BrainTeasers

COMMUNITY MAGAZINES

Village Voice

PRESERVING THE COMMUNITY

SPIRIT IN THE WEST MIDLANDS

BRAINTEASERS

JUST FOR FUN

Every month we include a series of BrainTeasers just for fun. Some of them have been submitted by readers and we are always keen to encourage more - using the Contact Us page is probably easiest.

QUIZ 1

Questions

1. We start with a puzzle designed to test various elements of your brainpower:

1a. How do you put a giraffe in a refrigerator?

1b. How do you put an elephant in a refrigerator?

1c. The lion calls an animal conference which is attended by all the animals....except one. Which one?

1d. You have to cross a river which is used by crocodiles but you do not have a boat. How do you get across?

2. Our next three are simple (or not so simple) word puzzles. But can you work them out?

2a. HAIR HAIR HAIR HAIR HAIR

HAIR HAIR HAIR HAIR

HAIR HAIR HAIR

HAIR HAIR

HAIR

2b. QUEUE

TALL PERENNIAL GRASS

RULE

2c. NASMETOFOLOPVE

3. Next we have two simple questions for you to answer - but beware they are not as easy as they look:

3a. A man is sentenced to be executed for his crimes. As he is the brother of the king, however, he is given a choice as to how he should die. What should he choose?

3b. I have 7 envelopes and £100 in £1 coins. How can I split the coins up into different envelopes so that whatever amount you ask for I can give you.

4. And finally, we have a selection of three real toughies - see how you get on:

4a. What is special about about this sequence of numbers?

8 5 4 9 1 7 6 10 3 2

4b. You are a prisoner and condemned to death. You are given 50 white marbles and 50 black marbles and two bowls. You can put the marbles in the bowls in any combination you want. You will then be blindfolded and will have to chose one bowl. From this bowl you must take a single marble. If it is white you will be pardoned, if it black you will be put to death. In what combination would you put the marbles in the bowls in order to give

yourself the best chance of survival?

Answers

1a. It’s quite simple really - open the door, put the giraffe in and then close the door! (A test of your ability to keep things simple).

1b. Open the door, take the giraffe out, put the elephant in and then close the door. (A test of your powers of logic).

1c. The elephant - because he’s in the refrigerator of course! (A test of your memory).

1d. You swim across - remember the crocodiles are at the animal conference. (A test of your persistence in answering silly questions!

2a. Say what you see - in this case it’s a RECEDING HAIR LINE

2b. Again all you need to do is READ (REED) BETWEEN THE LINES.

2c. Look carefully and it is the command STOP IN THE NAME OF LOVE.

3a. Old age, of course!

3b. The following numbers of coins should be put into the envelopes: 1, 2, 4, 8, 16, 32 and 37. The first six are a mathe-matical progression. The last makes the total up to £100.

4a. They are in alphabetical order: eight, five, four, nine, one seven, six, ten, three, two.

4b. The best combination is to put a single white marble in one bowl and all the rest (black and white) in the other. If you choose the bowl with the single marble you have a 100% chance of success. If you pick the other you have a 49.49% chance of success. This means the overall chance of success is 75.75% - much higher than any other combination.

DID YOU

KNOW?

The distribution of VILLAGE VOICE changes every month. This ensures that regular advertisers have their advertise-ments

seen by as many potential customers as possible.

This means that around 5000 households in the area receive their own copy of VILLAGE VOICE every three months.

In addition, copies are made available every month in local libraries, health centres and other public buildings.