"NUTS!"

Evening Post, Volume CXVIII, Issue 56, 4 September 1934, Page 4

"NUTS!"

INTELLECT SHARPENERS

All rights reserved,

(By 0. J. Wherefore.)

Readers with a littlo Inuenuity will find In this column an abundant store of entertainment and amusement, and the solving of the problems should provide excellent mental exhilaration. While some of me "nuts" may appear harder that others. It will be found that none will require a sledge-hammer to crack them. Address correspondence to P.O. Box 1177, Wellington. '

ANAGRAM. In tlic lines given below the four spaces are to be filled with words composed of the same six letters. In the fourth line there is an s at the end' cf the word for reasons of grammar. I love my when its products stand All in brilliant rows of summer colour, I love it less when autumn takes command, No visions of a brain were duller. And when I dig it in its winter state, It stands in of my utmost hate. A NEW VEESION OF AN OLD PKOBLEM. There is an old problem, which is found in many collections of puzzles, concerning an Arab who left 17 camels to three sons, who were to have onehalf, one-third, and one-ninth of the number. The solution given is that the judge lent them one camel, so that they, got 9, 6, and 2 camels, then returned the one that was lent. Of courso this is quite inaccurate, and all good problemists find it very unsatisfactory, but no true answer could be given, becauso tho three vulgar fractious added togother are less than unity. The following problem is therefore submitted as an improvement. Tho judge, having taken his degree at a university, had no hesitation in pronouncing tho will to bo inoperative, and ordered the camels to bo sold. But he pointed out that the expenses, including succession and estate duties, would require oneeighteenth part of the sum received for the camels. -He thought it the right thing to respect the wishes of the testator with regard-to the heirs receiving one-half, one-third, and one-ninth of tho money available, but t^ese were to bo fractions of the whole value of the estate before deducting taxation. Now, the prices received for the camels wore 17 consecutive numbers of pounds without shillings, each son also received his share in wholo numbers of pounds, and, of course, tho sum paid in taxation was also a similar whole number. Tho problem is to find what prices were obtained for tho camels, and how much money each of tho sons received. A PROBLEM FOR WIRELESS MEN. Tour men, who are keen upon their wireless sots, live in Auckland, Wellington, Christchurch, and Dunedin. For tho purpose of this problem they are listening only to the four principal broadcasting stations in the four cities mentioned. During the evening no man has been listening to his own local station, nor has his own local station been received by a resident in the city of -the* station to which that man is listening at tho hour to which this problem refers. Each of tho four is now listening to a different station, and the puzzle is to find to which station each of them is listening. The Dunodin man is listening to the station to which the Christchurch man was listening half an hour ago but not now. The Wellington man is listening to the station to which the Auckland man was listening half an hour ago but not now. The Auckland man cannot get Dunedin. ALGEBRA IN THE KITCHEN. Miss Minerva went directly from school, where she had been receiving a lesson in algebra, to a cookery class, and she . seems to have .got her notes rather mixed. In the evening when she tried to write out fair copies, her recipe for a two-pound cake was as follows:—The weight of flour required, is equal to the sum of the weights oi butter and of sugar, and the number of cups of milk is equal to the difference between the numbers of pounds of butter and of sugar. The number of eggs is equal to tho number of pounds of flour, butter, and sugar, added together. The number of teaspoonfuls of bicarbonate of soda is the same as tho number of pounds of sugar, and the quantity of cream of tartar is twice this small amount. The problem

is to reconstruct the recipe for a cake thus confused by imperfect note-taking. A SPECULATION.Mr. B has just sold a section of land for £200. He bought it ten years ago for £100, and he feels that in doubling his money he has brought off a very profitable investment, although lie has to admit that it has cost him five pounds a year for rates and taxes. Do readers agree with Mr. B in thinking that ho made a highly profitable speculation?

SOLUTIONS. Flag Station.—At 65 and 35 miles from town.

The Excursion Train.—One-tenth of a mile.

Cars and Sheep.—One and five-sixth miles per hour.

Word Change.—Hard, ward, word, sore, sort, soft.

Armchair Problems. —(l) Half tho sum of tho two amounts mentioned, £127 15s, is the price received. (2) Increase 13 by one-tenth of itself, and result, IC}, is tho prccentago required.

An Argumentative Problem.—As A shot one bird, which counted 3, his other iivc cartridges killed at least five

rabbits. Therefore the three equal scores were not less than eight. Then take B and C together, they scored 10 points, and_ cannot have . killed less than 12 animals. This can hnppen in two ways, (1) each man shot two hares, four rabbits and (2) one man shot three hares, two rabbits, the other one hare, six rabbits. Both of these are clearly inadmissible. The only explanation is that one man got two rabbits with one shot, so we writo 13 in place of 12, and start again. There is only one solution which is not contrary to specification, namely, that one man shot two hares, four rabbits, and the other one hare, six rabbits. As the two hares belong to B, the other lot belongs to C, and it shows the reason why he claims to be the winner.