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5 minute puzzles
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groza528
No Place Like Home
PostPosted: Sat Sep 17, 2011 6:51 am    Post subject: 41 Reply with quote
Here's one solution:

4leedrwleedee
3deeleedrwlrw
2lrwdeeleedrw
1deeleedrwlrw
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groza528
No Place Like Home
PostPosted: Sat Sep 17, 2011 11:53 am    Post subject: 42 Reply with quote
A two-parter stolen from Sky Magazine:

1. What timepiece has the fewest moving parts?

2. What timepiece has the most moving parts?
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ralphmerridew
Daedalian Member
PostPosted: Sat Sep 17, 2011 12:27 pm    Post subject: 43 Reply with quote
I heard that in a slightly different form: "I have at my house two objects of ancient design that perform the same function. One has millions of moving parts; the other has none. What are they?
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Gomez
candid chimera
PostPosted: Sat Sep 17, 2011 1:26 pm    Post subject: 44 Reply with quote
Are they a sundial and an hourglass?
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groza528
No Place Like Home
PostPosted: Sun Sep 18, 2011 6:26 am    Post subject: 45 Reply with quote
Bingo, Gomez
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jesternl
Yankee Doodle Dutchie
PostPosted: Thu Sep 22, 2011 12:35 am    Post subject: 46 Reply with quote
Actually, thanks to a book I just read, I know that the hourglass isn't nearly as old as you'd think.
In fact, the mechanical clock isn't much younger. The first mention of an hourglass is from the 1300's.

Water clocks are older, but they don't fill the requirements for the riddle
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jesternl
Yankee Doodle Dutchie
PostPosted: Thu Sep 22, 2011 12:36 am    Post subject: 47 Reply with quote
What vegetable am I?

Code:
OZ-OZ
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Coyote

<memstat>
PostPosted: Sun Sep 25, 2011 11:17 pm    Post subject: 48 Reply with quote
I'm surprised no one has answered this yet. I caught on almost immediately, though I may have been helped a bit by an incident that happened a few years ago while I was at work. I walked into a dimly-lit storeroom and saw a large bag in the far corner labeled 'SNOINO'. I had a brief moment of confusion before it dawned on me that the bag was actually...

upside-down
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Coyote

<memstat>
PostPosted: Sun Sep 25, 2011 11:20 pm    Post subject: 49 Reply with quote
Okay, here's a little 5-minute dissection puzzler. Which of these shapes can not be cut into two pieces that fit together to make a square?

Code:
 _ _ _          _ _ _              _
|_|_|_|        |_|_|_|_ _      _ _|_|_ _
|_|_|_|        |_|_|_|_|_|    |_|_|_|_|_|
  |_|_|_ _     |_|_|_|_|_|    |_|_|_|_|_|
  |_|_|_|_|        |_|_|_|    |_|_|_|_|_|
  |_|_|_|_|         _ _
                   |_|_|      _ _ _ _
 _ _ _ _ _        _|_|_|_    |_|_|_|_|_
|_|_|_|_|_|_     |_|_|_|_|     |_|_|_|_|_
|_|_|_|_|_|_|    |_|_|_|_|       |_|_|_|_|_
  |_|_|_|_|_|    |_|_|_|_|         |_|_|_|_|

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ralphmerridew
Daedalian Member
PostPosted: Mon Sep 26, 2011 1:35 am    Post subject: 50 Reply with quote
Code:

 - - -
| | | |
 - - -
| | | |
 - - -
  | | |
   - -*- -
  | | * | |
  *****- -
  | | | | |
   - - - -

 - - - -
| | | | *
 - - - -*-
  | | | * |
   - - -*- -
    | | * | |
     - -*- - -
      | * | | |
       -*- - -

 - - - -*-
| | | | * |
 - -***-*- -
| | * * * | |
 - -*-***- -
  | * | | | |
   -*- - - -

AAA
ABBBB
AAAAB
  BBB
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Coyote

<memstat>
PostPosted: Mon Sep 26, 2011 10:32 pm    Post subject: 51 Reply with quote
Nice work! But you missed one. Felicitous
Also, you didn't actually answer the question.
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ralphmerridew
Daedalian Member
PostPosted: Mon Sep 26, 2011 10:57 pm    Post subject: 52 Reply with quote
I did realize both items.
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3iff
very unbifflike
PostPosted: Wed Sep 28, 2011 3:30 pm    Post subject: 53 Reply with quote
Which word fits this pattern

.x.x.x.x.x.x (12 letters)

where x is the same letter each time (but unsurprisingly it's NOT an x).

spoilered hint
it's related to food and it's not an English word, but you've probably heard of it
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Zag
Tired of his old title
PostPosted: Wed Sep 28, 2011 6:23 pm    Post subject: 54 Reply with quote
Mystical energy derived from yellow fruit: BANANAMANA

A plaza where all the stores sell things related to yellow fruit: BANANARAMA

(Or replace the yellow fruit references with "capital of Cuba.")
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3iff
very unbifflike
PostPosted: Thu Sep 29, 2011 7:05 am    Post subject: 55 Reply with quote
interesting answers...but it's actually >>taramasalata
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Gomez*
Guest
PostPosted: Thu Sep 29, 2011 11:26 am    Post subject: 56 Reply with quote
Can anyone tell me what the vegetable one is?
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Zag
Tired of his old title
PostPosted: Thu Sep 29, 2011 11:33 am    Post subject: 57 Reply with quote
Gomez* wrote:
Can anyone tell me what the vegetable one is?

Yeah, Coyote's hint didn't help me, either. I had already considered that idea, anyway. I assumed it was something I've never heard of. (ZO-ZO or 20-20 still don't sound like a vegetable to me, unless it's just a reference to the myth that carrots help your eyesight. ~shrug~)
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3iff
very unbifflike
PostPosted: Thu Sep 29, 2011 11:35 am    Post subject: 58 Reply with quote
Just looked it up...

Rotate the original puzzle code 90 degrees clockwise.
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Zag
Tired of his old title
PostPosted: Thu Sep 29, 2011 11:38 am    Post subject: 59 Reply with quote
OK. I guess, with a blocky enough font, it works. Now I feel dense. Extreme Delectation
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3iff
very unbifflike
PostPosted: Thu Sep 29, 2011 11:40 am    Post subject: 60 Reply with quote
Zag wrote:
OK. I guess, with a blocky enough font, it works. Now I feel dense. Extreme Delectation


I didn't get it either until I just looked it up...
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Gomez*
Guest
PostPosted: Fri Sep 30, 2011 5:24 am    Post subject: 61 Reply with quote
Ah, good one Revenge most foul!
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Coyote

<memstat>
PostPosted: Sun Apr 01, 2012 11:55 pm    Post subject: 62 Reply with quote
I kind of miss this thread, what with all the complex puzzles being posted lately. In hopes of resurrecting it, here's a little five-minute chess puzzle. White to play and mate in two moves.

8lrbdrblrbdrblrbdrblrbdrb
7dqwlqwdqwlqwdqwlqwdqwlqw
6lqbdqblqbdqblqbdqblqbdqb
5drwlrwdrwlrwdrwlrwdrwlrw
4leedeeleedeeleedeeleedee
3dkwleedeeleedeeleedeelee
2leedeeleedeeleedeeleedee
1dkbleedeeleedeeleedeelee


Lateral thinking not required (and possibly counter-productive).
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Thok
Oh, foe, the cursed teeth!
PostPosted: Mon Apr 02, 2012 1:12 am    Post subject: 63 Reply with quote
I get 1. Rf1. If 1 ... Qxf1, 2. Re1 is a double check mate. If 1. ... Qb1, Rxb1
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ralphmerridew
Daedalian Member
PostPosted: Mon Apr 02, 2012 7:49 pm    Post subject: 64 Reply with quote
I looked over Coyote's again and again, and I can't figure out which of the last two is possible and which isn't.
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Elethiomel
Daedalian Member
PostPosted: Mon Apr 02, 2012 8:17 pm    Post subject: 65 Reply with quote
Code:

AAAAB
AABABB
 ABBBB

AAAA
AABA
BABB
BBBB
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ralphmerridew
Daedalian Member
PostPosted: Mon Apr 02, 2012 9:52 pm    Post subject: 66 Reply with quote
I posted that one way back. The missing ones are
Code:

..#..
#####
#####

.##.
.##.
####
####
####
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Coyote

<memstat>
PostPosted: Mon Apr 02, 2012 10:11 pm    Post subject: 67 Reply with quote
Yes. Here they are again in the format I used (which btw is a royal pain in the neck to code properly).
Code:

               _ _
              |_|_|                     _
             _|_|_|_                _ _|_|_ _
            |_|_|_|_|              |_|_|_|_|_|
            |_|_|_|_|              |_|_|_|_|_|
            |_|_|_|_|              |_|_|_|_|_|


When I posted the puzzle, I suspected these would be the last two to decide between. Both seem impossible at first, but I assure you that one of them does indeed have a legitimate two-piece dissection into a square, with no trickery involved.

-----------------------------

Also, correct on the chess puzzle, Thok. ( Sometimes lateral thinking needs to be helped along with a little diagonal thinking as well.)
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ralphmerridew
Daedalian Member
PostPosted: Tue Apr 03, 2012 3:14 am    Post subject: 68 Reply with quote
Hmmm...

Code:
..x..
#####
#####
y###z


Well, adding the assumptions that cuts are only on grid lines (cuts not parallel to the grid seem completely useless, and cuts parallel to but not on a grid line don't seem to help, either), y and z can't be in the same piece; WLOG x and y are in the same piece; the only ways to put x and y in the same piece would either split the rest of the 4x4 grid, except for

Code:
..A..
AAAbb
AAAbb
AAAbb


and that can't go to 4x4 either. So I strongly think that the left one is the right one. (But this being the GL, I strongly suspect somebody will snarkily post an answer involving tilted cuts, or at least not on grid lines.)
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Novice*
Guest
PostPosted: Tue Apr 03, 2012 10:29 am    Post subject: 69 Reply with quote
Code:

.AA.
.AA.
BAAA
BABB
BBBB
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