Andrea’s only timepiece is a clock that’s fixed to the wall. One day she forgets to wind it and it stops.
She travels across town to have dinner with a friend whose own clock is always correct. When she returns home, she makes a simple calculation and sets her own clock accurately.
How does she manage this without knowing the travel time between her house and her friend’s?
You’re given a choice between two gifts: $5 and $1,000. You can choose either, but a bystander will give you $1 million if you choose irrationally. Can you do it?
See also Kavka’s Toxin Puzzle.
What do these words have in common?
A Christmas puzzle by J.C.J. Wainwright, from the American Chess Bulletin, December 1917.
White to mate in one move.
A woman visits a jewelry store and buys a ring for $100.
The next day she returns and asks to exchange it for another. She picks out one worth $200, thanks the jeweler and turns to go.
“Wait, miss,” he says. “That’s a $200 ring.”
“Yes,” she says. “I paid you $100 yesterday, and I’ve just given you a ring worth $100.”
And she trips lightly out of the store.
What do these words have in common?
You’re a knight in love with a princess. Unfortunately, the king knows you’re poor and disapproves of the match.
On the night of a great feast, the king calls you up before his men and presents a golden box. In it are two folded slips of paper. One, he announces, reads “Marriage,” the other “Death.” “Choose one,” he says.
Pretending to stir the fire, the princess manages to whisper that both slips say “Death.” But the king and his men are waiting, and you cannot escape now.
What should you do?
