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Cats in Spring
On a beautiful spring day in the park, there were five female cats walking together and gossiping about their humans. Up ahead, there were five males walking together bragging about their conquests. When the two groups met, there were five cupids flying through the air. Next thing ya know, there were five couples walking away in separate directions. The couples began talking and soon found that they had amazing things in common. Well, long story short, we all know what happens to cats that fall in love in the springtime, oh my what a racket! Can you figure out who the couples were, what treats they liked, what their favorite activity was and how many kittens each had in their litter?
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View full teaser and answerMagical Scroll Case
After some relaxing, the Seekers of Knowledge received a gift from an anonymous person. The gift was a magical scroll case that had 12 gemstones on it. The Seekers were a bit shocked at the elegance of the scroll case as they knew it was very expensive.
There was a catch with it. They had no idea how to open it. As they looked over the scroll case with amazement, suddenly a magic mouth appeared before them and said, "The code to open this scroll case is hidden within the stones; you must press each stone in the proper order to open it." The magic faded out.
The stones are in this order on the scroll case: Turquoise, Diamond, Opal, Aquamarine, Topaz, Emerald, Moonstone, Garnet, Sapphire,...
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White to Play
I hope you have enjoyed these very special and ingenious two-movers this week. Our final one is a gem of the highest order.
View solutionAllen's Quandary
Allen was in the process of sprucing up his large backyard by planting trees, when he came to a tough decision. He had already planted the following types of trees: Khejri, Himalayan Pine, Maple, Llala Palm, and Agave Cactus, when he noticed that he could only plant one more. Given the trees that he had already planted, which of the following type would he choose?
Hard Quandong
Chinese Fir
Eucalyptus
Ulmo
Wild Olive
Pacific Dogwood
Freezing Point
The freezing point of pure water is 32 degrees Fahrenheit (0 degrees Celsius). However, by simply adding a common household ingredient, you then can easily cool the water 20 degrees past the freezing point, and still keep it in liquid form.
How is this possible?
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White to Play
Here’s our second special two-mover for the week, and this one is a work of genius.
View solution"Force"
A man wanted to encrypt his password but he needed to do it in a way so that he could remember it. His password is 7 characters long. The password consists of letters and numbers only (no symbols like ! or <). In order to remember it he wrote down "You force heaven to be empty" Can you guess what his password is?
View full teaser and answerAround and Back in 12
Start with a 6-letter word. Replace one letter to find the next word. No word is repeated in the trip until we are back to where we started. Clues are given along the way.
1. block and tackle
2.
3. recycled glass
4.
5. decorative moulding
6.
7. online purchase software
8.
9. paid a visit
10.
11. hauled
12 (we are back !)

White to Play
I thought we’d take a break from queen sacrifices and do some easy mate in two problems this week, although each has their own unique quality, as you will see.
View solutionCrafty Words
Take the list of words below and arrange them into 3 sentences that all have something in common. Each word is only used once each time they appear in the list. ('A' can be used 4 times as it's in the list 4 times.) Punctuation is not an issue in this teaser.
A, A, A, A, ANIMALS, BAR, BAT, DAN, DROOP, I, I, IN, IN, IS, IT, NET, OR, POOR, SAW, SLAM, TEN, WAS
What are the sentences and what do they have in common?
View full teaser and answerWeather-ectomy
Six words have had their weather terms removed. The weather terms have been placed into Group A. The remaining letters of each word have been placed into Group B. Your task is to reconstitute the words by merging each weather term with the proper set of letters. Other than merging the two groups together, there is no rearranging of the letters. Example: sand + pne = spanned (SpANneD).
Group A: cloud, hail, rain, sleet, storm, wind
Group B: arngg, astba, atage, bevora, diabmn, higa
Mixing Math and Poetry
What kind of poem am I?
(12 + 144 + 20 + (3 x (4^.5)))/7 + 5 x 11 = (9 ^2) + 0
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Black to Play
Here’s a version of the “Steinitz Trap” played in 1895 by someone else. There is a road not taken given below that is entertaining to play through. Black to play his 10th move. It’s a great lesson on one of the dangers of pinning the king knight before Black has castled.
View solutionDanger?
Parker was hiding under a table. He was frightened, and knew that his brothers were probably already dead. He heard a couple of blasts, then Parker knew he was okay. What happened?
View full teaser and answerStone-Washed Genes
Both of my parents have brown eyes, as do I. My brother and my wife have blue eyes. Using the simple brown-blue model (two genes; a brown gene dominates blue gene), what are the chances of my first child having blue eyes?
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White to Play
A fine Pollock finish from 1893 in Buffalo. Black certainly got stampeded. The position is after Black’s 14th move. Enjoy the whole game.
View solutionShooting Star
Henry and Gretchen plan on sitting outside to look for shooting stars. They know from experience that if they watch for an hour, they will have a 90% chance of seeing a shooting star. It is a chilly night, though, so Gretchen says, "Let's only stay out for 10 minutes."
Henry says, "I was really hoping to see a shooting star tonight. If we are only out for 10 minutes, we will only have a 15% chance."
Gretchen replies, "Not true. We have a better chance than that."
Is Gretchen right? If so, what is the probability that they see a shooting star?
View full teaser and answerTrain Problem
Elliot the detective heard the news of a double murder that occured on a train. The driver and the conductor were on the opposite sides of the train, but both were shot at the same time, reported a policeman who was at the center of the train at the time. The policeman had heard both gunshots at the same time. The train was travelling 150 kilometers per hour. Elliot immediately realized that the driver and the conductor were not killed at the same time. How is it so?
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White to Play
Another rollicking King’s Gambit from the old days. Both sides get their hacks in. White has one move to successfully continue the attack and one move that loses. Choose wisely.
View solutionTo Grandma's House
You are on your way to visit your Grandma, who lives at the end of the valley. It's her birthday, and you want to give her the cakes you've made.
Between your house and her house, you have to cross 7 bridges, and as it goes in the land of make believe, there is a troll under every bridge! Each troll, quite rightly, insists that you pay a troll toll. Before you can cross their bridge, you have to give them half of the cakes you are carrying, but as they are kind trolls, they each give you back a single cake.
How many cakes do you have to leave home with to make sure that you arrive at Grandma's with exactly 2 cakes?
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