What's special about 4th May 2006, and specifically two minutes and

three seconds after one o'clock in the morning?

What are the astrological star signs and the two months that each sign
represents? (The symbols and precise dates are optional details and
not necessarily required in quiz answers.)
Who wrote: "Bring me my bow of burning gold: Bring me my arrows of
desire.." ?
What famous slogan was originally devised by Patrick O'Keefe for the
Society of American Florists?
What connects the words sitcom, smog, brunch, muppet and cyborg?
What symbolic item did Lauren Bacall put into the urn containing
Humphrey Bogart's ashes?
Which one of these is on the coast: Cairo, Johannesburg, Tripoli,
Sarajevo, Nairobi, Khartoum?
Which of these is not on the coast: Venice, San Diego, Reykjavik,
Marrakesh, Helsinki, Lisbon?
What upper case (capital) letter of the English alphabet requires that
the pen be lifted from the paper twice (providing no lines are retraced)?
A famous leader's first name of Mohandas is commonly replaced by a
first name that means 'great soul'; who was he?
Who was the 'The Wizard of Menlo Park' who said, "Genius is one
percent inspiration, ninety-nine percent perspiration." ?
Paul McGann, Peter Davidson and William Hartnell have each played
the same famous sci-fi role. What's the character's name?
What is the largest English town or city never (as of 2005/06) to have
been represented in the top English football division (the old First
Division and now the Premier League)? Supplementary question: What
is also unique about this full club name in the entire professional
football league system?
There are four (known to us - perhaps there are more) perfectly
recognisable and understandable words in the English language having

one of each vowel in reverse alphabetical order (UOIEA), what are the
words?
Why would the following stand no chance of being approved as official
names for British racehorses? - Salisbury Cathedral, Wonderful
Terminator, Sexy Disciplinarian or Sea Bee.
How much time elapses between any Sunday 29 February and (going
forward in time) the next respective Tuesday 29 February? (This is not
a trick question and is reasonably straight-forward to work out if you
have that sort of brain...) A supplementary question is: what year was
the last Sunday 29 February? (Again this is straight-forward to work out
if you know the current day and date, and have the right sort of
brain....)
the paintings puzzle
This is an excellent lateral-thinking and maths puzzle:
An art gallery features a modern work of 'moving art'. The artist stands
by a stack of paintings, each featuring a different number. One of the
paintings is displayed on the wall. At certain times the artist removes
the painting from the wall and replaces it with a painting from the
stack. At 11am, the artist hangs a painting of the number 30. At 4pm
he hangs a painting of number 240. At 7.30pm he hangs a painting of
number 315. What painting does the artist hang at 9.20pm? Answer
the spotlight puzzle
A conference room contains three separate wall-mounted spotlights right, left and front of stage. Each is controlled by its own on-off switch.
These three switches are numbered 1, 2 and 3, but they are in a backroom which has no sight of the the spotlights or the conference room
(and there are no reflections or shadows or mirrors, and you are alone).
How do you identify each switch correctly - right, left, front - if you can
only enter the back-room once? Answer
What famous UK business institution has the postal code CF14 3UZ?
Months of the year that begin on a Sunday (other than February in nonleap-years) always have five Sundays. What other notable feature do
they (including all Februarys) contain?
What connects these words?... Dram, Colon, Won, Dong, Kip.

Hedy Lamarr achieved what notable cinematic 'first' in 1933? (If you
can state any of her other interesting claims to fame, then award
yourself a bonus point for each...)
With what papers do you associate Sam Weller?
What do these Shakespeare plays have in common?... Julius Caesar,
Richard III, Hamlet, Macbeth.
Where was Britain's first escalator installed?
'Dieu Et Mon Droit' appears on which daily header?
What do these items have in common?... Arrow, Ladder, Spanner,
Hockey-Stick, T-Square, Crutch.
The drummer with little known 1960's high school rock group the
Iguanas became which music and style icon?
Christopher Leyland's discovery on his brother-in-law's estate near
Powys, Wales in 1888, was what?
Scientist Dr Alexander Graham Bell, inventor of the telephone, had
what well known unit of measurement was named after him?
What is the connection between Ben Corson and Roger Stoughton and
riot control?
What was Pall Mall before it was a famous London street and a brand of
cigarettes?
The bacillus-based invention of French bacteriologists Albert Calmette
and Camille Gurin, and the reason for their invention gave rise to two
well-known abbreviations, what are they?
A maritime poser: Homo-Sapien Rent = ?
What do these words have in common, and what does each mean in
that common context? - string, ostentation, smack, pitying, crash,
unkindness, murmuration, drove, pod, murder, knot, colony, grist,
brood, shrewdness, school, siege.
What 15-letter word contains the letter 'E' five times and no other
vowels?
To circus people, what is a 'First of May Joey'?

What is deoxyribonucleic acid?

What is the only US state which borders with just one other US state?
JCB is the name of the famous earth-moving machines; what does JCB
stand for?
What word ends with an S in its plural masculine form, but changes to
singular feminine when another S is added to the end? There are now
two examples of this known to me. (Ack D Robinson and M Trollope)
answer
What countries of Europe have flags with vertical stripes of these
colours? - black/yellow/red; blue/white/red; red/white/green?
What is the capacity of a 'barrel' as commonly referenced for crude oil
production? Also, what does OPEC stand for, and what are the eleven
member countries (as at October 2004)?
Whose dogs?

Albie

Argos

Bagel

Bimbo

Blondi

Boatswain

Checkers, Vicky and King Timahoe

Gnasher

Gromit

Kasbec

Krypto

Mafia

Muttley

Nana

Nipper

Peritas

Precious Pup

Rambler

Snert

Snoopy

Snowy

Susan, Emma, Linnet, Holly and Willow

Turk

What cities are most commonly known by these nicknames? (There is

more than one answer for some):

City of Dreaming Spires

City of Magnificent Distances

City of the Angels

City of Churches

City of Love

City of Peace and Justice

City of the Tribes/the Eternal City

City of the Violated Treaty/Stab City

City of the Violet Crown

Crescent City

Empire City

The Fair City

Forbidden City

Granite City

The Harbour City/Emerald City

Monumental City/Charm City

Mormon City

Orchid City

Quaker City

Soul City

The Stampede City

Windy City

Motor City

Music City

The River City

The Steel City

The White City of the North

Where would you find stags and kites (along with a couple of other
creatures that would surely give the game away)?
What was 'Sphairistike'? (The word is Greek, loosely meaning 'ballgame', and an earlier version was known by the French as 'Jeu de
Paume').
What icon of 20th century design was the Chapman Root Glass
Company of Indiana responsible for introducing in 1915?
What were the famous riders of these horses? - Bucephalos, Black
Bess, Arion, Copenhagen, Marengo, Babieca, Dapple (an ass), Incitatus,
Pegasus, Trigger, White Surrey, Midnight.
What twelve animals feature in Chinese astrology?

These seemingly unpronouncable sounds actually appear in common

English words; what are the three words? - sthm, tchphr, tchst. (There
is also a less common additional word featuring the 'sthm' letter set ack JP.)
These very old iconic symbols were responsible for what modern
system? - the moon, the sun, the planet Saturn, and the Anglo-Saxon
gods: Thor, Tiw, Woden, and his wife Frig.
Cryptic anagram puzzles (the clues are in the questions):

dirty room

here come dots

lost cash in, me

alas, no more z's

I'm a dot in place

eleven plus two

A father took his son to hospital for emergency treatment after an

accident. The doctor greeted them, but on seeing the boy, exclaimed,
"I can't operate on him - he's my son!" How can this be? (The son was
not adopted, nor a step-son.)
The 'Frying Pan' was a 1931 prototype and early production nickname
for what item of electro-magnetic equipment?
Hartnell and Troughton did it on TV. Who did it on film in the same
decade?
What do these British people have in common? J S Lowry, David Bowie,
French and Saunders, Nigella Lawson, Vanessa Redgrave, Albert
Finney, Jon Snow, John le Carre, Aldous Huxley, Roald Dahl, Evelyn
Waugh and George Melly.
Lincoln's stunning 1955 Futura convertible concept car appeared in
motor shows to wide acclaim until 1959, when it achieved greater
notoriety, featuring the 1959 film 'It Started With A Kiss' starring Glenn
Ford and Debbie Reynolds. The car later became even more famous for
what reason?

What is remarkable about this phrase? - Anger? 'Tis safe never. Bar it.
Use Love.
Name a common word with five consecutive vowels.
What morbid coincidence occured at 12 Curzon Place, Mayfair, London?
Catholic bishops are allowed seven of them, priests five, and ordinary
people one; what are they?
Why do we say 'Bless you' to someone who has sneezed?
Whose secret ingredient is code-named 7X?
Why did so many sailors have a crucifix tattooed on their backs in the
1700's?
What unique feature do the words PRECEPTOR and DILLYDALLY have in
common?
What's the longest word in the English language with only one vowel
(which appears once only in the word)?
What do the words ALMOST and BIOPSY have in common?
What's the only word in the English language having four consecutive
double letters?
Draw a capital T over a capital C so that the down-stroke of the T ends
in the centre of the C. What historial event does this represent?
What five odd figures when added together make fourteen?
The time displayed usually on watches and clocks in adverts is what?,
and why?
What are the only four commonly used words in the English language
ending in 'dous'? (There is a fourth not-so-common word, and a fifth
very uncommon word, which also has one of each vowel in the correct
order.)
What is the only word in the English language that ends in 'mt'?
What are the longest one-syllable words in the English language?
(You're looking for a ten-letter word, and/or several nine-letter words.

To turn this into a virtually impossible question, find a nine-letter word

that doesn't begin with 'S' - we are aware of only two such examples)
Think of a words that sound exactly the same and have opposite
meanings. (They are spelt differently but phonetically - they sound the same.) We know of four such words pairs, each which has two
different spellings, same sound, and opposite meanings.
Now think of a words pairings which are spelt the same and have two
opposite meanings. There are several examples of such word pairs,
plus another two pairs or hyphenated double-word constructions, again
with same spellings and opposite meanings. A word having two
opposite meanings is called a contronym or contranym.
And extending the theme, what words in the English language occur in
two forms, exactly the same spelling, with opposite meanings? (We
know eight of these words.)
What trades or occupations are associated with these surnames? (easy
ones first) Turner, Joiner, Glazier, Draper, Cartwright, Bowyer, Fletcher,
Wainwright, Tanner, Scrivener, Sexton, Cooper, Horner, Chandler,
Mercer, Franklin.
The sequence 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10 incorporates another
sequence: 1, 1, 1, 2, 2, 1, 1, 1, 1, 2. Why?
What connects Wedgwood pottery and The Origin Of Species?
What do these three-letter groups have in common? ABZ, BGO, HAJ,
MEL, ORD, SPK.
How did the TVR sports car firm get its name?
What is 'trichlorophenylmethyliodisalicyl' more commonly known as?
Name the Wacky Races cars and drivers.
What order is denoted by the following prefixes? First, Middle, Morning,
Forenoon, Afternoon, First Dog, Last Dog.
Complete the sequence: (three more needed): S, H, S, M, C, D, P, R,
O, ...
In 1860 Frederick Walton named his new product after the latin words
for its two main constituents, flax and oil. What was it?

Why was Dr Who's 'Tardis' so called?

Shepherd and Turpin invented something that derived its name from
theirs, and the name of the factory where it was first produced in 1941.
What was it?
BUNCH was an acronym at one time representing the big names in the
computer industry, can you name them?
What was the origin of the 3M company name?
Who was Lady Creighton-Ward?
What's special about these four men? Reinhard Goerdeler, Piet
Kynveld, James Marwick, William Barclay Peat.
What did Mikoyan and Gurevich design?
What's the difference between a rhombus and a rhomboid?
The first Englishman to be killed in a plane crash had another claim to
fame, what was it?
What's noteworthy about the words 'reverberated' and 'stewardesses'
in relation to typing? And in the same vein, Lollipop?
Name a fifteen letter word containing fifteeen different letters.
Complete the sequence (five more required): deca, hecto, kilo,...
What do these pairings have in common and what is the odd pair in the
sequence? - AA, AI, IO, OU, OX, BO, KI.
What is it? - the people who make it don't want it, the people who buy
it don't use it and the people who use it don't know.
What do these items have in common? - Vivien Leigh's 1939 Oscar for
her performance in Gone With The Wind; Marylin Monroe's dress that
she wore when she sang Happy Birthday to President John Kennedy at
Madison Square Gardens in 1962; Leonardo da Vinci's 16th century
Codex Hammer notebook.
What is assessed by the international grading system known as the
Four C's, and what does each of the C's represent?

What's special about these sets of letters: SA - DK - XLNC - NV - NME FND - XPDNC?
To ensure a fair division between two people (for dividing chocolate
bars between children for instance) you might use the 'one cuts, the
other chooses' method. How do you ensure a fair division between
three people? (Thanks David Grech)
Who were 'Too Much' and Norville Rogers?
There are lots of countries and continents that begin with the letter 'A'.
Two of them differ from the rest; which two and why? (Thanks Rupert
Stubbs)
Who has appeared more often than any other woman on the cover of
Time magazine?
What do these pairs have in common? Lenny Henry and Michael
Jackson - Peter Gabriel and Stevie Wonder - John Motson and Virginia
Wade - Stanley Kubrick and Danny La Rue - Charles Dance and Chris
Tarrant.
What oversized onomatopoeically named mechanism was put on
display for people to use at the British Wembley Exhibition is 1924, in
order to reassure the public as to its safety and reliability?
A pair of red shoes were sold at auction in 1988 for 90,000. What
made them special?
What is unusual and probably unique about British postage stamps?
A man is walking home with his dog at a steady 4mph. With 6 miles to
go the dog is let off the leash and runs all the way home at 6 mph. The
dog immediately turns and runs back to the man at the same speed,
and upon meeting him it turns and runs home again. It continues to
run back and forth at the same speed until the man reaches home.
What distance has the dog run since being let off the leash?
What word (in the English language) has six vowels, and every one is
'A'?
Each of these famous people is related (not by marriage) to one other
person in the list. How many relationships can you identify? Warren
Beatty, Christopher Lee, Lauren Bacall, Angelina Jolie, Isabella
Rossellini, Loretta Lynn, Debbie Reynolds, Ian Fleming, Shirley
Maclaine, Crystal Gayle, Stanley Baldwin, Peter Sarstedt, Jon Voigt,

Francis Ford Coppola, Ginger Rogers, Nicolas Cage, Ingrid Bergman,

Rudyard Kipling, Richard Briers, Tippi Hedren, Rita Hayworth, Shimon
Peres, Carrie Fisher, Eden Kane, Melanie Griffith, Terry Thomas.
What year when written in Roman numerals uniquely contains one of
each symbol in descending order?
Irrespective of sheet size, what is the most number of times a square
piece of normal stock paper can be folded in half? (And not by
repeatedly folding and unfolding it which would be cheating...). And as
a supplementary question, what's the most number of folds in half
achieved for a piece of normal stock paper irrespective of length and
shape? (achieved in 2004)
What did each of these brand names originally represent? Athena,
Nike, Vesta, Mercury, Vulcan, Flora, Mars.
With no pre-selection, and excluding February 29th, what's the
smallest number of people in a group required to ensure a better than
even chance of at least two of them having the same birthday? That's
birthDAY, not birthDATE.
How many different batting orders are possible in a team of eleven
cricketers?
Do bullets fired straight up into the air take longer to go up or to come
down, or the same time, and why?
What famous confrontational sporting ritual traditionally began (until
changed in 2005) with the words, "Ka Mate Ka Mate.."? (mate is
pronounced 'mattay')
How many of the novels can you name in which these characters
appear? (they get harder...) Quasimodo, d'Artagnan, Scarlet O'Hara,
Phineas Fogg, Jim Hawkins, Yossarian, Lemuel Gulliver, Randall
McMurphy, Philip Pirrip, Jude Fawley, Captain Ahab, Eliza Doolittle,
Blanche Dubois, Edmund Dantes, Holly Golightly, Percy Blakeney, Nick
Carraway, Leopold Bloom, David Balfour, Charles Ryder, Holden
Caulfield, Richard Hannay, Elizabeth Bennet, Tom Joad, Maggie Pollitt,
Becky Sharp, Dorothea Brooke, Josephine March, Rupert Birkin, Maggie
Tulliver, Jimmy Porter, Arthur Seaton.
Put these British aristocratic titles in the correct order of seniority Marquess, Earl, Viscount, Prince, Duchess, Lord, Baron, King,
Marchioness, Duke, Prince, Queen, Lady, Earl, Princess, Baroness,
Viscountess, Countess.

What do these names have in common?..... Winnebago, Tobacco,

Chinook, Laguna, Mobile, Mono, Yazoo.
A gameshow contestant reaches the final challenge: Two security
guards are each holding identical closed brief cases. In one there is
$1m of banknotes; in the other a few of last week's newspapers. The
guards know what is in each case. The contestant is told that one
guard will lie and the other will tell the truth - but not which guard is
which. He is then told that he can ask one guard just one question, and
then he must choose one case or the other. What question should he
ask? (There are two possible questions we know of (thanks to John
Fisher for suggesting the second one.)
A man took the bus every weekend to go fishing either to the lake or
the river. Initially he tried to guess which would offer the best
conditions, but frequently guessed wrong. So he decided that as the
buses to each place ran every ten minutes, and from the same busstop, he'd simply leave it to fate, and jump on the first bus that came
along. After several weeks he was puzzled that he hardly ever got to
go to the lake - in fact it was only about one week in ten - despite the
fact that he got to the bus-stop at all different times, and that all the
buses to both places ran on time (this is only a story...). So why was
this?
How many times would a football rotate if rolled around the middle
circumference of another football of the same size?
Numerically, what's the difference between a hind and a hart?
Why do buses come in twos and threes?
Why do we clink glasses when we say 'cheers' (or 'skol' or 'good health'
etc)?
It is said to be bad grammar to finish a sentence with a preposition (ie.,
a word that expresses the relation of one noun or pronoun to another,
'of', 'with', 'to', 'over' etc). Can you think of a sentence which makes
sense and finishes with seven consecutive prepositions? (ack. The
Bean)
A new street is built with one hundred new houses, numbered 1 to 100.
How many number 9's are required to number all the houses? (ack.
Neal Stothard)

Can you be mathematically certain that at least two people in the UK

have exactly the same number of hairs on their head, and why so, or
not?
There are several fascinating similarities between the assassinations of
American Presidents Abraham Lincoln and John F Kennedy - which ones
can you name?
What politician, noted for his wit, when told that his trouser fly was
open said, "Dead birds don't fall out of their nests..." ?
There are four (that we know) ten-letter English words that can be
made from the top row of letters on a normal QWERTY keyboard, what
are they? (a clue for one of them is in the question)
Why are buttons on women's and men's clothing such as jackets and
shirts on different sides (and for the same reason, why do bras fasten
at the back?)
A part of a wheel is a SPOKE, another word for people is FOLK, so how
do you spell the word for the white of an egg?
What do these words have in common: pint, skeleton, limited,
restaurant and oblige?
A man knew that he was bankrupt the moment he stopped his car
outside a railway station. How?
A stamp collector paid $100,000 for a stamp and then deliberately
destroyed it. Why?
Two chess masters played fifteen consecutive games of chess. No
games were drawn, every game was finished, yet both players won
and lost the same number of games as each other. How could this
happen?
There are five 'f's in the next sentance, and they're two mistakes in this
one. - "It's often easy for folk to miss the finer points of life." - How
many mistakes are there in the first sentence?
Can a man marry his widow's half-sister?
A bucket and spade together cost 25.50. The spade costs 20 more
than the bucket. What is the price of each?
A brick weighs 1kg plus half a brick. How much does it weigh?

George Bernard Shaw's 'FISH' (George Bernard Shaw devised this

alternative spelling for the word 'fish'): GHOTI. Explain how this spells
'fish'.
Why is the sum 88.88 special? (And for those with knowledge of
Scotttish and Channel Islands currency, 190.38?) This question is
based on UK currency as at May 2005 (no doubt there will be changes
in the future).
Complete the sequence: O, T, T, F, F, S, S, ...
Five Ands: construct a sentence which makes sense (and state the
scenario) which includes the word 'and' five consecutive times.
Eleven Hads: punctuate this sentence so that it makes sense: John
where David had had had had had had had had had had had the better
effect.
What do these words have in common? CALMNESS - INOPERABLE DEFER - BURST - LAUGHING - STUPID.
Which one of these letters is the odd one out and why? (two possible
different answers): A B C M N O T U V.
AEIOU word puzzle: There are several words in the English language
which have one of each of the vowels (aeiou) in the right alphabetical
order. How many do you know?
puzzle answers are here
Try the expressions derivations quiz.
See also the Quizballs quizzes with free questions and answers quicker questions for trivia and pub quizzes, and learning and
amusement of course.
puzzles and tricks
all the 1's puzzle
The puzzle is simply, what surprising result does the calculation
111,111,111 x 111,111,111 produce?
This puzzle is made all the more intriguing by the difficulty in finding a
readily available tool that can handle the calculation. Even MSExcel is
unable to calculate or show such big numbers. (Apparently Excel can
be given this very big number calculation capability via an add-in, for
example XNUMBERS 4.7 available from

www.digilander.libero.it/foxes/SoftwareDownload.htm, although I've not

checked this and cannot be held responsible for any problems arising
from trying it - ack J Smallwood).
And R Lennox kindly informs me that, "...those of us who are not
microsoft-challanged can easily calculate 111,111,111 x 111,111,111.
Most linux (unix) command-lines will reveal that typing 'echo
111111111*111111111 | bc' gives (the answer).."
Answer. (Thanks D Harpell for the puzzle)
quick maths puzzle
This can be done with a pencil and paper by people who can do longdivision (engineers, people over forty years of age, etc); otherwise it's
advisable to suggest that people use a calculator to be sure of
completing the exercise reliably and within three hours (ordinarily it
just takes a minute or two). The puzzle can be given to any number of
delegates at the same time to do individually, so it's ideal for
diversions and mental warm-ups in training and meetings. Instructions:
Write down any three-digit number (genuinely three digits, ie, not
beginning with 0), then write it down again, so as to give a 6-digit
number, for example 123123.
Divide the six-digit number by 7. (It adds to the effect if the facilitator
says: "Don't worry about the remainder; there won't be one.")
Next, divide the answer by 11. (Again the facilitator can say: "Don't
worry about the remainder; there won't be one.")
Next, divide that answer by 13 (Again: "Don't worry about the
remainder; there won't be one.")
Recognise the number?
(Here's why it works: the six-digit number is 1,001-times greater than
the three-digit number, which seems logical when you realise that
1,000-times the three-digit number would add three zeros, and another
'one-times' replaces the three zeros with same first three digits. When
you divide by 7, then 11, then 13, this equates to dividing by 1,001 (7
x 11 x 13 = 1,001). The trick is achieved simply by reversing reversing
the calculation: 123 x 1,001 = 123123. Then 123123 1,001 = 123.)
(Ack Terry Moran)

mobius strip (mobius band) trick - (technically mbius, pronounced

'merbius')
This is an amazing trick, ideal for parties, social gatherings, light relief
or ice-breakers at meetings, and bar-bets. It is two puzzles in one, that
will amaze and astound, and will win you money and drinks, favours,
fame and admiration, if you aspire to such things. And this free easy
puzzle is fantastic for kids parties too. In fact this is probably the best
free trick in the history of the world.
Cut a strip of paper so that its length is at least ten times that of its
width - something around ten inches by one inch wide is fine.
Puzzle 1: The strip clearly has two sides, yes? If you were asked to
write number 1's all along one side of the strip, and number 2's all
along the other side of the strip this would be possible, yes? So could I
prevent you from doing this simply by joining the ends of the strip to
create a ring or band shape?
Puzzle 2: the strip, (or now a band) is made of paper and if you cut or
tear it in half you will have two separate halves, yes? And these two
separate halves will actually be separate, so that they can be placed in
two separate pockets, yes? So, again, simply by joining the ends of the
strip to form a band, can I cut or tear this paper in half, with a
continuous cut from a pair of scissors, or a continuous tear, so that you
will not be able (unless by force of course) to separate the two
halves? More incredibly, can I do this so that you don't actually
have two halves at all? So that you actually still have one joined
together strip?
You bet. And here's how.
age maths trick (calculator required)
Pick any number between 1 and 100,000 (maybe the last four or five
digits of your phone number).
Multiply it by 2.
Add 5.
Multiply the answer by 50.
If you have already had your birthday this year add 1754, if not add
1753*.
Subtract the four digit year that you were born.

You should see now your original number followed by your age.
*1754 and 1753 work for the year 2004. Add 1 for each year after this,
for example in 2005 use 1755 and 1754.
spelling tricks
1. Ask someone or a group: Spell the word 'silk'. (They should spell out
the letters: S, I, L, K.)
Then ask them: What do cows drink?
2. Ask someone or a group: Spell the word 'coast' (They should spell
out the letters: C, O, A, S, T.)
Then ask them: What do you put into a toaster?
(Answers)
phone number maths trick
1. Using a calculator, key in the first three digits of your phone
number (not the area code)
2. Multiply by 80
3. Add 1
4. Multiply by 250
5. Add the last 4 digits of your phone number
6. Add the last 4 digits of your phone number again
7. Subtract 250
8. Divide the answer by 2
Recognize the answer?...
co-ordination puzzle
While sitting down (or standing if you have good balance), lift your
right foot off the floor and make clockwise circles with it. At the same
time, repeatedly draw the number 6 in the air with your right hand.
Your foot will change direction and without an awful lot of practice,
there's nothing you can do to prevent it.

This effect seems to be because drawing the number 6 is effectively a

counter-clockwise movement which the brain can't reconcile easily
with a clockwise one (a bit like patting your head and rubbing your
stomach at the same time). If you draw the six from the middle and
end with the up-stroke instead, it doesn't conflict with the clockwise
foot motion, because the 6 is now a clockwise motion too. What's
strange is how we've evolved to enable same direction movements
with different limbs, and to resist opposite ones - There doesn't seem
to be a survival benefit from this, unless it's a bi-product of an overall
more co-ordinated (and therefore more efficient, quicker, athletic)
movement capability, which would of course have been a survival aid.
association puzzle
Do these sums in your head. There is no need to write the answers
down or remember them.
What is: 15+6?
3+56?
89+2?
12+53?
75+26?
25+52?
63+32?
123+5
Now, thinutilities puzzle
Draw three houses in a horizontal row. Draw three utilities suppliers
beneath them: Gas, Water, Electicity. You should now have six points or
boxes on your sheet of paper or flip chart. The challenge is to connect
each house to each utility supplier without any of the nine connection
lines crossing. Answer.
mental maths trick 1
Think of a number between 1 and 10. Multiply it by 9. If you have two
digits add them together. Subtract 5. Convert your number into a
letter, on the basis that A = 1, B = 2, etc. Think of a country that
begins with that letter. Think of an animal that begins with the second
letter of that country. Your answer is. (Thanks R Corovic)

mental maths trick 2

Do this sum in your head: Start with 1,000. Add 60. Add 2,000. Add 30.
Add 1,000. Add 10. Your answer is.
egg trick
How to balance an egg on its end with no visible means of support:
You need just a few grains of salt. Make a tiny pile of salt on a flat
surface and balance the egg on the pile. Then carefully blow away the
excess salt, leaving just the few grains actually supporting the egg.
(Obviously this needs preparing in advance - if pressed to repeat the
trick, place the egg down hard enough to break the shell, which will
also enable it to balance).
ready-sliced banana trick
You can prepare a banana so that when someone removes the skin the
banana inside is already sliced:
You need just a clean pin. To make each slice, insert the pin through
the banana skin, but not so deep as to enter the skin on the other side.
Move the pin sideways in a see-saw motion, using the entry point of
the skin as a pivot. Replace the banana in the fruit bowl.
A more sophisticated method is as follows: Use a needle and thread
rather than a pin. The aim is to thread a loop around the banana under
the skin for each slice required. Consider the banana skin to be
composed of several angled facets. Insert the needle at one facet join
where you wish to slice it, and bring it out at the next, so that the
thread runs under the skin. Re-insert the needle in the same hole and
go along to the next join and so on. Eventually bring the needle out of
the original hole. There is now a loop of thread all around the banana
under the skin. Hold both ends and pull gently. The banana is sliced
through using the cheese-wire principle. Repeat the process for each
slice. (Thanks Michael Green)
cartoon quiz
How many clues do you need to guess this eponymous cartoon series:

The central character's voice was provided by the late Don

Messick.

A screen kiss between the Daphne and Velma was cut from the
show.

Cher appeared as an animated guest star.

It was first shown on 13 Sept 1969 in the USA.

The 13 ghost characters that appeared in the series inspired the

film 'Ghostbusters'.

The central character's name was inspired by the refrain of

Sinatra's song ' Strangers in the Night'.

Don Messick also provided the voice for Muttley of Wacky Races.

If you haven't guessed yet here's the answer and a few more details.
pool puzzler
Six friends visited their local club to play at a pool tournament. The
competition entry fee was 10 per person. Prize money was 250 for
the winner, 100 for the runner-up, and 50 for third-place. There were
no other prizes. None of the friends won a single game. There were no
disqualifications, and yet the friends came away collectively 150 in
profit from having played. How? Answer. (Adapted from a puzzle from
Alex Sallustio, thanks)
whodunnit?
Three of these statements are untrue, so whodunnit?
Mr Red: "Mr Blue did it."
Mr Blue: "Mr Red did it."
Mr Green: "Mr Blue's telling the truth."
Mr Yellow: "Mr Green's not lying."
Answer.
three-digit maths trick
Write down any three-digit number, with different first and last digits.
Reverse it. Subtract the smaller number from the larger one. Write
down the answer. Reverse it (including the zero at the beginning if less
than a hundred). Add together both numbers. Your final answer is.
nail puzzle
This fantastic lateral thinking puzzle makes a great quick warm-up. It
will also win you a fortune in pubs and bars the world over. It is
essential you practice this before using it in front of an audience.

The challenge is simply to balance 14

nails on one single nail which is fixed
upright in a block of wood. The nails
must all be the same size - any length
provided they have flat heads.

The suggested scenario is that due to a last-minute hitch where you

are exhibiting your products (nails), you (your team) have just (say
three to fifteen) minutes to devise a way of displaying all 14 nails using
only the single fixed nail as a support. None of the other 14 nails can
touch anything other than the other loose nails and the fixed nail.
Teams of three are good for this game as it's high-involvement, trail
and error, and hands-on; more than five per team will cause people to
be left out. Issue each team with fourteen nails and a block of wood
with the fifteenth nail hammered into position. Different types and
lengths of nails may change the number of nails required, but there
must always be an odd number including the fixed nail. (Thanks to John
Rivers for this great puzzle). Answer.
complete the formula
Use only one of these symbols (+ - ) to complete the formula: 10
10 10 = 9.50 (Thanks Alex Guild) Answer.
fairground chequers maths puzzle
This is an old fairground game, but can you calculate the mathematical
chances of winning with a single go? To win, you must toss a 1 inch
diameter coin onto a chequered board comprising 2 inch diameter
squares; the coin must come to rest entirely inside a square, not
overlapping any other square. (Thanks DC) Answer.
the necker cube

Everyone's seen this shape before, but

there's more to it than first seems. The
Necker Cube provides a fascinating
demonstration of how the brain works on
a sub-conscious level whether we want it
to or not. Stare at it for a few seconds and
it will flip into its alternative perspective.
Wait and it will flip back again. It's
unlikely you'll be able consciously to
change the perspective that your brain
chooses to see, although blinking might
trigger the brain to 'refresh' the image.
balloon and knitting needle trick
How do you stick a knitting needle through both sides of an inflated
balloon without the balloon bursting? Answer.
microsoft excel trick
This works on MSExcel 97 (if you can still get hold of a copy). Start
program. Press F5. Enter reference X97:L97. Press Enter or Okay. Press
Tab once. Hold down Shift and Control and at the same time click on
the Chart Wizard icon (looks like a coloured 3D graph). Move mouse to
walk on the moon. F12 to exit.
weird maths
Three men eat at a restaurant. The bill comes to 25. They each pay
10. When the waiter brings the 5 change they take back 1 each
and leave a 2 tip. So each man has paid 9, which totals 27. The
waiter has the 2 tip, which makes 29, so where's the other 1 gone?
Answer.
farmer's puzzle
A farmer has a dog, a sack of grain and a live chicken, all of which he
must take across a river. The boat will only carry him and one of the
things at a time or it will sink. Without the farmer, the dog would kill
the chicken, and the chicken would eat the grain. How does he get all
three across safely to continue his journey? Answer.
coin and bottle trick
Take an empty beer bottle and a small coin which is wider than the
mouth of the bottle but no wider than the rim (a British penny is ideal).
How do you move the coin without moving the bottle, touching or
blowing the coin, or using another object to contact the coin and move
it? Answer.
string-cutting trick

You need some string or cord that's

normally impossible to break with
bare hands. Cut a 2-3ft length. Wrap
one end clockwise three or four times
around the base of your left thumb to
secure it. The loose end should hang
from the back of your thumb, not over
the front.

Drape a large loop across your left

palm so that the loose end hangs over
the back of your hand between your
left hand thumb and forefinger. Bring
the loose end underneath palm and
feed it up through the bottom of the
'U' of the loop, from the back to the
front.

Pull and tighten string, so that the

crossing point is in the centre of your
palm, keeping left hand firm in a
karate-chop position. Wrap the loose
end firmly around your right hand.
Pull sharply down with right hand,
keeping left hand firm. The string will
be cut at crossing point. (Left-handers
obviously reverse positions.)
Depending on your strength and
confidence you'll be able to cut
extremely strong nylon cords this way.
The point of the trick is to

demonstrate how innovation and

positive approach can achieve the
seemingly impossible.
amazing fact
There is more computing power in a happy birthday sound card than
the whole world in 1952. (Source - Innovations magazine 1995)
impossible paper trick
(Do not show the audience this
preparation) Start with a paper
rectangle, any size, 9" x 6" is fine.
Make two right-angle cuts to the
exact centre on one long side, at 3"
and 6". Make one right-angle cut to
the exact centre on the other long
side at 4.5". Lay the sheet flat, fold
over the central flap making a neat
hinge and fold it back.
Lift the sheet by the two short sides,
with the flap away from you, and
twist one of the L-shaped ends 180
degrees (half a full turn).
Lay the sheet flat again, and fold the
flap down both ways to create a
hinge. The flap should now be erect,
with half of the cut-away on each
side - which looks like an impossible
construction. This is what you show
your audience. Ask them to explain
it.
word colour trick
Read out (at normal pace) the colour of each word, not the word itself,
without making a mistake.
Red Yellow Blue Green Yellow Red Green Blue Green Red Blue Yellow Yellow
Green Red Blue Yellow Blue Red Green Yellow Green Red Blue Red Green Blue
Green Green Yellow
If you want to beat the trick, squint your eyes to blur the words
(Thanks Dave Skinner)
anagrams and anagram finder
"All the life's wisdom can be found in anagrams. Anagrams never lie."
(Anu Garg - real name, not an anagram apparently).

Particularly good fun if you use work-colleagues' names - and amazing

how often really fitting anagrams crop up. An amusing diversion during
meeting breaks if you're using online projection equipment.
Anagram finder - online and free - great fun for meetings and training
sessions.
mind-set trick
Try this for yourself. (If you do it with a group use a flip chart.) Draw a
circle. Divide it into two equal parts, (answer is obviously one line
dissecting across the centre). Next draw an equilateral triangle (three
sides same length) and divide into three equal parts. Think about it
before you read on.
Answer is tricky for some - three lines from centre outwards to corners.
Next draw a square and divide it into four equal parts (easy - two lines
dissecting up and across to make four quarters). Now draw another
square. Divide it into five equal parts. (The point is to demonstrate how
the mind can get 'stuck' in a certain thought pattern.) Got it yet?
Answer.
four-digit
k of a tool autilities puzzle
Draw three houses in a horizontal row. Draw three utilities suppliers
beneath them: Gas, Water, Electicity. You should now have six points or
boxes on your sheet of paper or flip chart. The challenge is to connect
each house to each utility supplier without any of the nine connection
lines crossing. Answer.
mental maths trick 1
Think of a number between 1 and 10. Multiply it by 9. If you have two
digits add them together. Subtract 5. Convert your number into a
letter, on the basis that A = 1, B = 2, etc. Think of a country that
begins with that letter. Think of an animal that begins with the second
letter of that country. Your answer is. (Thanks R Corovic)
mental maths trick 2
Do this sum in your head: Start with 1,000. Add 60. Add 2,000. Add 30.
Add 1,000. Add 10. Your answer is.
egg trick
How to balance an egg on its end with no visible means of support:
You need just a few grains of salt. Make a tiny pile of salt on a flat
surface and balance the egg on the pile. Then carefully blow away the
excess salt, leaving just the few grains actually supporting the egg.

(Obviously this needs preparing in advance - if pressed to repeat the

trick, place the egg down hard enough to break the shell, which will
also enable it to balance).
ready-sliced banana trick
You can prepare a banana so that when someone removes the skin the
banana inside is already sliced:
You need just a clean pin. To make each slice, insert the pin through
the banana skin, but not so deep as to enter the skin on the other side.
Move the pin sideways in a see-saw motion, using the entry point of
the skin as a pivot. Replace the banana in the fruit bowl.
A more sophisticated method is as follows: Use a needle and thread
rather than a pin. The aim is to thread a loop around the banana under
the skin for each slice required. Consider the banana skin to be
composed of several angled facets. Insert the needle at one facet join
where you wish to slice it, and bring it out at the next, so that the
thread runs under the skin. Re-insert the needle in the same hole and
go along to the next join and so on. Eventually bring the needle out of
the original hole. There is now a loop of thread all around the banana
under the skin. Hold both ends and pull gently. The banana is sliced
through using the cheese-wire principle. Repeat the process for each
slice. (Thanks Michael Green)
uessed yet here's the answer and a few more details.
Write down any three-digit number, with different first and last digits.
Reverse it. Subtract the smaller number from the larger one. Write
down the answer. Reverse it (including the zero at the beginning if less
than a hundred). Add together both numbers. Your final answer is.
nail puzzle
This fantastic lateral thinking puzzle makes a great quick warm-up. It
will also win you a fortune in pubs and bars the world over. It is
essential you practice this before using it in front of an audience.

The challenge is simply to balance 14

nails on one single nail which is fixed
upright in a block of wood. The nails
must all be the same size - any length
provided they have flat heads.

The suggested scenario is that due to a last-minute hitch where you

are exhibiting your products (nails), you (your team) have just (say
three to fifteen) minutes to devise a way of displaying all 14 nails using
only the single fixed nail as a support. None of the other 14 nails can
touch anything other than the other loose nails and the fixed nail.
Teams of three are good for this game as it's high-involvement, trail
and error, and hands-on; more than five per team will cause people to
be left out. Issue each team with fourteen nails and a block of wood
with the fifteenth nail hammered into position. Different types and
lengths of nails may change the number of nails required, but there
must always be an odd number including the fixed nail. (Thanks to John
Rivers for this great puzzle). Answer.
complete the formula
Use only one of these symbols (+ - ) to complete the formula: 10
10 10 = 9.50 (Thanks Alex Guild) Answer.
fairground chequers maths puzzle
This is an old fairground game, but can you calculate the mathematical
chances of winning with a single go? To win, you must toss a 1 inch
diameter coin onto a chequered board comprising 2 inch diameter
squares; the coin must come to rest entirely inside a square, not
overlapping any other square. (Thanks DC) Answer.
the necker cube

Everyone's seen this shape before, but

there's more to it than first seems. The
Necker Cube provides a fascinating
demonstration of how the brain works on
a sub-conscious level whether we want it
to or not. Stare at it for a few seconds and
it will flip into its alternative perspective.
Wait and it will flip back again. It's
unlikely you'll be able consciously to
change the perspective that your brain
chooses to see, although blinking might
trigger the brain to 'refresh' the image.
balloon and knitting needle trick
How do you stick a knitting needle through both sides of an inflated
balloon without the balloon bursting? Answer.
microsoft excel trick
This works on MSExcel 97 (if you can still get hold of a copy). Start
program. Press F5. Enter reference X97:L97. Press Enter or Okay. Press
Tab once. Hold down Shift and Control and at the same time click on
the Chart Wizard icon (looks like a coloured 3D graph). Move mouse to
walk on the moon. F12 to exit.
weird maths
Three men eat at a restaurant. The bill comes to 25. They each pay
10. When the waiter brings the 5 change they take back 1 each
and leave a 2 tip. So each man has paid 9, which totals 27. The
waiter has the 2 tip, which makes 29, so where's the other 1 gone?
Answer.
farmer's puzzle
A farmer has a dog, a sack of grain and a live chicken, all of which he
must take across a river. The boat will only carry him and one of the
things at a time or it will sink. Without the farmer, the dog would kill
the chicken, and the chicken would eat the grain. How does he get all
three across safely to continue his journey? Answer.
coin and bottle trick
Take an empty beer bottle and a small coin which is wider than the
mouth of the bottle but no wider than the rim (a British penny is ideal).
How do you move the coin without moving the bottle, touching or
blowing the coin, or using another object to contact the coin and move
it? Answer.
string-cutting trick

You need some string or cord that's

normally impossible to break with
bare hands. Cut a 2-3ft length. Wrap
one end clockwise three or four times
around the base of your left thumb to
secure it. The loose end should hang
from the back of your thumb, not over
the front.

Drape a large loop across your left

palm so that the loose end hangs over
the back of your hand between your
left hand thumb and forefinger. Bring
the loose end underneath palm and
feed it up through the bottom of the
'U' of the loop, from the back to the
front.

Pull and tighten string, so that the

crossing point is in the centre of your
palm, keeping left hand firm in a
karate-chop position. Wrap the loose
end firmly around your right hand.
Pull sharply down with right hand,
keeping left hand firm. The string will
be cut at crossing point. (Left-handers
obviously reverse positions.)
Depending on your strength and
confidence you'll be able to cut
extremely strong nylon cords this way.
The point of the trick is to
demonstrate how innovation and
positive approach can achieve the

seemingly impossible.
amazing fact
There is more computing power in a happy birthday sound card than
the whole world in 1952. (Source - Innovations magazine 1995)
impossible paper trick
(Do not show the audience this
preparation) Start with a paper
rectangle, any size, 9" x 6" is fine.
Make two right-angle cuts to the exact
centre on one long side, at 3" and 6".
Make one right-angle cut to the exact
centre on the other long side at 4.5".
Lay the sheet flat, fold over the central
flap making a neat hinge and fold it
back.
Lift the sheet by the two short sides,
with the flap away from you, and twist
one of the L-shaped ends 180 degrees
(half a full turn).
Lay the sheet flat again, and fold the
flap down both ways to create a hinge.
The flap should now be erect, with half
of the cut-away on each side - which
looks like an impossible construction.
This is what you show your audience.
Ask them to explain it.
word colour trick
Read out (at normal pace) the colour of each word, not the word itself,
without making a mistake.
Red Yellow Blue Green Yellow Red Green Blue Green Red Blue Yellow Yellow
Green Red Blue Yellow Blue Red Green Yellow Green Red Blue Red Green Blue
Green Green Yellow
If you want to beat the trick, squint your eyes to blur the words
(Thanks Dave Skinner)
anagrams and anagram finder
"All the life's wisdom can be found in anagrams. Anagrams never lie."
(Anu Garg - real name, not an anagram apparently).

Particularly good fun if you use work-colleagues' names - and amazing

how often really fitting anagrams crop up. An amusing diversion during
meeting breaks if you're using online projection equipment.
Anagram finder - online and free - great fun for meetings and training
sessions.
mind-set trick
Try this for yourself. (If you do it with a group use a flip chart.) Draw a
circle. Divide it into two equal parts, (answer is obviously one line
dissecting across the centre). Next draw an equilateral triangle (three
sides same length) and divide into three equal parts. Think about it
before you read on.
Answer is tricky for some - three lines from centre outwards to corners.
Next draw a square and divide it into four equal parts (easy - two lines
dissecting up and across to make four quarters). Now draw another
square. Divide it into five equal parts. (The point is to demonstrate how
the mind can get 'stuck' in a certain thought pattern.) Got it yet?
Answer.
four-digit
nd a colour. Your answer is. (Ack M Ordway).
utilities puzzle

all the 1's puzzle answer: 111,111,111 x 111,111,111 = 12,345,678,987,654,321

mobius strip tricks answers: Twist the strip through 180 degrees, ie., half a whole
turn, before joining the ends. For the purposes of the tricks you can join the strip
with glue (in which case use a glue that sets quickly), sticky tape (a tape you can
tear if you do not have scissors), or two staples (aligned lengthways, not sideways
across the strip, each close to an edge, leaving a gap between them). You have now
made a Mbius Strip, or Mbius Band, which amazingly now has only one side. Try
it. It is not possible to colour or number or mark two different sides along the whole
of the length of 'each side'. There is now only one side. Feed the band between your
finger and thumb through a whole revolution and you will see that what were once
two separate sides now pass underneath and touching your thumb.
Now for the cleverest part of the trick: Cut or tear the band in half along its length.
You will need to tear or cut it carefully while feeding it through your fingers; you
cannot cut it with one motion. You will be left not with two separate halves; not even
two joined halves; you will be left with one big band.
Finally you can cut the new big band in half again - you will be left with two bands
linked together.
The Mobius Strip or Band has in fact been around for hundreds of years. According
to scientific reports and writings this is the story: the Mobius strip was named after

astronomer and mathematician August Ferdinand Mbius (1790-1868), who was a

professor at the University of Leipzig. It seems he devised his strip in September
1858, and published his discovery in 1865. Interestingly, it seems that coincidentally
and separately a German mathematician called Johann Benedict Listing (18081882) is said also to have made the same discovery in July 1858, which he published
in 1861 while working on theories of another great mathematician, Leonhard Euler,
who devised the Euler puzzles and Euler's Rule featured elsewhere on this site.

spelling tricks: Did say 'milk' and toast? The answers are 'water' and 'bread'.

association puzzle: Did you think of a red hammer? Apparently the vast majority of
people do. The reason why this works would seem to be that the mental calculations
are a distraction to clear the mind, enabling the most likely answers for each
category to emerge upon prompting (red being the most commonly 'spontaneously
thought of' colour, and hammer being the most commonly 'spontaneously thought
of' tool). Thanks Kaz. If you know any more about this is please let me know.

utilities puzzle: This classic puzzle which has been around for hundreds of years,
although it was obviously not known as the Utilities Puzzle until relatively recently.
Strictly speaking it is impossible to solve the puzzle using two dimensions on flat
piece of paper; there will always be a minimum of two crossed connections.
There are however two great lateral thinking solutions:
1. Take the final line (that would otherwise cross another) through the utilities
and/or houses themselves, which unless specifically outlawed in the instructions
would not constitute a cheat.
2. The puzzle can be solved without taking any lines through buildings, if the
utilities and houses are on the outer surface of a ring torus (three-dimensional
doughnut) shape. You can create the torus effect simply by making a hole in the
paper centrally between all six connection points and folding flaps around the edges
of the hole and the edges of the sheet, so as to take certain lines through the hole and
around the back of the sheet to make the connections. More explanation and ring
torus solution here.

mental maths trick 1: Elephant (No? Emu?.......).

mental maths trick 2: 5,000? Wrong. Try it again. The correct answer is 4,100. The
mind knows that the final 10 will have a 'rounding-up' effect, and expects it to
impact the 1,000's instead of the 100's. The mind fails to calculate the final figure
properly because it's locked into an expectation.

cartoon quiz: Scooby-Doo, Where Are You! Featuring Scooby-Doo, Shaggy, Fred,
Velma and Daphne.

pool puzzler: They were the musicians in the band.

whodunnit: Mr Blue did it.

three-digit maths trick: Your answer is 1089. Works every time.

nail puzzle:
Lay one nail on the table, and on
it at 90 degrees (ie.,
perpendicular) lay all the other
nails except one, alternately each
side with points furthermost.
There must be an equal number
of nails on each side, and they
must fill the length of the nail on
which they lay, so adjust the
quantity of nails to ensure this
happens. (Now you see why you
need to practice this.)

Lay the last nail on top of the first

nail pointing the opposite
direction (the last nail is shown in
red on the diagram).

Gently lift the assembled nails by

holding the ends of the top and
bottom nails. As the
perpendicular nails sag down to
an angle of around 45 degrees,
amazingly the whole assembly
locks itself together. You can now
balance the assembly on the
supporting nail in the block. (The
balance point is extremely
forgiving, due to the counterbalancing effect of the nails
hanging down lower than the
point of support.) The diagram
shows a side view.

complete the formula

Use only one of these symbols (+ - ) to complete the formula: 10
10 10 = 9.50 (Thanks Alex Guild) Answer.

fairground chequers maths puzzle: The calculation is very simple - the centre of the
coin can be no closer to the edge of a square than half an inch. The 'win-zone' is
therefore a 1 x 1 inch square defined by a half inch border inside each 2 inch
square. The total area of each chequered square is 2 x 2 = 4 square inches; the winzone in each is 1 x 1 = 1 square inch; so the chances of winning are exactly 1 in 4, or
25%, or 3 to 1 against.

balloon and knitting needle: You need to prepare the trick in advance. Inflate the
balloon and knot the end. Stick an inch-long strip of Sellotape (or better still mattfinish Scotch cleartape) to each side of the balloon at the proposed needle entry and
exit points. You can now pierce the balloon with a (sharp) knitting needle and then
again on the other side, without it bursting. Practice first, if only to develop your
confidence.

weird maths: the answer is that the figures will not add to 30 because they are not
from the same equation. Equation 1: What's been paid is 25 for the meal - which is
in the till, and 2 for the tip - in the waiter's pocket, leaving the men with 1 each, ie
3, which all adds up to 30. Equation 2: The men have each paid 9 for the meal
and the tip together, ie 27, and they each have a 1 in their pocket, ie 3, which all
adds up to 30.

farmer's puzzle: he takes the chicken and comes back; then he takes the grain and
comes back with the chicken; then he takes the dog and comes back; then he takes
the chicken.

coin and bottle trick: Drip some liquid onto the coin so that a seal is made between
the coin edge and the mouth of the bottle. Clasp your hands around the bottle and
wait a few seconds. The air inside the bottle expands from the heat of your hands.
As the pressure builds, air escapes bubble by bubble, by repeatedly dislodging the
coin.

mind set trick: If you try this with a group ask for people not to shout out answer; it
will spoil it for those who get really stuck. Strangely many people will struggle for
ages because they get stuck in the same mind set used for the previous square and
triangle solutions (whereas the answer is obviously four horizontal or vertical lines
to make five equal sections).

incredible planning tool: a pencil

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