NOTEBOOK is the space intended to be used for providing ancillary notes from the main web log. For example, within the main blog, readers and observers to the site will find, on occasions, lateral thinking puzzles and dramas. This page will be used in providing solutions to those conundrums.
Where notebook is intended to be used, clarification will be highlighted within relevant journals, and links provided from this page to that article. That process should become self-explanatory once this page becomes better active.
SOLUTION:
Puzzle: BRIDGING THE GAP
With the help of the loudspeaker, Private Kenning asked the civilians on the other side of the river to help them. Then Private Cross, who was an expert archer and was able to fashion a bow and arrow out of some branches, fired an arrow, with a string attached, across to the other side of the river.
The scouts had kept hold of one end of the string and, in the light from the jeeps headlights, the civilians were able to find the arrow and pull the string.
After a while, the scouts attached heavier ropes to the string and eventually the cables were attached and pulled across the river by the helpful civilians.
SOLUTION:
Puzzle: THE CURSE OF THE DONKEY
Ali must have loaded the sacks with sand so they would actually get heavier after they had been in the water.
SOLUTION:
Puzzle: The intrigued Caliph
Zulfiqa Khan was smuggling donkeys.
SOLUTION:
Puzzle: Global warming conference
No, the scientist’s logic was not correct.
He was confusing himself by thinking in terms of years (a purely arbitrary measure of time). What was happening was that the carbon dioxide level rose and then, some months later, so did the temperature.
SOLUTION:
Puzzle: Balls in!
Because the ball was plastic Giles went to get a bucket of water which he emptied into the hole to float the ball to the surface.
SOLUTION:
Puzzle: Frogs in the Pond?
Emily should wait until dusk when the frogs will climb out of the water and go hunting.
SOLUTION:
The Millers Daughter:
Clue: Firstly, you have to think of a way whereby she could use the fact that she knows she will draw a black pebble to give a result that will indicate a white pebble. If that is too obscure just remember that a double negative, mathematically, is a positive.
Her best course of action is to take a stone from the bag and immediately drop it on the path. She can then say: “We can work out the colour of the stone I selected by looking at the one that is left. If that is black, I must have selected the white stone.”
Captain Wye:
Frozen sea water contains much less salt than it does when liquid. By melting lumps of ice from the sea there would be ample water for the crew to drink.
SOLUTION:
Puzzle: Kew’s Predicament
If Kew takes three socks from the drawer he must have a pair.
However, since it is totally dark he will still not know which ones he put on!
SOLUTION:
Puzzle: Fool’s Gold
In addressing this problem we could start by addressing some fundamental questions. These questions are not given, specifically, but could be placed from the information given in the question:
Q: Can the difference between the two cylinders be determined by their physical appearance?
A: No.
Q: Does the solution to this problem involve carrying out some physical test or experiment?
A: Yes.
Q: Does it involve weighing the bars or immersing them in a liquid?
A: No.
THE EASIEST SOLUTION is to roll both cylinders across the floor. The hollow cylinder will roll farther than the solid one. Its mass is distributed away from its middle, giving it, in terms of physics, a higher moment of inertia than the solid cylinder.
Many experiments involving rotating the cylinders would reveal the hollow cylinder, but rolling them is the simplest approach.
SOLUTION:
Puzzle: The Plane Hijacker
As with the previous conundrum offered on Mark Dowe’s Journal, ‘The Plane Hijacker’ requires some logical thought and sequencing before this puzzle can be solved. Only with a careful process of deduction (and substitution) can this question be rationally answered.
What, then, are the questions that loom out from the facts given?
Q: Did the man change his mind during the course of the hijack?
A: No.
Q: So he always intended to leap out of the plane on his own?
A: Yes.
Q: Did he carefully choose one parachute in preference to the other?
A: No.
Q: Did he ask for two parachutes in order to deceive the airport authorities?
A: Yes.
Q: Did he do this to protect himself?
A: Yes.
SO, the hijacker asked for two parachutes in order to deceive the authorities into thinking that he intended to take a hostage. They therefore gave him two good parachutes.
Had he asked for only one, they would have surmised fairly quickly that it was for him and could have given him a dud parachute with a hole in it. By asking for two, he directly eliminated that risk. Once, though, he had two good parachutes, either would do for his escape.
SOLUTION:
Puzzle: ‘The war tale exposed‘
Captains don’t lead battalions.
