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These puzzles are perfect for coffee breaks, just the right amount to get you going and warm your brain up to operating temperature. If you only have a moment, these puzzles are exactly for you. So, do you accept the challenge?
1. Riddle – The Prisoner’s Hat
Four prisoners in total are lined up a few steps apart.
They are all looking in the same direction. The wall you see in the picture separates the fourth man from all the others.
To summarize:
- Man no. 1 sees the second and the third
- Man no. 2 sees only the third
- Man no. 3 sees no one
- Man no. 4 sees no one
The prisoners are wearing hats
They only know that two of them have white hats and two of them have black ones.
The prisoners naturally do not know what color hat they are wearing.
As soon as they figure out the color of the hat on their head, they must shout that color. The following conditions apply:
- They are not allowed to turn or move
- They are not allowed to speak to each other
- They are not allowed to take off their hats
Who shouts the color of their hat first and why?
Solution
Man no. 2 shouts first! Here is the explanation:
- Prisoners no. 3 and no. 4 do not see the others’ hats
- Prisoner no. 1 sees a black and a white hat and therefore knows that his hat is either black or white
- Prisoner no. 2 sees one black hat, but if he also had a black hat, it would be obvious that man no. 1 has a white hat. Since man no. 1 did not shout anything, man no. 2 concluded that he is wearing a white hat.
2. Riddle – Tire Change
While changing a tire on the road, the driver dropped all four lug nuts into a sewer opening.
He tried everything to pull them out, but without success. He already thought he would spend hours and hours waiting by the road, when suddenly a child appeared who helped him solve his problem.
He followed the child’s advice and successfully fitted the new tire, and drove to the nearest gas station without any accident.
What advice did the child give him? Don’t know?
Solution
The child told him to remove one lug nut from each tire and attach them to the new one.
3. Riddle – A Gift from the Witch
Once upon a time, Prince Krasoň set out into the world to find his betrothed. Summer had just ended when the prince came to a wooden hut inhabited by an old witch.
The tired prince asked the witch if he could spend one night at her place. The witch agreed and hosted the prince. The next morning, as the prince was preparing to leave, she handed him a gift with the words: “There will come a time when on your journey you will come to a raging river with no bridge. The only way will be to swim across it. Take my magic cloak, which will help you not to drown!”.
Our hero then continued on his way. After one hundred days and one hundred nights he indeed came to the river the witch had warned him about. In the end, the prince managed to get to the other shore without the cloak she had given him.
Solution
Prince Krasoň visited the witch right after the end of summer, i.e., around September.
After that, one hundred days and one hundred nights passed before he reached the wild river. That means it was winter at that time, so it can be assumed that the river had frozen and thus allowed the prince to safely cross to the other shore.
