17 questions linked to/from A "Puzzling" Cipher
23k views

### 100 Prisoners' Names in Boxes

Names in Boxes The names of 100 prisoners are placed in 100 wooden boxes, one name to a box, and the boxes are lined up on a table in a room. One by one, the prisoners are led into the room;...
38k views

### What is the largest tile possible in 2048?

I can get to 4096 max. There are videos on youtube of guys making it to 8192. What is the theoretical maximum limit on this? PS: if you haven't played this, here is the link to addiction.
5k views

### Burning ropes as timers

You have 2 identical ropes which burn at a specific rate, and an unlimited supply of matches. When you light one end of a rope, the fire will take exactly 1 hour to travel to the other end of the rope....
3k views

### Which switch goes to which bulb?

You are in a room with three switches, labeled $A$, $B$, and $C$. Initially, each switch is in an off state. In an adjoining room, there are three incandescent light bulbs. Your task is to ...
11k views

### How many chess pieces does it take to “cover” all spaces on a chessboard?

Given an 8x8 chessboard, your goal is to "cover" each space on the board with the fewest possible number of pieces. A space is "covered" if there is a piece on it, or if a piece on the board can be ...
16k views

### Learning to Solve a River Crossing Puzzle

I have seen many variations of the following puzzle: Once upon a time, a farmer went to the market and purchased a fox, a goose, and a bag of beans. On his way home, the farmer came to the bank of ...
3k views

### How many queens can be on a chessboard without attacking each other?

What is the maximum number of queens that can be placed on a standard 8x8 chessboard such that no one of them is capable of attacking any of the others in a single move?
5k views

### N logicians wearing hats of N colors

N logicians are wearing hats which can be of N different colors (each hat has one color; there can be multiple hats with the same color). Each logician can see the colors of all hats except his own. ...
962 views

### Are there “rules” (or consistent conventions) that limit when the NY Times Crossword can deviate from rotational symmetry?

Most American crosswords use rotational (or "radial") symmetry so that squares directly opposite each other (through the center) are identical. In the Times, I've only seen this not be the case ...
942 views

### What is the fewest number of filled-in squares required to uniquely define a magic square?

The magic square is a well-known grid of the numbers from 1 to 9 in which every row, column, and diagonal adds up to 15: 4 9 2 3 5 7 8 1 6 But it is also ...
20k views

### How can I fix “stuck” positions on the Void Rubik's Cube (using the standard beginner's method)?

Sometimes, when solving the Void Rubik's Cube using the standard beginner method, it gets "stuck." What I mean by this is that the top edge of one face and the top edge of an adjacent face's colors ...
860 views

### How do you create a general locked-box problem?

In this question, I presented a puzzle involving seven locks, with a Grand Vizier and four slaves. But I would like to use this style of puzzle in some of my own secret-unlocking riddles, in order to ...
1k views

### How many clues are required to ensure Einstein's Puzzle is solvable?

I used to play Einstein's puzzles a lot when I was younger, and very quickly learned to assess quite rapidly whether I thought a puzzle would be a quick solve or more time-consuming, but I never ...