Solve it Sunday: A Bit of Polish

Hello dear readers, I hope you put on your puzzle solving hats, because I am back for another Solve it Sunday!

This one might be tricky for those who don’t live with snow in the winter, but you might know the answer anyways.

Here is the riddle, and as always, the solution is in the comments:

You will most likely have noticed that polished floors are considerably more slippery than rough (or fluffy) ones. So should it not follow that smooth ice is more slippery than bumpy ice? If you ever have occasion to pull a sledge, however, you will discover that it moves more easily over uneven ice than over smooth ice. You may also have observed that roughened ice is trickier to walk on than glossy ice.

Why do you think that is?

Solve it Sunday: Scientific Logic

For this trial, no knowledge of the world’s workings is needed. Your ability to think logically is the only thing being tested.

Five scientists from different Ivy League universities were engaged in a cutting-edge space programme. From the information provided, can you say which town the Irish scientist lived in?

  • The scientist in New Haven studied astrophysics, and she was not the American, who was called Emily.
  • The British scientist lived in Cambridge and was neither Marianne nor Sophia.
  • The physics was not named Jennifer or Alice.
  • Providence was not home to the Canadian scientist.
  • Alice, an Australian, was not studying astrophysics.
  • Marianne studied biochemistry, and was not Irish.
  • One of the scientists was studying nanotechnology.
  • One of the scientists lived in New York.

The below table will help you solve this riddle.


Solve it Sunday: In A Spin

Hello everyone! I’m back with another post for Solve it Sunday after missing last week.

I hope you enjoy this one. It was a lot of fun talking through it with some friends, seeing if we could find an answer.

Thanks to the work of Copernicus, Galileo, and may others, we know that the day happens because the world rotates on its axis, while the sun remains (apparently) still. But it is not always wise to blindly believe what you are told.

It would be reasonably straightforward to conduct an experiment that would prove that the Earth is revolving on its axis. You wouldn’t even need to leave the Earth’s surface.

Can you think of one?

Solve it Sunday: Gold Standard




As always, answers in the comments.

Solve it Sunday: A Curious Thought

This one might be a bit trickier than you think. It got me when I first read it, but read it carefully before you think you have the answer.

As always…answers in the comments

It has been said that the ultimate in exclusivity would be to build a house which possessed windows facing south on each of its four sides.

Does this seem a reasonable proposition?

Solve it Sunday: Fibonacci’s Game

This mathematical party game was devised in the thirteenth century by the Italian mathematician Leonardo Pisano, known to the modern world as Fibonacci. His work on the mathematical system helped to set up the Renaissance, but the matter we will address here is less weighty.

Between two and nine people sit in a line, and together, they secretly conspire to select one of their number.

This person picks a finger joint of one of their hands, either where their ring is being worn, or where the volunteer nominates as a spot where he or she would like to have a ring.

The volunteer then takes their position in the line, doubles it, adds 5, multiplies by 5, and then adds 10 to the total.

Then the number of the ring-bearing finger across the two hands is counted and added (starting with the left little finger as 1), and the value is multiplied by 10.

Finally a number for the knuckle joint is added on, 1 for the joint nearest the hand, 3 for the tip joint. This gives a final total.

“When the number is announced,” Fibonacci says, “it is easy to pinpoint the ring.”

Can you see how?

Solve it Sunday: Ciphertext

