Web Puzzles

"Four drawings by Max Ernst are worth as much as five sketches by Magritte, do you agree?" asked Giorgio Parconi, an Italian art dealer. He was tired of arguing over this.

"D'accord!" agreed Cesar Blanchard, who was the director of a Parisian art gallery.

"And we all agree that two sketches by Magritte plus one drawing by Ernst are worth as much as two paintings by Bacon. Right?"

"Bon," nodded the frenchman.

"So, I'm offering you four drawings by Ernst plus one sketch by Magritte, and in return you give me three sketches by Magritte and two paintings by Bacon. It's perfectly fair, isn't it?"

Blanchard remained silent, he had the feeling that something was wrong.

Was the Italian dealer offering a fair swap?

Solution

"Where do you think you're going with that thing?" asked the bus driver.

"Where do you think I'm going? On this bus, of course. Why, can't I?" replied the electrician.

"No, of course you can't," said the bus driver in a very patronising way. "It is forbidden to bring any object of length, width, or height greater than one metre on any bus. That thing you're carrying is longer than one metre."

"It's got nothing to do with a ticket," screeched the driver. "You could buy a dozen tickets, and I still would not let you ride on this bus!"

Irritation grew rapidly within the electrician. "Listen! I need to take this neon light tube to a ceremony. I don't have a car. The cabbies are on strike. And it's raining. What do you expect me to do!"

"I don't know, and I don't care anyway. You ain't gonna come on this bus with that tube. End of story."

Quickly, the electrician dashed into a shop next to the bus stop and came out with a package containing the neon tube. Smugly, with all thirty-two teeth on display, he showed the package to the bus driver. "Now can I come on the bus?"

With a snort, the bus driver pulled out a folding rule and performed a precise measurement. Scowling, he waved in the smug commuter.

How did the electrician manage to pack a 1.2 metre neon tube into a package less than one metre?

Solution

"Now be careful!" Tamerlano warned his prisoner. "You can see that in this room, there are two doors guarded by two soldiers. You can tell by their clothes that they come from two different clans. One of the doors leads to a pool of crocodiles; the other one leads to a healthy horse and a sack of gold. To determine which door leads to certain death and which leads to freedom and wealth, you may ask a single question to one of these soldiers. From that answer, you must make your decision. One more warning; one of these soldiers always tells the truth, and the other one always lies."

The prisoner, an intelligent Greek merchant, meditated for a while, bowed to the great conqueror, and with a grin on his face, approached one of the soldiers.

What question would open the door of freedom?

Solution

It was a beautiful day, perfect for a stroll. After leaving the cars at the edge of the woods, four couples moved towards the river, reaching its bank after a two-mile walk. The restaurant where they intended to dine was on the other side, partially hidden by trees.

But even on a perfectly planned day, evil could come and spoil it. During the stroll, Albert quietly told Amanda that she shouldn't have dressed quite so promiscuously, whilst she replied that he could have done a better job in refraining from making his oh-so-kind compliments to the other three girls. Bernard whispered menacing words at Barbara The Easy Flirt (as he called her then), and Barbara told him that his relationship with the other girls was of dubious morality. Simillar sorts of exchanges happened between Charles and Corinna, and between Douglas and, err, Diana. Reaching the river and seeing the flowing water did little to tame the souls. On the contrary, when the eight friends noticed that instead of the large boat that would carry them all over to the opposite bank, there was only a little boat that would carry no more than two persons at once, the irritation grew to the point that everybody started arguing with everybody else.

The river was about one hundred yards wide, with a small island in the middle. None of the four men were keen on leaving his girlfriend alone with one or more of his other male friends. On the other hand, the women found out that they could only agree on one point: none of their boyfriends should be alone on the boat when one of the girls, excluding his girlfriend, was all alone on any of the two banks or on the island.

Once the tempers calmed, Bernard and Douglas forumlated a plan involving many trips.

How many trips would it take to ferry everyone across whilst still adhering to the wishes of all the people?

Solution 

Notes:

• In case you haven't guessed, the couples are, Albert and Amanda, Bernard and Barbara, Charles and Corinna, and Douglas and Diana.
• No woman should stay on one of the banks, on the island, or on the boat, in the company of one or more other men and without her boyfriend
• No man should be alone on the boat when one of the girls, except his girlfriend, was all alone on one of the two banks or on the island

"This is terrible," the customs officer shouted. "It's impossible to count all these people and animals that keep moving around constantly. I can't count the same number twice! There are zebras, lions, giraffes, horses, elephants, rhinos, tigers, cheetas, flamingos, storks, doves and hummingbirds! I can't keep them under control, I just can't!"

"Count the heads, officer," the circus owner advised. "Every animal has got a head and, as the documentation shows, I can count 112 of them."

"Count the legs, officer, that's the way," the clown said. "There are 310 legs; if you subtract the number of heads from the number of legs, you'll be able to tell how many bipeds and how many four-legged animals there are."

"Wait a second, I've just counted the legs just now, and there's 297 of them," the cook said.

"This is driving me mad," the officer muttered. "One of them tells me there are 112 heads, another one talks about 310 legs, and that mentally-disturbed cook tells me that the number of legs is only 297. How many animals, including humans, are there?

To be more precise, how many bipeds and how many four-legged animals are there? And is the cook completely mad?

Solution

In the basement of the Italian "cantina", there are 3 small, irregularly-shaped, wine barrels: a 12-litre one, full, and two empty ones, which can contain up to 7 and 5 litres.

Without using any additional tool, how can you get exactly 6 litres of wine in the 7-litre barrel, and have 6 litres left in the 12-litre barrel?

Solution

A little nation in Antarctica has its gold coins manufactured by eight different European companies. The Treasury Minister and his secretary were examining samples just delivered from the eight companies.

"How much should these coins weigh?" the Minister asked.

"Ten grams each, Sir."

"At least one of these coins - this one - is lighter than the others," said the Minister. "Let's check."

He put the coin on the scale, which showed that the coin weighed only nine grams. A bunch of coins, untidily placed on a tray, were frantically searched by the Minister and his secretary. Within the bunch, they found a handful of coins that also weighed one gram less than they should. The two men looked at each other; obviously, one of the manufacturing companies was producing coins with the wrong weight.

"Most of the coins are still packed in the plastic wrappers. It should be easy to tell which company is producing the faulty batch," said the secretary.

The two men placed eight packs of coins on the table, one pack from each company.

"How tedious," sighed the Minister. "Do we really have to use this scale eight more times, just to find the faulty batch of coins?"

"That won't be necessary, Sir," grinned the secretary. "We can find the lighter coins by using the scale only once."

How would they do it?

Solution

Notes:
By using the scale once, it means that only one reading can be taken after all the coins to be weighed are placed onto the scale. ie, you cannot read the values as you place the coins on -- that would make the puzzle too easy!

"And what about these two posters?"

"Those are the posters that will be hung on the south side of Red Square: as you can see they represent comrades Lenin and Marx."

"I can see that by myself. What I meant was the other two posters over there, the one with the Red Star and the one with the Hammer and Sickle."

The four posters were lined up and showed, from left to right, Lenin, Marx, the Red Star, and the Hammer And Sickle.

"Oh, they are nothing but the back of the other two. I wanted you to also see the back-faces of the posters, as these back-faces will be invisible from the inside of the Square."


"Hmmm... so enlighten me, which is the front of the poster representing the Hammer And Sickle?"
Nikita Proskoijev grinned, "I would like to test your deduction capabilities, dear comrade; a capability, I might add, which some people have had the guts to doubt. I say that all posters representing Lenin show the Hammer And Sickle on their opposite face. How would you verify this statement, in such a way that leaves no shadow of a doubt?"

"Do you mean, dear tovarisc, that I should turn these gigantic posters around to see which comrade matches the Star and which the Hammer And Sickle?"

"I have said what I have said, dear Ivanovic; it is up to you to decide what is the minimum number of posters to turn around to verify whether my statement was true or false."

Ivanovic felt very cold, as if he was in Siberia. What is the minimum number of posters, out of the four displayed, that he has to turn around to verify the statement of that cunning snake?

Solution