In the above cryptarithmetic puzzle, which reads PIE x PIE = FRUIT, each letter represents a different digit. Can you solve the puzzle and work out which digit each letter represents?
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Clue: E = 4.
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Answer:
R = 0, P = 1, U = 2, F = 3, E = 4, T = 6 and I = 7.
Today’s puzzle was created by Mental Floss, which is an amazing website full of curiosities.
There are 54 cliches depicted in the image below. How many can you find? A larger image can be viewed here.
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Answer:
The upper left hallway:
1. Off one’s rocker
2. The long arm of the law
3. Spill the beans
The upper right room:
4. Out of the blue
5. Two peas in a pod
6. Bite the bullet
7. Handwriting on the wall
8. A square peg in a round hole
9. Chip off the block
The middle room:
10. Lame duck
11. Bury the hatchet
12. Eye on the ball
13. Kick the bucket
14. Back against the wall
15. You scratch my back, I’ll scratch yours
16. Looking at the world with rose-coloured glasses
17. A dog-eat-dog world
18. Toss one’s cookies
19. Bend over backwards
20. The grass is always greener on the other side
21. Like taking candy from a baby
22. An oldie but a goodie
23. The fifth wheel
The main hallway:
24. A piece of cake
25. Joined at the hip
26. Roll out the red carpet
27. A storm in a teacup
28. Don’t cry over spilled milk
29. Add insult to injury
30. Tooth and nail
The room on the right:
31. The light at the end of the tunnel
32. Don’t have a cow
33. Pie in the sky
34. Red herring
35. An albatross around one’s neck
36. Two left feet
37. With one hand tied behind the back
The front room:
38. A fish out of water
39. A can of worms
40. Egg on one’s face
41. An ace in the hole
42. A foot in the door
43. A horse of a different colour
44. The walls have ears
45. Monkey on one’s back
46. Hold down the fort
47. Wear your heart on your sleeve
The room that can just be seen on the right:
48. On cloud nine
49. The elephant in the room
The bottom right room:
50. Butterflies in the stomach
51. The pot calling the kettle black
52. Nothing up my sleeve
The bottom left room:
53. Let the cat out of the bag
54. As good as gold
Note: there may be multiple valid answers.
What letters should replace the question marks below?
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Clue: You need to step back and look and this question differently.
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Answer: IC.
When each row is read from left to right, the letters form a word. The missing letters must be ‘IC’ to form the word ‘gothic’.
I have written down seven positive, ordered integers. The integers have a range of 6, a mean of 4, a mode of 1 and a median of 5 (the median only occurs once). What seven integers did I write down?
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Clue: Three of the integers I wrote down were 1s.
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Answer: 1, 1, 1, 5, 6, 7, 7.
What unique trait do the following words all have in common? When you have worked out the intended answer, you will be in no doubt that you are correct.
HUBS, ABOMA, TRACER, DOMAINS, ANTRUM, AIRHORNS
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Clue: You need to anagram each word.
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Answer: All the words are anagrams of US President surnames.
HUBS = BUSH
ABOMA = OBAMA
TRACER = CARTER
DOMAINS = MADISON
ANTRUM = TRUMAN
AIRHORNS = HARRISON
You have a 24-hour digital clock that displays hours, minutes and seconds. Across a 24-hour period, how many times will all six of the clock’s digits change simultaneously?
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Clue: One change occurs when 23:59:59 turns to 00:00:00.
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Answer: Three times.
All six digits will change when:
09:59:59 turns to 10:00:00
19:59:59 turns to 20:00:00
23:59:59 turns to 00:00:00
Which of the below words is the odd one out? When you have worked out the correct answer, you will be in no doubt that you are correct.
ENOUGH, EXIST, BONNET, HEIGHTS, EVENING, GROWTH
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Clue: Look for words written within each word.
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Answer: HEIGHTS.
The other words all contain a number written backwards: (ENO)UGH, E(XIS)T, BON(NET), EV(ENIN)G, GR(OWT)H.
HEIGHTS is the only option to contain a number written forwards: H(EIGHT)S.
John sent the below mathematical inequality to Kate. Initially, Kate seem puzzled by the inequality, then she decided to solve for i. When she worked out the answer, she smiled. Why?
9x – 7i > 3(3x -7u)
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Clue: Solve the inequality for i. Remember, when you divide an inequality by a minus, it flips the inequality sign.
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Answer: When you solve for i, the inequality reads i < 3u. This represents “I love you”.
9x – 7i > 3(3x -7u)
9x -7i > 9x – 21u
-7i > -21u
Now, when you divide an inequality by a minus, it flips the inequality sign. So, when we divide the above by -7, we get: i < 3u aka “I love you”.
Can you name a common 10-letter English word that can be typed using just the first row of letters on a QWERTY keyboard?
Note: There are 11-letter words that can also be typed; however, they are esoteric terms.
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Clue: One word relates to ‘TYPE’.
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Answer: The four 10-letter words that can be typed using the first row of letters on a QWERTY keyboard are: PERPETUITY, PROPRIETOR, REPERTOIRE, and the appropriately named TYPEWRITER.
Three 11-letter words can also be typed: PROPRIETORY, PROTEROTYPE and RUPTUREWORT.
I have a regular deck of well-shuffled playing cards. There are no jokers in the deck, just 26 red cards and 26 black cards. I am going to reveal one card at a time to you from the top of the deck. Before each card is revealed, you will get a chance to say “red”. If that card is red, then you win. Otherwise you lose. Considering that you only get one chance to say “red”, what strategy should you use to maximise your chances of winning?
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Clue: Try to brainstorm different strategies, but be mindful that if you wait for a higher portion of black cards to be drawn before you say “red”, there is an equal probability that a higher portion of red cards will be drawn.
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Answer: It doesn’t matter what strategy you employ. Every strategy has an equal chance of working, so you are always going to have a 50% chance of winning.
Puzzle a Day 
