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Blind Man's Bluff
A blind man drives up to a house, gets out of the car and goes up to the door with a package. The homeowner takes the package and gives the blind man a check. The blind man then drives away. What was in the package?
View full teaser and answerWhat You Need
What, when you need it you throw away,
but when you don't need it you take it back?
Black to Play
Hector Rosetto as Black against James Sherwin has just played Bb4, hoping to initiate exchanges. Sherwin surprised him. What was the best move and the follow-up in this position?
View solutionThree Left Turns
A man leaves home on foot one evening, makes three left turns and arrives back home to find two masked men waiting there. Who are they?
View full teaser and answerSanta's Toys
Ole Santa's pack held thirty toys
Made by his elfin crew;
And though none made the same amount,
Each elf made more than two.
The elf named Cher made one more Christmas toy
Than the elf who dressed in reds,
But Cher made one less Christmas toy
Than the elf who made the sleds.
Spry Johnny Elf made racing cars;
Five toys were made by Jane.
The elf who dressed in yellow suits
Made each and every train.
The elf who always dressed in green
Made one-third as many as Sue;
Cute Marcia elf was dressed in orange,
And one elf dressed in blue.
The elf who made the spinning tops
Made the most toys of ...
Survival of the Sheep
There is an island filled with grass and trees and plants. The only inhabitants are 100 lions and 1 sheep. The lions are special:
1) They are infinitely logical, smart, and completely aware of their surroundings.
2) They can survive by just eating grass (and there is an infinite amount of grass on the island).
3) They prefer, of course, to eat sheep.
4) Their only food options are grass or sheep.
Now, here's the kicker:
5) If a lion eats a sheep he TURNS into a sheep (and could then be eaten by other lions).
6) A lion would rather eat grass all his life than be eaten by another lion (after he turned into a sheep).
Assumptions:
1) Assume that one lion...
Gullible's Travels
What does this rebus mean?
J, ____ & Titanic
View full teaser and answerMono-Grammar
Each of the following sentences contains clues to a set of three words that are spelled the same, except for one letter (each sentence describes a different set). Example: malt, melt, molt.
1) To reduce the strength of the enemy, the general ordered a siege of the citadel.
2) The winner of the contest won a vessel and the loser received a kick in the pants.
3) Bill tried to remove a piece of wood from the pile, but it was jammed between two logs.
4) Ed grabbed the bucket of hot water with his bare hands, causing an ache to two of his fingers.
View full teaser and answerOperation: Fish-ectomy
Six words have had their fish removed. The fish have been placed into Group A. The remaining letters of each word have been placed into Group B. Your task is to reconstitute the words by merging each fish with the proper set of letters. Other than merging the two groups together, there is no rearranging of the letters. Example: sand + pne= spanned (SpANneD).
Group A: bass, carp, gar, shark, trout, tuna
Group B: acue, hugho, moc, rnula, rtble, sholshi
War Between the States
The American Civil War has ended. Can you repatriate the Confederacy (gray) into the Union (blue) by changing one letter at a time? Each step must create a valid word in the English language. President Abraham Lincoln made the change in 6 steps (for the history buffs out there, Abe planned these changes before he was assassinated). Can you do as well ... or better?
GRAY ---- BLUE
View full teaser and answerSimilar Countries
The countries of Russia and Egypt share a characteristic that only one of the countries in the following list also shares. Which country and for what reason? It has nothing to do with spelling or pronunciation.
Austria
France
Iran
Japan
Mexico
Nigeria
Pakistan
Spain
Turkey
Venezuela
(Hint: The answer covers a lot of ground ...)
View full teaser and answerFollow the Bread Crumbs
Harry took a hike away from home. Unfortunately, birds ate his trail of bread crumbs. Can you help Harry return home by changing one letter at a time? Each step must create a valid word in the English language. Harry made the change in 8 steps. Can you do as well ... or better?
AWAY ---- HOME
View full teaser and answerWhite to Play
This is a spectacular win by I. A. Horowitz against Arnold Denker in 1946. The lines in the notes are worth going over as well.
View solutionAmblers and Ingrates
Which word in Group B can be added to Group A? Why?
Group A: ambler, ingrate, leash, steal
Group B: crushed, pudding, singes, tundra
Scrabble
Mike and Dave like to play Scrabble. Mike never cheats. He always plays valid words and never plays out of turn. Dave, however, cheats. Sometimes he plays invalid words, but Mike never challenges. Sometimes he makes two plays in one turn. Mike never notices. Today, Mike and Dave have started playing a game. Mike played first. After 7 plays, the board looked like this:
SPUD
PORE
OPEN
TEAT
As usual, Dave has already cheated one time. How has Dave cheated?
View full teaser and answerWhite to Play
One more win from Benko. This one was against Horowitz in 1968.
View solutionRelational Algebra
The following three equations represent words that have a common relationship. The first letter of each word is given. Where will you find the following equations to be true? (Be sure to 'check' your answer carefully.)
Q = 1, B = 2, P = 8
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