Focusing on Words Newsletter Number Eight

Logical-Challenge Quiz

Logical-Challenge Quiz Solutions

1. If you went to bed at 8 o’clock at night and set the wind-up clock alarm to get up at 9 o’clock in the morning, how many hours sleep would this permit you to have before the alarm goes off?

Solution: You would be able to sleep for just one hour.
2. Do they have a 4th of July in England?

Solution: Yes, every country that uses the Gregorian calendar has a 4th of July.
3. How many birthdays does the average man/woman have?

Solution: Everyone has just one birthday.
4. Why can’t a man living in Mainz, Germany, be buried across the Rhine River in Wiesbaden, Germany?

Solution: You don’t bury a living man (or at least you should NOT do so).
5. If you had only one match, and entered a very cold room in which there were a kerosene lamp, an oil heater, and a wood burning stove; which would you light first?

Solution: The match.
6. Some months have 30 days, some have 31, how many months have 28 days?

Solution: All of the months have 28 days.
7. If a doctor gave you three pills and told you to take one every half hour, how long would they last you?

Solution: Just one hour. You would take one pill at the beginning of the hour, one a half-hour later and the last one at the end of the hour.
8. A man built a house with four sides to it resulting in your typical house; except that each side had a southern exposure. One day, a big bear was seen going through the garbage can at the back of the house; what color was that bear?

Solution: The bear would be white because the house is located at the north pole.
9. If a dog were to run through a forest, how far could that dog run into the woods?

Solution: Half way, then it would start to run out of the woods.
10. Which four words appear on the “head” side and which four words appear on the “tail” (reverse) side of every denomination of U.S. coins? STOP! No looking. Make your best guesses.

Solution: “In God We Trust” and “United States of America”.
11. In the American game of baseball, what is the minimum number of active baseball players on the field during any part of an inning? How many outs are there in each inning?

Solution: There are ten active players on the field during an inning and there are six outs in an inning.
12. Someone you know says that he has in his hand two U.S. coins which total 55 cents; however, one is not a nickel. What are the two coins?

Solution: A fifty-cent coin and a nickel.
13. A farmer had seventeen sheep. All but nine died. How many did he have remaining in his possession?

Solution: He still had nine sheep.
14. Divide 30 by 1/2 and add 10. What is the result (answer)?

Solution: 70 [divide 30 by .5 (30 = 60 + 10 = 70]
15. Two men played checkers. They played five games and each man won the same number of games. There were no ties. How can this be?

Solution: They didn’t play each other.
16. If you take two apples from three apples how many do you have left?

Solution: You have two apples.
17. How many animals of each species did Moses take aboard the ark with him?

Solution: Moses didn’t take any. It was Noah who was involved with the ark.
18. Why can’t a man from Texas or France legally marry his widow’s sister?

Solution: Because he is dead. How else could his wife be a widow?
19. If someone shot at ten birds roosting in a tree and killed two of them, how many birds would still be in the tree?

Solution: None of them. The rest would have flown away.
20. Besides giving birth as a mother or being a doctor or nurse for such purposes, have you ever been in a room when a baby was born?

Solution: Yes, we all have. Everyone has. Weren’t you in the room when you were born? You were unless you were born in the open, in a car, or some other unusual place.
21. An electric train is traveling at a speed of sixty miles per hour. If there is a wind of sixty-five miles per hour going in the same direction, which way is the smoke blowing?

Solution: No smoke comes from an electric train (unless it is on fire).
22. How many grooves does the normal 33 r.p.m. record have? How many grooves does the smaller 45 r.p.m record have?

Solution: There is one groove that runs from the beginning to the end on each side; so, there are two grooves per record..
23. About ten rabbits were eating up the carrots in a farmer’s field. He came along and killed one of the rabbits with his gun. How many rabbits do you think were still in the field when the farmer started to aim his gun again?

Solution: Probably none of them stayed in the field (except the dead one) because the others would most likely have run away or gone underground into their holes.
24. A rope ladder was hanging over the side of a ship so that the bottom step just barely touched the water. Its rungs (steps) were nine inches apart. How many rungs were under the water when the tide later rose three feet?

Solution: None of them were under the water. The ladder rose with the ship.
25. Which is correct: “The yolks of the eggs is white” or “The yolks of the eggs are white”?

Solution: Neither is correct. The “yolks” of eggs are not the “whites” of eggs.
26. How long will an eight-day clock actually continue running without winding?

Solution: It won’t run at all unless it is wound up.
27. A woman gave a beggar $5.00. The woman is the beggar’s sister, but the beggar is not the woman’s brother. How can this be?

Solution: The beggar must be the woman’s sister.

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