Gamma's Puzzle Thread

[Horatio Nelson]

(What a lame intro that used to be!) Exactly what it sounds like. Guess away! :)

Puzzle 1: If you are in a dark room with a candle, a wood stove and a gas lamp.You only have one match, so what do you light first?

[Cygnus]

The match, you need to light it before you are able to light anything else.

[Horatio Nelson]

Correct! :D

I'll put up the next puzzle later. :)

Pronounced as one letter,
And written with three,
Two letters there are,
And two only in me.
I'm double, I'm single,
I'm black, blue, and gray,
I'm read from both ends,
And the same either way.
What am I?

-double post merged. -Emerald Dream

[Emerald Dream]

I'm going to guess that it's "eye."

[Horatio Nelson]

Correct, lol.

At a family reunion were the following people: one grandfather, one 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. But not as many people attended as it sounds. How many were there, and who were they? (We'll try something that takes a tad more thought.)


-please do not double post. -Emerald Dream

[thatguywhosaysEH]

the two grand parents, A married couple (one of whom is the child of the grandparents), and one son and two daughters of the younger couple.

7 people

[Horatio Nelson]

Yep! :)

97 baseball teams participate in an annual state tournament. The champion is chosen for this tournament by the usual elimination scheme. That is, the 97 teams are divided into pairs, and the two teams of each pair play against each other. The loser of each pair is eliminated, and the remaining teams are paired up again, etc. How many games must be played to determine a champion?

[BebeFleur.]

96 games?

[Horatio Nelson]

You got it. :)

Your sock drawer contains ten pairs of white socks and ten pairs of black socks. If you're only allowed to take one sock from the drawer at a time and you can't see what color sock you're taking until you've taken it, how many socks do you have to take before you're guaranteed to have at least one matching pair?

[thatguywhosaysEH]

3 socks

[Horatio Nelson]

Y'all are too good. :P
Hopefully this one will take more than 1 guess lol.

You are the ruler of a medieval empire and you are about to have a celebration tomorrow. The celebration is the most important party you have ever hosted. You've got 1000 bottles of wine you were planning to open for the celebration, but you find out that one of them is poisoned.

The poison exhibits no symptoms until death. Death occurs within ten to twenty hours after consuming even the minutest amount of poison.

You have over a thousand slaves at your disposal and just under 24 hours to determine which single bottle is poisoned.

You have a handful of prisoners about to be executed, and it would mar your celebration to have anyone else killed.

What is the smallest number of prisoners you must have to drink from the bottles to be absolutely sure to find the poisoned bottle within 24 hours

[BebeFleur.]

1000? I don't think I got this one. :P

[Horatio Nelson]

Hint: It is much smaller than you first might think. Try to solve the problem first with one poisoned bottle out of eight total bottles of wine.

[thatguywhosaysEH]

one?

[BebeFleur.]

Well, wouldn't it be , 1000 because it can take up to 20 hours, so you cannot have one prisoner drink from more than one bottle?

*just my confusing logic*

[Horatio Nelson]

Nope. This one is a bit harder, because there are so many variables. You can always pass. If I get up to three "passes" I'll give the answer and start a new puzzle. (3 seems to be the number playing right now.)

[thatguywhosaysEH]

I googled it, but that's cheating so pass.

[Cygnus]

Well, I do not see how 1000 bottles of wine are nescesary so you could reduce the number and throw away say 5 bottles that the slave who died drank, but since that is most likely not the answer I say pass.

[Foamy]

999 prisoners/slaves?

[Horatio Nelson]

999 prisoners/slaves?

Nope.

[CharlieHorse]

0
You will find the poisoned bottle once someone drinks it at the party.

[Horatio Nelson]

0
You will find the poisoned bottle once someone drinks it at the party.

lol, if only it were that easy. :P I'm gonna go ahead and pass this one.

Answer: 10 prisoners must sample the wine. Bonus points if you worked out a way to ensure than no more than 8 prisoners die.

[Horatio Nelson]

What 3 odd numbers added together equal 12?

[thatguywhosaysEH]

How is that even possible?

[Emerald Dream]

it's possible if you count each digit as a separate number

1 + 11

there are three ones

[Horatio Nelson]

Emerald got it right. :D



What is that which you take stuff away from it and becomes bigger?

[Emerald Dream]

probably a hole

[Horatio Nelson]

Correct! :) I'll put up a new puzzle later.

[thatguywhosaysEH]

it's possible if you count each digit as a separate number

1 + 11

there are three ones

But they aren't three separate numbers, it is two digits that compose one number

[Cygnus]

But they aren't three separate numbers, it is two digits that compose one number

He never said they had to be separate numbers, just numbers.

[Horatio Nelson]

Mary's mum has four children.
The first child is called April.
The second May.
The third June.
What is the name of the fourth child?

[Emerald Dream]

Mary, of course

[Horatio Nelson]

Haha :P


Two friends decide to get together; so they start riding bikes towards each other. They plan to meet halfway. Each is riding at 6 MPH. They live 36 miles apart. One of them has a pet carrier pigeon and it starts flying the instant the friends start traveling. The pigeon flies back and forth at 18 MPH between the 2 friends until the friends meet.

How many miles does the pigeon travel?

[BebeFleur.]

That's a stupid way to meet, lol.

[Foamy]

54 miles?

[Horatio Nelson]

I wanted to bring this thread back. :D

A man is sitting in his cabin in Michigan. 3 hours later he gets out of his cabin in Texas. How is this possible?

[Typhlosion]

Time zones and DST?

[Stingray]

He was in his cabin in Michigan, left that and went to his cabin in Texas, and 3 hours on from him being in the first cabin he left the second cabin?

[Horatio Nelson]

Both wrong. :P

[Music Lover]

I wanted to bring this thread back. :D

A man is sitting in his cabin in Michigan. 3 hours later he gets out of his cabin in Texas. How is this possible?

He doesn't change cabins ;)

[Horatio Nelson]

All right, I'll give the answer. He is the pilot in the cabin of an airplane. :P

[Music Lover]

:P I thought there was a town called Texas in Michigan or the other way round...

[Horatio Nelson]

Riddle: There are 2 fathers and 2 sons going on a fishing trip. Every person catches one fish. In total, there were only 3 fish. How is that so?

[Luminous]

One of the fathers is also a son.
Grandfather
Father (Grandfather's son)
Son
Though technically, it's two fathers and three sons, as the grandfather is also a son.

[Horatio Nelson]

Right! :)

[Music Lover]

So they could even go only the father and the grandfather, since both are sons and both are fathers :D

A horse, when ridden, loses weight while you sit idle. But what carries you so that they are idle while you do all the work?

[Hudor]

So they could even go only the father and the grandfather, since both are sons and both are fathers :D

A horse, when ridden, loses weight while you sit idle. But what carries you so that they are idle while you do all the work?

Maybe Earth? except that its only apparently idle.

[Music Lover]

Any other guesses? :)

[Typhlosion]

Bike?
God?

[Stingray]

....

[Music Lover]

Bike?
God?

Bike works :) I was thinking of a rowboat :P