The worlds first riddle!

There are trees hidden in each of the following sentences. How many wood you say

If I run, I'll catch up with my pal Derek.

There was a shop in every village we visited.

I feel my hair would look better if I let it grow another inch or two.

We raced around the park to a kiosk that sold crisps.

Answers to the questions I set.

Question 1.

He could not have taken part in any such election, so the answers is "No; he did not vote to join or not to join the EU".

The reasoning is based on two apparently insignificant pieces of information that were in the text; 'the family vault' and 'thin crescent moon'. A thin crescent moon can only be seen from the far north or far south of the Earth's surface, say Alaska or Northern Russia, and a Family Vault would only belong to a family that had a long history of living in that locality. No country from the far North has yet voted, or intends to vote in the foreseeable future, on joining the EU.


Question 2. As Try wrote in his reply, the pill-taker knows that he has two blue pills and one red pill in his hand. If he adds a second red pill and then halves each pill, keeping the two halves carefully separate, he now has two groups, each containing two red half-pills and two blue half pills, or one red and one blue, which is what was required.


Question 3

The question clearly says that the rabbit was imagined in the bottle, therefore it can be imagined out of the bottle

It has been brought to my attention that the standard of my questions has fallen of late. This is an assertion I am in no position to refute.

Therefore, the time has come, as the Walrus said, to say goodbye.
May I thank those that took part, and say, how much I enjoyed the experience.

I hope the last offering will go someway to redress the balance.



Two clocks were recently both wound up and set off together at 12 o'clock. They now both show 12.30.

One clock loses ten minutes ever hour and the other gains ten minutes every hour. What is the correct time


Mr. Brook's five daughters each gave books for Christmas to one or more of her sisters. Each presented four books and each received four books, but no two girls allocated her books in the same way.
That is, only one gave two books to one sister and two to another. Beth gave all her books to Alice; Christy gave three to Edith. Which sisters gave the four books to Deborah

An explorer wishes to cross a barren desert that requires 6 days to cross, but one man can only carry enough food for 4 days. What is the fewest number of other men required to help carry enough food for him to cross


How can three missionaries and three cannibals cross a river two at a time in a canoe. If the cannibals must never outnumber the missionaries left on one side, and two cannibals cannot paddle across together

CLOCKS:
As Iacomus has already found, the time is 12:30. The clocks can show the same time if and only if they were both set at 12:30.
The difference in distance travveled between the clock's pointers is 20 minutes per hour, or 1/3 of 1/12 of 360 degrees, that is 10 degrees per hour, or angle = 10*t.

The clocks show the same time when angle = n*360 and n is an integer. so we have
10*t = 360*n
t= 36*n , so from here follows that every 36 hours they are at the same position (3 days). This position is always the starting position.


BOOKS are an interesting puzzle. Only one possible solution: (in rows is who gives the books, in cols who receives them)

->>>edited because space not preserved
ABCDE
A 01 111
B 40 000
C 00 013
D 02 200
E 01 120

One additional (assumed) condition is needed : none of the girls can give any books to herself!
Now the possible book distributions are:
4 , 31 , 22 ,211,1111

Since A already has all four books (from B), she must be the one with 1111 distribution; any other girl would have to give a book to either herself or A to use 1111. OK, now E has all her books (1 from A, 3 from C). E must therefore use the 211 distribution, and D must use 22. Since D has only 1 book so far, the only way she can have four is to get 1 (still not given) from C, and the 2 from E. Now all is clear.


DESERT

ABC set off. They eat from A's supply 3 food on 1st day. C returns with 1 food left. AB eat from B's supply the next day. B goes back with 2 food, and A goes across with 4 food.

Why is this the minimum?
The man (C) must have full supply of 4 food 4 days before the end. Since he consumes 2 food by then, he must get 2 food from somebody else.
That somebody needs 2 food himself to return, so they have both 6 food on day 4.
They were at full capacity ,8 food, on day 3, so they alone could not make it and were given food by the third man necessarily . QED.


CANNIBALS:

As stated, there must not be more cannibals on the bank, not counting the boat itself, otherwise we have an impossibility (we must have an odd number of persons on one side at some point, and the rest on the other. One of them contains more C than M.)

So we have MMMCCC. MC goes across, leaving C there and returning. Picking up another C and leaving it on the other side.
We now have (* denotes boat which is excluded)
MMCC MC*
MMCC M* C
MMC MC* C
MMC M* CC

Now two M go across
MC MM* -> CC

and MC goes back

MC <- MC* MC

two M going back

CC MM*-> MC
CC M* MMC
then one M brings the other two C's.
C MC*-> MMC
MC*-> MMCC
MMMCCC

Thank you Tryagain, and I wish you all good in your future riddling Youn can always slip in another one when you wish so, and I will always have a go at it

Relative

You wrote:

"MC goes across, leaving C there and returning. Picking up another C and leaving it on the other side".

And when, in accordance with your post, the boat arrives at the far side for the second time there are two cannibals and one missionary on the far bank. This is not allowed.

The puzzle clearly states that at no time may the cannibals outnumber the missionaries. It says nothing of 'unless they have the boat in support'. :-)

I would query one point you made about the clocks. You say that after thirty-six hours the starting conditions would re-occur.

But if one clock is six hours ahead of the correct time and one is six hours behind they will tell the same time and it will not be the same as the starting conditions as each is six hours adrift of the starting conditions.

Once every thirty-six hours the clocks will tell the same time but this time will alternately be in keeping with the correct time and six hours adrift.

Iacomus : it is not indicated in the puzzle if the boat itself is considered to be on any particular side. The rules are about number of persons on the river bank. This is the only way that the transport is possible. Otherwise it is not. On this we agree.

Relative

The point I was making - and still make - is that it is not possible for the boat to ferry folks across the river without it at some time being on one shore or the other.

In your solution, from the moment the boat lands the second cannibal until it departs again there are two cannibals and one missionary on that shore. This has been expressly forbidden.

Iacomus: I understand your interpretation of the puzzle setting.

However, I don't agree with your statement:
"In your solution, from the moment the boat lands the second cannibal until it departs again there are two cannibals and one missionary on that shore. "

To 'be on shore' is a state, known to any sailor, as standing, two feet on the ground, ON the mentioned surface, and not floating in a canoe/boat in a river.

Relative

That sounds just a bit like a quibble to me. If a boat sails from London to New York, it is not considered to be still at sea just because not all of the crew and passengers are as yet on American soil.

But if you prefer I will withdraw the word 'ashore' and instead of ashore I will say 'at the far shore'.

It seems beyond reason to assume that the missionary is not outnumbered by the cannibals because he is sitting in the canoe against the bank, one of them is one metre away standing on the bank, and the other is transferring from one to the other.

If that were the case then the problem is easily solved; have all of the cannibals stand in the water up to their ankles. They would, by this reasoning, not be on any shore and therefore not capable of outnumbering anyone on either shore.

Or, following the same reasoning, let the missionaries stand in the water. The result is the same. Let everyone not in the boat stand in the water for that matter.

I don't have anything to add; under 'neutral boat' assumption there is a solution, without it there is no solution.

I wish no further debate whether this assumption is indeed included in the original problem setting, for this would be a task for a lawyer

Relative

Your first paragraph: we are in entire agreement.

Your second paragraph: Just as you wish.

(A) I always lie

This is not a paradox, it's just a lie.

Mr (I) the philosopher has twin 2 year olds and a 9 year old.

The man in Mulberry lane is named Andrew.

I find it rather amusing that when posted with organ grinding monkeys, my solution to the river cross was deemed incorrect because I made the same assumption that you have now made Try. Namely that "a person in the boat is not 'on the bank'" Oh well, you win some and lose lots.

Try, I am glad you decided to post some more riddles.

I have a question concerning the 'Clock' riddle: In the riddle setup it is said that the two clocks


And the solution says it is now 12:00 -- I believe there is a typo in the riddle text "They now both show 12.30.". Am I correct?

The boat: Try's solution is clearly superior to the one I posted because stepping into/out of the boat is addressed clearly (my solution has problems with that )
Adrian: The boat problem traditionally has many faces. It was noted the first time you solved it that under the additional assumption of 'neutral boat' the solution is correct. However, the first riddle had a solution without this assumption, whereas the latest one doesn't.
The original problem I know for a long time goes like this:
A man, a goat, a wolf, cabbage, a boat. Only two can ride, and the man can row only. The wolf eats the goat, and the goat eats cabbage if left unattended on one side. How will they cross the river?

A) I always lie is a lie, as noted by Adrian. Meaning the person doesn't always lie, but does sometimes.
B) Is clearly a paradox. For this reason, the self-referential kind of language was banned from logic after the Russel paradox crisis ('Set of all sets').

Bad news, Try, travels fast.
But in case you are in doubt : I really thought you were going to quit!

I am usually terrible in word puzzles, but this one looks like bad luck.

Grandfather, father and son mame two fathers and two sons.
Jones teaches, Smith is a doc and Brown is a lawyer.

"I really thought you were going to quit!"

It is a simple fact that my supply of riddles and puzzles, is rapidly ending. Even Adrian complained that the math questions were of a grade two level. Therefore, excluding the more easy problems, the end is near. However, before that happens, I cannot possibly comment (at this time)on the validity of your answers.
Instead, I offer for your consideration the following.

Let us say you are a theoretical physicist who has just contacted an alien civilization using a brand new technology. Unfortunately, you cannot figure out quite yet where your new alien friends live. They could be on the other side of the Galaxy, across the Universe, or even in another dimension.

Nevertheless, you start talking, starting first in the language of mathematics, and then gradually working your way up to more complicated topics. After a while, you come to understand that their world is more or less like ours. They have the same concepts of math and geometry, the same physical laws, and their world seems in many ways like ours. It has the same chemicals, and orbits a star with numerous other planets. Moreover, the aliens are far more advanced than we are scientifically.

Eventually the aliens announce that they would like to transport you over to their world. Ignoring the details of how they plan on accomplishing this (hypothetically assume "magic"), they would like to make you feel at home when you arrive. So you starting telling the aliens everything you can about your home. Surprisingly, you discover that using only concepts built up from a shared understanding of math, physics, and chemistry, you can paint an amazingly detailed picture of life on Earth over time.

Assuming the aliens can build anything you can describe, and that you have the combined resources of all of Earth.

a) Could you theoretically describe your world well enough for you to survive on their world

b) Well enough, that you could not tell the difference

Try, I am sorry that I posted my answers here. I thought I sent a PM..