Tag: fridaypuzzle

Friday puzzle, no.32 (last in September edition)

I know, I know. You’d got used to a regular Friday puzzle – it’s alluded to in the title, and you were beginning to get worried about where the next one was coming from.

Well, here it is. I’m not sure how to break it to you, though – there won’t be another one for several weeks. Difficulties in the supply chain.

I’m sure you’ll manage. There’s plenty of stuff on the internet to keep you occupied. (No, not that – ed.)

Here’s last week’s puzzle:

I am compiling the BrainBashers world almanac and it now contains lots of pages. I know that it takes 121 digits to print the page numbers in sequence. How many numbered pages does the book have and how many times does the number 9 appear?

And here’s the answer: there are 65 pages and the number 9 appears 6 times.

Here’s this week’s puzzle:

My local bus company has recently expanded and no longer has enough room for all of its buses. Twelve of their buses have to be stored outside. If they decide to increase their garage space by 40%, this will give them enough room for all of their current buses, plus enough room to store another twelve in the future. How many buses does the company currently own?

And here are the other links. Be careful – these will have to last you.

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Friday puzzle, no.31 (first in September edition)

Imagine my surprise at reaching the first edition of the Friday puzzle to be in September. Surely September has arrived at least two months early this year?

Still, we shall plough on with the answer to last week’s puzzle:

Here are 10 well-known six letter words, with only their endings remaining. Can you determine the words?

…era / …cil / …uld / …nis / …nda / …phy / …may / …ese / …eum / …axy

The answer was CAMera / PENcil / SHOuld / TENnis / AGEnda / TROphy / DISmay / CHEese / MUSeum / GALaxy.

Here’s this week’s puzzle:

I am compiling the BrainBashers world almanac and it now contains lots of pages. I know that it takes 121 digits to print the page numbers in sequence. How many numbered pages does the book have and how many times does the number 9 appear?

Other links:

Friday puzzle, no.30 (coming of age edition)

The Friday puzzle comes of age this week. Let there be talk of achievement, ambition, and taking stock. Let there also be talk of puzzles and amusing links that seek to show that, in a world where people buy tat for fun, they will also make tat for fun.

First, the answer to last week’s puzzle:

The island of Elbonia have a rather eccentric postal system. Postage for an item can be anything from 1 dinar to 15 dinari, and you must use exact postage. Frustratingly, there is only space on the envelopes in Elbonia to attach a maximum of three stamps. What is more, they only have three different denominations of stamps, can you work out what they are?

The answer is that the stamps are of value 1, 4 and 5 dinari. Here’s this week’s puzzle:

Here are 10 well-known six letter words, with only their endings remaining. Can you determine the words?

…era / …cil / …uld / …nis / …nda / …phy / …may / …ese / …eum / …axy

Other links:

Friday puzzle, no.29 (post-holiday edition)

Nearly 3 weeks have passed since the last Friday puzzle, which wasn’t exactly a tough one:

Name three consecutive days without using the words Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday, or Sunday.

The easy answer was, of course, yesterday, today and tomorrow. You could also have had Christmas Eve, Christmas Day and Boxing Day etc.

Here’s this week’s offer:

The island of Elbonia have a rather eccentric postal system. Postage for an item can be anything from 1 dinar to 15 dinari, and you must use exact postage. Frustratingly, there is only space on the envelopes in Elbonia to attach a maximum of three stamps. What is more, they only have three different denominations of stamps, can you work out what they are?

Other links:

Friday puzzle, no.28 (holiday edition)

There was no puzzle as such last week, but here’s an easy one to get you back into the swing of things:

Name three consecutive days without using the words Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday, or Sunday.

(Answer after the holiday break.)

Other links:

Friday puzzle, no.27 (taking a breather edition) (updated)

There have been 22 posts since the last Friday puzzle, which is remarkable. For that reason there won’t be a puzzle as such this week, though the normal collection of links will remain.

First, the answer to the last puzzle:

Two friends were driving from their home to Manchester, Kevin drove the first 90 miles, and Daniel took over the remainder of the journey. On the way back, Kevin drove to begin with, and Daniel took over for the last 100 miles. Who drove the most?

The answer is Kevin Daniel [see comments below].

Other links:

Radiohead Covers Corner

Friday puzzle, no.26 (keeping up edition)

We’re back on track with the blog this week, and are thus celebrating in style by actually publishing the Friday puzzle on a Friday.

First, the answer to last week’s puzzle:

During a recent school sports day, four girls were competing in the 400 metres hurdles. Official figures mysteriously went missing just after the event, however, various spectators could remember the following information: 1. Jane won and wore red. 2. The girl wearing number 1 came third. 3. Julie beat the girl in yellow, but wasn’t wearing number 2. 4. Only one girl finished in the same position as the number she wore, but she didn’t wear red. 5. Jackie beat the girl wearing number 3 and Josie wore yellow. 6. The girl in green wore number 2. 7. A spectator remembered one girl wore blue, but couldn’t remember anything else about her. Can you determine the positions the girls finished in, along with the numbers and colours they wore?

The answer is: First: Jane, 4, Red / Second: Jackie, 2, Green / Third: Julie, 1, Blue / Fourth: Josie, 3, Yellow

This week’s puzzle:

Two friends were driving from their home to Manchester, Kevin drove the first 90 miles, and Daniel took over the remainder of the journey. On the way back, Kevin drove to begin with, and Daniel took over for the last 100 miles. Who drove the most?

Other links:

Friday puzzle, no. 25 (too much work edition)

The blog has suffered a little bit over the last week, as real world responsibilities infringed on the much more important issue of blogging. And so it is with a hope you realise we’ll try and make things better that we offer this week’s Friday puzzle.

First, the answer to last week’s puzzle:

Can you spell 100 valid words within 100 seconds? However they MUST NOT contain the letters A, B, C or D?

The answer could easily be yes or no, depending on how you did. A very quick and easy answer is just to count from 0 to 99. None of these numbers contains A, B, C or D.

Here’s this week’s puzzle:

During a recent school sports day, four girls were competing in the 400 metres hurdles. Official figures mysteriously went missing just after the event, however, various spectators could remember the following information: 1. Jane won and wore red. 2. The girl wearing number 1 came third. 3. Julie beat the girl in yellow, but wasn’t wearing number 2. 4. Only one girl finished in the same position as the number she wore, but she didn’t wear red. 5. Jackie beat the girl wearing number 3 and Josie wore yellow. 6. The girl in green wore number 2. 7. A spectator remembered one girl wore blue, but couldn’t remember anything else about her. Can you determine the positions the girls finished in, along with the numbers and colours they wore?

Other links:

Friday puzzle, no.24 (the musical edition)

Is it just me, or are these Friday puzzles coming around rather quickly lately?

Here’s the answer to last week’s puzzle:

These words can all have a letter added and then be rearranged to make a new 5-letter word. The letters added spell a 9-letter word. What are the new words? HERB, BANG, KEEN, SUIT, QUAD, WHEY, CELL, TOIL, WILD.

The answer was BERTH, BEGAN, KNEEL, SUITE, SQUAD, CHEWY, CELLO, PILOT, WIELD, and the added letters spell TELESCOPE.

Here’s a quick, throwaway puzzle until next time:

Can you spell 100 valid words within 100 seconds? However they MUST NOT contain the letters A, B, C or D?”

Other links:

Friday puzzle, no.23 (Thursday edition)

In an unheard of departure from the normal publishing schedule of the Friday puzzle, this week’s edition comes to you a day early. I’m not sure the normal time-space continuum will be able to cope with this, but let’s see what happens.

First, the answer to last week’s puzzle:

A farmer was asked how many chickens he had sold at market that day. His reply was: “I’ve had four customers today, and each bought half of my remaining chickens, plus a half chicken.” The farmer sold all of his chickens at market that day. How many chickens did the farmer sell?

The answer was 15 chickens.

This week’s puzzle:

These words can all have a letter added and then be rearranged to make a new 5-letter word. The letters added spell a 9-letter word. What are the new words? HERB, BANG, KEEN, SUIT, QUAD, WHEY, CELL, TOIL WILD

Other links: