Questions tagged [real]
For puzzles that presented themselves, with real parameters and consequences, during otherwise non-puzzling activities.
148
questions
75
votes
8
answers
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My friend sent me a photo of his keyboard, but there's something I can't figure out about it
Two months ago, my friend bought a new Chromebook. He told me yesterday that while he is happy with the computer overall, he's not that impressed by the quality of the keyboard. My friend is an ...
- 119
25
votes
5
answers
2k
views
Colouring a rug
I have a rectangular rug in my living room composed of coloured patches (shown below). For convenience I have labelled each distinct colour from 1 to 6. Let's suppose that it was created by starting ...
- 12k
13
votes
1
answer
993
views
Who can solve this cipher?
The following cipher is moderately difficult but not impossible. It is (IMO) probably easily solvable for an experienced professional code breaker.
...
- 1,139
4
votes
2
answers
299
views
Waffleing my Egg
This morning I had a waffle and a fried egg for breakfast. The fried egg was cooked with a mold, so it was perfectly round and three inches in diameter. The waffle was a 3-inch by 4-inch grid of one ...
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126
votes
5
answers
141k
views
Is this duplo train track under too much tension?
My kids were making this train track of duplo the other day, and this is what they put together. They are still very young, and for them, this is something big. They were really proud that they ...
- 559
6
votes
0
answers
826
views
Need help with a cipher: "poems" with capital letters
I am trying to figure out a cipher I think I found in a book from 1982 and it's a 36 year old mystery we are trying to solve (I will reveal the book if this turns out to be something so everyone can ...
- 10.1k
72
votes
1
answer
19k
views
Unsolved Mysteries: Kryptos
This is the second in a series of Unsolved Mysteries posts. These posts explore current unsolved real-world puzzles. Since these have been unsolved for years, it's uncertain whether anyone on on ...
- 4,032
3
votes
1
answer
279
views
What food am I making?
I was planning to make two portions, but didn't have enough potable water.
Then I decided to make four portions, and the water was plentiful.
What food was I making?
Hint 1:
Hint 2:
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4
votes
3
answers
4k
views
How to solve an Enigma Puzzle without indication?
A friend of mine just wrote one thing on a board :
TEJDAO QZ OCUQJ UVANBVCR
The only indication was "Enigma Puzzle".
If it is really an Enigma like code how ...
- 4,032
4
votes
2
answers
762
views
Martin's magic teapot
Martin really likes tea. In fact he likes it so much that he made his own magic teapot. The first time he pours from it he gets black tea, the second time he pours milk, and finally he pours tea with ...
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3
votes
3
answers
3k
views
Lifting 5 bricks with one hand
There are 5 identical standard bricks lying on the table. Your hand is large enough to wrap around one brick only. How can you lift all 5 bricks at once with just one hand? You cannot use any other ...
- 1
9
votes
2
answers
570
views
Decode the letters from a criminal organization
Last Saturday (2018-12-08), the Brazilian police caught those letters written by the bosses of a big Brazilian criminal organization in jail intended to be delivered to their men in the streets. The ...
- 10.1k
10
votes
4
answers
2k
views
A strange construction of locks
This gate is locked with 6 locks. What is the purpose of this construction?
- 134k
41
votes
1
answer
12k
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The Beale Papers
The background to this one's given here.
NB: These may not be a genuine cryptograms (current thinking is that these are gibberish); but I though it interesting to share these in case they're genuine / ...
- 4,032
6
votes
2
answers
350
views
Boxeslayers to the rescue
This is about layering boxes, not about slaying them.
We have 1,830 2×5 boxes to stack safely
as 10 alternating contiguous layer patterns of 183 boxes each.
Layers have identical silhouettes
that fit ...
- 8,010
12
votes
4
answers
588
views
This number sequence has entered my life recently
Just recently, I've noticed this sequence of numbers has become a pretty big part of my life. It goes like this:
1, 2, 4, 6, 9, 12
So here's the mystery:
What is this sequence?
Where do I keep seeing ...
- 134k
-1
votes
2
answers
195
views
Football winners without scoring [closed]
A football (soccer) team didn't score any goals, yet they still won the game. How is this possible?
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16
votes
4
answers
4k
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Is there a secret message in the first decimals of PI?
Is there a secret message encoded in the first decimals of $\pi$?
Source: Vi Hart
- 738
18
votes
10
answers
2k
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Two many rainbows?
Wish I’d had a camera at the time
but a cartoon will have to suffice,
representing two actual incomplete rainbows
that stop in midair where they meet,
lit only by a setting sun.
This seemed so ...
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31
votes
1
answer
3k
views
Goodbye grand mother <3
My grand-mother died the 17th of June 20 from cancer after spending the last three months nearly alone in her house because of the COVID Pandemic. I dedicate her this puzzle. She's Lao and today, for ...
- 10.1k
4
votes
2
answers
262
views
The case of a piece that could go missing
What piece of hardware was after all unnecessary? And how?
These diagrams, though somewhat schematic, are meant to directly
represent everything pertinent.
Nothing has been omitted or added to ...
- 21.8k
8
votes
11
answers
2k
views
Beware of raining cephalopods
The picture depicts a real traffic sign painted in South Africa.
It was intended to be an official traffic sign - but the painter, being unfamiliar with them, painted this according to the brief he ...
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9
votes
1
answer
509
views
Reconstructing the Candidates Tournament 2018
The Candidates Tournament 2018 was an eight-player double round-robin chess tournament, which was held in Berlin, Germany, between 10–28 March 2018. The winner, Fabiano Caruana, earned the right to ...
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0
votes
6
answers
642
views
How can you drive back without refueling? [closed]
My husband and I set out for a day trip towards a tourist town 20km away from our location. We only have enough fuel to reach the town, but my husband assured me that we will easily drive back to our ...
- 4,499
8
votes
2
answers
595
views
Largest rectangle from 20 Lego bricks
You have twenty 2x4 Lego bricks, like the one shown below
What is the area of the largest rectangle you can make satisfying the following conditions:
All bricks must be connected in a single ...
- 1,043
20
votes
5
answers
2k
views
The Greenhouse Problem
While I was playing a certain popular indie farming game, I came across a dilemma. I have a greenhouse that I'd like to fill as efficiently as possible. How many plants can I fit in the greenhouse?
...
- 525
20
votes
3
answers
1k
views
Early 1900's Paper Puzzle - Release the Key and Live Forever
This puzzle was found in an old attic and was a religious invitation. Release the key and you could send it in to receive a Bible based book. Apparently 1000's were made but I can find no more other ...
- 10.1k
5
votes
2
answers
668
views
Gold, silver and bronze in the balance
Equivalent to finding three heaviest coins in order of weight,
on a balance that holds one coin on each side.
(Simplified, with some Wikipedia references corrected, from the original puzzle.
The ...
- 10.1k
2
votes
2
answers
363
views
Scheduling Meetings
I came across this problem in real life and thought it could be made into an interesting puzzle. I will enjoy seeing how my eventual solution could be improved!
Here's the situation.
There ...
- 12k
26
votes
4
answers
4k
views
The "Loop of rope" dilemma
It's a "dilemma" that I encountered in real life problems. I believe that it's not new and is quite easy to explain, but may look puzzling at first glance.
Alice and Bob are playing with a ...
- 10.6k
9
votes
2
answers
502
views
Third timer's a charm
Three motorized 24-hour
light timers
are arranged between a power outlet and a light bulb,
with timer A parallel to a daisy
chain
of timers B and C.
For these timers, devise schedules
that ...
- 21.8k
6
votes
1
answer
267
views
What are these two athletes talking about?
Fernando Alonso and Esteban Ocon are currently the two drivers driving for Alpine Racing Team in the 2021 Formula 1 season.
Earlier today, Fernando and Esteban had this conversation in clearly coded ...
- 18.6k
8
votes
1
answer
351
views
Simple puzzle, but that's not the point - what's the significance of the spacing of the shelves?
We had a cabinet that used to contain CDs. We liked the cabinet but had to admit that we hadn't taken them out for years. We decided to put some shelves in the middle (the outer ones will have hanging ...
- 10.1k
9
votes
0
answers
646
views
Signatures of serial killer Edward Wayne Edwards?
This is from a real-life murder-mystery. In 2009 Edward Wayne Edwards was arrested and convicted of five murders, following a tip-off from his daughter April. Former detective John A. Cameron ...
- 1
9
votes
2
answers
1k
views
Improve my 3D puzzle to have a single solution
3D View of one solutions http://autode.sk/2Dg4FWx
I designed a 4x4x4 soma cube in AutoCad and then built it with wood cubes. There are twelve pentacubes and one tetracube. Each piece is unique and if ...
- 10.1k
6
votes
1
answer
524
views
Picture a graph without words
You may have played/sung/heard a
song without words
in concert,
in choir,
and in a
Sushi restaurant.
Who hasn’t?!
Well here is a picture without words, only axes:
And here it is without JPG-...
- 10.1k
4
votes
1
answer
151
views
Reconstructing sport climbing results
Sport climbing at the 2020 Summer Olympics – Women's combined
Warmup
Sport climbing is a new event (one of four) at the 2020 Summer Olympics in Tokyo, and it just finished. Two events were held, one ...
- 2,757
15
votes
6
answers
2k
views
Pulling Apart a Jigsaw Puzzle
Assume you have a jigsaw puzzle that is also a tessellation. This means every piece has an identical shape and can be assembled into a 2D pattern that fills the plane with no gaps. Such a jigsaw ...
- 10.1k
2
votes
2
answers
167
views
Where is this coat of arms from? [closed]
My father found an old glass during a recent move and has no idea where it's from. It looks vaguely familiar to me (maybe all coats of arms look vaguely familiar), but I've looked up the places we're ...
- 134k
7
votes
1
answer
411
views
Discounts in a shop
I came across this sign in a shop and thought it could make a nice puzzle. So you can buy items and get discounts depending on how many items you got. You can combine discounts and use as many as you ...
- 19.1k
8
votes
8
answers
2k
views
How do you solve/understand this problem of who owes who?
There are people A,D,G,P
"A" needs $2.50 from D,G,P
"P" needs $2.50 from A,D,G
As far as who paid "A" what.
"D" paid "A" \$5 (So "A" owes ...
- 10.1k
2
votes
1
answer
343
views
Help! My Ring & Post puzzle is stuck
I have a fairly basic Ring and Wooden Post puzzle that I can usually solve. However, at a recent family gathering (pre-Covid); the ring was tangled into a weird spot and I cannot figure it out. Here ...
CommunityBot
- 1
7
votes
1
answer
310
views
Cracking prices
I recently went to a furniture store where people spend my annual salary on a garish commodes and ostentatious vitrines.
I note a curious code at the bottom of each item’s description label. Some ...
- 10.3k
7
votes
3
answers
468
views
Riding on non-circular wheels
The mathematician Stan Wagon built a tricycle with square wheels that can ride smoothly on a carefully crafted curved surface:
Now I have some puzzles for you:
Is there a surface that allows one to ...
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1
vote
1
answer
164
views
Reverse Engineer Chess Software Calculations
TLDR Just the Puzzle
Given a number n and a weight w the function f will result in a weighted number r as follows.
f(n, w) = r
n can be a number from 0 to 200
w can be a number from -100 to 100 (...
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5
votes
1
answer
314
views
A real-life puzzle. I'm mystified
I am not sure that this (or anywhere) is the right place to ask. I'm just puzzled about some things that happened today. Genuinely happened - this is not a set-up for an ordinary puzzle.
This morning ...
- 8,079
8
votes
2
answers
445
views
Rack 'Em Up! 🎱
In a game of English eight-ball pool, a set of 15 balls are arranged or 'racked' in the shape of an equilateral triangle. In order for the balls to be racked fairly, they must be arranged like so:
<...
- 8,010
4
votes
2
answers
311
views
Explain these dirty tire tracks
The image below shows a clean Jeep and dirty tire tracks on a black paved parking lot. The tracks are dirtiest near the Jeep, less dirty at the bottom of the image, and even less dirty on the right ...
- 13k
7
votes
2
answers
994
views
Why did the number of islands change?
There is a cluster of islands, which a private pilot flies over at dawn. The pilot can see 17 islands. A week later, she makes the same flight, at dawn, following the same altitude, speed, path and ...
- 13.7k
15
votes
1
answer
627
views
Explain this holiday calendar oddity
Happy Boxing Day! Yesterday was Christmas Day, and in a few days, it will be New Year's Day. Each holiday season, those two holidays are always on the same day of the week (in this case, Friday). But ...
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