Puzzlers

All in the Family
These words all belong to the same logical family because they have something in common:

  • footloose
  • committed
  • successful
  • address
  • millennium

Which of the following words belong to the same family?

  • silly
  • ancestor
  • millstone
  • heedless
Heedless. (All the words in the family have two pairs of double letters.)
Yes or No?
Answer the following question with a simple “yes” or “no”:If the day before the day after the day before today was hotter than the day after the day before today, was the day before today hotter than today?
Yes
The day before the day after the day before today was yesterday. The day after the day before today is today. And the day before today was yesterday. So yes, yesterday was hotter than today.STRATEGY: Use a calendar.
Family Affair
The following people were at a family gathering: a grandfather, a grandmother, two fathers, two mothers, four children, three grandchildren, one brother, two sisters, two sons, two daughters, one father-in-law, one mother-in-law, and one daughter-in-law. What is the smallest number of people who could have been at the gathering? (Hint: The answer is not 23.)
The smallest number is 7. Remember that a grandfather is also a father, a mother can also be a daughter—and even a daughter-in-law. The people at the gathering were as follows: an elderly couple, their son and his wife, and their three children—a boy and two girls.
STRATEGY: Draw a picture or diagram showing family relationships.
The Value of Months
If March = 43 and May = 39, then by the same logic, what does July equal?
July = 68. Each letter is replaced by the number of its position in the English alphabet. Then the numbers are added together.
STRATEGY: Look for a pattern – think of ways letters are represented by numbers.
True Colors
Mr. Black, Mr. Brown, and Mr. White were having a conversation.
“It’s funny,” said Mr. Black to the other two men, “that we are all wearing different colors, but none of us is wearing the color that is the same as his name.”
“True,” agreed the man who was wearing white.
Use the information in this conversation to give the correct last name of the man wearing each color (black, brown, and white).
Since no one can be wearing the same color as his name, Mr. Black can be wearing only brown or white. Since he is talking to a man wearing white, that means Mr. Black must be wearing brown. Mr. White can be wearing only black or brown, but Mr. Black is wearing brown, so Mr. White must be wearing black. That means that Mr. Brown is the man wearing white.
Coffee Break
In your mind, follow these instructions:

  1. Beginning with a full cup of coffee, drink one-sixth of it.
  2. Pour into the cup the same amount of milk as you have just drunk of the coffee.
  3. Now drink one-third of the mixture.
  4. Pour into the cup the same amount of milk as you have just drunk of the mixture.
  5. Now drink one-half of the mixture in the cup.
  6. Pour into the cup the same amount of milk as you have just drunk of the mixture.
  7. Drink the whole cup of liquid.
  8. Have you had more milk or more coffee? How much of each have you had?
You have had the same amount of milk as you have had coffee. The cup originally held a cup of coffee (one-sixth plus one-third plus one-half), and you have poured in the same amount of milk.
STRATEGY: Draw a picture
Home
Regina left home one afternoon. She turned to the right and started running straight ahead. Then she turned to her left, ran, turned to her left again, ran, turned to her left one more time, and ran even faster. She headed for home. Then she saw a masked boy waiting for her. Who was he?
The masked boy was the catcher. Regina played on a coed baseball team.
STRATEGY: Draw a picture or diagram.
Who’s Who?
Can you figure out who’s who and who sits where?
Mr. Black is a butcher, and head of the shopkeepers’ club, which also includes a baker, a grocer, and a candlestick maker. At their meetings, they all sit at a square table. Mr. Black sits at the head of the table, on Ms. Brown’s left. Ms. White sits on the grocer’s right. Mr. Pink, who faces Ms. Brown, is not the baker. What kind of shop does Ms. White have? (Helpful hint: Draw a square or rectangle to represent the table. Keep filling in the information you learn and crossing out whatever can’t be true.)
Draw a square or rectangle to represent the table. Write “Black/butcher” on the top side, since Black sits at the head of the table.
You know that Brown is on the left side of the table, and Pink is on the right, since you are told that Black sits on Brown’s left, and Pink sits opposite Brown. That leaves the bottom side of the table for White. Since White sits on the grocer’s right, Brown is the grocer. If Pink is not the baker, White must be the baker. That means Pink must be the candlestick maker.