Classic & Logic Puzzles II
By William F. Bultas
The first 3 puzzles were recently given to me by a friend, although I have edited & changed them slightly. I have seen puzzles similar to these before, & believe they have been in circulation in various forms for some time. The rest of the puzzles were written by me, but they are similar in style to other classic puzzles that I have found in various books & magazines, & elsewhere on the web. If you want to use the ranking scale below, you may use anything to work the puzzles out (calculator, books, etc.), but you shouldn't get help from other people. The answers can be found on this page. Have fun!
Number Correct Puzzler Rank
0-2 Puzzled
3-4 Dilettante
5-6 Puzzler
7-8 Puzzle Master
9-10 Puzzler Par Excellence
1. A poor man wanted to smoke cigarettes, but did not have enough money to buy them. He found that if he collected cigarette butts, he could make a cigarette from every 5 butts found. He found 25 butts, so how many cigarettes could he smoke?
2. Having just picked some apples from my tree, I placed them in a basket, & took them around to my friends. I ate one, & then gave a third of the remaining apples to my friend Mike. I then drove to Joe's home, but ate two apples along the way. I gave Joe half of the remaining apples. After Joe's I met Christy, & gave her 10 of the remaining apples, which left one apple. I ate this one later. How many apples started out in the basket?
3. A man and his son were in an automobile accident. The man died in the accident, but his son was rushed to the hospital. Fortunately, the boy was saved by the doctor who operated on him. The boy was the doctor's son. How is this possible?
4. In a certain lottery, thirty balls, each one numbered 1, 2, 3......30 are placed in a basket. The basket is shaken, and 5 of the balls are randomly drawn from the basket, and set side by side. The result is a set of numbers in a particular order, such as 14, 26, 2, 9, and 17. If you purchased a ticket that had 5 such numbers in random order, what chance would you have of winning the lottery?
5. Determine what this sentence says, given only the initial letters of some of the words: There are 9 P in O S S.
6. Andy, Brian, Cedric, and Dave are an architect, a barber, a caseworker, and a dentist, but not necessarily in that order. Given the following facts, determine what each man's occupation is:
A. At least one, but not all of the men's names begin with the same first letter as their occupation.
B. The architect's name does not contain an r.
C. The barber and dentist each have names that share exactly one letter.
Each of the Following 4 puzzles consist of two words on opposite sides of some blank lines. The number of blanks indicates the number of letters in the word that is the solution to the puzzle. The words on either side of the word in question are both related to it.
EXAMPLE: Guide ---- Pencil The answer would be LEAD.
7. Basket ------- Helium
8. Exhaust ---- Wheel
9. Theseus --------- Bowie
10. Gasoline ----- Egg
ANSWERS
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