1. They are two of quadruplets.
2. …S,S,E,N…. The first letters of numbers counting from One, Two, Three…..
3. The car is on the train in the first goods wagon.
4. The next number is 50. The sequence represents the coins in our monetary system. However, it can also be answered mathematically by multiplying the first three numbers by 10 to get the second three.
5.“They are the only things we can slide under the door”.
6. Three. If the first two are a black and a white sock then the third must match one or the other.
7. It will still be exactly 1m from the ground. Trees grow at the top. The trunk just gets thicker.
8. 22, 29, 37… Add 1, add 2, add 3…….
9. 34, 55, ….. Starting with a “0” and a “1” each number is the previous two added together. Important!
10. 90m. Any row of objects will always one less gap i.e. 4 objects will have three gaps.
11. Never. The boat floats.
12. Neither. They have met, so they are in the same place. The speeds of the train are irrelevant.
13. Monday.
14. All of them.
15. 20 minutes.
16. 5.
17. BIBLE.
18. The answer is 16. A cheap calculator will show “12” because it will complete each step first as you type it in. However any calculator that has the word “Scientific” on the front or a computer will wait until you have typed the whole thing before working it out properly. In short we must divide or multiply before any add or take away. The lesson here is, before moving to a secondary school, a student should make sure they have a “Scientific” calculator. Teachers: Have both types of calculator on hand to prove the point.
19. Read the first sentence. The answer is your name.
20. The horse is called Tuesday.
21. Father
22. She is the boy’s Mother. Note: Questions 21 and 22 should be delivered in sequence, as they are exactly the same question. One is just dressed up a bit more.
23. 9.
24. One very big haystack.
25. The man was wearing his uniform.
26. It is a palindrome like, “Madam I’m Adam”, “Never odd or even” or “A Santa at NASA”.
27. Survivors are not buried.
28. Nothing. Spiders cannot talk.
29. “Swap camels.”
30. He is a very undernourished and short child. He can only reach the button for floor 40. However, when it is raining he has carried an umbrella and so can reach the button for floor 50.
31. Two reasons: a.) It is the only shape that cannot be picked up and dropped down the hole it leaves. b.) These heavy objects can be rolled into place.
32. When you stand at the switches put one on for 5 minutes but leave the other two off. Then, switch that one off and put one of the other two lights on. Now walk round and go into the room. One bulb will be on. One bulb will be off and cold and the third will be off and hot. Note: No need to touch the hot bulb. Just putting your hand near will allow you to tell if it is hot!
33. Buy One Get One Free. Very common these days, especially as the big supermarkets will now lose money on a popular brand name just to get you through the door and buy everything else there. This is called a “Loss Leader”. Very sadly, the most popular item with which they do this is Stella Artois lager.
34. DENY.
35. 11 letters make up the spelling of “the alphabet”.
36. Try to follow me on this. Alan can see a wall and nothing else. He has no other information so he will not be able to make a decision. The same goes for Bob. All he can see is a wall. Colin at least can see one other person wearing a white hat in front of him, so he has a little info to work on. David can see two people, Colin in front of him wearing a red hat and Bob in front of that wearing a white hat. Unfortunately this does not help David, as there is still one of each left. Now, you might think that is all the info they have but Colin (who turns out to be the hero) has one more bit of knowledge. He is in the sand thinking to himself, “David is behind me. He can see two hats. Why is he not speaking?” After a minute of thought, the answer is clear, “If David could see two red hats or two white hats in front of him he would know the answer and shout it out. BUT he is not speaking. So David must be silent because he is looking at a white and a red hat. Hang on then! If David, behind me, can see one of each, and I can see a white hat in front of me then I must be wearing a red hat! So I got the answer all because David, who could see two hats couldn’t tell!”
37. Easier than it sounds. a.) Put the 9 coins into three piles of three coins each. Put two lots of three on either side of the scales. If they weigh exactly the same then the forged (and heavier coin) must be in the third pile. If one pile is heavier, then the coin is in that pile. Pick the pile that is different. B.) You now have just three coins. Put two of them on either side of the scale. If they weigh the same then the third coin is the forgery. Otherwise, one of those two must be heavier and the scales will tell you. Note: The answer simply repeats the same methodology twice.
38. The band at half time.
39. All sorts.
40. He measures with the petrol pump.
41. CHICAGO
42. He is still alive.
43. He stands in front of the king and his daughter. He makes a point of shaking a lot. Carefully he picks one bit of paper and steps back to open it. Then staring nervously at it he suddenly tears it into pieces, puts it in his mouth and swallows it. The king shouts, “Why did you do that?” He replies, “I’m so nervous. Sorry.” The king then asks, “How will we know what you picked?” The young lad answers, “We will have to look what at the remaining piece of paper says because we know I had the other one.”
44. It is the cleaner.
45. David.
46.A coffin.
47. Write a big “S” in front of the “IX”.
48. The lorry keeps driving. It has gone 1½ miles already and burned a fair bit of petrol. So it is lighter than it was.
49. Australia.
50. The length of rope is only tied to the horse. It is loose at the other end.
51. Half way. After that it is running out of the woods.
52. There are 1 billion at 11.59 and 30 seconds. In the very last 30 seconds they will double to 2 billion.
53. 70. Remember 30÷½+60.
54. None. It was Noah who took them onto The Ark.
55. JUST ONE WORD
56. They are in alphabetical order.
57. One thousand.
58. Everyone.
59. If they fell forward they would hurt themselves on the boat.
60.They are orphans.
61. A carrot.
62. A belly button.
63. 3 spelling mistakes: 1. There. 2. mistakes 3. sentence. The fourth mistake is that there are only three mistakes in that sentence.
64. None. The (now very famous) Japanese designer originally called it Monkey Kong. However, somewhere along the way, as it was being sold to the UK, a translator slipped up and “Monkey” became “Donkey”. One wrong letter!
65. A BIRD IN THE THE HAND. Note: “THE” occurs twice.
66. “I only have to outrun you!”
67. The bear must be white. The only place a house can be built with every aspect (wall) facing South is exactly on top of The North Pole.
68. See below.
69. You stop. Get out and give the keys to your best friend. Tell him to drive the ill lady to hospital and look after her (which will take some time). You stay and wait for the bus (getting soaked – it’s worth it) with the girl.
70. Fire
71. The Human Race as it ages: Crawling, walking and (in old age) using a walking stick.
72. Fleas. I told you that, “..over 2,00 years ago…” was a hint.
73. The five men are survivors from a plane crash. They were stranded on a desert island along with one other man who happened to be a doctor. In order to survive they each agreed to have a leg amputated so they could eat. It was agreed the doctor would be needed to perform all operations and so would not give up a leg provided, if they were rescued, on his return he had a leg amputated. He kept his word.
74. “I’m sorry sir but strictly no admittance without a tie”.
75. I O TO I O
76. Slide toothpick “C” halfway across to then left. Pick up toothpick B and place it parallel to “D” making the other side of the glass, which is now upside down with the cube unmoved but outside the glass.
77. You would be in 2nd place.
78. 123 pairs of false teeth.
79. “Because the plumber is coming in the morning.”
80. It is impossible for any competitor to overtake the person who is already last in a race.
81. The mother mashes the potatoes.
82. Elevator Out of Order.
For the mathematically minded:
a.) You would be 8 timers heavier. You are made in 3 dimensions (height etc.) and each of these would double, so 2 x 2 x 2 =8 times heavier.
b.) FOUR. Most people will think it is three and put them into an equilateral triangle. BUT imagine a field that has a hillock in the middle of that triangle and it is exactly as high as the lengths of the triangle you have formed. Plant a tree at the top of that hillock and it will be equidistant from the other three. Note: The trees will in fact form a regular tetrahedron.
c.) The answer is “0” or zero. Explanation: All the terms of the equation are multiplied together. BUT think, near the end, one of them will be (x-x) which on its own will be zero. As anything times zero is zero so it wipes out everything that has gone before and it will carry forward (doing just that) until the end. It doesn’t matter how complicated it looks that one zero wipes it all out.