Questions tagged [real]
For puzzles that presented themselves, with real parameters and consequences, during otherwise non-puzzling activities.
148
questions
25
votes
5
answers
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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 ...
- 33.2k
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 ...
- 8,071
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 ...
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3
votes
1
answer
279
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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:
- 287
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 ...
- 33.2k
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 ...
- 33.2k
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?
- 33.2k
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 ...
- 21.8k
-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?
- 33.2k
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
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 ...
- 945
8
votes
11
answers
2k
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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 ...
- 929
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 ...
- 33.2k
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 ...
- 7,357
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 ...
- 15.1k
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 ...
- 22.8k
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 ...
- 945
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 ...
- 33.2k
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 ...
- 22.8k
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 ...
- 33.2k
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 ...
- 173
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 ...
- 33.2k
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 (...
- 111
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?
...
- 874
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:
<...
- 1,221
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 ...
- 5,732
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 ...
- 5,732
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 ...
- 5,732
18
votes
3
answers
3k
views
Explain this bad parking job
One bright Monday morning, I drove to work and parked my car in Lot A. That morning, others also parked in Lot A, and we all found each other’s parking jobs to be satisfactory.
That afternoon, a co-...
- 5,732
0
votes
1
answer
343
views
Another Zodiac Killer Puzzle
This is a multi-part puzzle concerning the Zodiac Killer "Pines" card sent to the San Francisco Chronicle on March 22, 1971. I will ask it as a series of questions and hints, as I think it's ...
- 199
15
votes
3
answers
801
views
Reconstructing World Cup results
In the group stage of the World Cup, teams compete within eight groups of four teams each. Each group plays a round-robin tournament, in which each team plays three matches, one against each other ...
- 945
5
votes
2
answers
402
views
Starred, as to the crew's aid
The flavour text (except for the puzzle's name) is not a hint, but a true story
I didn't really have any ideas for a puzzle, but my everyday life gave me one. I think, the puzzle could be better if I ...
- 6,802
5
votes
4
answers
362
views
Explain this pattern of water spots in a parking space
Today, I found this pattern of water spots in a parking space. Other parking spaces with cars in them also had similar patterns of water spots. What caused this pattern, and why are there more water ...
- 5,732
6
votes
3
answers
1k
views
Aliens Attack Apartments?
Difficulty level: fair to middling
Pose level: too tempting to resist
When attempting to fill in a bureaucratic blank,
a friend serendipitously snapped this
cameraphone picture . . .
. . . ...
- 21.8k
10
votes
3
answers
652
views
Optimal refueling strategy
On the way home from work, I want to refuel my car. There are 5 petrol stations along the way that all have a different price for petrol. I know that the prices will be in the range [A, B], chosen ...
- 33.2k
1
vote
2
answers
197
views
2
votes
1
answer
99
views
Can you produce a wolf's template? Part 2
Here is the first question.
You are given a square piece of paper with no marks on it. With this paper, you have to make a wolf's template.
You are given no tools such as a ruler or scissors, and all ...
- 1,699
8
votes
1
answer
267
views
The key with no door
I was given this key, along with an attached seating assignment, at a wedding reception. While many guests assumed it was merely a decorative key, a few clever guests quickly realized the truth. The ...
- 205
7
votes
19
answers
2k
views
Drawing a perfect circle without any tools [closed]
You are given a pen and a large piece of paper. Without using any additional tools (eg., ruler, compass, string etc) how can you draw a perfect circle?
- 33.2k
6
votes
1
answer
379
views
Calculate total score from average score
A class of students have taken $8$ exams.
The average scores of the exams are:
1st: $80.12$
2nd: $74.59$
3rd: $77.83$
4th: $77.34$
5th: $82.07$
6th: $81.25$
7th: $78.90$
8th: $75.44$
What is the total ...
- 7,357
22
votes
11
answers
5k
views
Why is the pavement wet?
Saw this the other day. So I took this picture. There was another nearly identical wet patch 2 spaces away.
Why is the pavement wet?
Note: This is a straight forward physics puzzle. This is a ...
- 371
8
votes
2
answers
1k
views
Someone Shoot Me!
Real-life situation, this time. I was at work the other day and had just done something. I needed to tell a coworker he needed to do it as well, but he was on the phone at the time.
Not wanting to ...
- 3,730
7
votes
4
answers
578
views
Buying weight plates for a home gym, what is the fewest number I need
I'm buying a home gym set-up for my son (really!) and I want to know the fewest number of weight plates I need to buy to be able to go up in 5kg increments to 170kg. The bar weighs 20kg and the ...
11
votes
1
answer
401
views
Cryptic images have been posted around University of Central Florida campus. Can you help crack the cipher?
Recently there have been sightings of images duct-taped to various poles and such, reminiscent of a large house with windows within the UCF campus. On closer inspection, there is obviously a cryptic ...
- 111
3
votes
1
answer
225
views
Curved brick wall
Below is a fully functioning curved brick wall. Amazingly it uses fewer bricks than a functioning straight brick wall of comparable length. How is this possible?
- 33.2k
4
votes
8
answers
1k
views
How to find half volume of tetrahedron?
Let's say you have a few juice packs that are shaped as regular tetrahedra.
Question. Is it possible to measure half of the juice there is in one pack?
Edit. You do not have any measuring tools (rules,...
- 1,699
3
votes
0
answers
334
views
Can you help me recover this message?
So, in May 2018, a friend and I were sitting in study hall, bored. Both of us had finished our homework early, and we were trading ciphers over email. I sent something that I had encoded, and neither ...
- 161
5
votes
1
answer
314
views
On which date was this photo taken?
On which date was this photo taken? Here are your clues:
A simple, handheld camera phone faithfully captured what the eye saw. No artificial filters, lighting or trick photography was used.
It was a ...
- 5,732
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 ...
- 193