More Mind Benders
#8. Four men and four women are shipwrecked on a desert island. Eventually each one falls
in love with one another, and is himself loved by one person. John falls in love with a
girl who is in love with Jim. Arthur loves a girl who loves the man who loves Ellen. Mary
is loved by the man who is loved by the girl who is loved by Bruce. Gloria hates Bruce and
is hated by the man whom Hazel loves.Enigma: Who loves Arthur?
Answer
#9. There are three boxes. One is
labeled "APPLES" another is labeled "ORANGES". The last one is labeled
"APPLES & ORANGES". You know that each is labeled incorrectly. You then pick
one fruit from one box which you choose. Which box do you draw from and how can you label
the boxes correctly?
Answer
#10. Every day, a wife picks up
her husband at the train station at 5. One day he arrives early at 4 and he begins to walk
home along the road which his wife would be traveling. She meets him and takes him the
rest of the way. If he would have waited at the train station, she would have arrived
there at 5. As it turned out, they reached home 20 minutes early.
What time was it when she picked
him up?
Answer
#11. At a family reunion were the
following people: one grandfather, one grandmother, two fathers, two mothers, four
children, three grandchildren, one brother, two sisters, two sons, two daughters, one
father-in-law, one mother-in-law, and one daughter-in-law. But not as many people attended
as it sounds. How many were there, and who were they?
Answer
#12 You have a jug that holds
five gallons, and a jug that holds three gallons. You have no other containers, and there
are no markings on the jugs. You need to obtain exactly seven gallons of water from a
faucet. How can you do it? Second Problem: You need exactly four gallons. How do you do
it?
Answer
#13 You are given eight jelly
doughnuts. The doughnuts all weigh the same amount except for one which is heavier. You
have a balancing scale at your disposal. What's the minimum number of weighings required
for you to pick out the heavy doughnut every time?
Answer
#14 Three men stay at a hotel for the night. The innkeeper charges thirty dollars per room
per night. The men rent one room; each pays ten dollars. The bellhop leads the men to
their room. Later, the innkeeper discovers he has overcharged the men and asks the bellhop
to return five dollars to them. On the way upstairs, the bellhop realizes that five
dollars can't be evenly split among three men, so he decides to keep two dollars for
himself and return one dollar to each man. At this point, the men have paid nine dollars
each, totalling 27. The bellhop has two, which adds up to 29. Where did the thirtieth
dollar go?
Answer
#15. You have a 12 liter jug, an 8 liter jug, and a 5 liter jug. None of the jugs have any
markings on them. The 12 liter jug is full, and the other two are empty. How can you
divide the 12 liters of water equally (i.e., so two of the jugs have exactly 6 liters of
water in them, and the third is empty)? Solution
Answer
#16 You have two cups, one containing orange juice and one containing an equal amount of
lemonade. One teaspoon of the orange juice is taken and mixed with the lemonade. Then a
teaspoon of this mixture is mixed back into the orange juice. Is there more lemonade in
the orange juice or more orange juice in the lemonade?
Answer
#17. Abel, Mabel, and Calib went
bird watching. Each of them saw one bird that none of the others did. Each pair saw one
bird that the third did not. And one bird was seen by all three. Of the birds Abel saw,
two were yellow. Of the birds Mabel saw, three were yellow. Of the birds Calib saw, four
were yellow. How many yellow birds were seen in all? How many non-yellow birds were seen
in all?
Answer
#18. You must cut a birthday cake into exactly eight pieces, but you're only allowed to
make three straight cuts, and you can't move pieces of the cake as you cut. How can you do
it?
Answer
#19. You drive to the store at 20
mph and return by the same route at 30 mph. Discounting the time spent at the store, what
was your average speed?
Answer
#20. You've been sentenced to
death in an obscure foreign country which has a strange law. Before the sentence is
carried out, two papers -- one with "LIFE" written on it and one with
"DEATH" written on it -- are folded up and placed in a hat. You are permitted to
pick out one of the papers (without looking), and if you choose the one with
"LIFE" written on it, you are set free. Otherwise, the death sentence is carried
out. On this occasion, a mean-spirited acquaintenance of yours, bent on your demise, has
substituted the paper with "LIFE" written on it with another one with
"DEATH" written on it. This person gleefully informs you of what he has done and
that you are doomed to die. You are not permitted to speak to anyone about this misdeed,
nor will you have a chance to switch the papers or the hat yourself in time. How will you
avoid certain death?
Answer
#21. Why is it better to have
round manhole covers than square ones?
Answer
#22. Three surgeons and a clumsy
cook go camping in the remote wilderness. The clumsy cook stumbles over the campfire as he
is serving the surgeons, injuring himself and dumping hot stew on the hands of the
surgeons. The cook's injuries need surgical treatment. The surgeons' injuries are minor
but open. It turns out they brought the equipment necessary for the cook's surgery with
them, and they can use the campfire to sterilize the tools. But there are only two rubber
gloves. Because of the different surgeons' skills, all three of the surgeons are needed to
operate on the cook, in sequence. How can this be done without any of them being exposed
to the blood of any of the others?
Answer
#23. A bus normally uses route A
to reach its destination. On this particular day, route A was jammed, so the driver took a
shortcut via route B. But it had to go under an overhead bridge. The bus was too high so
it jammed itself under the bridge. The first quarter of the bus was stuck in the
bridge while the other three quarters were still visible. The driver and the other
passengers panicked and did not know what to do. Then suddenly, a 10 year old spoke up and
told the driver the simple solution. What is the solution?
Answer
#24. If a hen and a
half lays an egg and a half in a day in a half how many eggs can a hen lay in three days?
Answer
#25. To conserve the
contents of a 16oz. bottle of tonic, a castaway adopts the following procedure. On the
first day he drinks 1 oz. of tonic and then refills the bottle with water; on the second
day he drinks 2oz. of the mixture and then refills the bottle with water; on the third day
he drinks 3oz. of the mixture and then again refills the bottle with water. He continues
this procedure until the bottle is empty. How many ounces of water did he drink
altogether? He does not drink from the bottle if there is no tonic in it.
Answer
#26. A gentleman who
died recently left just over $8000 to be divided between his widow, his five sons, and
four daughters. He stipulated that every son should receive three times as much as a
daughter, and that every daughter should receive twice as much as their mother. If the
precise amount left by the man was $7999.97 (notice that the figures read the same
backward as foward), how much did the widow receive?
Answer
#27. A rich old Arab has three sons. When he died, he willed his 17 camels to the sons, to
be divided as follows: First Son to get 1/2 of the camels Second Son to get 1/3rd of the
camels Third Son to get 1/9th of the camels. The sons are sitting there trying to figure
out how this can possibly be done, when a very old wise man goes riding by. They stop him
and ask him to help them solve their problem. Without hesitation he divides the camels
properly and continues riding on his way. How did he do it?
Answer
#28. 1 train leaves
from NYC heading towards LA at 100 mph. three hours later, a train leaves from LA heading
towards NYC at 200 MPH. Assume there's exactly 2000 miles between LA and NYC. When they
meet, which train is closer to NYC?
Answer
#29. In 1990,
a person is 15 years old. In 1995 that same person is 10 years old. How is this possible?
Answer
#30. There is a
small block of land surrounded by a moat (water, like a castle). The moat is five meters
wide. If a person has a four meter ladder, and a three meter ladder, how do they cross the
moat.(the land in the middle is square)? To draw, make two squares, one outside the other,
and the distance between respective edges is five meters. In between the squares there is
water, which must be crossed using only a 4 and 3 meter ladder (can use both). The ladders
cannot be joined end to end, and do not float. The person cannot swim across.
Answer
#31.There are ten
rockets. The commander has asked you to arrange the rockets in five rows of four. How do
you do it?:
Answer
#32. On a train,
Smith, Robinson, and Jones are the fireman, brakeman, and engineer, but NOT respectively.
Also aboard the train are three businessmen who have the same names: a Mr. Smith, a Mr.
Robinson, and a Mr. Jones.
1) Mr. Robinson lives in Detroit.
2) The brakeman lives exactly halfway between Chicago and Detroit.
3) Mr. Jones earn exactly $20,000 per year.
4) The brakeman's nearest neighbor, one of the passengers, earns exactly three times as
much as the brakeman.
5) Smith beats the fireman at billiards.
6) The passenger with the same name as the brakeman lives in Chicago.
Question: WHO IS THE ENGINEER?
Answer
#33. You are ill and
travelling down a road to the hospital. You reach a fork in the road and find a pair of
identical twin boys standing there. One of the twins always tells the truth and the other
twin always lies. You are allowed to direct only one question to one of the twins, and as
such you will be assured of the correct road to the hospital. What is your question and to
whom?
Answer
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