Questions tagged [real]
For puzzles that presented themselves, with real parameters and consequences, during otherwise non-puzzling activities.
148
questions
25
votes
14
answers
14k
views
Separate the milk!
You have a jug of milk and a jug of water. You must empty both jugs into a nine gallon barrel.
You must be able to:
Differentiate between the milk and the water
Separate the milk from the water
You ...
- 1,047
-3
votes
9
answers
2k
views
Ice Cube Lifting Puzzle [closed]
Here's an interesting scientific problem.
Drop a small ice cube into a partially filled glass of water. Next, get a foot-long piece of thread or string. The puzzle is to remove the ice cube from ...
- 437
3
votes
2
answers
290
views
Longest autological loop? [closed]
A word is said to be autological if it describes itself. This can be a property of both nouns and adjectives; for example, "noun" is a noun and "pentasyllabic" is pentasyllabic.
We can also construct ...
- 1,790
9
votes
2
answers
1k
views
Find Four Pins of 50 in this Image! -- A Hidden Object Puzzle
Tonight, my friends and I went to the mall. We planned to buy some shirts and pants, but suddenly... we found this!
These are number/size pins. They are typically used in hanger to denote the size of ...
- 34k
2
votes
2
answers
430
views
How to Charge Our Devices in this Machine?
Warning: It is actually a simple "puzzle" which is silly but debatably unique as it really happens to me in real life.
I'm amazed with nowadays technology. When I go to one of the shopping mall in ...
- 34k
15
votes
5
answers
2k
views
Optimal Money-Saving on the NYC Metro
You are on vacation in New York City. You didn't bring your car, and it's currently around $-50^\circ C$, so it's probably a good idea to take the NYC metro subway to move around.
You need a metro ...
- 9,892
0
votes
2
answers
166
views
Pray they can hold it in for two hours? [closed]
I use to to help with the nursery at a very small church. The Nursery was downstairs next to the the two small restrooms for males/females. Whenever I had to go out to a restroom to get towels or ...
- 1,491
-6
votes
3
answers
700
views
What do these two places have in common?
In the United States of America, the New York City Borough of Queens lies at the west end of Long Island.
More than 5000km across the Atlantic ocean lies the Metropolitan Borough of Bolton, a borough ...
- 8,424
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 ...
- 1,820
-4
votes
2
answers
384
views
Length of mystery object
What everyday object is ${n}^{-1/4}$ metres long, where $n$ is an integer?
Hint: n=
Note there may be some cultural dependence here.
- 1,666
-3
votes
2
answers
330
views
A toy needs 3 batteries, but I only have 2 batteries [closed]
I have a boy, he has a toy which need 3 batteries, but I only have 2 batteries. With an easy hack I can switch on the toy to work properly. What did I do?
- 600
56
votes
22
answers
20k
views
Can you open the bathroom door? [closed]
This happened to me in a rental apartment and I had to be creative to solve it.
The geniuses who designed the bathroom managed to fit a drawer about a centimeter behind the door, and eventually what ...
- 2,586
25
votes
1
answer
2k
views
What is the solution to Lewis Carroll's "Froggy's Problem", and what is the "trap"?
Froggy's Problem was presented in Lewis Carroll's Symbolic Logic, with a note that it "contains a marvellous trap". Because Carroll never released Part 2 of Symbolic Logic, its solution is unknown.
...
- 603
3
votes
1
answer
313
views
Floored and foiled
Scene 1 – A hallway
There I was, in a corporate hallway
110 shaftments
long (approximately 18 m or 60 ft)
and unspooling a 100 -shaftment length of cable from a
reel.
All too ...
- 21.8k
3
votes
1
answer
291
views
Locate the position of moon on a newmoon day?
As an amateur astronomer, I wished to locate the position of the moon on the night of a newmoon day, where I was staying. I was on an island (on which I happended to land the same day morning), ...
- 8,628
10
votes
1
answer
833
views
The tomb with the answer to life
Diophantus was a famous ancient Greek mathematician. This was carved on his tomb:
Herein lies the remains of Diophantus. God vouchsafed that he should be a boy for the sixth part of his life; when ...
- 2,024
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 ...
- 61
21
votes
2
answers
2k
views
Who is Panama Oxridge?
Panama Oxridge is the author of a children's book series about a boy called Justin Thyme. However, the name Panama Oxridge is actually a pseudonym for an unknown author. From the series website:
Once ...
- 116k
-4
votes
1
answer
283
views
Which screws go first?
Humans are not always accurate at measurements. I recently got a table top that came with an attachment. Table top and attachment are nearly of same size and rectangular with four screw holes near ...
- 5,353
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-...
- 21.8k
26
votes
14
answers
2k
views
The master programmer and the mystical reversal
The master programmer sat at his desk, gazing into the distance, his eyes seeing, and yet unseeing.
The lunch had been heavy.
His reverie was interrupted by the appearance of his close colleague, ...
- 5,956
10
votes
3
answers
575
views
Ridge Trail moisture mystery
(click to visit this picture via Google Street View)
The weather was less pleasant than pictured above
but the afternoon began nicely enough that I wasn’t about to
waste an hour already ...
- 21.8k
0
votes
10
answers
2k
views
Leave a room without entering it first
This is a quick little puzzle that requires a bit of lateral thinking.
Today, my boss physically walked out of her office (her private room in the larger office), but she never physically entered her ...
- 386
18
votes
10
answers
2k
views
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 ...
- 21.8k
11
votes
1
answer
383
views
Binary coded message on a house in Catalonia
I found this inscription on a wall of a house in town of Martorell, Catalonia, Spain. It looks rather modern and I think its creator ciphered some word / message / joke in it. I tried to lookup ASCII ...
- 213
5
votes
8
answers
819
views
A strange sight in London
While travelling in London, I noticed something strange.
I saw some numbers which appeared to be counting up but which then switched to counting down. Later on, I saw the same thing, but the numbers ...
- 1,084
20
votes
1
answer
3k
views
Ricky McCormick's Notes
On June 30 1999, Ricky McCormick was found dead in an isolated area, 15 miles away from his home. He didn't own a car, and the area was not subjected to public transport so it is a mystery how he got ...
- 56.4k
2
votes
2
answers
416
views
Steganography TriBond™
These three have a technological
attribute — me — in common:
•
What does each of these represent?
•
How ...
- 21.8k
9
votes
4
answers
496
views
Mystery on the trail to Dutch Flat
On a recent amble, I happened upon a sign
$\small \raise2mu ( {\normalsize\sf\color{#d90} A} \raise2mu )$
that seemed to indicate a
mistake — or— a mystery.
...
- 21.8k
26
votes
4
answers
2k
views
This image contains a "Great Discovery"
The Puzzle:
Source material taken from here
As discussed on Numberphile, here is John Herschel's doodle, sent to his friend Charles Babbage.
John H.
John Herschel was an English polymath, ...
- 403
29
votes
2
answers
6k
views
Does this metal puzzle have a solution (Baguenaudier)
When I was young I got this puzzle as a gift to me.
The aim is to get the long piece out. I haven't yet found a solution, and I'm not sure if there is one
Does this have a solution and if so ...
- 393
12
votes
21
answers
903
views
The Empty Elevator [closed]
This is a lateral thinking puzzle based on my real life:
Earlier this evening I got into an empty elevator, pressed a button for a floor, and walked out before the door closed.
I wasn't being ...
- 619
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
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 ...
- 141
8
votes
1
answer
1k
views
Sufi Number Square
Years ago I was gifted a copper number square by a Sufi mystic. I have puzzled over its significance for all these years and still haven't been able to find a suitable answer. The number square is a ...
- 199
2
votes
5
answers
974
views
Please explain the solution to this? [closed]
1 set contains: 3, 2, 1
2nd set: 6, 6, 7
3rd set: 10, 9, ?
What is ?
Choose from: 7, 8, 11, 12, 13
- 147
7
votes
1
answer
477
views
Reproduce output in picture using a logical input list by introducing a bug
I came across this picture and thought that this would be a fun programming puzzle to work out. (https://www.reddit.com/r/funny/comments/4hjf4y/ill_take_february_tickets_please)
(Clearly, the drop-...
- 257
37
votes
1
answer
902
views
Computations of an old woman
Recently I met a Polish woman who showed me something very interesting. Apparently her mother kept notebooks which she filled with strange calculations, never telling anyone what they were for. From ...
- 997
54
votes
1
answer
6k
views
Unsolved Mysteries: D'Agapeyeff cipher
The D'Agapeyeff cipher is an as-yet unbroken cipher that appears in the first edition of "Codes and Ciphers", an elementary book on cryptography published by the cryptographer Alexander D'Agapeyeff in ...
- 681
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 ...
- 25.7k
12
votes
3
answers
1k
views
8
votes
3
answers
817
views
Odd hours with two timers
Two motorized 24-hour
light timers
are daisy
chained
between a power outlet and a light bulb.
For these timers, devise schedules and choose initial times
that produce the following repeated 9-hour ...
- 21.8k
8
votes
3
answers
619
views
Halve time with two timers
Two motorized 24-hour
light timers
are daisy
chained
between a power outlet and a light bulb.
For these timers, devise schedules and choose initial times
that produce the following repeated lighting ...
- 21.8k
41
votes
1
answer
12k
views
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 / ...
- 1,295
10
votes
2
answers
951
views
Euclid's orchard
Once upon a time Isaac was lounging under a tree in Euclid's apple orchard,
when something struck his foresight.
“In the future,” he imagined,
“the layout of these trees could help
...
- 21.8k
21
votes
11
answers
4k
views
What's wrong with this line in a baking recipe book?
A cookie-baking recipe book (this one, specifically) has the following instruction in it, which is incorrect in a single spot:
If you have a fan-assisted oven, you will need to reduce the recipe ...
user88
36
votes
3
answers
4k
views
Unsolved Mysteries: Magic Square of Squares
This is the first in what will hopefully be a series of Unsolved Mysteries posts.
Note that this puzzle has no known solution, nor any proof that a solution is impossible. We will see how ...
- 25.7k
81
votes
2
answers
4k
views
A good puzzle is a double-edged sword
A rare double-edged sword is currently on loan from the British Museum to the Magna Carta exhibition.
The sword itself is described as likely made in Germany around 1250-1330 and includes the ...
- 5,280