Puzzles to puzzle you...
Puzzle 1:
Here's a nice little puzzle where each of the missing words is an anagram
of the (earlier word + an extra letter)
"- do not like --", said the man with the black ---. The ---- may
be impressive, but when you ----- a man, you ------ a ------- degree
of propriety. -------- against --------- will set in when the
---------- of this is realized."
Puzzle 2:
There's a prison with 100 cells(all have doors/gates). Initially all the
gates are closed. A cop comes in and opens all the 100 gates. II one comes
in and closes every alternate gate starting from the II one. III cop checks
in and starting from the third cell every third cell thereafter he reverses
the operation(close the gate if open and vice-versa) . IV cop checks in
and does a similar operation as the III cop but he starts from the IV cell
and every IV cell thereafter.....this goes on till 100 cops have done with
their job of opening/closing of the gates.
The question is:
what are cells that are open and those which are closed finally ??
Puzzle 3:
In far-off Puzzlania, a prisoner waits on death row.
By custom, the night before a man is to be executed, he plays a game- either
of chance or skill, it is the judge's discretion. This game will decide
whether the prisoner will indeed die, or have his sentence commuted.
This particular prisoner was presented with a game
that was perhaps a little of both. Before him are two large urns. One urn
contains fifty black balls, the other fifty white balls. Tomorrow, the
executioner will, while blindfolded, draw a ball randomly from one of the
two urns. If it's black, it's curtains for the prisoner. If it's white
his sentence will be commuted to life.
The prisoner wants very much to live, and is pleased
that with the current state of affairs his chances of living are fifty-fifty.
He is then presented with an option- he may change the contents of the
urns. He can swap white balls for black, move balls from urn to urn, etc.
There is a stipulation that when he is done, there must be fifty white
and fifty black balls total between the two urns- he can't eat some of
the black balls or paint them or anything.
It occurs to the prisoner he might be able to help
his situation by moving the balls so that there were twenty-five of each
color in each urn, then making sure the white balls were on top. But the
executioner might have guessed this, and may shake up the urns. Worse yet,
he might deliberately reach to the bottom of the urn he chooses.
Is there another way the prisoner can help himself?
Puzzle 4:
There is a man who lives on the top floor of a very tall building.
Everyday he gets the elevator down to the ground floor to leave the
building to go to work. Upon returning from work though, he can only
travel half way up in the lift and has to walk the rest of the way unless
it's raining! Why?
This is probably the best known and most celebrated
of all lateral thinking puzzles. It is a true classic. Although there
are many possible solutions which fit the initial conditions, only
the canonical answer is truly satisfying.
Puzzle 5:
A man and his son are in a car accident. The father dies on the scene,
but the child is rushed to the hospital. When he arrives the surgeon says,
"I can't operate on this boy, he is my son!" How can this be?
Puzzle 6:
A man is wearing black. Black shoes, socks, trousers, jumper, gloves
and balaclava. He is walking down a black street with all the street lamps
off. A black car is coming towards him with its light off but somehow manages
to stop in time. How did the driver see the man?
Puzzle 7:
One day Kerry celebrated her birthday. Two days later her older twin brother,
Terry, celebrated his birthday. How?
Puzzle 8:
Why is it better to have round manhole covers than square ones?
This is logical rather than lateral, but it is a good puzzle that can be
solved by lateral thinking techniques. It is supposedly used by a very
well-known software company as an interview question for prospective employees.
Puzzle 9:
A man went to a party and drank some of the punch. He then left early.
Everyone else at the party who drank the punch subsequently died of
poisoning. Why did the man not die?
Puzzle 10:
A woman had two sons who were born on the same hour of the same day of
the same year. But they were not twins. How could this be so?
Puzzle 11:
A man walks into a bar and asks the barman for a glass of water. The barman
pulls out a gun and points it at the man. The man says 'Thank you' and
walks out. This puzzle claims to be the best of the genre. It is simple
in its statement, absolutely baffling and yet with a completely satisfying
solution. Most people struggle very hard to solve this one yet they like
the answer when they hear it or have the satisfaction of figuring it out.
Puzzle 12:
A Cube of side 10 units (10 x 10 x 10) is coated with blue color
on its perimeter( i.e. outside). Now, this cube is broken into small cubes
of side 1 unit(1 x 1 x 1). How many small such cubes will have atleast
one side coated with blue color?
Puzzle 13:
A gardener plants trees on a line which runs 100units east then 100 units
north, then 100 units west ,then 98 units south and 98 units east and so
on. After planting the trees, he walks in the middle of the path. What
distance will he have to travel to reach the centre?
Puzzle 14:
There are certain no. of biscuits in a box. There are five children in
the house. The first child opens the box and takes half the number of biscuits
and one half biscuit so that he gets the maximum share. The second child
then opens the box and takes half the number of remaining biscuits and
a half biscuit. this process goes on till the fifth child. When the fifth
child leaves there are no biscuits in the box. How many were there in the
begining?
Puzzle 15:
A professor announces a "Surprise test" the succeeding week.
( Mon, Tue,...,Fri). He says that by "Surprise test", he means
that when the students come to class in the morning, they wouldn't
be able to conclude that the test is to be held on that day.
One student argues as follows :
The test cannot be held on Friday, since on Friday morning,
the students will know that the test has to be held on that day,
and hence will no more be a "Surprise test". ( Given that the test
is not held Mon,...,Thu. (Fri is the last possible day) Hence, the test
has to be held on Mon, Tue,..., or Thu. Now, on Thu morning when the students
come in, they will know that the test will be held on that day,( as argued
before, the test cannot be held on Fri) This implies that the test held
on Thu will not be a "Surprise Test" and hence cannot be held on that day.
The test has to be held on Mon,Tue or Wed. Similar argument eliminates
Wed,Tue and Mon, and hence, the "Surprise test" cannot be held at all !!!
What is the flaw in the argument above ???
Puzzle 16:
3 guys are made to sit in a circle so that they can see each other. Again
there are 3 white caps and 2 black caps (this fact is known to everybody).
One
cap is put on each man's head. It so happens that all 3 have white
caps on their heads. In comes a gentleman and asks them to guess the color
of their cap (this
question is addressed to all of them together). After some silence
Chanakya (of the Kautilya fame) says the correct answer. How did he arrive
at the answer?
parameshbabu@angelfire.com
