INTELLECT SHARPENERS

Otago Daily Times, Issue 23001, 2 October 1936, Page 2

INTELLECT SHARPENERS

Written for the Otago Daily Times

By C. J. Wherefore

Correspondence should be addressed to Box 1177, Wellington PRONUNCIATION PUZZLE In the lines given below the three spaces are to be filled with words, which look as if they should rhyme, judging by the way they are spelled, but their accepted pronunciation makes them sound quite differently. At 2 o’clock we passed a little town, A place we do not —I must admit, We on to a spot much lower down Which both of us do much prefer to it. We stopped and picnicked for an hour or more, And did not again till nearly four. ARMCHAIR PROBLEM A store-keeper had to leave his store for a few minutes, and, as he was shorthanded at the time, the only person he could put in charge was a boy with no experience. He gave orders that a record of everything sold during his absence should be kept, and the result was that, when he returned, his assistant handed him six shillings and a list of six articles sold. The price paid for the first was exactly twice as much as that paid for the second, the price of the third was just twice as much as that of the fourth, and again the' fifth cost twice as much as the sixth. No two prices were the same, and none of them was as small as one penny. The lowest price and the second to the highest differed by Is 3d. What were the prices paid for all six articles? ANOTHER PROBLEM IN AGES Mr Somebody stated that he was several years older than his wife, but he did not mention the number of years between their ages. What he did say distinctly was that a certain number of years ago he was twice as old as she was, but that was before they were married, and then he added that the same number of years ahead of the present date his age would exceed hers by only one year in every five years of her age. For the purpose of the problem, readers are informed that neither of these persons married before their twenty-first birthday. How old are they now, and what number of years ago and ahead did the husband mention when he made these statements? A MATINEE The staff of Messrs Black and White’s shop had planned an excursion last Saturday, but as the weather turned out wet they went to a matinee instead. There were only two men, Robert and Lesly. and they paid for the tickets, Each man paid for his own, and one of them took all the girls who serve at the counter on the right-hand side, and the other was equally generous to those on the left. They arranged this among themselves, but they tossed up for which lot of girls they were to escort, because the loser had to pay for three more than the other. The amount paid for all the tickets was sixpence less than £l. How many were there in the party, and what was the price paid for the seats?

A QUESTION ABOUT A SNOWSTORM I had asked my friend about a snowstorm, which he had mentioned in our conversation, but he could not even tell me whether it happened in July or August. He has a small job, which necessitates a journey from his suburban home to the city every day, including Sunday. What he did manage to tell me, as the result of studying some entries in a pocket diary, was that during July and August he made just one trip each day. Ih fine weather he likei walking, but on doubtful days he takes his car., He avoids getting his car dirty in very bad weather by using the tram instead. In each of thes months mentioned he was able to state that out of the journeys by tram and car one lot was more numerous than the other in the proportion of 14 to 9. In July the number of his walks was the smallest of the three, but in August it was the largest. He has always made it his practice, he tells me, to return to his home by the same method as that by which he makes the journey into town. The only occasion when he broke this rule was the day of the snowstorm, when he had walked into town but had to return by tram. Did this storm occur in July or August, and also, which were the more numerous, his journeys by tram or by car? SOLUTIONS OF LAST WEEK’S PROBLEMS Non - mathematical. Spread, spared, separated. Armchair Problem.—A had £l, and B proposed to borrow first 16s and then 15s. Detective Story.—The arithmetic, is inaccurate; the 8 should be a 9. ( The inference is that the number 9 is important, and by taking every ninth letter the following words are formed: Detectives on train. Tea Merchant.—The manager in his desire to speak shortly has overlooked the fact that there is no necessity to use the expensive tea, because what is required is obtainable quite simply by taking equal quantities of the other two varieties. As the clerk has direct orders to include all three kinds, he must take 71b at 2s 7d, 51b at 2s sd, and 161 b at Is lOd. Taking Care of Pence.—The sum of all numbers up to a given number is found by adding that number to its square and dividing by two. By doing what is described for 30 weeks, he would have 465 pence of his own, so that the friends would have given the other 15 pence. As this is declared to be wrong, the answer is that he saved for 29 weeks and his friends gave him 3s 9d. The number of friends is unknown, but it must be an odd number, because all factors of 45 are odd numbers.