50 MORE PUZZLES
The answer for most puzzles is in the notes section of each slide. You will
need to scroll down to find it. For a few puzzles, the answer is on the next
slide (this is indicated). Pictures are included on most slides. Some will
help, others will lead you astray!
There is a points rating for each puzzle and each puzzle is numbered.
The puzzles are in 3 sections:
Logic / Lateral thinking
Maths
Maths Investigations
LOGIC / LATERAL THINKING
1 point
1
James is in a balloon off the
coast of Norfolk. He drops
an empty plastic Coke
bottle, an empty glass wine
bottle and a full glass
whisky bottle. Which will hit
the ground first?
2
2 points
There are 10 pigeons in the large ash tree outside
Farmer Giles’ house. He shoots 1/5 of them. How
many are left on the tree?
3
3 points
A man lives on his own. One day, he
switches off the light, leaves his house
and ten people die. Explain.
4
Which side of a cat has more fur?
3 points
5
2 points
Jake is hiding under the dining room table. It is his
sister’s party. He counts 12 legs. Ten minutes later,
he is alone in the room yet he can still see 4 legs.
Explain.
6
1 point
If you are running in a race and overtake the
person who is in second place, what place
will you be in?
1 point
7
If you overtake the person in last place,
what place will you be in?
2 points
8
How many f’s are there in the following
sentence?
Finished files are the result of years of
scientific study combined with the experience
of years.
9
2 points
• My house is the 6th house from the north end of the road and the
5th house from the south end of the road.
• How many houses are there on my side of the road?
10
3 points
Can you name 3 days in row without using
the words: Tuesday, Thursday or Saturday?
11
2 points
You have nine sticks. Without cutting any in half how can
you make ten? Answer on next slide.
11
12
2 points
• James drives his car at 40 mph from Sheffield to London.
• Driving the other way from London, Mary speeds at 80 mph
towards Sheffield.
• It is 160 miles from Sheffield to London.
• Who will be further away from Sheffield when they meet?
13
2 points
A man who is mute goes into a shop. He wants to buy a
toothbrush. By miming the action of brushing his teeth, he
lets the shopkeeper know what he needs.
A blind person walks in next. She needs some toilet rolls.
How does she communicate this to the shopkeeper?
The next puzzle needs to read but not shown.
2 points
14
There are seven tea cups sitting on a table.
One falls off. How many are left?
Answer 6 not 69 as it is 7 tea cups not 70 cups.
15
3 points
John already has 9 points on his driving license. On Wednesday, he
went the wrong way up a one way street, failed to see the red lights
as he passed through before speeding off towards his home. He
was seen by 3 policemen and a traffic warden yet was not stopped.
Explain.
16
3 points
A nurse gives you 7 pills to take. You have to take
one every half hour. How long will it be before you
have eaten them all?
3 points
17
What is the next letter in the sequence?
FMAMJJAS
5 points
18
What is the next letter in this sequence?
OTT FFSS
19
6 points
You are on an island. It has steep cliffs preventing you
from jumping into the sea. There is a fire on the west of
the island and the wind is blowing it towards you. You have
a box of matches in your pocket. What can you do to
survive?
20
Look at this snowy scene.
Continued on
next slide.
20
Look at the fluffy clouds in this picture.
Continued on
next slide.
20
Look at this plain paper.
landscape
Continued on
next slide
portrait
20
What do cows drink?
8 points
21
How can you remove 4 letters from the word invite
to leave 6?
invite
8 points
22
What 4 letter word reads the same
forwards, backwards and upside down?
Answer on next slide
22
NOON
10 points
23
There are 4 men on a sinking ship. A rickety bridge separates them
from safety. The bridge will only take 2 people at a time. Alf would
take one minute to cross the bridge, Bert 2 minutes, Cedric 5
minutes and Dominic 10 minutes. It is night and they have one
torch. This has to be taken across the bridge and returned for
anyone else crossing the bridge. It cannot be thrown. If 2 people
cross a bridge, they travel at the speed of the slowest person.
In 17 minutes the ship will sink and the bridge will collapse with it.
How can they get to safety in this time?
Answer on next slide.
23
Who goes where
Time taken
Total time taken
Alf & Bert cross
2 mins
2 mins
Alf returns with torch
1 min
3 mins
Cedric & Dominic cross
10 mins
13 mins
Bert returns with torch
2 mins
15 mins
Alf & Bert cross one last time
2 mins
17 mins
MATHS PUZZLES
24
2 points
Mary has 22 sweets. She gives her friends all but 10 of
them. How many does she have left?
25
3 points
Do this mental arithmetic: start with 1000, add 40.
Then add another 1000 and 30. Add 1000 more
followed by 20. Finally add 1000 followed by 10.
What do you get?
26
3 points
I have some hamsters and some cages. If I put 1
hamster per cage, I have a hamster without a
cage. If I put 2 hamsters per cage, I have an empty
cage. How many hamsters and cages have I got?
27
4 points
• Joe counted the number of peanuts he ate every day for a week.
He worked out that he had eaten an average of 13 peanuts per day.
• How many peanuts must he eat on the 8th day to bring his average
down to exactly 12?
28
4 points
Callum spreads his money out on the table. It is all in 5p pieces.
Half of his money has heads facing up. He turns over 5 tails. Now ¾
of the money has heads facing up. How much money does he
have?
Jessica has her money in 10p pieces. ⅓ of it has heads facing up.
She turns over one coin. ¼ now has heads facing up. How much
money does she have?
Carol has her money in 2p pieces. ½ is heads up. She turns 4 coins
over and finds that ⅓ of her money now has heads facing up. How
much money does she have?
29
5 points
Bert has some shells. If he sorts them into 2 equal piles,
he has 1 left over. In fact if he sorts them into 3 piles, 4
piles or 6 piles, he still has 1 left over. When he sorts them
into 5 piles, he has 4 left over. Finally he finds that he has
none remaining when he sorts them into 7 equal piles.
How many shells does he have?
30
5 points
How can you put 15 sheep into 4 pens and
have an odd number of sheep in each pen?
31
5 points
A train is 1km in length. It is travelling at 60km/hr. It enters
a tunnel which is 1km in length. How long will it take for
the whole train to pass through the tunnel?
32
5 points
Four boats continuously leave the harbour to take passengers on
fishing trips.
Boat 1 returns every 2 hours.
Boat 2 returns every 3 hours.
Boat 3 returns every 4 hours.
Boat 4 returns every 5 hours.
If they all leave the harbour together, after how many hours will
they first be all together in the harbour again?
33
6 points
• Harry, Bert and Fred collect football cards. Together they have
450 cards. Harry has 110 more than Bert who has 50 more than
Fred.
• How many cards do they each have?
34
6 points
Millie is due to do a Maths test. Her mother says
she will give her 9p for every question she gets
right but that Millie must pay her mum 5p for every
wrong answer. There are 28 questions. After the
test is marked, neither Millie nor her mother need
to pay each other.
How many questions did Millie get right?
35
6 points
• Becky had 3 times as many sweets as Samantha. They each
gave 14 sweets to Ellie. Now Becky had 7 times as many sweets
as Samantha.
• How many sweets did Becky and Samantha start with?
6 points
36
•
•
•
•
In a field there are pink pigs and black pigs.
A pink pig can see 5 times as many black pigs as pink pigs.
A black pig can see twice as many black pigs as pink pigs.
How many black pigs and pink pigs are in the field?
37
6 points
You are staring into a wood. You can see 22 eyes
and 32 legs. These belong to foxes and owls. How
many owls and how many foxes are there?
38
9 points
You are in the wood with the foxes and owls. This
time there are 24 eyes and 38 legs. How many
foxes and owls are there?
7 points
39
Shannon takes all of her money out of her bank.
She spends 75% of it on a new phone.
She then spends 75% of the remaining money on books.
Of the remaining money, she spends 75% on a game.
She is left with £2 which she spends on sweets.
How much money did she take out of her bank?
Answer on next slide.
39
Shannon withdrew £128 from her bank.
Total
75%
Spent on
Leaving
128
96
phone
32
32
24
books
8
8
6
game
2
sweets
0
2
40
8 points
• Albert Moneybags died leaving £108,000. His will stated that his
widow should receive twice as much as each son and that each
son should receive three times as much as each daughter.
• He had 5 sons and 3 daughters.
• How much would each person receive?
41
8 points
Three guests book rooms in a hotel for £30 in total. The manager
realises they should have a discount of £5. He gives the receptionist
£5 to return to the guests. She reckons they will have a hard job
dividing up £5 between 3 people so she gives them £1 each and
keeps the remaining £2 for herself.
So out of the original £30, the guests have paid £27, the receptionist
has £2. What has happened to the last £1?
9 points
42
HOW MANY EGGSACTLY?
• Fred has a basket of eggs. He sells half his eggs plus half an
egg to Tom. He then sells half the remainder plus half an egg to
Sarah. After that, he sells half the remainder plus half an egg to
Courtney. Half the remainder plus half an egg was sold to
Wilfred. Finally, Fred boils the one egg he is left with and eats it
for lunch.
• How many eggs were in the basket to start with?
• Answer on the next slide.
42
There were 31 eggs in the basket to start with.
Name
Eggs sold to
Eggs left
31
Tom
16
15
Sarah
8
7
Courtney
4
3
Wilfred
2
1
Fred
1
9 points
43
4158=3
7953=1
8842=5
3467=2
1753=0
8888=8
6247=2
8046=4
6812=3
Can you explain this?
It is a very simple principle.
44
10 points
Fred wants to get into a club. He watches the entrance.
“Twelve,” says the doorman.
“Six,” replies a fat man. He is admitted.
“Six,” the doorman says to a tall woman.
“Three,” she says and is also let in. Fred thinks he understands.
“Four,” says the doorman.
“Two,” replies Fred. He is not allowed in.
What should he have said?
45
10 points
• 12 litres of beer have been delivered to the head teacher of
Alehouse Primary School. He wants to give 11 litres to the staff
to drink and keep 1 litre for himself.
• He only has the full 12 litre barrel, a 7 litre container and a 3 litre
container. None of the containers have any scales on them.
• How can he measure out 11 litres and 1 litre by pouring the beer
between the three containers?
• Answer on the next slide.
12 litres
7 litres
3 litres
45
start
12 litre
7 litre
3 litre
12
0
0
5
7
0
5
4
3
8
4
0
8
1
3
11
1
0
INVESTIGATIONS
6 points
46
Using 4 British coins (no more or no less) can you make
each of the amounts from 4p to 37p inclusive? You can
use more than 1 of the same coin.
What other amounts can you make?
46
4=11 11
5=1211
6=2211
7=2221
8=2222
9=5211
10 = 5 2 2 1
11 = 5 2 2 2
12 = 5 5 1 1
13 = 5 5 2 1 or 10 1 1 1
14 = 5 5 2 2 or 10 2 1 1
15 = 10 2 2 1
16 = 10 2 2 2
17 =10 5 1 1
18 = 10 5 2 1
19 = 10 5 2 2
20 = 5 5 5 5
21 = 10 5 5 1
22 = 10 5 5 2
23 = 10 10 2 1 or 20 1 1 1
24 = 10 10 2 2 or 20 2 1 1
25 = 10 5 5 5 or 20 2 2 1
26 = 20 2 2 2 or 10 10 5 1
27 = 20 5 1 1 or 10 10 5 2
28 = 20 5 2 1
29 = 20 5 2 2
30 = 10 10 5 5
31 = 10 10 10 1
32 = 10 10 10 2
33 = 20 10 2 1
34 = 20 10 2 2
35 = 20 5 5 5
36 = 20 10 5 1
37 = 20 10 5 2
5 points
47
The number 15 has 2 digits. If you add them together, you get 6
1+5=6
How many numbers can you find where the sum of the digits = 6?
No zeroes and no decimal points.
32 numbers to find (including 15).
Answers on the next slide.
47
111111
33
24
42
2211
2121
2112
1221
1212
1122
11112
11121
11211
12111
21111
411
141
114
51
15
3111
1311
1131
1113
222
312
321
123
132
213
231
6
8 points
47
Further investigations. How many different numbers
would you be able to make for these numbers using
the same rules (no zeros and no decimal points)?
a) 11
b) 12
c) 13
d) 14
e) 15 (already done)
f) 16
Do you see a pattern?
Answers on next slide.
47
Number
Combinations
11
2
12
4
13
8
14
16
15
32
16
64
8 points
48
Ice cream delight.
Alfy serves one scoop of ice cream in one flavour – apple.
A
There is only one type of cone you can buy from Alfy.
Continued on next slide.
48
Bertie always serves 2 scoops stacked vertically. He has 2 flavours:
apple and blueberry.
How many different ice cream cones does Bertie sell?
B
A
Continued on next slide.
48
Carol always serves 3 scoops stacked vertically. She has 3 flavours:
apple, blueberry and cherry.
How many different ice cream cones does Carol sell?
C
B
A
Continued on next slide.
48
Dawn always serves 4 scoops stacked vertically. She has 4
flavours: apple, blueberry, cherry and damson.
How many different ice cream cones does Carol sell?
D
C
B
A
Continued on next slide.
48
Without drawing out the cones, can you work out how many Edward
would sell, if he always served 5 scoops and stocked 5 different
flavours – apple, blueberry, cherry, damson and elderberry.
Answers on next slide.
48
Name
Scoops
Combinations
How it works
Alfy
1
1
1
Bertie
2
2
1x2
Carol
3
6
1x2x3
Dawn
4
24
1x2x3x4
Edward
5
?
1x2x3x4x5
8 points
49
How many times would you see 3 of the same
numbers in a row in 24 hours on an ordinary 4 digit
24 hour digital clock?
11 : 14
8 points
50
How many times would you see 3 of the same
numbers in a row in 12 hours on an ordinary 4 digit
12 hour digital clock?
11 : 14