Little Performers at The Thanksgiving Pageant

What was the puzzle?

Given Data : 

STUDENTS     : Allison, Jerry, Bonnie, Bill

CHARACTERS : Indian warrior, Pilgrim, Indian maiden, Deer

PROPS           : Pumpkin, Fish, Basket of corn, Colored leaves

ACT                : Poem, Song, Dance, Narrator

LAST NAMES  : Lee, Newton, Myers, Schuler

AGE                : 13, 12, 11, 10

Given Clues : 

1. Mrs. Lee made her daughter's costume and also the costumes of the Indian maiden and the dancer. 

2. Mr. Myers helped his son rehearse his poem. 

3. The dancer was older than Lee and the pilgrim, but younger than Allison. 

4. The 11-year-old ripped her deer outfit, but her mother pinned it.

5. Newton carried his fish during his tribal dance.

6. Jerry's pumpkin was a symbol of the feast for the pilgrims. 

7. The Indian maiden carried corn as she sang the song of feasting.

STEPS :

First of all let's make a table like below & fill it as per clues.

1]  As per clue (1), student having last name Lee, an Indian maiden and dancer are three different students.

2] As per (3), the dancer must be 12 years old with Lee and Pilgrim having age 10 & 11 but order yet to be known. With that Allison must be 13 years old. This clue also suggests that the dancer or Lee isn't pilgrim.

3] The clue (5) clearly suggest that Newton is dancer carrying fish as a property. Also, clue (6) suggests Jerry is pilgrim having pumpkin. And clue (7) suggests that, Indian Maiden sung a song while carrying a basket of corn.

4] With that, we can conclude that Lee must be carrying colored leaves. Also, the clue (4) must be pointing at Lee now. So Lee is 11 years old wearing deer outfit.

5] It's clear now that Newton is Indian Warrior. And, 10 years old (STEP 2) Jerry is Myers who father helped him to rehearse his poem as per clue (2).

6] Since Allison is 13 years old, she must be Indian Maiden carrying a basket of corn while singing a song. She must have last name Schuler - the only last name left. Since (1) suggests Lee is girl, her name must be Bonnie who is narrator carrying a colored leaves. Finally, first name of Newton must be Bill.

7] So, the final table looks as - 

Row Row Row A Tiny RowBoat : Puzzle

Walter, Xavier, Yoshi, and Zeke crossed a river in a tiny rowboat. They all started on the same side of the river. They made three trips from the starting side to the destination side, and two trips from the destination side to the starting side. Here are some facts:

1. On each trip from the starting side of the river to the destination side, two people were in the boat, but only one person rowed the boat, and that person rowed the boat for the entire trip.

2. On each return trip, only one person was in the boat.

3. Walter is the weakest of the group. He could only row the boat if no one else is in it.

4. Xavier is the second weakest of the group. He can only row the boat if he is by himself or if Yoshi, the lightest of the group, is a passenger.

5. Each man rowed the boat at least once. 

Click here for SOLUTION! 

Row Row Row A Tiny RowBoat Puzzle : Solution

What was the puzzle?

We know, Walter, Xavier, Yoshi, and Zeke crossed a river in a tiny rowboat. They all started on the same side of the river. They made three trips from the starting side to the destination side, and two trips from the destination side to the starting side. 

And we have some facts:

1. On each trip from the starting side of the river to the destination side, two people were in the boat, but only one person rowed the boat, and that person rowed the boat for the entire trip.

2. On each return trip, only one person was in the boat.

3. Walter is the weakest of the group. He could only row the boat if no one else is in it.

4. Xavier is the second weakest of the group. He can only row the boat if he is by himself or if Yoshi, the lightest of the group, is a passenger.

5. Each man rowed the boat at least once. 

ANALYSIS :

1] Walter must not had rowed from start to the destination since he is weakest among as per FACT 3. Since, he had to row at least once as per FACT 5, he must had rowed a return tip.


2] The person who had rowed twice, must not had both trips from start to destination. That's because, in that case, he would have had needed third trip in form of return trip to get back to the start once again. So, he must had rowed a return trip at least once.

3] Suppose Walter is the person who rowed the boat twice. Both of his trips must be return trips as concluded in [1] above. 

So if Walter had rowed 2 return trips then each of Xavier, Yoshi and Zeke must have rowed 1 trip from start to the destination. 

If Walter had 'taken' Zeke (while Zeke rowing) across and returned then he would have had to 'take' Yoshi (while Yoshi rowing) across as Xavier being unable to row Walter as per FACT 4. And on returning back to the start after leaving Yoshi across, Walter and Xavier would have had been at the starting point. Now, Walter being unable to row with passenger & Xavier being unable to row Walter, both would have had stuck at the start point.

In short, Walter is not the person for sure who had rowed twice.

4] We know, Walter had one return trip. So the other return trip must have been rowed by someone among Xavier, Yoshi or Zeke. Moreover, the rest of three trips from start to the destination must have rowed by Xavier, Yoshi and Zeke in some order. 

That's how, the one person among Xavier, Yoshi and Zeke, must have rowed twice, one trip from source to destination and other one return trip.

5] If Xavier had rowed twice, then with one trip he must have taken Yoshi across and in other trip he must have returned as we found the fact in [2] above. So, two return trips 'occupied' by Walter and Xavier, Yoshi wouldn't have got a chance to row which is mandatory.

So, Xavier is not the person who had rowed twice.

6] Suppose Zeke is the person who had rowed twice. He must had rowed Walter across the river to give a chance to row his return trip. After Walter reaching at the start, Xavier must had rowed Yoshi across the river thereby completing his compulsory rowing trip.

Then Zeke must have returned to the start to take Walter across then Yoshi would have been the person who hadn't rowed which is against FACT 5.

Therefore, Zeke must not be the person who rowed twice.

7] So, Yoshi must be the person who rowed twice. 

POSSIBILITY 1 : Zeke took Walter across to give him row trip in return. Then, Xavier rowed Yoshi across and Yoshi returned back to take Walter across.

POSSIBILITY 2 : First Xavier rowed Yoshi across and Yoshi returned back after which Zeke takes Walter across to allow Walter to have return trip, and finally, Yoshi taking Walter across the river.

POSSIBILITY 3 : Yoshi took Walter across the river and Walter returned. Zeke rowed Walter across and Yoshi returned to give Xavier a chance to row him across.

Confusing Ride on the Ferris Wheel

There are 10 two-seater cars attached to a Ferris wheel. The Ferris wheel turns so that one car rotates through the exit platform every minute. 

The wheel began operation at 10 in the morning and shut down 30 minutes later. 

What's the maximum number of people that could have taken a ride on the wheel in that time period?

Here is count of people enjoying the ride!

Peoples Enjoying Ferris Wheel Ride

What was the puzzle?

Let's simplify the situation by naming 10 cars as A, B, C, D, E, F, G, H, I, J.

Suppose the Car A is at the exit platform at 10:00 AM. Obviously it can be 'loaded' with 2 peoples say A1-A2.

At 10:01 AM, the Car B will be at the exit platform which can be 'loaded' with 2 more peoples say B1-B2.

So continuing this way, at 10:09 AM the car J will be loaded with peoples J1-J2.

At 10:10 AM, the Car A will be again at the exit platform and now A1-A2 can get off the board to allow 2 more new peoples A3-A4 to get on the board.

At 10:11 AM, the Car B will be at the exit platform where B3-B4 will replace B1-B2. 

Continuing this way, at 10:19 AM the J1-J2 in the Car J will be replaced by J3-J4.

So far, 10 x 4 = 40 different peoples would have enjoyed the ride. 

It's clear that every car takes 10 minutes to be at the exit platform after once it goes through it. That's how Car A is at the exit platform at 10:10 AM, 10:20 AM and it can be at 10:30 AM as well when the wheel is supposed to be shut down.

Now, since wheel needs to be shut down 10:30 AM, emptying all the cars must be started except Car A for the reason stated above.

Therefore, at 10:20, peoples A5-A6 replace A3-A4. Thereafter, every car should be emptied. So, far 40 + 2 = 42 different people have boarded on the cars of the wheel.

So, at 10:21 AM, the Car B is emptied, at 10:22 AM, the Car C should be emptied and so on.

At 10:29 AM, J3-J4 of Car J get out of the car and finally at 10:30 AM, A5-A6 get out of the Car A. 

Now, the ferris wheel can be shut down with no one stuck at any of cars.

To conclude, 42 different peoples can enjoy the ride in given time frame.

Story of Four High School Friends

Four high school friends, one named Cathy, were about to go to college. Their last names were Williams, Burbank, Collins, and Gunderson. Each enrolled in a different college, one of them being a state college. 

From the clues below determine each person's full name, and the college he or she attended.

1. No student's first name begins with the first letter as her or his last name, and no students first name's last letter is the same as his last name's last letter.

2. Neither Hank or Williams went to the community college.

3. Alan, Collins, and the student who went to the university all lived on the same street. The other student lived two blocks away.

4. Gladys and Hank lived next door to each other.

5. The private college accepted Hank's application, but he decided he could not afford to go there.

Here is ANALYSIS of the story! 

Analysing The Story of Four High School Friends

What was the story?

GIVEN DATA : 

First Name : Hank, Gladys, Cathy, Alan 
Last Name : Collins, Burbank, Gunderson, Williams 
College       :  State College, University, Community College, Private College 

HINTS : 

1. No student's first name begins with the first letter as her or his last name, and no students first name's last letter is the same as his last name's last letter.

2. Neither Hank or Williams went to the community college.

3. Alan, Collins, and the student who went to the university all lived on the same street. The other student lived two blocks away.

4. Gladys and Hank lived next door to each other.

5. The private college accepted Hank's application, but he decided he could not afford to go there.   

STEPS :  

1] Let's make a table like below and fill it as per hints.

  
2] As per Hint (3), we have, Alan, Collins and student going to the university as 3 different students.

3] As per (1), Collins can't be Cathy & as per (4), Cathy can't be at no.3 as in that case no blocks will be left for (4) to be true. Hence Cathy must be at no.4.

4] As per (2), Hank and Williams are two different students. And as per (4), Gladys and Hank must be at 2 & 3 (and anyhow these are only blocks left for them) but order yet to be known. So, Williams is certainly not at 3 or 2. And as per (1), Gladys can't be Gunderson or Collins or Williams & Hank can't be Burbank.  Therefore, Hank must be Collins at 2 and Gladys must be Burbank at 3.

5] Now, as per (1), Alan can't be Gunderson hence must be Williams and Cathy must be Gunderson. 

6] As per (2), neither Hank nor Williams went to community college, hence Cathy Gunderson must be. And as per (5), Hank didn't choose private college hence must have chosen state college while Alan Williams must be in private college.

7] Therefore, the final table looks like as below.