Category Archives: Puzzles

Kidnapped by the Mad Hatter

Having finally finished writing my thesis, I once again have the chance to update the site.

First up, a new puzzle. It is not original – I heard it from a fellow trainee teacher a few years ago, and a quick search confirms that it has popped up in numerous places – but I think it is a particularly good one.

Thinking caps on…

#3: Kidnapped by the Mad Hatter
A coloured hat puzzle!
Published:
 16/03/2015
Difficulty: **
Maths knowledge required: None

New Puzzle

OK. That business with the pirates was just a warm-up. The next puzzle is a bit more challenging.

It is based on something that I found myself wondering about one day. Is there a fair question that you can use as a tiebreaker to separate two quiz teams with identical knowledge? See the page for the exact details of the puzzle.

I have a solution, but there may well be others. I have given it a three-star rating for difficulty, but perhaps it is not as tough as that.

#2: The Ultimate Tiebreaker
A logic puzzle that I came up with myself.
Published:
 10/12/2014
Difficulty: ***
Maths knowledge required: None (though familiarity with some other logic puzzles may help)

Solution in a week or so.

Pirate Solution

I have posted the solution for The Pirate Puzzle. After writing it, I discovered that the puzzle is actually a well-established part of the recreational mathematics canon, a fact that I had not been aware of. However, there are some important differences between my formulation and the way that the puzzle is generally stated, as I discuss at the end of the solution page.

The Puzzle
The Solution