Skeptics Café

SET 1

a. paragraph  b. plinth  c. perish  d. psychopath  e. paunch  f. peevish  g. pariah  h. patriarch  i. polish  j. poach

SET 2

a. troubadour  b. templar  c. twitter  d. titular  e. trouper  f. torpor  g. totalisator  h. toper i . tachometer  j. tricolor

SET 3

a. bipartisan  b. buffoon  c. backgammon  d. bedouin  e. bisection  f. battalion  g. bunion  h. barbarian  i. boatswain  j. browbeaten

SET 4

a. Arthur  b. anchovy  c. archery  d. although  e. amphibian  f. authority  g. alphabetic  h. architrave  i. archbishop  j. Archimedes

SET 5

a. buxom  b. borzoi  c. bullion  d. backhoe  e. bergamot  f. bandwagon  g. bordellos  h. badminton  i. benefactor  j. backgammon

1. 1 in 10 or 10%

2. 8

3. 50 salutes

4. Alice is 10, Bill is 5, Charlie is 9

5. day 20

6. $30

7. 517 inhabitants

8. Answer: 1 minute early:
SOLUTION:
Journey 1:
Speed = 20km/hr = 1/3 km/min
Time = 20 mins late

Journey 2:
Speed = 30km/hr = ½ km/min
Time = 15 mins early

Journey 3:
Speed = 25km/hr = 5/12 km/min

y = the distance to work

speed (s) = distance (d) / time (t)

If the distance to work was (1/3 x 20) km shorter for journey 1 and (1/2 x 15) km longer for journey 2 both journeys would take the same time. Therefore, using s=d/t:

t = (y – 1/3 x 20) / (1/3) = (y + 1/2 x 15) / (1/2)

therefore the distance to work (y) = 35km.

therefore Journey 1 took 35/(1/3) = 35 x 3 = 105 mins.

105 mins is 20 mins late therefore the journey should take 85 mins.

Journey 3 takes 35 / (5/12) = 35 x 12/5 = 84 mins. Therefore he’s 1 minute early for work.

9. 10 teams

10. a. 10 b. 15 c. 9 d. 20 e. 12

1. (in order) C, D, B, C, B

2. 91 pencils, 9 jars

3. 37 triangles

4. Four circles

5. 20 triangles

6. a. Ask one robot what the other robot would say, if it was asked which door was safe.
….b. Go through the other door.

7. top to bottom: Chocolate, Vanilla, Blueberry, Bubblegum, Strawberry

8. Position 7

9. 120 Houses
solution:

10. a. John b. Peter