Question of the day

All I Want is the Candy

2009-11-11T07:05:00.000-05:00

You and a friend pass by a standard coin operated vending machine and you decide to get a candy bar. The price is 95 cents but after checking your pockets you only have a dollar and the machine only takes coins.

You turn to your friend and have this conversation.

You: Hey, do you have change for a dollar?
Friend: Let's see... I have 6 US coins but, although they add up to $1.15, I can't break a dollar.
You: Well, can you make change for half a dollar?
Friend: No.
You: How about a quarter?
Friend: Nope. And before you ask I can't make change for a dime or nickel either.
You: Really? And these 6 coins are all US government coins currently in production?
Friend: Yes.
You: Well can you just put your coins into the vending machine and buy me the candy bar, and I'll pay you back?
Friend: Sorry, I'd like to but I can't with the coins I have.

What coins does your friend have?

Nine Letters

2009-11-10T08:26:00.002-05:00

Find the two nine-letter antonyms using the letters below:

ERURP
VDRTO
SRESP
YAA

But How Fuel Efficient Are They?

2009-11-09T10:11:00.000-05:00

Two cars start from point A at the same time and drive around a circuit more than one mile in length. While they are driving laps around the circuit, each car must maintain a steady speed. One car is faster than the other and will pass the other car at certain points. The first pass occurs 150 yards from point A.

At what distance from A will one car pass the other again?

But Nothing is Ever Missing

2009-11-06T08:02:00.011-05:00

ASIDE: For those of you who like twitter better than RSS or e-mail, I've created a twitter account that will twit out when a new post is made here. You can now follow Question of the Day by following the link.

OK, back to the question.

"There's a mystery in the office, and I just can't seem to make heads or tails of it," Mary said as she sat down for her normal Monday lunch with Inspector Joseph.

Inspector Joseph immediately perked up. "What kind of mystery?"

"Well, it's the strangest thing. But let's start at the beginning."

"As you know, we have three workers in the office, there to handle the mail, billing and bookkeeping. Alice has been there for years and has always been reliable. She has a bit of a drinking problem and a husband who... well, let's just say he has his own problems."

"Barbara is new. She worked in Alaska before coming here, and we're still waiting on her records."

"Our third worker is Clarence. Ever since the new casino boat opened up ... Well, I don't want to point fingers, but there have been some minor irregularities in our petty cash."

"But, here's the mystery. The office is closed all weekend long, every weekend. On Monday mornings, I'm usually the first to arrive. I open up, check the mail, turn off the alarm, etc... I was working the alarm system three weeks back when I noticed the alarm had been shut off on Saturday. For five minutes. Then it got switched back on."

"I thought nothing of it at the time. I just figured someone had forgotten something and had come back to get it."

"But every weekend since, the same thing has happened. The alarm gets shut off on Saturday afternoon for five minutes each time. All three workers have the password and I've asked all three about it. But they've all denied visiting the office."

"As I said, this has been going on for weeks now. Nothing is missing or changed. I've checked the petty cash box and it's always the same as it was on Friday evening. I don't suppose any harm is done, but it's baffling."

"There could be harm," the Inspector cut in. "I can think of one explanation, and I think we need to deal with this right away."

Whom does the inspector suspect, and why?

You Make the Call

2009-11-05T08:38:00.000-05:00

The two boys were home to watch the game with their dad. Junior and Frank were in the kitchen helping their mom, Marie, put together the snacks and drinks, when Junior noticed the bruises on his mother's arms.

"Did Dad do that to you?", Junior asked. But his mom didn't answer.

"What are you going to do when he retires next month and he's hanging around all the time?" But his mother just asked him to grab the bags of potato chips and pretzels from the pantry.

"Make mine a strong one!" came her husbands shout from the living room. Marie made up the ice, ginger ale and rye together in tall glasses.

"Oh dear, I forgot which was which. Taste the highballs, would you dear?"

Frank tasted all three, almost choking on the third. "This one has to be twice as strong as the others."

"It had better be!" his father stated as he walked into the kitchen. "... Make me walk all the way in here..." as he grabbed his drink out of Frank's hands.

Frank, Junior and Marie followed their father into the living room and began watching the game. All four watched through the first quarter, munching on the snacks and drinking. At the end of the first quarter, Frank senior held up his empty glass, "Get me another."

Marie got up and went to work on the refill. As she worked in the kitchen, she heard a gasp, then a moan. By the time she got back into the living room, Frank senior was dead.

"Fast acting poison," the coroner determined. "I'm certain of it."

The detective was at a loss, however. "They all claim they've been eating and drinking from the same bowls and drinks. They must be lying, covering for each other."

"Not necessarily," the coroner quickly said.

How could Frank senior have been poisoned? And who could have done it?

Solve the Puzzle

2009-11-04T08:06:00.000-05:00

Using the first set of words as your clue, fill in the missing word inside the parentheses below.

CONE (NICK) KRIS
LISP (_ _ _ _) ETON

T Marks the Spot

2009-11-03T08:10:00.000-05:00

This is a bit of an experiment. Hopefully I can get it to work.

Find the starting point and visit each of the square to reach the 'treasure' in the middle marked with a T.

The directions can be read as: 1N:2W = 1 North, 2 West (or up on, left two). To make the square work, I'm putting in xx if there is no second direction. So, 2S: xx means go down two.

1S | 1S | 2S
1E | 1E | xx
-------------
1S | T | 1N
xx | xx | 2W
-------------
1E | 2N | 2W
2N | 1E | 1N

Adjusting to the Time Difference

2009-11-02T09:22:00.000-05:00

There are two anagrams hidden below. They hide two phrases that are spelled differently, but sound alike. For example: a name, an aim.

IDLE LURES
ROSY DOLL

Continue the Sequence of Numbers

2009-10-30T09:24:00.000-04:00

8960, 6720, 3360, 840, 630, ...

Job Request

2009-10-29T09:43:00.003-04:00

Fill in the blanks to spell out three jobs.

_I_N_L_A_
_O_D_L_E_
_A_N_Q_I_

Lets Dance

2009-10-28T09:38:00.001-04:00

Rearrange the letters in the words below to spell out three dances.

MUG TARZAN AT BOWL

Help a Friend Out

2009-10-27T09:16:00.002-04:00

I was sent an e-mail with the following question. Can you help out?

A friend sent me a question - what is the meaning of

Parcel John Kei

I cannot get it

Can you?

Football Logic

2009-10-26T08:58:00.000-04:00

Joseph and his 3 brothers are big fans of the local football team, so they were thrilled to win tickets. The boys wore their favorite jerseys, each a different color, to the game and sat together in 4 seats in a row. Each boy visited the concession stand during a different quarter of the game and bought a different snack from that of his brothers. Use the clues and table below to determine the order in which the boys sat, the colors of their shirts, the quarter in which each boy bought his snack, and what snack each boy bought.

1. The 4 boys are Noah, the red-shirted one, the one who got a snack during the first quarter, and the one who bought a hot dog.
2. The fan who bought a snack during the 2nd quarter sat between the fans who bought popcorn and nachos.
3. Daniel sat next to both the fan who bought a hot dog and the one who visited the concession stand in the first quarter.
4. The green-shirted fan sat to the left of Stephen, who did not sit next to the popcorn muncher.
5. The blue-shirted fan sat next to both the red-shirted and yellow-shirted fans.
6. One boy got pizza in the 4th quarter.

Secret Message

2009-10-23T10:13:00.000-04:00

812251149352355115144

Look below for a hint

Hint: We've seen this code recently.

Good Hand

2009-10-22T08:35:00.001-04:00

Pretend you have five cards: a ten, a jack, a queen, a king and an ace. Shuffle the cards together, then place the cards facedown. Select four cards, returning each card and re-shuffling the deck after each pick, what kind of hand would you more likely draw: four aces or a straight picked in sequence?

Ghee and Shinty... Must be a Good Combination

2009-10-21T09:37:00.000-04:00

Last night I saw these two trivia questions and could not answer them. Can you?

1) What is a ghee?

2) Shinty is a form of what sport?

Two Fer the Price of One

2009-10-20T08:11:00.000-04:00

1) What phrase is being suggested below?

SH
TT
RG
EN

And just to mix things up --
2) The words white and black are antonyms.
What two words, one rhyming with white and the other with black, are also antonyms?

The Rent is Due on Monday

2009-10-19T09:24:00.000-04:00

RENT DEBATE is an anagram for what female name?

P.S. If you have a brain teaser of your own you'd like to share, please drop me a line. My e-mail is in the about box.

How Fast Could a Frog Swim if A Frog Could Swim?

2009-10-15T09:22:00.000-04:00

There is a frog, dead in the middle of an island. If he swims north, the distance to the mainland is 2 meters. If he swims south, the distance to the mainland is 3 meters. If he swims east or west, the distance is 4 meters. Which way does he swim?

Disqualified! What Do You Mean Disqualified!

2009-10-14T09:44:00.000-04:00

A runner was awarded a prize for finishing first in a marathon. But after seeing two pictures of the runner and his wristwatch, the judges ended up disqualifying him. Why?

There is no 'right' answer to this one. It's one of those lateral thinking puzzles.

Finish the Series

2009-10-13T09:22:00.000-04:00

2/3, 7/12, 1/2, 5/12, 1/3, 1/4, 1/6, ?

What's the next number in the series?

Marbles in a Box, Marbles with a Fox

2009-10-12T10:17:00.000-04:00

We have six white marbles, one red marble and four black marbles in a box. What would be the smallest number of marbles that we need to take out of the box to guarantee that we get three of the same color?

Marbles in Boxes

2009-10-09T09:14:00.000-04:00

There are three boxes in front of you. They are labeled BB, WW and BW. In one box, there are two black marbles, in another there are two white marbles. In the third box there is one black and one white marble.

No label corresponds to the marbles in its box.

What would be the smallest number of marbles that must be randomly picked, from one or several boxes, to identify their contents?

Seventy-Six Going on Eighteen

2009-10-08T08:22:00.000-04:00

The famous composer, who wrote the Barber of Seville, blew out 18 candles on his birthday cake. Nine months later, he was dead. He was 76 at the time.

Can you explain this?

A Couple of Days

2009-10-07T07:46:00.001-04:00

1) If yesterday had been Wednesday's tomorrow and tomorrow is Sunday's yesterday, what day would today be?

2) Annie left on a trip the day after the day before yesterday and she will be back the eve of the day after tomorrow. How many days is she away?