Archive | Puzzles

A puzzle from Yefim Somin (yes relation to the coconspirator) — name three countries whose names are based on the points of the compass, but whose English names do not have the point of the compass as a word in the country name. (East Timor and North Korea, for instance, wouldn’t work.) (Show the answer.) […]

Here’s a new Oklahoma statute, 21 Okla. Stats. sec. 839.1A: Any person, firm, or corporation that uses for the purpose of advertising for the sale of any goods, wares, or merchandise, or for the solicitation of patronage by any business enterprise, the name, portrait, or picture of any service member of the United States Armed […]

“Add” is an example of a word that’s 2/3 composed of one letter. “Lull” is 3/4 composed of one letter. But this is easy enough with short words (“I” is 100% one letter!). What words can you think of that are 6 letters long but are more than 50% one letter? 7 letters? 8 letters? […]

In April I posted this puzzle about rearranging letters in the name of someone in the news. Today’s challenge is very similar. A person who was in the news recently has first name that is 6 letters and last name that is 4 letters. Take the letters in the last name, add two letters and […]

Here’s one Sasha came up with — what do these have in common, and can you name more? Die. Medium. Person. Penny.

U.S. District Courts are generally known as The United States District Court for the X District of Y where X is “Northern,” “Southern,” “Eastern,” “Western,” “Middle,” or nothing at all, and where Y is the name of the jurisdiction (e.g., Alaska, Texas, Guam, and the like). Which currently operational U.S. District Courts do not precisely […]

Something is missing on this map, provided by Foreign Policy magazine — something pretty significant, though I admit not vast. Hat tip to Michael Standaert (Huffington Post) for catching this; see that post for the answer. The map accompanies this story on “countries on the verge of collapse.”

I highly recommend today’s New York Times crossword puzzle by Patrick Merrell. The theme is quite related to the one I referenced here, but don’t click on it if you want to try the puzzle first.

What do these two phrases have in common? Estate Taxes Grade A Eggs What about these two? Opium Poppy Opinion Poll Answer below. (show) The first two are typed using only the left hand. The latter two are typed using only the right hand. The Puzzleblogger will be specializing in the former types of phrases […]

Allow me to put in a plug for Greg Brune’s “Puzzle Boat,” an incredibly complex and rewarding set of puzzles found here. The puzzles come in all varieties (word games, numbers, trivia, etc.), and are all part of one huge meta-puzzle. The puzzles went online several days ago and there’s a leader board keeping track […]

have in common? Tenor Luciano Pavarotti, Actor Hugh Jackman, Actor Kirk Cameron, Gold Medalist Marion Jones, Puzzleblogger Kevan Choset. (Answer below.) (show) They were all born on October 12 (sorry, couldn’t resist). (hide)

This puzzle comes to us courtesy of VC friend James Taranto: Richard Nixon did it three times. Jimmy Carter, Ronald Reagan and Bill Clinton all did it twice. Barry Goldwater, Walter Mondale, Michael Dukakis and Bob Dole all did it, but Hubert Humphrey, George McGovern and John Kerry did not. Abraham Lincoln and both George […]

Who is the next President in this list? (Warning: This relies on some very specific information that many of you are not aware of, so don’t spend too long on it. However, that piece of information relates to something discussed on here by one of my co-bloggers three weeks ago.) (Hint: I am referring to […]

Today is the 100th anniversary of Einstein’s publication of the paper containing “E=mc^2.” (Actually, Einstein wrote “mass diminishes by L/c^2”, where L is used instead of E to represent energy, and if you multiply both sides by c^2 you get the formula we’re familiar with.) In honor of the 100th anniversary, I wrote a crossword […]

Put these in order by moving the fewest names: Washington, Wilson, Johnson, Johnson, McKinley, Davis, Jackson, Taft, Kennedy Moving a name to between two other names, before the first name, or after the last name all count as one move. Thus, exchanging #2 and #7 requires two moves (since you’d have to move #2 and […]