More Online Puzzles

Here are some more online puzzles to exercise your brain with. For the rest, use the link here or at the bottom to visit the Riddles And Puzzles Index Page. Enjoy!

Online Puzzles From The Newsletter

These are a few of the puzzles that got the most replies and arguments when they were in the Brainpower Newsletter. I have double-checked the solution, so you can be sure they are correct, despite the e-mails I have received.

1. A woman in the southern hemisphere walked a mile to the south, and then a mile to the east, and then a mile to the north. She ended up exactly where she began. Where would she have to begin for this to be possible?

2. The letters across the top row of a normal keyboard are "QWERTYUIOP." What are the longest words you can make using just those letters? (The letters can be used more than once.) As an example, "property" is one - with eight letters - but there are longer words.

3. Frank lives down a long road, which gets worse as he gets closer to his house. On the first half of the route he averages a speed of 40 miles-per-hour, and on the second half 20 miles-per-hour. What is the average speed be for the entire trip down that road?

4. This is an unusual conundrum. It is also an unusual paragraph. But how fast can you find out what is so uncommon about this paragraph? It may look ordinary. You might think nothing is odd about it. That is, until you match it with most paragraphs this long. So think about it, study it, and you will find out, but do it on your own, without any coaching. Just go to work and try your skill at figuring it out. Plan on about half an hour, and good luck!

Online Puzzle Solutions

1. She would have to start near the south pole - to be exact, a mile north of the latitude that would make her walk to the east one mile long as she circled the pole. She would then walk north along the same line that he headed south on, and end in the same place. (Get out a globe and this is easier to see.)

2. The longest ones have ten letters: proprietor and typewriter.

3. Franks average speed is 26.66 miles-per-hour. To demonstrate, suppose the road is 120 miles. He will go the 1st 60 miles at 40 mph, in 1.5 hours, and the 2nd 60 miles at 20 mph, in 3 hours. 120 miles divided by 4.5 hours is an average speed of 26.66 mph. You can try this with any other length of road - the answer will be the same.

4. The paragraph does not contain the most common letter in the English language: e.

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