can only look forward. Assume they are labelled A to D with D at the back. Between A and B is a brick wall which cannot be seen through. They know that between them there are four hats, 2 are black and 2 are white, but they do not know which colour they are wearing. One of them must call out to their captor the colour of their hat. If they get it wrong, everyone will be left to die. They are not allowed to talk to one another and have 1 minute to answer. Which one of them calls out and why ?

Question 37: A woman goes into a hardware store and asks the assistant for something. The assistant responds "Six will cost you $3.00, twenty will cost you $6.00 and 100 will cost you $9.00." What is the woman buying ?

Question 38: Mick is lying dead with a steel bar lying across his back and some food in front of him. How did he die ?

Question 39: The deceased person is lying in the middle of a room. The floor of the room has many valuable treasures scattered over it and a chandelier on the ceiling. There is a large shattered window nearby. How might the person have died ?

Question 40: Neil is an employee in a certain organisation. He is one of the the worst employees that the General Manager has ever seen - he is lazy, shifty and creates trouble regularly. He is so bad at his job that the GM once commented "I wish I had 10 employees like Neil." Why?

Question 41: An aircraft crashes and every single person on board dies. Yet, two people actually do survive. How could this be ?

Question 42: A person is alone on a deserted island without food or water and no prospect of a ship passing by but does not fear for their life. Why not ?

Question 43: A man goes into a fish and chip shop in Melbourne. "Can I take your order, sir?" says the assistant behind the counter. "Yes, I would like two pieces of flake, one potato cake and minimum of chips," says the man, "BUT NO SALT,PLEASE!!!!". "Certainly, sailor", says the assistant. How did the assistant know the customer was a sailor?

Question 44: A woman makes over $10,000,000 per annum but drives a small car, lives in a small flat and insists she cannot afford any luxuries. Why would she say this ?

Question 45: A cabin on a mountain has all its doors locked from the inside. The door is forced open and four dead people are found. There was plenty of food and water in the cabin. What could have happened ?

Question 46: A farmer was travelling across country carrying a fox, a chicken and a bag of corn when he came to a river. There was a small boat in which he could ferry only one of the three items across at any one time. He could not leave the fox alone with the chicken lest the chicken be eaten. He dare not leave the chicken with the corn or the corn might be eaten. How then, did he get all three across ?

Question 48: A barge loaded with iron was in a lock. The barge started taking water so the crew threw the iron overboard into the water. What happened to the water level in the lock and why ?

Question 49: A mountain climber is climbing Mt Everest along with two sherpa guides. Half way up, one of his guides falls into a deep crevasse, but the climb continues without them raising an alarm. Why ?

Question 50: At the bottom of the sea lies a perfectly preserved vehicle worth tens of millions of dollars. Despite its perfect condition no one will attempt to salvage it. Why not ?

Question 51: 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 are only allowed to enter the room once ?

Question 52: A woman in court has incontrovertible proof that her sister murdered her husband. The Judge declares "This is the strangest case I have ever seen. Though the case is cut and dried I cannot punish the sister." Why not ?

Question 53: A Sheik tells his two sons that they are to race their two camels to a distant city to see who will inherit his fortune. The one whose camel arrives last will win. The brothers, after wandering aimlessly for days, encounter a wise man and ask for advice. After hearing the advice they jump on the camels and race as fast as they can to their destination. What might he have told them ?

Question 54: A combination padlock has 3 digits. Can you work out the right numbers based on the following clues?

Question 55: The Indian Pacific is crossing the Nullabor travelling due west towards Perth at 80km/hour. A southerly wind blowing at 40km/hour. In what direction is the smoke pointing ?

Question 56: A man pushes his car to a hotel and tells the owner he's bankrupt. Why? ?

Question 57: A man is looking at a photograph of someone. His friend asks who it is. The man replies, "Brothers and sisters, I have none. But that man's father is my father's son." Who was in the photograph ?

Question 58: A man stands on one side of a river, his dog is on the other. The man calls his dog, who immediately crosses the river without getting wet and without using a bridge or a boat. How did the dog do it ?

Question 60: I speak without a mouth and hear without ears. I have no body, but I come alive with wind. What am I ?

Question 61: What word in the English language does the following: the first two letters signify a male, the first three letters signify a female, the first four letters describe someone great, while the entire world describes a great woman. What is the word? ?

Question 62: What word in the English language has three consecutive double letters ?

Question 63: What is seen in the middle of March and April that can't be seen at the beginning or end of either month? ?

Question 64: A girl has as many brothers as sisters, but each brother has only half as many brothers as sisters. How many brothers and sisters are there in the family ?

Question 65: A is the sister of B. B is the brother of C. C is the father of D. So how is D related to A ?

Question 67: How is seven different from the rest of the numbers between one and ten ?

Question 68: How can you physically stand behind your friend while your friend is standing behind you ?

Question 69: Kristen's friends want to buy her a wedding gift. Originally ten friends were going to chip in equally, but then two of them dropped out. Each of the remaining friends had to chip in another ten dollars to bring the total back up to the original amount. How much money did they plan to collect ?

Question 71: A kangaroo word contains some of the letters of a longer word - in order - and means almost the same thing as the original word. For example, the R, E, S, and T from RESPITE form REST. Find the kangaroo words in the words below.

Question 73: George, Fred, Joe, Bob, and Keith have their birthdays on consecutive days. This year, all their birthdays land between Monday and Friday. Can you figure out whose birthday is on each weekday?

Question 74: Mary needs to bring a fruit salad to the annual holiday party, but some of her friends are very picky eaters. Based on her shopping below, what type of fruit do they like ?

Question 75: Sophie and Caroline made arrangements to meet at a cafe at 2 p.m. Sophie thinks her watch is 5 minutes fast, although it is actually 10 minutes slow. Caroline thinks her watch is 10 minutes slow, while it is actually 5 minutes fast. What will happen if they both aim to arrive exactly on time ?

Question 76: Paul's height is 184cm, he works at a butcher's shop and wears size 10 boots. What does he weigh ?

Question 77: Find a 9-letter word in the English language, such that if you keep removing one its letters, the resulting 8 words are still valid. What is this word ?

Question 78: A woman was standing in her hotel room, when somebody knocked on the door. When she opened the door, there was a man who said that he has mistaken his door, apologised, and continued down the corridor. When the woman closed the door, she called security to warn them about a thief. Why did she think the man was planning to rob her??

Question 79:

With 12 matches you can easily create a shape with an area of 9 and a shape with an area of 5, as shown in this picture. How can you rearrange the 12 matchsticks, so that they encompass an area of 4 ?
There should be only one resulting shape and no matches should be unused.

Question 80: You have a 15kg bag of flour and two 3kg weights but your balance scale is no longer accurate. How can you measure exactly 6kg of flour ?

Question 82:

Ten of the above pieces form a large square. The eleventh piece is the odd one out. How can you find the odd piece without trying to put the square back together ?

Question 84: A dog is standing with three of its legs on a measuring scale, keeping its fourth leg in the air. If the scale is displaying 15kgs, how much will it display if the dog places its fourth leg on the scale ?

Question 85: A Sheikh dies, leaving behind three sons. In his will, he divided his camels amongst his sons as follows:

• The oldest son shall inherit half the camels.
• The middle son shall inherit one third of the camels.
• The youngest son shall inherit one ninth of the camels.

However, since the Sheikh made his will, some of the camels have been sold, leaving only 17 camels. The three sons do not know what to do. They ask an old friend of the family for advice, and he finds a solution. What does the friend propose ?

Question 86: At what time do the hour and the minute hands of a clock lie on top of each other, and also between the numbers 1 and 2 ?

Question 87: If the day before yesterday Tim was 18 years old and next year he will turn 21 years old, what is the date today ?

Question 88:
John: "Name someone and I bet I can find a song containing their name."

Paul: "Ok, I bet you don't know any songs which contain the name of my daughter, Beatrice."

Question 89: In an old house deep in the forest, seven dwarfs are living alone. The first dwarf is reading a book, the second dwarf is cooking, the third dwarf is playing chess, the fourth dwarf is tidying up the house, the fifth dwarf is washing the clothes, and the sixth dwarf is gardening. What is the seventh dwarf doing ?

Question 90: You have a glass with a perfectly cylindrical shape which appears to be half full of water. How can you figure out if the glass is exactly half full without using any measurement tools (like a ruler) ?

Question 91: If Sarah's mother is Barbara, then Barbara is the ??? of Sarah's mother.

Question 93: 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 lose no more than one of the two games, you will get whatever your heart desires - otherwise, you will go straight to Hell. Would you accept the challenge ?

Question 94: A man is trying to cross the desert to reach a village on the other side where he will sell his camel. The journey takes four weeks but his camel can carry food and water for three weeks only. There is no food or water in the desert and the man couldn't last more than a few days. How can he reach the village without starving ?

Question 96:

This equation is laid out on 7 cards but is mathematically wrong. Can you move just one card to make a correct equation ?

Question 97: Three friends - A, B and C - live in different cities and communicate via email. They want to find out what their average salary is without disclosing their own individual salaries. How can they do it ?

Question 98: Why are the manholes you see in the street almost always round ?

Question 99: Six identical glasses are placed in a row on the table. The first three are filled with water, then three empty ones. Can you move just one glass, so that empty and full glasses alternate ?

Question 100: What are the chances that the third business day of the month is a Wednesday ?

Question 101: A snail is trying to climb a 10-meter poll. Every day it climbs 4 meters up and then during the night slides 3 meters down. How many days are needed for the snail to get to the top of the poll ?

Question 102: Mary's father has 4 children. Their names are April, May, June and ????

Question 103: Two fathers and two sons go out fishing. Each of them catches two fish. However, they bring back home only six fish. How can that be ?

Question 104: A boat has a ladder with six rungs on it. The rungs are spaced 25 cm apart, the lowest one starting 20 cm above the water. The tide has turned and rises 25 cm every 20 minutes. How many rungs will be still above the water 2 hours later ?

Question 105:

Can you draw a path consisting of 4 straight lines which passes through all points in the grid without lifting your pen ?
It's ok if the path needs to cross over itself.

Question 107: A patient has two bottles with 30 pills each. Each night, she has to take one pill from each of the bottles. One night, she shakes out a pill from the first bottle into her hand but by accident, shakes out two pills from the second bottle. The three pills look identical, so she can not differentiate them. It is very important that she continues her treatment diligently throughout the entire 30 days. What should the patient do ?

Question 108: Can you arrange 6 identical pencils such that each pencil touches all the other pencils ?

Question 109:

Move only 2 matchsticks, so that the fly is released from the trap. The shape of the trap must remain unchanged.

Question 110: You are in a TV Quiz show and have made it to the final round where you are facing three curtains. The grand prize, a luxury car, is behind one of the curtains. The host asks you to pick a curtain. You choose one but instead of opening your curtain, he opens one of the other two. It has a packet of peanuts.

The host now reveals the twist. Keep your original choice or switch to the other remaining curtain. What should you do ?

Question 111: On a train, Smith, Robinson and Jones are the conductor, guard and driver but NOT in that order. On the same train are three business people Mr. Smith, Ms. Robinson and Ms. Jones. Your task is to work out who is the driver.

You have the following information:
• Ms. Robinson lives in Sydney.
• The guard doesn't live in Melbourne or Sydney.
• Ms. Jones earns exactly $20,000.
• The guard's nearest neighbour, one of the passengers, earns exactly three times as much as the guard.
• Smith beats the conductor at chess.
• The passenger whose shares a name with the guard lives in Melbourne.
• For each group, one lives in Sydney, one lives in Melbourne and one lives in Albury.

Question 112: A woman answers a knock at the door to find a young man standing there.

"Hi." the young man says, showing his ID card. "I am conducting a census on behalf of the government. Can you please tell me how many children you have?"

"Well", says the lady, "you look like a smart young man. The product of their ages is 36 and the sum of their ages is equal to the number of the house next door." "Great" he says and leaves.

About half an hour later he comes back. "Ah, you haven't given me enough information." he says sheepishly. "Sorry," says the lady, "the eldest one plays the piano."

Question 116: There are 12 gold nuggets on an island. 11 weigh exactly the same amount, but one of the nuggets is slightly lighter or heavier. If you can figure out which one, you get to keep all the nuggets.

The island has no scales, but there is a seesaw. It's a bit dodgy and you can only use it three times.

This problem is made more difficult because we don't know if the nugget is lighter or heavier, but it is possible to work out.

To start, identify the 12 nuggets with the letters A through L, then divide them into three groups of four: ABCD, EFGH, and IJKL.

For the first seesaw trial, weigh ABCD vs. EFGH.

There are three possible outcomes:

OUTCOME 1:

They balance, meaning we can eliminate all eight of them and the mystery nugget is in IJKL.

For the second seesaw trial, we'll take IJK and weigh them against any three of the eliminated people - let's say ABC - because we know they all weigh the same.

OUTCOME 1-1: if IJK balances against ABC, we know that L is our nugget. For the third seesaw trial, weigh L against A to determine if L is lighter or heavier.

OUTCOME 1-2: if IJK sinks, one of them is heavier than ABC. For the third seesaw trial, weigh I against J. If they balance, K is the heavy one. If I or J sinks, that's the heavy one.

OUTCOME 1-3: if IJK rises, one of them is lighter than ABC. For the third seesaw trial, weigh I against J. If they balance, K is the light one. If I or J rises, that's the light one.

OUTCOME 2:

ABCD sinks while EFGH rises, meaning there's a heavier nugget in ABCD or a lighter nugget in EFGH, so we can eliminate IJKL.

For the second seesaw trial, we have eight possible suspects - four heavy, four light - so we mix up the two previous groupings in order to eliminate some suspects. We'll take E, F, and A and weigh them against G, B, and L. That's two from the lighter side and one from the heavier vs. one from the lighter, one from the heavier, and one we know is standard.

Again, there will be three possible outcomes:

OUTCOME 2-1: If EFA balances with GBL, they're all eliminated, leaving either H as a lighter nugget or either C or D as a heavier nugget. For the third seesaw trial, weigh C against D. If they balance, H is lighter. If they don't, whichever is heavier is our nugget.

OUTCOME 2-2: If EFA sinks, either A is heavy (because E and F were on the lighter side before) or G is light (because B was on the heavier side and L has already been eliminated), and we can eliminate C, D, and H. For the third seesaw trial, weigh G against L. If they balance, A is heavy. If they don't, then G is light.

OUTCOME 2-3: If EFA rises, either B is heavy (because G was on the lighter side and L has already been eliminated) or either E or F is light (because A was on the heavier side), and we can eliminate C, D, and H. For the third seesaw trial, weigh E against F. If they balance, then B is heavy. If they don't, whichever is lighter is our nugget.

OUTCOME 3:

EFGH sinks while ABCD rises, meaning there's a heavier nugget in EFGH or a lighter nugget in ABCD, so we can eliminate IJKL.

For the second seesaw trial, we have eight possible suspects - four heavy, four light - so we mix up the two previous groupings in order to eliminate some suspects. We'll take A, B, and E and weigh them against C, F, and L. That's two from the lighter side and one from the heavier vs. one from the lighter, one from the heavier, and one we know is standard.

Again, there will be three possible outcomes:

OUTCOME 3-1: If ABE balances with CFL, they're all eliminated, leaving either D as a lighter nugget or either G or H as a heavier nugget. For the third seesaw trial, weigh G against H. If they balance, D is lighter. If they don't, whichever is heavier is our nugget.

OUTCOME 3-2: If ABE sinks, either E is heavy (because A and B were on the lighter side) or C is light (because F was on the heavier side and L has already been eliminated), and we can eliminate D, G, and H. For the third seesaw trial, weigh C against L. If they balance, E is heavy. If they don't, then C is light.

OUTCOME 3-3: If ABE rises, either F is heavy (because B was on the lighter side and L has already been eliminated) or either A or B is light (because E was on the heavier side), and we can eliminate D, G, and H. For the third seesaw trial, weigh A against B. If they balance, then F is heavy. If they don't, whichever is lighter is our nugget.

Question 117: Fourteen of the children in the class are girls. Eight of the children wear blue shirts. Two of the children are neither girls or wear a blue shirt. If five of the children are girls who wear blue shirts, how many children are in the class?

Question 118: I am the beginning of sorrow and the end of sickness. You cannot express happiness without me, yet I am in the midst of crosses. I am always in risk yet never in danger. You may find me in the sun, but I am never out of darkness. What am I?

Question 120: The water level in a reservoir is low but doubles every day. It takes 60 days to fill the reservoir. How long does it take for the reservoir to become half full?

Question 121: A man describes his daughters, saying, "They are all blonde but two; all brunette but two; and all redheaded but two." How many daughters does he have?

Question 122: You have applied for the job of an assistant chef in a restaurant. To win the position, the chef gives you a 7-minute hourglass and an 11-minute hourglass and asks, "How can you boil an egg in exactly 15 minutes?"

Question 123: What are the next three letters in the sequence "W-A-T-N-T-L" ?

Question 124: Four people arrive at a river with a narrow bridge that can hold only two people at a time. It's night time, and there is a safety torch that must be used when crossing the bridge. Person A can cross the bridge in one minute, B in two minutes, C in five minutes, and D in eight minutes. When two people cross the bridge together, they must move at the slower person's pace. What is the shortest time that they can all get across the bridge?

Question 125: You are in a dark room with a candle, a wood stove and a gas lamp. You have only one match. What do you light first?

Question 126: What is unusual about the following words: revive, banana, grammar, voodoo, assess, potato, dresser, uneven?

Question 128: What four-letter word can be written forward, backward or upside down but still be read from left to right?

Question 129: At the local country fair, four people have entered the cake competion. Your task is it work out the full name of each person and the cake they have made. Here are the clues:

1. Ms Archer has made a chocolate cake.
2. Neither Ms Brown, Louise nor Kay Cook has made a fruit cake.
3. Julie, who is not Ms Dale, has made a coffee cake.
4. Mary has not made a rainbow cake.

	1	2	3	4
Firstname	Louise	Julie	Kay	Mary
Surname	Archer	Brown	Cook	Dale
Cake	Chocolate	Coffee	Rainbow	Fruit

Question 130: Place a different 3-letter word into each of the brackets to create two longer words?

finger	[---]	toe
copy	[---]	walk
don	[---]	hole
out	[---]	trot
every	[---]	dream

Answer:

Add 3 pluses and 1 minus (not necessarily in that order) anywhere on the left side to form a valid equation.

Question 132: Complete this grid of letters. Each line is a valid 5-letter word with its first and last letters missing. The missing letters form a word when read downwards, and the same word appears both at the start and at the end.

What is the missing word?

-	I	N	E	-
-	R	O	D	-
-	Y	L	O	-
-	O	A	S	-
-	E	A	T	-

Answer:

Freddie can lay 1,000 bricks in three hours, Jimmy can lay 1,000 bricks in two hours and Kevin can lay 1,000 bricks in six hours.

How long will it take Freddie, Jimmy, and Kevin to lay 1,000 bricks if they all work together?

The word is DENTS
D	I	N	E	D
E	R	O	D	E
N	Y	L	O	N
T	O	A	S	T
S	E	A	T	S

Question 135: You have a 3 litre jug, a 5 litre jug, and plenty of tap water.

Question 136:

PANT PENS PART BANS ????

Based on the first four words, what is the fifth word.

Question 137:
Leon Trotsky, an enemy of Josef Stalin, had been in exile for 11 years. On 20th August 1940, a Soviet assassin entered Trotsky's house in Mexico City and struck him on the head with an ice axe. He died the next day.

Here is a group of suspects who were rounded up. Each wrong suspect has one different feature from the real killer. Who killed Trotsky?.

Question 138:
There are three playing cards in a row. There is a two to the right of a king. There is a diamond to the left of a spade. There is an ace to the left of a heart. There is a heart to the left of a spade.

Question 139:
Cheryl is president of the school Clear Thinking Club. Albert and Bernard want to join. Cheryl poses them this problem:

"My birthday is one of 10 possible dates:
15 May, 16 May, 19 May
17 June, 18 June
14 July, 16 July
14 August, 15 August, 17 August

"I will tell one of you the day and the other the month."

Cheryl then tells the month to Albert and the day to Bernard.

"You must work out my birthday without telling each other what I told you, and without asking each other questions."

Albert says: "I don't know the birthday, but I'm sure Bernard doesn't know either."
Bernard replies: "It's true I didn't know at first, but now I do know."
Albert says: "Now I also know Cheryl's birthday."

Question 140:
Three tradies, Mr Plumber, Mr Carpenter and Mr Painter are having lunch together on a building site.
"Isn't it strange," says Mr Plumber, "that none of us have surnames that match our trades."
"Yes, it is strange", said the carpenter.

What is the surname of each tradie?

Question 141:
You have 3 boxes of fruit, one labeled "Apples", one labeled "Bananas" and one labeled "Apples and Bananas". However, the labels on the boxes have been completely mismatched - ie. none of the three labels has been put on its correct box.

How can you pick a piece of fruit from just one of the boxes, so that after seeing the fruit, you can guess correctly the contents of every box out of the three?

Question 142:
Jack is looking at Anne, but Anne is looking at George. Jack is married, but George is not.

Is a married person looking at an unmarried person?

Yes, No, or Cannot be determined

Question 143:
You are on your way to visit your Grandma, who lives at the end of the valley. It's her birthday, and you want to give her the cakes you've made.

Between your house and her house, you have to cross 7 bridges, and there is a troll under every bridge! Each troll, quite rightly, insists that you pay a troll toll. Before you can cross their bridge, you have to give them half of the cakes you are carrying, but as they are kind trolls, they each give you back a single cake.

How many cakes do you have to leave home with to make sure that you arrive at Grandma's with exactly 2 cakes?

Question 144:
It's International Sweets Day and as a treat, a local Lolly shop ia allowing children to exchange 3 chocolate wrappers for a brand new chocolate. Billy is walking around town collecting chocolate wrappers from people.

How many wrappers must he collect so that he gets to eat 10 chocolates?

Question 145:
King Octopus has servants with 6, 7, or 8 legs. The servants with 7 legs always lie, and the servants with 6 or 8 legs always tell the truth. One day four of the king's servants had the following conversation:

"Together, we have 28 legs." said the first octopus.
"Together, we have 27 legs." said the second octopus.
"Together, we have 26 legs." said the third octopus.
"Together, we have 25 legs." said the fourth octopus.

Which of the four servants told the truth?

Question 146:
If it takes four months for four builders to build four houses, how many months it will take for two builders to build two houses?

Question 147:
Two friends drove across the country to the coast to have lunch. Alex drove the first 90kms then Billie took over for the remainder of the journey.

On the way home, Alex drove to begin with, then Billie took over for the last 100kms.

Who drove the furthest?

Question 148:
Transform WARM to COOL by changing one letter at a time. Each change must leave the other letters in the same places and must result in a proper word.

Question 149:
How can you make the following equation correct in one move.

81 + 18 = 66

Question 150:
Kevin is travelling to see his brother with his three pets, a dog, a cat, and a mouse.

He must cross a river but there is only a very small boat that can carry him and just one of his pets.

He doesn't want to leave the dog alone with the cat, nor does he want to leave the cat alone with the mouse. However, the dog and mouse are great friends.

How can Kevin cross the river to see his brother, and make sure his pets are all happy?

finger	[tip]	toe
copy	[cat]	walk
don	[key]	hole
out	[fox]	trot
every	[day]	dream