AUGUST 2010 to APRIL 2011
APRIL PICTURE PUZZLES:
Decode each of the following to a common word, phrase or song title
Solution here: http://skeptics.cafe/puzzles/april-picture-puzzles-answers/
April 2011 Mixed Bag Questions
1. Al says Beth is lying, Beth says Joe is lying, Joe accuses both of them of lying. Who is telling the truth?
2. Quintuplets, Sara, Kara, Mara, Lara, and Tara all went skydiving. Sara went before Mara, but after Kara. Lara went first. If Tara went after Mara, in what order did the girls go?
3. How many triangles are in this figure? 
4. There are 4 people: Mr. Cooper, his wife, their son and Mr. Cooper’s mother. One is a doctor and another is a lawyer.
*If the doctor is younger than the lawyer, then the doctor and the lawyer are not blood relatives.
*If the doctor is a woman then the doctor and the lawyer are blood relatives.
*If the lawyer is a man, then the doctor is a man.
Whose occupation can be worked out from these clues? (One point for the person, one point for the occupation)
5. A clock, which was keeping accurate time, suddenly starts running ten minutes fast every day. In how many days will the hands on the clock momentarily tell the correct time again?
6. Three five-letter English words, each differs from the others by one vowel.
One is an old-fashioned pen
One is a small Australian marsupial
One means “to suppress”
Identify these three words
7. Lenny, Lance, Lulu, and Laura enjoy a good game of tug-of-war every time they visit the beach. Lance can out-pull Lenny and Lulu together. Lance and Lenny together match up evenly against Laura and Lulu, but if Lulu and Lenny switch places, then Laura and Lenny can win easily. Name the four beachgoers in order of how strong they are.
8. What other sum can be written using the letters in “eleven plus two” ? (“Two plus eleven” is NOT allowed)
9. If 26 L of the A = 26 Letters of the Alphabet, what are each of the following?
(a) 7 W of the A W
(b) 1,001 A N
(c) 12 S of the Z
10. A suspect was questioned in a case he was being accused of. He was asked by the court if his statements were true, and he replied…
“I guarantee that it is untenable to deny the opposite of the veracity of my affirmations.”
Is the suspect telling the court the truth or is he lying?
Answers here: http://skeptics.cafe/puzzles/mixed-bag-april-2011-answers/
MARCH PICTURE PUZZLES:
Decode each of the following to a common word, phrase or song title
Solution here: http://skeptics.cafe/puzzles/march-picture-puzzles-answers/
“MIXED BAG” (March 2011) QUESTIONS:
1. The following sentences have two blanks that can be filled with two words that are anagrams of each other. Please find those words. The number of dashes represents the number of letters required.
(a) When he gets to his office, he _ _ _ _ _ _ _ his tax consultant for not being able to come up with any _ _ _ _ _ _ _.
(b) The captain was exhausted and knew this was no time for his team to _ _ _ _ _ energy. They were so dehydrated that they weren’t even able to _ _ _ _ _.
(c) The famous mathematician _ _ _ _ _ _ _ that he had invented a new _ _ _ _ _ _ _ system.
2. (Piggy in the middle)
Below are 2 pairs of words. Find the words that would fit in the middle of pair that would create two new words, one front-ended and one back-ended.
Example: EVER ______ HORN
Answer: EVER _ GREEN – HORN
(a) WRIST ___ STAND
(a) GOOD ___ POWER
3. Where is the Golden Guitar awarded annually?
4. What “q” word means a bundle of twenty-five sheets of paper?
5. Who was called Happy Rabbit when he first appeared in 1935?
6. What is the highest possible hand in Poker ?
7. In which European capital is the headquarters of Interpol?
8. When did the last Pope Benedict reign:
A. 15th Century, B. 18th Century or C. 20th Century ?
9. Apart from bands of red and yellow, what emblem is featured on the Spanish flag?
10. How many films did Sir John Mills and his daughter Hayley appear in together; two, three or four?
11. Who Am I? I was born on the 9th August in 1957. I am a blonde film actress, the daughter of a blonde film actress. My films include Night Moves, Working Girl and Bonfire of the Vanities. I have three children, one to each of my husbands.
12. In what Eastern country did King Gyanendra seize control on February 1st 2005?
13. What “ology” is the study of mankind?
14. What would you mainly find in a book of hours?
15. What language would have been Jesus’s mother tongue?
16. In Shakespeare’s Richard III, what does the Duke of Clarence drown in?
17. One of the highest grossing stage shows ever, first staged in 1984, which musical is about a child’s dream of a series of races between toy trains
18. In one of The Carpenters’ greatest hits, what two things always got Karen Carpenter down?
19. Which Western leader’s excuse for not meeting Soviet leaders was “they kept dying on me.”?
20. Which country has the largest muslim population in the World?
21. What girl’s name is also the term for a female donkey?
22. In what year? The film Basic Instinct was released. Eric Clapton released the top-selling album Unplugged and the single Tears in Heaven. Acropolis Now, Fast Forward and The Big Gig all finished three-year runs on Australian TV
23. The poems of Australian serviceman Ern O’Malley, published in 1944 were among the best selling works of that year. Why did Ern O’Malley never make any money from them?
24. Do most instances of salmonella poisoning come from eating chicken, fish or pork?
25. How many ribs does a human have; 16, 20 or 24?
26. If the first three notes of an ascending musical scale in order are do, re (ray) and mi, what is the 5th note?
27. Elizabeth Seton in 1975 became the USA’s first what?
28. What common English word has the letters “WSP”, in that order, without any letters between?
29. Write two anagrams for the word “recipes”
30. Which Australian state’s flag carries a red lion?
Answers here: http://skeptics.cafe/puzzles/mixed-bag-march-2011-answers/
FEBRUARY PICTURE PUZZLES:
Decode each of the following to a common word, phrase or song title 
Solution Here: http://skeptics.cafe/puzzles/february-picture-puzzles-answers/
“MIXED BAG” (February 2011) QUESTIONS:
1. The following clues lead to two words or phrases that are the phonetic reverse of each other. When you answer the first clue and flip the syllables, you get the second answer. (Phonetic only, not letters.)Using the clues below, please find the words/phrases in question.
e.g. sofa * cups and saucers would be settee / tea set
- Fundamental * Where the doctor works on a naval ship
- Government assistance for the poor * Goodbye
- Worst possible Test Score * Optimistic
- Relevant * What Jesus was born in
2. Letter equations. e.g. 2 = P in a P would be “two peas in a pod”
a. 6 = S on a G
b. 50 = W to LYL
c. 4 =S in a D of C
d. 1 = GL for M
e. 9 = L of a C
f. 7 = C in a R
g. 206 = B in the HB
h. 13 = S on the AF
i. 76 = T in the BP
3. Each of the following clues describes two words. One of the words is a type of fruit. The other word is that fruit with one letter changed. E.g. a large fruit would be a big fig.
a. This is a tardy fruit.
b. This is a sullen fruit.
c. This is an up-to-date fruit.
d. This is a complaint by a fruit.
4. For each of the following film characters, give both the actor best known for portraying that character and the name of the film which introduced the character.
a. Norman Bates
b. Hannibal Lechter
c. Colonel Nathan R Jessup
5. From the two lists below, match each Shakespearian carrier with the appropriate play.
CHARACTERS: Calpurnia, Katharina, Iago, Prospero
PLAYS: The Taming of the Shrew, Julius Caesar, The Tempest, Othello
6. Cross-word clues:
a. _ _ T _ _ P _ _ _ E “A project requiring boldness ” 10 letters
b. R _ _ _ _ _ _ _ U T “Job title of a person employed as a general hand / Elvis movie” 10 letters
c. _ _ D _ M _ _ _ S “Elements / basics / first principles” 9 letters
7. That’s what it said in the brochure….
What piece of equipment is being described here?
It’s a graphic media emulator, high-resolution flat-screen monitor that produces near-perfect virtual images of all three-dimensional objects. Used primarily as a cosmetic analyser.
8. Reversible words – Example: Caress, stroke / Faucet, spigot 3 LETTERS would be PAT / TAP
a. Students / Mistake 6 LETTERS
b. Royal / Beverage 5 LETTERS
c. Spies / Items of cutlery 6 LETTERS
d. Dry grass stems / skin blemishes 5 LETTERS
9. On the subject of reversibility…….
LETS, MARGE, MISSES, NO, NORAH, ORDERED, ROSES, SEE, SHARON’S, SIMON, TELEGRAM,
You can use these eleven words above to make two palindromic sentences – in other words, sentences which (once you ignore punctuation and spacing) read the same forward as they do backwards. One sentence has five words in it, one has six. Write the two sentences.
10. Unjumble the following English Premier Football League Teams.
a. Eel Cash
b. An Oval List
c. Humans to top
d. Wee mutant dish
Answers here: http://skeptics.cafe/puzzles/mixed-bag-february-2011-answers/
JANUARY PICTURE PUZZLES:
Decode each of the following to a common word, phrase or song title
Answers Here: http://skeptics.cafe/puzzles/january-picture-puzzles-answers/
“MIXED BAG” (January 2011) QUESTIONS:
1. Find a name that goes after the first name and before the second to make the names of two famous people.
For example: Elton Travolta. Putting “John” in the middle gives you Elton John and John Travolta. Your answer would therefore be “John”.
Find a suitable middle name for each of the following:
(a) Ricky Sheen
(b) Boy Clooney
(c) Annie Lewis
(d) George Douglas
(e) James Diaz
2. How many times do the hour and the minute hands of a clock cross each other in any twelve-hour period?
3. Can you decipher the following figures of speech?
(For example, 26 = L of the A would be answered “26 letters of the alphabet”)
(a) 200 = D for PG in M
(b) 101 = D in the DM
4. What English word is made up of five S’s, four E’s, two L’s. one P and one N?
5. What is 1/2 of 2/3 of 3/4 of 4/5 of 5/6 of 6/7 of 7/8 of 8/9 of 9/10 of 1000? The answer might surprise you! Hint: Look for an easy way of working this out.
6. Each of the following is an anagram for a popular board game. Un-jumble them.
(a) Loom pony
(b) A citron yip
(c) Leo cud
(d) Virtual stir it up
(e) Dr Ken sends a salad
7. Link each of these artist’s surname with the correct Christian name.
A Buanorotti 1 Rembrandt
B Dali 2 Salvador
C Picasso 3 Claude
D Renoir 4 Pablo
E Van Rijn 5 Michelangelo
8. Link each author to a book by that author.
A Frank McCort 1 Power Without Glory
B Bryce Courtenay 2 The Da Vinci Code
C Colleen McCulloch 3 Angela’s Ashes
D Salmon Rushdie 4 The Thorn Birds
E Frank Hardy 5 The Satanic Verses
F Dan Brown 6 The Power of One
9. Unjumble each of these three phrases to form a word. The three answers are names from the same list.
Sis at guitar
I’m Geni
Coop, Sir?
10. Two fathers and two sons went fishing. After a whole day, they had only caught three fish. One father said “That’s enough; we’ll have one each”. How is this possible?
ANSWERS: http://skeptics.cafe/puzzles/mixed-bag-january-2011-answers/
http://skeptics.cafe/puzzles/puzzles-archive/
DECEMBER PICTURE PUZZLES:
Decode each of the following to a common word, phrase or song title
Answers Here: http://skeptics.cafe/puzzles/december-picture-puzzles-answers/
“MIXED BAG” (DECEMBER 2010) QUESTIONS:
1. If three cats can catch three mice in three minutes, how many cats would be required to catch 100 mice in 100 minutes?
2. Palindromes: A palindrome is a word which reads the same way forwards as backwards. Answer each of the following clues with one word that is a palindrome.
(E.g. A joke or speech inhibitor = GAG)
(a) Midday
(b) Polite term of address to a woman
(c) Not tilted
(d) Look sneakily
(e) Musician’s job
3. Which film star is referred to as “The Muscles from Brussells”?
4. If there are 2 houses and 2 gardens and the man that lives in one of the houses has a peacock that lays an egg in the other mans’ garden, whose egg is it?
5. What three – letter group comes next in this sequence? BHO, GWB, WJC, GHWB, RWR, JEC, GRF, RMN, _ _ _
6. Fred and Sam each have a collection of cricket balls. Fred said that if Sam would give him 3 of his balls they would have an equal number; but, if Fred would give Sam 3 of his balls, Sam would have 2 times as many balls as Fred. How many balls do Sam and Fred each have?
7. Froggers the magic frog can jump 10 metres using his magical magic jump but his magic loses its power by a half each time, so his next jump only goes as far as 5 metres. The next jump will take him 2.5 metres, and so on. How many jumps does it take to make it all the way across a 100 metre long pond?
8. Which of these countries does NOT have a border with Mexico?
(a) Guatemala
(b) Belize
(c) Honduras
9. Fred has just sailed his boat around the world. Which part of his boat has travelled the furthest?
10. This is a pre-decimal currency question for citizens of the UK, Australia or New Zealand. If you purchased 6 articles at 3 shillings and tuppence each, what change would you receive from a one pound note?
ANSWERS: http://skeptics.cafe/puzzles/mixed-bagdecember-2010-answers/
NOVEMBER PICTURE PUZZLES:
Decode each of the following to a common word, phrase or song title
Answers: http://skeptics.cafe/puzzles/november-picture-puzzles-answers/
“MIXED BAG” (NOVEMBER 2010) QUESTIONS:
1. Tommy wants to save $30 to buy his mum a gift. On day 1 he puts 10 cents in his piggy bank, on day 2 a further 20 cents, on day 3 a further 30 cents and so on. Following this pattern, on which day will he reach his savings goal?
2. Can you solve this riddle? The answer is a single word.
Pronounced as one letter, but written with three;
Two letters there are and two only in me.
I’m roving, I’m private, brown, blue, green and grey;
When read from both ends I’m the same either way.
What am I?
3. Identify the following three mystery objects:
(a) Forward I’m heavy, backward I’m not.
(b) You use me between your head and toes. The more I works, the thinner I grows
(c) I know what my job is: the point has been made. You say I’ve a big head! You’re right, I’m afraid. Put me in my place, then leave me alone. What I need most is someone to drive me home.
4. What are the next two letters in the following sequence, and why?
W, A, T, N, T, L, I, T, F, S, __ , __
5. Farmer Joe came to town with some watermelons. He sold half of them plus half a melon, and had one melon left over. How many melons did he bring?
6. Use the same four letters in the same order three times to fill in the blanks and make a proper sentence out of this. Write these four letters in order.
A _o_a_l_ doctor had _o _a_l_ and therefore was _o_ a_l_ to operate.
7. Solve these three riddles.
(a) A man rides into town on Friday. He stays three nights and leaves on Friday. How is this possible?
(b) What is the smallest number of cars required for this to be observed?
“Two cars behind a car, two cars in front of a car and one car between two cars.”
(c) What can go up a drain-pipe down, but can’t go down a drain-pipe up?
8. Pair each of the following characters with their creator. For example, your first answer should be A5
| A | Mickey Mouse | 1 | Walter Lanz |
| B | Spy vs Spy | 2 | Jim Henson |
| C | Charlie Brown | 3 | Charles M Shulz |
| D | Bugs Bunny | 4 | Jimmy Bancks |
| E | Ren and Stimpy | 5 | Walt Disney |
| F | Ginger Meggs | 6 | Anton Prohias |
| G | Woody Woodpecker | 7 | John Kricfalusi |
| H | Kermit | 8 | Charles M (Chuck) Jones |
9. Can you link each of the following quotations to the person who made them? (Click to enlarge)
10. A word I know; six letters it contains. Remove just one, and twelve is what remains. What’s the word?
ANSWERS: http://skeptics.cafe/puzzles/mixed-bag-november-2010-answers/
OCTOBER PICTURE PUZZLES:
Decode each of the following to a common word or phrase.
Answers Here: http://skeptics.cafe/puzzles/october-picture-puzzles-answers/
“MIXED BAG” (OCTOBER 2010) QUESTIONS:
1. Name the eight states of the USA that begin with “M”
2. Examine the following lines and identify what each acronym, phrase or abbreviation shows. Example: 26 L of the A = 26 Letters of the Alphabet
(a) 54 C in a D (with the Js)
(b) 8 P in the S S
(c) 88 K on a P
(d) 90 D in a R A
(e) 200 D for P G in M
(f) 8 S on a S S
3. Find any word which is singular, add an ‘s’ and it becomes plural, and add another ‘s’ it becomes singular again.
4. Can you find the hidden countries? In each case, the letter indicates the first letter of the country in question, the number represents the number of letters in the country.
For example, E7 would be England.
(a) B10
(b) E5
(c) F4
(d) N9
(e) S11
(f ) T7
(g) Z6
5. How many of the sixteen AFL teams have some shade of blue in their official team colours?
6. A certain four letter word is an expression of regret: after the insertion of one vowel it becomes an assumed name. Write both words.
7. What am I? I can be high or I can be even. You can be in me or you can be out of me, you can make me, you can keep me, you can spend me, you can pass me, you can gain me, you can lose me , you can bide me, but you can’t store me up.
8. Which “b” word means both “accents” and “A strongly made comfortable pair of shoes”?
9. Unscramble these anagrams of Hollywood Actor’s names.
(a) Thanks, Mo
(b) A York Dandy
(c) Slim Alien Wrath
10. In which country were each of the following stars born?
(a) Mel Gibson
(b) Mike Myers
(c) Olivia Newton-John
(d) Keanu Reeves
(e) Cliff Richard
ANSWERS: http://skeptics.cafe/mixed-bag-october-2010-answers/
OCTOBER SKEPTICAL CROSSWORD here: http://skeptics.cafe/october-2010-crossword/
SEPTEMBER PICTURE PUZZLES:
Answers:
(Archived September 2010)
WHOSE HORSES ?
Name the horses belonging to each of the following people in film, TV or literature.
(a) Hopalong Cassidy
(b) The Lone Ranger
(c) Tonto
(d) Dick Turpin
(e) Zorro
(f) Roy Rogers
(g) Colonel Sherman T Potter
(h) Wilbur Post
ANSWERS:
RIDDLE
What is the answer to the following riddle?
With thieves I consort,
With the vilest. In short,
I’m quite at my ease in depravity.
Yet all divines use me
And savants can’t lose me,
For I am the center of gravity.
ANSWER:
TRUE or FALSE?
1. The main metal in all of Australia’s circulating coins is copper.
2. Prunes are a variety of peach.
3. The Oscars were once made of plaster.
4. Walt Disney received eight Oscars for Snow White and the seven Dwarfs.
5. Child stars who won Oscars used to get little ones.
6. Tom Cruise once trained for the priesthood.
ANSWERS:
August 2010 Picture Puzzles:
Each of the ten puzzles below decodes to a well-known phrase (two words or more).
Answers:
HOW MANY?
1. How many letters of the alphabet are required to represent the Hawaiian language?
2. How many men have walked on the moon?
3. How many operas did Gilbert and Sullivan write together?
4. How many keys are there on a standard piano keyboard?
5. How many states of the USA begin with “M”?
6. How many columns of beads are there on a standard abacus?
7. How many legitimate English words end in “-dous” ?
8. How many rectangles are in this figure?
9. If a tramp can make one cigarette using the tobacco from five cigarette butts, how many cigarettes can he make from twenty-five cigarette butts?
10. The Smith Family and the Jones family go on a picnic together. Mr and Mrs Smith each have three daughters, and so do Mr and Mrs Jones. Each of the girls has one brother. How many people are at the picnic?
Answers:
WEIRD WORDS
The following words may look a bit strange when some of the letters are not there. However, if you put the right letters in place, they are quite normal English words.
For example, ??thom is fathom. Write the complete word in each case
(a) ?wkw???
(b) ??oela??
(c) ??epher?
(d) ?illili???
Answers
WHO AM I?
If you want to approach this in a competitive way, start with 25 points: Work through the clues in numerical order. Take off a point for every clue required before you can answer. Check your answer below. NO points if your first answer is a wrong answer!
(1) I was born in Brisbane in 1897.
(2) My Dad’s name was William, and my mum’s name was Catherine.
(3) I was the seventh child in the family.
(4) My Dad was a banker.
(5) We moved to Canada when I was six.
(6) Dad went into real estate in Canada, then became a clerk with Canadian Pacific Railways.
(7) The family returned to Australia in 1907, and settled in Sydney.
(8) I went to school first in Vancouver, then in Sydney where I went to a school for choirboys.
(9) While still a boy, I was saved from drowning by members of the Bondi Lifesaving club.
(10) My secondary schooling was done at Sydney Technical High School.
(11) I then became an apprentice with the Colonial Sugar Refineries.
(12) I joined the Army in 1915.
(13) I served as a sapper at Gallipoli.
(14) I then became a despatch rider in Egypt and France.
(15) In 1916 I transferred to the Australian Flying Corps as sergeant.
(16) I trained as a pilot in England.
(17) I was then discharged from the Australian Army so that I could join the Royal Flying Corps as a second lieutenant.
(18) I shot down four enemy planes before being wounded myself.
(19) I got the Military Medal for conspicuous gallantry.
(20) After the war I tried to enter air races but was barred because I had insufficient navigational skills.
(21) I did some stunt flying in America instead.
(22) Back in Australia, I made a living giving joy flights.
(23) In 1927 I set up an interstate aviation company with Keith Anderson and Charles Ulm.
(24) We got very few contracts, so Ulm and I set out on a series of demonstration long-distance flights.
(25) In 1928, with Ulm and two Americans, I flew from California to Brisbane.
ANSWER: 
REPTILE HOUSE:
At a recent visit to the reptile house at a local zoo, I counted a total of 27 heads and 70 feet. I was counting snakes, lizards and people. There were twice as many lizards as there were people.
(a) How many snakes were there?
(b) How many lizards were there?
(c) How many people were there?
ANSWER:
DUCKS:
What is the minimum number of ducks that suits this description?
“Two ducks in front of two other ducks, two ducks behind two other ducks and two ducks beside two other ducks”
ANSWER: 
PUZZLES ARCHIVES
PUZZLES ARCHIVE 1 (AUGUST 2010 to APRIL 2011)
PUZZLES ARCHIVE 2 (MAY 2011 to SEPTEMBER 2011)
PUZZLES ARCHIVE 3 (OCTOBER 2011 to NOVEMBER 2012)
PUZZLES ARCHIVE 4 (December 2012 to June 2013)
PUZZLES ARCHIVE 5 (July 2013 to September 2014)
PUZZLES ARCHIVE 6 (October 2014 to December 2015)