"NUTS!"

Evening Post, Volume CXVI, Issue 103, 28 October 1933, Page 5

"NUTS!"

• # INTELLECT SHARPENERS All rights reserve*. (By T. L. Briten.)

Readers with a little Ingenuity will find in this column an abun- -, dant store of entertainment and amusement, and the solving of the problems should provide excellent mental exhilaration. While some of the "nuts" may appear harder than others, it will be found that none will require a sledge-hammw to crack them. THREE CARPENTERS. Jones, Brown, and Smith are. three carpenters who have a contract to plane a certain quantity of boards, but they possess only two benches, which makes it necesary for working in "pairs." They all have different capacities so far as concerns the quantity of this particular class of work they can perform alone under similar conditions, and this is the question that the reader is required to answer from the following few details. Jones and Brown when working at their respective benches are able to plane two boards in eight minutes working at full capacity, Jones and Smith take exactly nine minutes to do precisely similar work, while Smith, who has the slowest speed of the three men when thus employed, occupies,when working iv company with Brown as in the two previously mentioned pairs, ten minutes to get through the same quantity of work, . and under exactly the 'same conditions. Can the reader find to the nearest half-minute how long each of the three carpenters would require to plane two similar boards to those referred to? THREE TOR THE ARMCHAIR. A man paid an account for an amount that entitled him to receive ten shillings change for a five-pound note. If the shopkeeper allowed a discount on the amount of the bill by giving the man an extra two shillings and threepence change, what rate per cent, would this discount represent? • ■ • ■ • I purchased an article last week, but finding it not of much use for the particular purpose required, sold it to a friend for thirty shillings. This meant a loss to me of .33 1-3 per cent, on the sum that it cost, and the question is how much was it? ■ . The number of runs made by a batsman in seven complete innings, _ each score being greater than the one immediately before it, showed that his average was thirty-five runs per innings. If the average for the first three was twenty-five runs per innings, and for the last throe innings exactly twenty runs more, can the reader say how many runs the batsman made in his fourth innings? And if that number of runs represents fifteen more than the average of the whole eleven players in the last innings of the seven, what was the nverage per wicket in the latter case ? The last question may require a slight technical knowledge of the game, but no doubt most readers possess this. ARRIVAL OF CAPTAIN COOK. An interesting item was reported in the .daily Press, namely, that Saturday, October 7, was the one hundred and sixty-third anniversary of the day that Captain Cook first sighted New Zealand at a point now known as "Young. Nick's Head," named after his cabin boy, who first reported land. The item at once prompted the little question as a good intellect-sharpening puzzle, namely, to find upon what day of the week did this historical event happen? Although the arithmetical calculation is absurdly simple, there, are two little points in the question that must be carefully noted if the reader is to return a correct reply, and one of thesepossible pitfalls can be avoided by a careful reading of the statement made. AN ALPHABETICAL SUM. The ingenious reader who solves this little alphabetical puzzle-sum' arithmetically and not by trial methods within, say, ten minutes, cannot fairly be reproached with wasting time. But even if more than that number of minutes be spent in the effort, to find the numerical equivalent of each of the letters involved, tho solver should.obtain a fitting reward for his patience in the mental enjoyment experienced. As each of the ton letters in the sum has its own numerical value uniformly, it follows that the cipher- has an equivalent as well as each of the digits. J H ■Subtract B I Remainder IF Multiplied by A ; Product ])ti Divided by; , J Quotient B F Tho latter • two letters representing the sum of C and E. AN ART UNION ALLOCATION. The periodical allocation of, the funds from art unions and the difficulty experienced by the authorities in distributing the moneys to the numerous and most deserving organisations prompts this little problem. It will be assumed that the profits of one of these concerns to the sum of twelve thousand five hundred pounds were wholly given to two institutions in each of three large provincial towns, a hospital and an unemployment committee in each place, and the question for the reader to decide is which hospital and which unemployment committee belong to each of the three respective towns. Let us call the three hospitals "A," «fB," "C" respectively, and the three committees "X," "V," and "Z," in the same manner, and Assume that the three latter wero given "altogether four thousand nine hundred and. fifty pounds (£4950) as their combined share, "X" being given one hundred and twentyfive pounds (£125) more than " V," and "Z" the same amount more than "X." Hospital "A" received as much as the unemployment committee in the same town, hospital "B" half as much again as the committee in its city, while hospital "C" was given twice as much as the unemployment authorities in the same place. Identifying them by letters, can tho reader say which hospital and committeo are- in the same town? LAST WEEK'S SOLUTIONS. Six Sags of Coins. —The bag marked 20 contained the gold. The other is now obvious. Three for the Armchair. —Thirty shillings. (2) Twenty-two pounds. (3) •Three dozen at Is 6d per dozen. A Partnership Question.— As the joint profits were £2100, Ashton should receive £1200 and £560 for Biggs's debt, tho latter getting £340. A Tennis "Round." —The minimum number of courts necessary is ten, and this number would be sufficient if the players were so occupied for ten consecutive days. Missing Digits. 215 ) 123195 (573 1075 15C9 1505 645 640 ANSWERS TO CORRESPONDENTS. "Axiom." —lt is vailed a right pyramid when the axis is perpendicular.

to the base. When inclined to the base it is an oblique pyramid. "Curious." —lt is obvious that there must be an odd number of times which means that there is a flaw in your statement of the otherwise ingenious puzzle. "A.B.C. " —Thanks, but see last week's issue. '