Herewith, the Mail

New Zealand Listener, Volume 2, Issue 30, 19 January 1940, Page 24

Herewith, the Mail

The Editor, Puzzle Corner. Sir,-I feel I must congratulate you on your perverted sense of humour. I just love confounding people, too, but when I start dreaming startling phantasies in which monkeys, ropes, a veritable rainbow of shirts, and an exotic woman called Salome, are interwoven,

then it’s time to take your holidays or concentrate on chess, maybe. But, seriously, I buy The Listener solely for the amusement and brain-fag your column affords me. Miss Collins’s variation or deviation of the monkey puzzle proved much less horrific than it appeared at first glance -both my father and myself reached a correct solution-but those liars! Several problems of various types have come to my notice and I am passing them on for what they are worth: Hats A group of men stand talking, all wearing hats. There are three colours of hats; grey, brown, black. Four of the men are not wearing black hats, four are not wearing grey, four are not wearing brown. How many in the group? Ambition eA young man starting work has the choice of two positions: (i) £100 a year to start, with a £10 Tise each year. (ii) £100 a year to start, with a £5 rise each six months. Which position should he take? Two And Two Makes... Straight mathematics. Topical too! In a leap year a number of women of whom ¥%g were widows, made offers of marriage. In consequence a number of men were married, of whom 1/11 were widowers. Of the offers to widowers 1/5 were declined. All the widows were accepted and 1,221 spinsters were refused by the bachelors; 35/44 of the widows made offers to bachelors and the number of bachelors who married spinsters was 7 times the number of widows who married bachelors. Now-How many women made offers? Drapery Department Call it what you like, but you need brains! Five ladies, each accompanied by her daughter, purchased cloth at the same shop. Each of the ten bought as many feet of cloth as she paid farthings per foot. Each mother spent 8/514d more than her daughter. Mrs. Robinson spent 6/- more than Mrs, Evans, who spent only about a-quarter of what Mrs. Jones did, while Mrs. Smith spent most of all. Mrs. Brown bought 21 yds. more than did Bessie, one of the girls, while of the other girls, Annie bought 16 yds. more than Mary and spent £3/0/8 more than Emily. The other girl’s Christian name was Ada. What was her surname? If that doesn’t make Miss Collins’s hair curl, nothing will. And Mr. Hamer probably will assume a very grave air when he sees it. Once again I wish to thank you for the happy inspiration of Puzzle Corner, and wish you the continued Success of Ye Olde Puzzle Puddler. Yours sincerely.

Mt, Eden

R. B.

HOULIHAN

Sir-The problem about white and black tribes published in a recent issue had us worried, but the answer proved as big a headache as the problem,

Now what's wrong with this solution? Consider what A says. He can’t say "T’m black" because if he was black, being a liar he’d say he was white. If he were white, he’d also say he was white. So he must say "I am white." B, by saying "He said he’s white" told the truth, so must be white. C it follows is black. Your puzzle page is appreciated, How about the invoice sent by the hardware store? 4 iron boxes .- 8/2 wooden do. 4/And I wonder if readers can believe that "Moses was the daughter of Pharaoh’s son." Yours, etc.,

R.

MOSES

Auckland, January 2, 1940.

Answers Sir,-I am sorry to be late with the solutions to the puzzles I sent (published in issue for Christmas), but I have only just returned from a long holiday. (1) The problem about the 2 men and 2 sons shooting 6 ducks, each bringing home an equal number: If the party consisted of a father, son and grandson (3 people only, yet still 2 fathers and their 2 sons), each would bring home 2. (2) What can a man shave with, sleep on and clean his boots with? Note the wording (not WHAT IS IT?). A single word answer is not necessarily required. Answer: A razor, a bed and a brush! (3) The sailor going into the restaurant. The waitress knew he was a sailor by his UNIFORM! The rest of the story is merely a camouflage. Yours, etc.,

Waihi,

R.

G.

January 3, 1940. (R.G. scored. He has sent some more teasers, for which our thanks, They will appear next week.)

J. B, Hogg (Raetihi): The dog will try to catch the hare next week. The salaries catch had come in earlier from another correspondent, but thank you. J. A. Reid (Glenorchy): We can take it (we hope). What have you?

Imagine 15 matches arranged as above. Which three would you take away to leave exactly three complete squares with no matches left over? Take the matches away only in your mind’s eye. (From the book mentioned on this page.) |