User:Ryan Schmidt/Puzzle Archive

__NEWSECTIONLINK__ This is an archive of my weekly puzzles. Click here to view their answers here to view the puzzles.

Week 1
There is one mention of five, ten, and fifty in the word search below, can you find them?

T E F I  V   T Y E N E                  N E I F I T N E N T                  E N F T F I E I Y I                    X   E E I N E N T E F                  F E Y E E F I N I E  I T E T F N I N E N  N Y Y N I   L   E T I N  E T Y N I F T F T I

The mentions of five, ten, and fifty in the word search are in roman numerals and there is only one "V", one "X", and one "L" in the search.

Puzzle 1
There are ten numbered statements listed below. How many statements in this puzzle are true and which ones?

The first sentence is a statement that is true and the ninth numbered statement.
 * 1) The number of false statements is one.
 * 2) The number of false statements is two.
 * 3) The number of false statements is three.
 * 4) The number of false statements is four.
 * 5) The number of false statements is five.
 * 6) The number of false statements is six.
 * 7) The number of false statements is seven.
 * 8) The number of false statements is eight.
 * 9)   The number of false statements is nine.
 * 10) The number of false statements is ten.

Puzzle 2
What are the elusive characters? Missing two letters or numbers?

W A T E ? C M ? T L O N

If you look at the question, you will see that the large letters each match up with the beginning of a word. The C is for Characters and the T for Two.

Puzzle 1
Alphametic puzzles are series of numbers and letters that represent a well-known phrase or saying. For example: 52 C in a D (52 Cards in a Deck) 7 D a W (7 Days a Week) 13 in a BD (13 in a Baker's Dozen) So what do you think this one stands for? 5 W in the A 5 Words in the Answer

Puzzle 2
Not including the words in this question, or the hall of fame section, there are six words below, what are they?

RED BOLD ITALIC UNDERLINE lowercase The six words in the puzzle are: Red, Bold, Italic, Underline, Lowercase, and Invisible

Week 4
Here are nine sticks which have been arranged on a flat surface to form a figure that looks like a cube.

Suppose two of the sticks were removed. How could you rearrange the sticks that remained so that they still formed the figure of a cube?

Week 5
Your task for this week is to simply complete the following crossword puzzle? Or is it so simple? Across 1. A completely flat surface 6. A level of thought or existence or development 7. Popular method of aerial transport (abbrev.) 8. Tool for smoothing 9. Type of tall spreading tree with broad leaves Down 1. A state of quiet free from war 2. Otherwise, when all fails... 3. While, when, because, though - used in comparisons 4. Female fowl 5. If at it, relax

The answer to all of the across ones is "Plane", but the downs are a bit trickier. The letters when sounded out phonetically sound like the words that the clues represent. P's for Peace, L's for Else, A's for As (derived from spelling "A's" instead of phonetical), N's for Hens, and E's for Ease.

Week 6
I have listed a few antigrams below. Try to see if you can figure out what an antigram is by these examples.

EVILS AGENTS  (EVANGELISTS) 

REAL FUN  (FUNERAL) 

NICE LOVE  (VIOLENCE) 

NO MORE STARS  (ASTRONOMERS) 

As you can see, when these words are unscrambled, they give the opposite of what the scrambled version says.

Week 7
Which one of the following bulleted numbers is the odd one out, and why? You must provide a reason fairly close to my own.


 * 1367
 * 1243
 * 2791
 * 2450
 * 3958
 * 3462

1243 is the odd one out because it is the only one that can be a time on the 24-hour clock without being rearranged

Week 8
As I was walking into town today, I saw one weapon, two tissues, three oak trees, four sea shores, and five housewives. How many oranges would I have seen? 2. Simply count the number of letters in the word(s) and subtract 5. oranges=7, 7-5=2.

Puzzle 1
In the following image, which one of the four is the odd one out and why? (Your reason must match mine).



The top-right is the odd one out because it is the only square, the bottom-left is the odd one out because it is the only one with a "B," the bottom-right is the odd one out because it is the only one that is yellow. Therefore, the top-left is the odd one out because it hasn't been one of the odd ones out.

Puzzle 2
This is a word game that's trickier than it looks. Your goal is to make the longest word you can using only the six large colorful letters below (they don't have to be large and colorful in your answer, I'm just doing it that way to make them stand out). A few rules, however: Your answer must be a well-known English word (if I have to look it up, it's not "well-known"), and you can't use the same letter twice. Good luck, you'll "solve" this puzzle if you can get a longer word than mine. N    A     S     T     I     E The word I was thinking of was "Assassinate." Take note that it never uses a single letter twice; three or four times, yes, but never twice. Did I win?

Puzzle 1
Figure out where the seven values of the wheel of fortune should go. I have given you three clues to help you out. Also, note the direction of the wheel. Clues:
 * 1) $25 is four spaces after the $10 win.
 * 2) The $100 prize appears between the lousy $1 and $2 payouts, in some order.
 * 3) The $5 position is three spaces after the $1.

Clue 2 says that the $1, $100 and $2 must be consecutive. As the $50 is in the lavender space, this means that the $100 must reside in either the black, purple, blue or yellow space. Now consider clues 1 and 3. If the $100 was in the black or yellow space (with the $1 and $2 on either side), you would be left with three consecutive spaces remaining with the $5, $10 and $25 left to fill. This makes clues 1 and 3 impossible to satisfy. Further investigation of the different cases shows that the $100 space cannot be purple, so it must be blue. Hence, the only possible solution is ($50 was given, and is not included below):

Puzzle 2
Fill in the blank in the following sequence and explain your answer (your reason must match mine):

The blank must be filled in with an "E" because each consecutive set of letters is that same number with the consonants removed. Thus, "ONE" shortens to "OE," "TWO" to "O," "THREE" to "EE," and so on, all the way up to "TEN" ("E").

Week 11
Draw two straight lines across the diamond so that the total of the numbers in each of the resulting four regions is the same. If you cut the 18 into two 1's and two 0's, each part adds up to 7.

Puzzle 1
I am making oatmeal. I have two packages, one that requires 1/2 cup water, and one that requires 2/3 cups water. However, I only have a 1 cup, a 3/4 cup, and a 1/3 cup measuring cup cleaned and have no time to clean or purchase any others. How do I get the correct amounts of water that I need? (Note: puzzle based off real-life situation)

For the 2/3 cup, you fill the 1/3 up, dump it in the bowl, fill it up again, and dump that as well. For the 1/2 cup, you fill up the 1 cup and pour it into the 3/4 until that one is full. You will have 1/4 cup left in your 1 cup container, so dump that into the bowl, dump the 3/4 back into the 1 cup and fill the 1 cup again to repeat for the second 1/4 needed for the 1/2. This puzzle was based off a person that I talked with on IRC that had this problem yet was too lazy to wash out the other measuring cups.

Puzzle 2
A master hires servants to keep his grain accounts. The master would pay the servants $70 for every day that the servants kept his accounts properly, but would fine the servants $100 for every day that they didn't. After 16 days, the master says the servants owe him $30. On how many days did the master keep his grain accounts properly?

None! Not only did the servants keep the master's accounts for him, it's impossible for the servants to keep accounts correctly and wrongly on a combination of sixteen days and end up owning the master thirty dollars, so he had kept the account of how much he owed the servants wrongly as well.

Puzzle 1
How many parts of this four-part challenge can you solve? In each case, a valid equality must be formed by adding a given number of straight lines.

PART 1: Add one line to this sum to make it correct.

8 — 2 = 13 — 3

PART 2: Add two lines to this sum to make it correct.

8 / 2 = 13 — 3

PART 3: Add three lines to this sum to make it correct.

8 2    = 13 — 3

PART 4: Find the alternative solution to Part 3


 * 1) 8 + 2 = 13 - 3
 * 2) 8 X 2 = 13 + 3
 * 3) 1 8 / 2 = 13 - 3 - 1
 * 4) 8/2 -1 = 13 + 3

Puzzle 2
What four letters should replace the blank in order to complete the analogy?

H is to GRAM as D is to ____  RTED  

If you treat them as two words instead of an analogy, you will get "Histogram" and "Distorted"

Week 14
Fill in the blanks in each case. The same logic should apply to each sentence, and the sentences are in approximate order of difficulty.


 * 1) My friend brings me an _______ _______  Ice Cream  ; "But I want a hot dog!" _______ _______   I Scream.
 * 2) Mother's _______ _______  Gray Day  was brightened up when her son said he scored a _______ _______   Grade A  in the test.
 * 3) As a bank, _______ _______  We Loan  money to people so that they can say "One day, _______ _______   We'll Own  this house outright."
 * 4) _______ _______   Why Choose  costly running shoes when you can opt for ordinary _______ _______   White Shoes  instead?
 * 5) The man took all _______ _______ _______  Twenty Sick Swans  to the vet. The fee was $26, which he paid with _______-_______ _______   Twenty-Six Ones.

Puzzle 1
Apart from each being 15 letters long, these are the longest words in the English language that share what characteristic?

'''PARASITOLOGICAL OVERIMAGINITIVE'''

They both go in order of vowel-consonant-vowel

Puzzle 2
There is a word hidden somewhere within the image below. What is it?



The hidden word is "tricky." You may find this word by downloading the image file above, then opening it in a text editor such as Notepad. The message should be fairly obvious once you are there.

Week 16
Which black word in this puzzle section could replace the question marks in order to continue the logic?

RE

RED

RODE

?????

ADORER

EARDROP

PREDATOR

PORTRAYED

STORE DETOUR  RATIO  ROOD  ROTOR  DARES  AIDER

The word is "order" (found in the question). If you notice, "order" is indeed black. I never said it had to be one of the big bolded ones ;)

Puzzle 1
I claim that the word below is a palindrome, meaning that it reads the same forwards and backwards (such as madam, noon, and racecar). However, at first sight, it appears that footstool is not a palindrome. How can I prove that I am right?

In morse code, footstool translates to ..-. --- --- - ... - --- --- .-.., which is indeed a palindrome.

Puzzle 2
As you can see, I've written the number 1 in the middle of a row of letters. You will notice there is a gap in the series, which is a particular missing letter. What is that letter?

 Y Z E P T G M k 1 m  μ n p f a z y 

The missing letter was "μ" (the Greek "mu"). The above list is a list of SI prefixes (some excluded). "μ" is the prefix for "micro-"

Week 18
I'm in a generous mood right now, so I feel like telling you the answer to this puzzle: "seven". Now, all you need to do is work out the question. To aid you, you can use the table below. Simply move one square in any direction each time to spell out the question (spaces and other punctuation are not in the table and can be added wherever you see fit). To help you out a bit more, I've highlighted the start and finish positions for you.

If you start at the "F", you can spell "FIVE ADD FOUR MINUS TWO EQUALS", which indeed comes to "seven."

Week 19
Claire runs the quiz at her local tavern for the benefit of the regulars there. However, in this week's quiz there was quite an amount of controversy.

Why was Claire in so much trouble?

THE GOOSE AND GANDER PUB QUIZ

Q1) Who invented the steam engine? Ans.: James Watt

Q2) In what year was Einstein awarded the Nobel Prize for his theory of relativity? Ans.: 1921

Q3) Who popularized the terms "evolution" and "survival of the fittest"? Ans.: Charles Darwin

Q4) What was Cinderella's slipper made from? Ans.: Glass

Q5) What was Glen Miller's signature tune? Ans.: In the Mood

Q6) What is the capital of Nigeria? Ans.: Lagos

Q7) Which English king signed the Magna Carta at Runnymede? Ans.: King John

All of her answers were based on misconceptions.
 * 1) Watt improved Newcomen's existing engine, but did not invent the steam engine itself.
 * 2) Einstein won his Nobel Prize for his study of the photo-electric effect.
 * 3) Herbert Spencer popularized these terms.
 * 4) In the original story, her slipper was made out of fur - a mistranslation from French to English caused the slipper to turn to glass.
 * 5) It is Moonlight Serenade.
 * 6) The capital is now Abuja.
 * 7) John sealed the Magna Carta, but he did not sign it because he could not write.

Puzzle 1
For the following puzzle, two clues are given per number. Each set of clues can be solved with one word that can be broken up into two words (hyphens may be used). An example is given.


 * Example. to shorten -- means of crossing a river (Answer: abridge, a bridge)


 * 1) something to learn -- wearing fewer articles of clothing (Answer: lesson, less on)
 * 2) to cut short -- appendage of a mongrel dog (Answer: curtail, cur tail)
 * 3) comprehend -- located beneath a bleacher (Answer: understand, under stand)
 * 4) sold to the general public -- to attach the dislodged part of a toy bunny (Answer: retail, re-tail)
 * 5) to ratify or approve -- a cheating business (Answer: confirm, con firm)

Puzzle 2
The series of letters below are in a particular order, and there is a hidden logic. However, any standard approach to solving this will almost certainly fail. Can you find how this sequence was arrived at?

"S K A L N T"

It is based on how these letters are pronounced. "S" starts at the back of the throat, and "T" starts at the tip of the tongue. The other letters fall in between in that order.

Puzzle 1
What is the common trend between the list of words below?


 * Strike
 * Fast
 * Refrain
 * Transparent
 * Citation

All of the words have contradictory meanings, for example:
 * Strike can either mean "to hit" (e.g. in bowling) or "to miss" (in baseball)
 * Fast can either mean "high speed" (that car is fast) or "stuck" (the ball was stuck fast to the quickly drying cement)
 * Refrain can either be a repeated section (such as in a song), or to hold off from talking
 * Transparent is either something that is see-through (a transparent window) or something done in a manner as not to be noticed (esp. in computing)
 * A Citation can either be a commendation for something well-done (like from the military), or it can be given when you do something wrong (like speeding)