Answer to brain teaser#17, brain teaser #18

Answer to brain teaser #17
Si. (silicon)

Silicon was discovered in 1824.

"Si" with an accent means "yes" in Spanish.

Reverse it to become "is", which is a form of the verb "be".

Brain teaser #18
Nina had expected her great-great uncle's house to be like mansions in the movies, with marble columns and rose gardens, not peeling paint and a weed- filled lawn. But Dad explained that Waldo hated spending money, except on his collections.
Nina's parents thought the kids were playing outside. Instead, they snuck into the candlelit parlor.
"Your mom will freak out if she catches us," Nina's cousin Max muttered.
"I know. But Uncle Waldo traveled a lot and I never got to meet him while he was alive. I just want to see what he looks like."
"At least turn on some lights," Max grumbled. "This is creepy."
"Didn't you hear the lawyer talking to Mom and Dad? Uncle Waldo called the parlor his 'candle room.' He never had it wired for electricity." She crept over to the coffin and peered inside.
Waldo wore a tuxedo with a ruffled shirt and red cummerbund. His white hair was neatly combed, his nails manicured, and his diamond stickpin and silver cufflinks glittered in the candlelight.
"He looks nice," Nina whispered.
Max took one glance inside, then pulled Nina away from the coffin. "Weird," he said. "I didn't think people wore tuxedos when they were buried."
"He liked it. Dad said Uncle Waldo even had his portrait painted wearing this exact same outfit. He put it in his will that he wanted to be dressed for his funeral exactly the way he is in that portrait."
Max shivered. "I wonder who had to dress him?"
"Harvey, Waldo's assistant."
"Like a butler?"
"Sort of."
"So he really was rich. Hey, your Dad was kidding about inheriting twenty cents, right?"
Nina led her cousin back down the hall. "Well, Waldo did leave Dad two dimes. But Mercury is facing the wrong way or something, and that makes them worth a lot of money. Mom said it was enough to pay my way through college someday."
"Cool."
"Uncle Waldo's daughter, Fiona, inherited the house and all this stuff." They entered the study where Nina's parents were talking to the lawyer, Mr. Baxter. Max gawked at Waldo's "collections." Display cases everywhere were filled with jewel-encrusted objects.
Harvey, Waldo's assistant, handed glasses of lemonade to the kids, then left. Nina thought he looked as sour as the drink tasted.
"Fiona arrived earlier, but you probably won't see her until the funeral tomorrow," the lawyer was saying. "Waldo requested burial near his gazebo. Harvey will dig the grave himself."
"Poor Harvey," Dad murmured.
Baxter nodded. "At least Waldo set up a trust that will continue to pay Harvey's salary, small as it is. Now, would you like to see the dimes?"
In the master bedroom upstairs, the lawyer twirled the combination lock on a wall safe while Nina studied the painting of Waldo that hung above the fireplace. Decked out in his tux, ruffled shirt, jade cufflinks and diamond stickpin, he seemed to wink down at her.
Baxter removed a box from the safe and opened it.
Everyone gasped. The box was empty.
"Impossible!" the older man exclaimed. "They were here an hour ago."
"The safe isn't damaged," Mom remarked. "How many people know the combination?".
He frowned. "Just myself, Fiona and Harvey. I'd better call the police."
"Go ahead," Dad said. "But no matter who stole the dimes, they're small enough to be hidden anywhere. Even if the police tear the house apart, I'll bet they never find them." Nina stood up, staring at the portrait. "I think I know who took the dimes," she whispered to Max. "And if I'm right, I know where they are."

Answer to brain teaser #16, brain teaser#17

Answer to brain teaser #16
1) Definition (deaf-in-i-shun)
2) Duplicate (dupe-lick-ate)
3) Persistent (per-sis-tent)
4) Advertisement (add-vert-eyes-meant)
5) Alphabetical (alpha-be-tickle)
6) Desirable (de-sire-able)

Brain teaser #17
I am a chemical symbol for an element.
This element was discovered in 1824.
I am a Spanish word without the accent.
Reverse me so I become a form of a common verb.

What symbol am I?

Answer to brain teaser #15, brain teaser #16

Answer to brain teaser #15

She knew that high quality stainless steel like that used in making expensive pots, cooking utensils, and fridges is non-magnetic. Thus the fridge magnets wouldn't stick and Duffus would have to take up a new hobby.

Brain teaser #16

For every number, read the lettered clues and try to find what that clue refers to. Once you have found out all the words in that section, put them together to try to make a single, larger word. The lettered clues are in the order they are in the word. The spelling may be off, so you will have to sound it out.

Example:

A) Not out: _ _
B) One two three: _ _ _ _
C) Slang for mother: _ _
D) To avoid: _ _ _ _

Answer:
in-four-ma-shun
Information

Try the following.

1)
a) Can't hear: _ _ _ _
b) Opposite of out: _ _
c) 9th in alphabet: _
d) Stay away from: _ _ _ _

2)
a) To fool: _ _ _ _
b) To lap: _ _ _ _
c) Eaten: _ _ _

3)
a) For every: _ _ _
b) Nickname for sister: _ _ _
c) A portable shelter: _ _ _ _

4)
a) Plus: _ _ _
b) Green in French: _ _ _ _
c) Must have them to see: _ _ _ _
d) Deliberate intention: _ _ _ _ _

5)
a) Greek "a": _ _ _ _ _
b) To exist: _ _
c) To touch lightly so as to cause laughter: _ _ _ _ _ _

6)
a) Prefix for remove: _ _
b) A gentleman of rank: _ _ _ _
c) Qualified: _ _ _ _

Answer to brain teaser #14, brain teaser #15

Answer to brain teaser #14
0. The Tribble is on the outside of the Space Station and, because of the vacuum of space and the lack of air molecules to carry the sound, the GSU will not register a sound from 10 feet away.

Brain teaser #15

After Duffus McClutski's wife made him give up his used tea bag collection, Duffus decided to start collecting fridge magnets. Eventually, he had enough to cover the entire fridge, much to his wife's dismay. After several failed attempts to get rid of them, she finally gave up until one day, their fridge broke down. They looked at dozens of fridges, but finally settled on a top-of-the-line stainless steel model with two doors, icemaker and the works. Duffus was reluctant to spend so much on a fridge till his wife told him to imagine how great his fridge magnets would look on it. That was all the motivation he needed, but once the fridge was in, he soon realized his wife had put one over on him, and he would only be able to imagine his collection on the fridge from now on.
But why, what had she done?

Answer to brain teaser #13, Brain teaser #14

Answer to brain teaser #13
Boffo unknowingly received a tank of hydrogen instead of helium. Both are lighter than air and will work to make balloons float. But unlike helium, hydrogen is flammable. Boffo used static electricity to get the balloons to stick to his head. When Duffus popped one, it created a static electric spark and ignited the hydrogen.

Brain teaser #14
Evil Tribbles may look cute, but they can really make a loud noise when they ROAR!!!

A 1-foot tall Green Evil Tribble can register 10 GSU (Galactic Sound Units) on a sound-measuring device that is 5 feet away. Yellow Evil Tribbles are twice as loud, and Red Tribbles... THREE times as loud as their yellow counterparts!

So anyway, one day Spork the Vulcan was out doing a bit of maintenance on the exterior of the Space Station, and before him he saw, to his fright, the biggest Evil Tribble he had ever seen. It was 5 feet high, 10 feet away and red! It looked straight at Spork, and gave the loudest ROAR it could!!!

How many GSU did Spork's sound-measuring device register?

Answer to brain teaser #12, Brain teaser #13

Answer to brain teaser #12
The prisoner told them: "You will hang me"

Brian teaser #13

Duffus had hired Boffo the Clown for his nephew's birthday party. Boffo was famous for his helium balloon animals. Boffo was running late and decided to pre-fill the balloons he would need for the party. To his horror, the helium tank was empty. Frantically, Boffo rushed to the local supplier for more. Boffo just made the party in time and began working his balloon magic. Tying the balloon creations to the kids was a hit, but Boffo soon ran out of string. Boffo, thinking quickly, rubbed the balloons on his green polyester wig to create a static charge, which made the balloons stick to the kids' shirts and Buffo's head. Duffus, wanting to get in on the fun, snuck up on Boffo, now with a dozen balloons stuck to his head. Duffus figured he'd just pop one of the balloons, scare Boffo, and get some laughs from the rowdy youngsters. To his amazement, it exploded in a ball of flames, igniting the other balloons, the wig, and Boffo himself as the kids cheered at the spectacle. Fortunately, Duffus had a garden hose nearby, and jumped to Boffo's rescue. Although things did work out for Boffo in the end, he's now known in Vegas as Blaze the Exploding Wonder. What happened to cause the balloons to go up in flames in the first place?

Answer to brain teaser#11, brain teaser #12

Answer to brain teaser#11
Theresa and Kevin - Nachos - Action - 9:00
Rochelle and Max - Popcorn - Sci-Fi -8:00
Nikki and Danny - Hotdog - Comedy - 8:30
Anne and Sam - M&Ms - Romance - 11:30
Chanice and Rick- Pizza - Horror -10:00

Brain teaser #12

During the first world war, there was a prisoner who had been captured. When brought to the army headquarters, the prisoner was told that he had a choice to remain silent or say something. He was also told that if he did say something, he would be shot if he spoke the truth or hanged if he had lied. The war prisoner did in fact make a single statement; he said only a phrase and they had to let him go unscathed. What did the prisoner say to get out free?

Answer to brain teaser#10, brain teaser#11

Answer to brain teaser #10

Heck no! He's playing you like a puppet. First week he calls 100 people, says to half ABC will go up and to the other fifty, he claims it will go down. When ABC goes up, he called the fifty he'd correctly predicted to and told half DEF would go up, and half it would go down. By the time he's at week five, he has a few people (2-4) thinking he's a stock market god.

This week’s free brain teaser is a logic grid one.

Brain teaser #11

Finally! A night out without the kids! Five couples went to the movie theater, and each couple watched a movie of a different genre, shared a snack, and then returned home at a different time. Can you figure out who is husband and wife, the snack they shared, the genre they saw, and what time they came home?

Wives: Theresa, Rochelle, Nikki, Anne, and Chanice
Husbands: Danny, Sam, Max, Kevin and Rick
Snack: Popcorn, Hotdog, Pizza, Nachos, and M&Ms
Movie Genre: Comedy, Action, Horror, Sci-Fi, and Romance
Time: 8:00, 8:30, 9:00, 10:00, and 11:30

1) The couple that saw the action movie shared nachos.
2) It was almost midnight by the time Anne and Sam came home.
3) Rochelle hates sci-fi, but saw it with her husband anyways.
4) The couple that shared popcorn didn't see a horror movie or an action movie.
5) Theresa arrived at home an hour after Max and his wife.
6) The movie was so funny, Nikki almost choked on her hotdog, she was laughing so hard.
7) Danny chose not to see an action movie or sci-fi.
8) The five women were: Chanice, the one who shared a bag of M&Ms with her husband, the lady who saw the comedy, the woman that came home at 8:00 and Kevin's wife.
9) The horror movie didn't start until 8:30.
10) Max and his wife came home the earliest.
11) Theresa thought her movie went a little overboard with the explosions and gunfights.
12) Chanice, who saw the horror movie, came out of the theater petrified and her husband, who wasn't Danny, had to calm her down.

Answer to brain teaser #9, brain teaser #10

Answer to brain teaser #9
The officer had 1975 men. When he formed a square measuring 44 by 44, he had 39 men over. When he tried to form a square 45 x 45, he was 50 men short.

Brain teaser #10

Ok, so here is the deal. One day, you get a call from some random guy who says "Next week, ABC stock is going to move up. I'm not asking you to buy any stock from me, but just take a look." You do so (why not, it can't hurt...) and he was correct. Sure enough, next week you get another call from the "Lucky Guesser". His pick? "DEF is going to go down." And guess what! He was right again!

For five weeks, this guy predicts the behavior of stocks. The sixth time he calls he says, "I've been right the past five times. This time I have a stock for you and I do want you to buy some shares through me. What do you say?"

Well, what do you say. Do you buy shares from this guy?

Answer to brain teaser #8, brain teaser #9

Answer to brain teaser #8
All Swaff has to do in order to be the winner, is use hot water.

Geemiee, being less cool than Swaff, didn't know that water with a hot average temperature freezes faster than water that is at room temperature. The phenomenon that hot water may freeze faster than cold is often called the Mpemba effect.

Brain teaser#9

An officer wishing to arrange his men in a solid square found by his first arrangement that he had 39 men left over. He then started increasing the number of men on a side by one, but found that 50 additional men would be needed to complete a new square. How many men did the officer have?

Answer to brain teaser #7, Brain teaser #8

Answer to brain teaser#7
The Red rock!

At the end of power is R.
At the beginning of eternity is E.
My last is in mud somewhere, so it has to be D.

Brain teaser #8

Swaff is sitting at his desk, being cool, when his younger brother Geemiee walks up. Geemiee had recently been practicing his (fake) magical powers, trying to turn cheese into more cheese, so he believes he can beat Swaff in anything. He sets up a little competition, the first to get 5 ounces of water to freeze, will be proclaimed the coolest guy in their home.


They set up some rules, as follows:
-They both can only use normal water that comes out of their stainless steel faucet.
-They both use identical containers
-They both must use the same freezer, at the same time.


Now, Swaff realizes that if he was to lose, he would become less cool, he just doesn't roll like that. So, how can Swaff have the best chance of winning over Geemiee?

answer to brain teaser#7, brain teaser#7

Answer to brain teaser #6
Radio towers are always painted with alternating red and white stripes. If the tower is over 700 feet tall, every stripe is 100 feet high. My friend just counted the 15 stripes and knew immediately it was 1500 feet tall. This only works if it's over 700 feet; if it's under 700 feet, the tower will always have seven stripes. Bonus Factoid: The top stripe on the tower is always red.


Different types of brain teasers:
As you can see, there are many different types of brain teasers. I will post a new one up every week, and the solution the week after.

Brain teaser#7
The wind eased itself gently through Captain Sheba's hair as he pressed his eye against his spy glass. "Land! At last we are rich!" he shouted to his crew members. They anchored not very far away from the strange little island, rowed toward the shore and arrived safely. "Brethren, we've found the island. From the information we have so far, the treasure is hidden under one of these colored rocks on the shore and the rest of the rocks have a poisonous gas trapped beneath them. Alas, I can't afford to lose any of my crew members. If we could only decode the last part of these writings, we would know which rock the treasure is under. I will give ten percent of the find to anyone who is able to decode this last message!"

At the end of your power
At the beginning of eternity
Blessed is he who finds me
He who still exists after uncovering me
To enjoy my riches forever
My last is in mud somewhere wherever

That's all the writings say. There are four rocks. They are blue, red, white, and black respectively. Which one has the treasure hidden under it?

Hint:

trivia brain teasers

Trivia brain teasers

Trivia brain teasers are one in which general knowledge helps. They can involve history, sporting events, and amazing body facts, among others. Each trivia brain teaser is unique in that you have to use certain key words in disguise. A trivia brain teaser can take the form of any other sort of brain teaser. The only way you can solve one of these is to pick up on the clues and know exactly what the clues are telling you. Here is this week’s brain teaser:

Free brain teaser #6
I was on a road trip with a friend when we drove past a very tall radio tower. I told my friend "That thing has to be at least a thousand feet tall!" He looked out the window for a moment, and said "I'll bet it's closer to 1500 feet." We stopped at a gas station and asked how tall the tower was, and it was exactly 1500 feet tall! Now that I owe my friend a steak dinner, how could he tell how tall the tower was?

answer to free brain teaser #4, optical illusions part 2

Answer to free brain teaser #4

Apple Bread-Macoun-walnuts-2
Apple Crisp-Red Delicious-nutmeg-5
Apple Muffins-Cortland-pecans-3
Apple Pie-McIntosh-cinnamon-6
Apple Tarts-Empire-raisins-4

Optical illusions part 2

There are many kinds of optical illusions that exist in the world today. Every optical illusion attempts to deceive the mind by giving conflicting information cues. There are many famous optical illusions around. The most famous ones are those that look impossible or have impossible things inside of them. Some examples are: impossible triangle, impossible trident, and impossible cube. There are many other examples of impossible objects available.

There is nothing to solve this week – there is only a picture of an MC Escher drawing to look at.
Free brain teaser #5

answer to brain teaser #3, solving logic-grid brain teasers

Answer to free brain teaser #3

First, the waiter stuck the match into the lemon wedge, so that it would stand straight. Then he lit the match, and put it in the middle of the plate with the lemon. Then, he placed the glass upside-down over the match. As the flame used up the oxygen in the glass, it created a small vacuum, which sucked in the water through the space between the glass and the plate. Thus, the waiter got the water into the glass without touching or moving the plate.
You can try this experiment at home with appropriate supervision.

Solving logic grid brain teasers

How do I know I have gotten a brain teaserShow Answer that requires me to draw a logic grid?

Brain teasers that require you to draw a brain teaser have two or more things you have to put together. It’s usually a person, with a last name, a time or place, and an object or thing connected to the person. They will usually give more than one cryptic clue related to the topic at hand. This week’s free brain teaser is a logic grid one, so draw up a logic grid to solve it.

Free brain teaser #4

Since Jeremy and his friends now had more apples than they could possibly eat, they needed to find ways to use them up. So each friend hit the cookbooks and started busily baking (it's remarkable how many yummy recipes there are for apples!). As it happens, each friend did such a good job making one recipe, that it was forever after their specialty. Fortunately for them, each one had a different specialty. Determine the name of each friend's special recipe, the type of apples and special ingredient each dish used, and the number of apples each recipe used.

1. The recipes, in no particular order, were the recipe using cinnamon, the recipe using three apples, the apple tarts, the recipe using Macoun apples, and the apple crisp.

2. The recipe using the Cortland apples used one apple more than the apple bread but one apple less than the recipe using the raisins.

3. The muffins used one more apple than the recipe with the walnuts but two less apples than the recipe using the Red Delicious apples.

4. The nutmeg was used in the apple crisp, which used more than two apples but less than the apple pie used. The apple pie used more apples than the treat with the raisins.

5. The apple muffins, which weren't made with Macoun apples, used pecans.

6. The Empire apples weren't used in the apple crisp. The recipe using the McIntosh apples used the most apples.

Science based brain teaser, Brain teaser #4

Science based brain teasers – what do I need to know?

Science based brain teasers are just that. They are based on science. As a result, a good understanding of physical and biological world and the associated laws are going to be very useful. If you have a good understanding by observing a lot of things, then that is useful too.

Brain teasers based on science are therefore not that hard to solve if you have a good grounding in science.

Here is this week’s free brain teaser:

Free brain teaser #3

A man in a restaurant asked a waiter for a juice glass, a dinner plate, water, a match, and a lemon wedge. The man poured enough water onto the plate to cover it.
"If you can get the water on the plate into this glass without touching or moving this plate, I will give you $100," the man said. "You can use the match and lemon to do this."
A few minutes later, the waiter walked away with $100 in his pocket. How did the waiter get the water into the glass?

Hint

The glass will be upside down when the water is in it.

answer to free brain teaser #1, about optical illusions

answer to free brain teaser #1

paradox

optical illusions – a form of brain teaser

optical illusions rely on the eye to make the impossible look possible, or to fool the mind. There are many optical illusions that exist. The most common one is with lines that look of different length. That is commonly known as the Mueller-Lyer illusion.

Optical illusions that tease the mind have been around for a long time. The most common ones, however, are ones by an artist called M.C Escher. These are known sometimes as Esher’s, sometimes as ‘impossible structures’, and sometimes by other names. Esher’s works contained elements of mathematics. Although he was not a mathematician, he was interested in mathematics and frequently incorporated maths into his artworks. Most of his most famous artworks are optical illusions, and may or may not be coloured. Escher worked with many print mediums, and some of his paintings are in watercolour, some in woodblocks, while other still are in other forms of printing.

Here is this week’s free optical illusion for you to enjoy:

Free brain teaser #2

This is known as the ‘impossible triangle’, and no – there is nothing to solve. You have this picture to look at all week. Enjoy.

Brain teasers for free

Each week, I will be providing a free brain teaser for you to solve or look at. These will challenge your mind to look at them in different ways. I will also provide hints and clues as to how to solve if necessary. Each week, beginning next week, I will provide the solution to brain teaser from the week before.

Why do brain teasers?

Brain teasers are a way to relax. You can sit down with friends or family to discuss various ‘answers’ and provide a point of conversation when the answer is discussed and revealed (if no-one can get them, that is).

Brain teasers also keep your mind active and stimulated. An active mind helps to fight Alzheimer’s disease in the elderly. As we know, Alzheimer’s disease is a problem in the elderly. You can help combat this by doing brain teasers and other mind stimulating activities. Don’t forget to keep fit in other ways also.

Why free?

Repeat after me: Free is good

That’s right – free IS good, and free brain teasers are even better. Instead of paying for a book full of brain teasers and challenges, you can have the resource provided to you free! at any time, you can opt in or out of this free service, no questions asked.

Are there any strings attached?

That’s a silly question – of course not. I intend to provide these brain teasers as a public service. I will scour the net and through books to find these brain teasers for you. All you have to do is sit back, and let your mind do the thinking. No more scouring around for those brain teasers you want.

Can I send in my own brain teaser?

Of course you can! Just send it to brainteasersforfree@gmail.com (email is not up yet!), and I will post it up if it meets the quality standard – nothing sexually suggestive please! If you don’t see yours one week, relax – I may have saved it for later.

Here is a free brain teaser to get you started. It’s a rebus, meaning you will have to think laterally