Puzzle No. 015
Picarats: 10


Ten candles stand burning in a dining room. A strong breeze blows in through an open window and extinguishes two of them. Checking back in on the candles later, you see that one more candle has gone out. To make sure no more flames go out, you shut the window. Assuming the wind doesn't extinguish any more candles, how many candles do you have left in the end?














Hint One: It may seem straightforward, but it wouldn't be a puzzle if there wasn't a trick to it. Read the problem over again. The problem wants to know how many candles you "have left in the end."

Hint Two: The wind blows out two candles, and then shortly afterward blows out one more. So how many candles are extinguished?

The candles that aren't extinguished by the wind continue to burn. What will happen to these candles if they are allowed to keep burning?

Hint Three: Think critically about what "have left in the end" really means. It means that and item continues to exist, doesn't it? So, what becomes of a burning candle when it's left alone?

Solution:














That's correct! The seven candles that manage to stay lit will melt down completely. The only candles that will remain in the endare the three that are extinguised by the wind and therefore stay intact.

Puzzle No. 014
Picarats: 30

A new multipurpose event hall has been built in the center of your town. It will be used for everything from concerts to sporting events to conventions.

WIth the hall complete, it's time to order the chairs. Five chair designs, labeled A through E, are being considered, but of oaal the designs, only one chair is completely suitable for the auditorium.

Which chair is it?















Hint One: As stated earlier, the hall is multipurpose. Don't you think that, depending on the size and nature of a day's event, the number of chairs needed will change?

Hint Two: When choosing chairs for the home or office, most people base their selection on comfort and other factors that affect what the chair is like when it's in use.

But for this particular application, the most important aspect of this chair is what you can do with it when it's not in use.

Hint Three: Naturally, when a very large group of people are using the hall, a large number of chairs are necessary.

But what about smaller events? When only a smaller number of chairs are needed, storing the extra chairs can turn into a big problem. Which chair makes storage the easiest?

Solution:













That's right! Of all the designs, only E can be stacked upon itself. In a hall like the one described, each event requires a different number of seats, and thus a change in seating arrangement. The storability of E makes is the best chair for the job.

Puzzle No. 013
Picarats: 30


SOS! Fifteen people are trapped aboard a ship that's going to sink in exactly 20 minutes. Their only chance for survival is the five-person life raft stowed on their vessel. To make matters worse, the waters around the ship are teeming with man-eating sharks, so swimming to safety is out of the question.

A round-trip to the nearest island and back to the boat takes nine minutes on the raft. How many people will live to see dry land?














Hint One: In 20 minutes, the raft can make two round-trips to the boat. Where is that boat located after two trips to the island and back?

Hint Two: After two round-trips, the raft returns to the ship. At this point, 18 minutes have passed, but since the ship hasn't sunk yet, there's no reason the raft can't pick up a few more passengers.

That's right, the raft has time to pick up three loads of passengers.

Hint Three: You now know that the raft has time to pick up three load of passengers, so you're probably raring to answer.

Just be careful, as there is one more trick to this puzzle that you might not have picked up on. It's sad to say, but not every passenger will make it off that ship alive.

Solution:













Nicely done! A moment of silence for the two who didn't make it. Please......

Puzzle No. 012
Picarats: 40

If you want to cut the piece of paper shown in Diagram 1 into two pieces and then reassemble them to form a rectangle, all you have to do is cut the paper as shown in Diagram 2.

However, in order to assemble the pieces as shown in Diagram 2 you need to flip one of the pieces over before putting them together.

Where should you cut the paper if you want to turn the paper in Diagram 1 into a rectangle without flipping either of your two pieces?














Hint One: The example shape that the puzzle shows you (Diagram 2) isn't at all indicative of the shape you're looking for.

Think about a totally different shape you'd like to try.

Hint Two: The paper has a total area of 15 squares.

Since you're trying to assemble a rectangle, the only dimensions possible are 3x5 squares or 5x3 squares.

Hint Three: Look for a piece that can help you complete a rectangle that's five squares tall.

Now that you know the height of your rectangle, you should be able to narrow down your options a little.

Solution:













That's right! Now that you know the answer, the puzzle seems quite simple, doesn't it?

Puzzle No. 011
Picarats: 20


As shown in the diagram below, you have one-forth of a circle. Within this circle is rectangle ABCD, which touches the edge of the circle at Point D.

Assuming that Point B is located at the center of the circle, how long is diagonal line AC?














Hint One: Surely somebody must have looked at the diagram and realized that the triangle formed by Points A, B, and C is a right triangle.

That's sharp thinking and exactly right. However, are you sure there isn't a much easier way to find the answer?

Hint Two: You don't need the Pythagorean theorem to answer this one. Something else in the diagram should be the exact same length as AC.

Hint Three: Notice that diagonal line AC within the rectangle is the same size as the diagonal line BD.

Have you also noticed that BD is also the same length as another part of this diagram?

Solution:













Righto! Diagonal line AC is the exact same length as diagonal line BD. BD is the same length as the radius of the circle, so once you've figured that out, the only thing left to do is add five and five.

Puzzle No. 010
Picarats: 30


All right, here's a quick and easy one.

The first letter of the alphabet is A, and the letter B comes after the letter A.

However, the letter you need to worry about is the last one. What's the last letter of the alphabet?

Here's a hint: it isn't Z.














Hint One: Z isn't the answer. Though it might not seem like it, that's a very big hint.

Hint Two: The letter after P isn't Q. It's H.

Hint Three: Still nothing? Look at the title of this puzzle. It's all you really need to know.

Solution:













Good Job! The last letter in the word "alphabet" is the letter "T."

Puzzle No. 009
Picarats: 35

The matches below are arranged in the shape of a dog. This poor little buy was just minding his own business when a car came barreling down the road and ran him over.

Move two matches to change the picture so that it shows the dog after the accident.

All puzzles are a matter of perspective, so don't assume that you'll be looking at the dog from the side by the time you're finished with this one.














Hint One; The original shape shows the dog walking. Think about how that shape will change after the dog gets hit by the car.

Hint Two: Dogs walk on all four legs, but since this poor pooch isn't doing much walking anymore, the position of his lefs must have changed.

Hint Three: The dog is probably sprawled out on the pavement where it got hit. To show this, you'll need to move two of his legs, of two matches. Take the two legs in the middle and bring above.

Solution:













The car flattened the poor dog! Let this be a lesson to be aware of your surroundings when driving!

Puzzle No. 008Picarats: 20

Alfred and Roland have been hired by a farm to sow flower seeds. They've been assigned a 10-acre plot of land and split in half so they can work independently. Roland starts from the east and Alfred from the west.

Alfred can plow tha land at a rate of 20 minutes per acre. Roland takes 40 minutes to plow, but sows seeds at three times the speed Alfred does.

If sowing seeds on the 10-acre plot pays $100, how much of that money should go to Roland?













Hint One: The two workers receive $100 for the job and divide it according to the amount of work each person did. In this case, "work" refers to the number of acres each person seeded.

Hint Two: Since work refers to the number of acres each person seeded, the amount of time each person took isn't a factor in a deciding payment.

Hint Three: Did you see the sentence that said that Roland and Alfred were assigned a 10-acre plot of land to work together and split it in half? What does that tell you about the amount of work each person did?

Solution:













That's right! The beginning of the problem says that the men split the 10-acre plot of land in half so they could work independently.

In other words, they both had the same amount of work assigned to them. Since each person did half the work, the pair should split $100 right down the middle. Each person gets $50.

Puzzle No. 007Picarats: 50

Get the three wolves and three chicks seen below to the other side of the river while obeying the following conditions.
      - No more than two animals can ride the raft at the same time.
      - There must be at least one animal on the raft in order for it to move.
      - If more wolves than chicks stay on either side of the river, the wolves will eat the chicks, and you'll have to start over.

You can move the raft as many times as you like, but this feat can be accomplished in as few as 11 moves.













Hint One: Do you find yourself moving the raft back and forth only to end up with the animals back in the start position?

Somewhere within your movements, you are doing something that restores the animals to their original positions. When you've found that point, try to do something different than you have thus far. It might bring you closer to the answer.

Hint Two: You don't necessarily have to take two animals over on every trip and then bring only one back. Sometimes you may want to bring two animals back.

For starters, try getting all three of the wolves to the right side. Then you can slowly start swapping out wolves and chicks.

Hint Three: Let's recap the previous hint. First, get all the wolves to the right side of the river. Then, start swapping the wolves for chicks. When you start to have too few chicks on the left bank of the river, you can bring a chick back over with a wolf to keep your remaining chick from getting eaten.

Solution:

Well done! This puzzle can be solved in as few as 11 trips. How many trips did it take you? Fun fact time! There are several variations of this type of river-crossing puzzle, and they've appeared in writings dating back to over 1,000 years ago.

Puzzle No. 006
Picarats: 40


Here we have eight small weights that all look the same. However, one of the weights in the group is slightly lighter than the rest.

Using this scale two times, you can find out which of these weights is lighter than the rest.

So, which weight is the light one?













Hint One: You're not weighing two sets of four weights on your first use of the scale, are you? If you do that, you'll only have one more chance left to determine which of four weights is the light one.

But you probably already know that, right?

Hint Two:  Maybe thinking about another example will help you here. Imagine you have three weights, one of which is lighter than the rest.

To find the light weight, all you gotta do is weigh any two of the three. If one of the weights on the scale is lighter, there's your answer. If the two weights on the scale are the same, the remaining weight is the light one.

Hint Three: Think about the last hint. You can figure out the lighter weight in a group of three with one use of the scale.

If you can narrow the number of weights in question to three in one use of the scale, you've got your answer.

The weights are totally random, so YOU have to solve the puzzle based on the hints. Good Luck!

That's right! To solve this puzzle with no guesswork, you must load three weights on each side of the scale for your first measurement. If you manage to get that far, the rest is easy.

Puzzle No. 005
Picarats: 50


Imagine a digital clock like the one shown below. How many times will the clock display three or more of the same number in a row over the course of one day?

In case you were wondering, the clock in this puzzle displays time on a 12-hour scale, not on military time.














Hint One: As mentioned earlier, this digital clock works on a 12-hour display system. This means you'll cycle through the numbers twice a day.

Therefore, before you submit your answer, you need to double the number of times you found to account for a.m and p.m.

Hint Two: You probably have already picked up on combinations like 1:11 and 2:22, but finding the less obvious combinations is what makes up the real meat of this problem.

Did you, for example, remember to include the time 10:00?

Hint Three: 12:22 is another combination that's easy to over look.

Also, have you thought about 11:12? Be sure to take a look at the various combinations that follow the above time as well.

Solution:













Very good! A series of three or more of the same digit appears 34 times over the course of 24 hours. See the chart above for details.

It's easy enough to spot times like 1:11 of 2:22, but many people forget about combinations like 10:00 or 11:12.

Puzzle No. 004
Picarats: 20


Can you find my house?

Go out the front door of my place and turn left. At the first intersection you come across, take a right. Turn right again at the following intersection, and you'll come face-to-face with the morning sun.

Circle my house.













Hint One: To face the morning sun, one must, of course, look eastward. The map shows north pointing toward the top of the screen, so which direction indicates east?

Hint Two: The rising sun comes from the east. On this map, that means it comes from the right.

Therefore, if you follow the directions, you should be facing to the right after you take your last turn.

Hint Three: Trying to follow the directions from each house only complicates matters. Instead, why not follow the directions in reverse? Needless to say, going backward means the directions you turn will reverse as well.

Start by facing right, then head left down the road, then take a left, then another left....

Solution:













That's right! This is a problem where working backward gets the job done fastest. It takes far too long to check each house individually!

Puzzle No. 003
Picarats: 10


These four top hats are all the same height, but the length of each brim is different. In other words, the hats are equally tall but vary in width.

One of these four hats has a brim and height that are the same length. Which hat is it?









Hint One: Don't just pick an answer based on what you see on the screen.

If this puzzle could be solved with a quick glance at the screen, it wouldn't be much of a puzzle, now would it?

The human eye perceives vertical and horizontal length differently.

Hint Two: B is certainly not the hat you are looking for.

Hint Three: D isn't the right hat either.

Solution:








That's right!

This is a very famous optical illusion. An optical illusion is a visual phenomenon where your eyes perceive things differently than they actually are. There are dozens of known optical illusions.

What's the world coming to when you can't even trust your own eyes?

Puzzle No. 002
Picarats: 15



There's no way to lower the bridge and get across without inserting the crank into the correct slot!

Choose the slot that fits the crank shown below.

Hint One:  First, get a good, long look at the shape of the crank. How is the central axle shaped? Are the little protrusions around the edges of the crank triangular or square?

Next, look at where those funny shapes stick out on the crank. Starting to make sense?

Hint Two: While you need to pay attention to the actual features of the crank and slot, you also need to remember that the shape of the slot is a mirror image of the crank.

That's right, you have to stare at the crank straight on and then look for the slot that mirrors it.

Hint Three: The central axle on the crank has five sides. There are three shapes attached to the main axle, one triangle and two squares.

One of the small squares sits right on top of one of the central axle's five corners, while the other two shapes sit flush on two sides of the axle.

All right, now you have everything you need. Don't forget that you need to flip the crank's shape when searching for the slot!

Solution:

Nice job! Now drop that bridge!

Puzzle No. 001

Picarats: 10

"My village is on a road that leads to no other towns. I look forward to seeing you there."

Use your stylus to draw a circle around the right village, and then touch Submit.

 

Hint One: You can use the stylus for a whole lot more than just circling the answer, you know. Try tracing a path--any path--to see if it connects to more than one town.

Try it a few times until you are confident you have the right answer. Then just tap the Submit icon.

Hint Two: Still stumped? Try tracing paths backward, so that you start from a village and work your way back. This will make it easy for you to see if any other towns are connected to the one you selected.

Hint Three: Just look for the town that's not connected to any other. In onther words, any town that's connected to another can't possibly be the right answer.

If you take a look at the map, you should be able to see any connections between towns with no trouble.

Solution:

That's Correct!

The only town that isn't connected by roads to another town is the one in the upper-left area on the map. It looks like you're all ready to start solving puzzles!