AMITAVA'S RIDDLES - JUNE 2006



 

RIDDLE #01

The following 11 letters can be anagrammed into a three-word phrase meaning "an insincere invitation to meet again soon."  Can you figure it out?

LLEOUCDHSTN

 

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RIDDLE #02

Rearrange these six matchsticks to make "nothing."  No matchsticks may be bent, broken, or placed over each other.

l     l     l     l     l     l

 

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RIDDLE #03

Dwight had been playing cards with 3 of his friends.  Thinking about the game afterwards, he recalled these facts:

A.  Ambrose and Bertram had better scores than the doctor
B.  Ambrose first dealt to Bertram, then to Mr. Hooper, then to the accountant, and then to himself
C.  In the last hand, Bertram dealt to the priest, to Mr. Hooper, to Clint, and then to himself
D.  Mr. Eastwood went home before Clint did
E.  The doctor had a better score than Mr. Grimm
F.  Mr. Fuller went home before the priest

With these facts, sprinkled with a little logical deduction, you ought to be able to work out who was who.  For example, what were the musician's first and last names?

 

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RIDDLE #04

Bill climbs a 2-mile hill at an uphill speed of 2 MPH, spends no to at the top, and immediately walks down at 6 MPH.  What is his average speed for the up and down trip?

 

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RIDDLE #05

After paying all your holiday bills, you're very short of cash.  You have a total of $9.60 in your pocket.  The money is composed of equal numbers of quarters, dimes, and nickels, but no other coins.  How many of each of those three coins do you have?

 

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RIDDLE #06

A man went into his local bank to cash a check.  In handing over the money, the girl behind the counter mistakenly gave him dollars for cents and cents for dollars.  The man pocketed the money without even bothering to examine it.  On the way home, he spent a nickel.  He then found that he possessed exactly twice the amount for which his check had been made out.  If he had no money in his pocket before going to the bank, can you tell how much his check was for?

 

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RIDDLE #07

Here's another palindrome.  Can you figure out what the vehicle used for transporting sailors would be called?

_ _ _ Y  _ _ _ 

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RIDDLE #08

Each of the following words except one can be rearranged to spell the name of a person or city.  Unscramble the words and find the one that cannot be unscrambled.

ANIMAL      BUTCHERS     PASTURE     PANELS     VIKING

 

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RIDDLE #09

Find the word that fits the first definition, then add a "T" in front of it to make a new word that fits the second definition.

Place a "T" in front of a musical instrument and get a part of most rosebushes.

Place a "T" in front of gaining a victory and get one of a pair.

 

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RIDDLE #10

Take the word SPARKLING.  Take away any one letter and leave a new word.  Take away any one letter from the new word and leave another new word.  Continue to remove letters and form a new word each time until you finish with just one letter.  After each turn, you must not disturb the order of the remaining letters.

 

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RIDDLE #11

If 6 puzzle makers can compose nine puzzles in a day and a half, how many puzzle makers does it take to compose 270 puzzles in thirty days?

 

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RIDDLE #12

What is the number that is 10 more than one-tenth of one-fourth of one-fifth of 1,000?

 

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RIDDLE #13

Ahoy, blow, chin, defy, erst, flux, gist, hint, imps, know,, lops, most.  Apart from all having 4 letters, what do these 12 words have in common?  Can you supply one five-letter word having the same property?  How about a six-letter word?

 

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RIDDLE #14

Two runners are running as fast as they can.  They averaged 6 miles per hour, and then had to rest.  On the way back, they only averaged 4 miles per hour for the same distance.  Not counting the resting time, what was their average speed?

 

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RIDDLE #15

Make a dent in your mental energy and complete the word below by filling in the missing letters.

I _ V _ L _  _ R _ B _ L _ T _

 

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RIDDLE #16

A man went into a bank with exactly $1000, all in dollar bills.  He gave the money to a cashier and said, "Put this money into ten bags in such a way that if I call and ask for a certain number of dollars, you can hand me one or more bags, giving me the exact amount called for, without having to open any of the bags."  How was the cashier able to do this?

 

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RIDDLE #17

If Brazil is east of New York, cross out all the W's and X's.  If not, cross out all the A's.  If Henry VIII lived in the same century as Columbus, cross out all the Y's.  If not, cross out the M's and N's.  If Golden Gate Bridge is the longest suspension bridge in the world, cross out all the S's and E's.  If not, cross out all the I's and Z's.  What word do you have left?

M X Y E Z W N X Y Z S I I X Y A Z W X I

 

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RIDDLE #18

When the following words are unscrambled, which is the odd man out?

THRONE          GREAT          FOWL          BRAZE

 

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RIDDLE #19

An officer wishing to arrange his men in a solid square found by his first arrangement that he had 39 men left over.  He then started increasing the number of men on a side by one, but found that 50 additional men would be needed to complete the new square.  How many men did the officer have?

 

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RIDDLE #20

All the vowels have been removed from a popular proverb and the remaining letters broken up into groups of four (with three nulls, the X's).  Replace the vowels to read the proverb.

LLTH     TGLT     TRSS     NTGL     DXXX

 

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RIDDLE #21

What is the four digit number in which the first digit is the regulation number of players on a basketball team, the second and third digits are the product of three times the first digit, and the last digit is the sum of the second and third digits.

 

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RIDDLE #22

A glass is one-third full of wine.  Another glass, with equal capacity, is only one-quarter full of wine.  Each glass is then filled to the brim with water, and the contents of both glasses are poured into a jug.  Half of the mixture is now poured into one of the glasses.  What proportion of the wine and what proportion of the water are now in the glass?

 

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RIDDLE #23

Your down to your last few dollars; so you decide to break into your household piggy bank.  You manage to extract quite a few coins, for a total of $16.  To your surprise, you have exactly the same number of half dollars, quarters, and nickels.  How many of each coin do you have?

 

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RIDDLE #24

Reduce the high-flown language below to a common saying:

It is possible to make a choice of the persons with whom one wishes to associate socially, but that option is not available in the case of consanguineous individuals.

 

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RIDDLE #25

Kevin treated his girlfriend to a bus ride, but because of his limited resources they had to walk back.  Now, if the bus goes at an average speed of 9 miles per hour and they can walk back at the rate of three miles per hour, how far did they ride so that they made it back in eight hours?

 

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