Head Scratchers 16

[Bumper]

1. What kind of running means walking?

2. Four people are sitting around a campfire after a long day of recreation, when one man comments: "Do you realize that around this campfire, the four of us include a mother, father, brother, sister, son, daughter, niece, nephew, aunt, uncle and a couple cousins"?.
If everyone is related by blood (with no unusual marriages) how is this possible?

3. What book was once owned by only the wealthy, but now everyone can have it? You can't buy it in a bookstore or take it from a library.

4. What popular board game for both adults and children is played on a star-shaped board?

5. On September 17, 1961, in Ndola, Northern Rhodesia (Now Zambia), a Douglas DC-6 crashed, taking the life of the then UN Secretary General. Who was that person?
Trygve Halvdan Lie
Dag Hammarskjold
U Thant
Kurt Waldheim

6. Which does not belong in this group: Apple, Grape, Banana, Cherry, Pear.

7. If you like pretty gems that sparkle and shine, I invite you to dig in my virtual mine. My first is purple, fit for a king, My second is green where Dorothy did her thing. My third is red, July's birthstone as well, My fourth is seen in strings and is found inside a shell. My fifth is hard, pure Carbon and expensive to buy, My sixth is Crocodolite, striped like the big cat's eye. Seventh is two words, a man-made fake of April's stone, Eighth is very dark and found at Lightning Ridge alone. Now take from each gem, one letter in its turn, And you will find the stuff for which even the god's yearn.

8. The following sentence is false. The preceding sentence is true. Are these sentences true or false?

9. You are facing three switches downstairs, one of which controls a lightbulb in a room upstairs whose doors are closed (no light escapes from it). Find the correct switch without ever going up the stairs.

10. I am a window, I am a lamp, I am clouded, I am shining, and I am coloured; set in white, I fill with water and overflow. I say much, but I have no words. What am I?

[MWC]

Get some easy ones out of the way:

Originally Posted by Bumper

4. What popular board game for both adults and children is played on a star-shaped board?

Chinese Checkers

6. Which does not belong in this group: Apple, Grape, Banana, Cherry, Pear.

Cherry, It has a single pit; the other fruits listed have multiple seeds.

9. You are facing three switches downstairs, one of which controls a lightbulb in a room upstairs whose doors are closed (no light escapes from it). Find the correct switch without ever going up the stairs.

Flip all three at once; one of them has to work!

[SunKneeMarie]

3. What book was once owned by only the wealthy, but now everyone can have it? You can't buy it in a bookstore or take it from a library. telephone book


8. The following sentence is false. The preceding sentence is true. Are these sentences true or false? I say false... if they were true then the 2nd sentence talking about the 1st sentence wouldn't make sense... i think....

[Bumper]

The Official Answers

1. Running out of gas.

2. The campfire circle includes a woman and her brother. The woman's daughter and the man's son are also present.

3. A telephone book.

4. Chinese checkers.

5. Dag Hammarskjold. Dag hammarskjold was the second Secretary-General of the United Nations. The plane in which he was travelling crashed into the jungle. There were rumours at the time that a bomb had exploded, and even that some of the victims were shot prior to the crash. All 16 passengers and crew were killed.

6. The Banana. It's the only one that needs peeling before eating.

7. Ambrosia. The gems are: Amethyst, Emerald ( Emerald City in the Wizard of Oz ), Ruby, Pearl, Diamond, Tiger's Eye, Cubic Zirconium (Fake diamond), Black Opal. Taking the first letter of Amethyst, second of Emerald, etc.. gives Ambrosia - The food of the gods.

8. Neither, it's a paradox. If the first is true, then the second must be false, which makes the first false; it doesn't work.

9. Turn on #1 and #2 only. Wait... Turn off #2. Rush upstairs. The correct switch is #1 if the bulb is lit, otherwise, it's #2 if the bulb is warm, or #3 if the bulb is cold.
Edit: Just read this again. I think the wording in the question is incorrect, since it says "without ever going upstairs", and in the answer it says to "rush upstairs." I guess the question should eliminate the reference to not going up the stairs. Sorry about that.

10. I am an eye.

[alwaysmissinpdc]

Originally Posted by Bumper

2. Four people are sitting around a campfire after a long day of recreation, when one man comments: "Do you realize that around this campfire, the four of us include a mother, father, brother, sister, son, daughter, niece, nephew, aunt, uncle and a couple cousins"?.
If everyone is related by blood (with no unusual marriages) how is this possible?
They can be all of the above, but not necessarily to each other.
6. Which does not belong in this group: Apple, Grape, Banana, Cherry, Pear.
Grape, because it grows on a vine, the others grow on trees. Or what MWC said.
9. You are facing three switches downstairs, one of which controls a lightbulb in a room upstairs whose doors are closed (no light escapes from it). Find the correct switch without ever going up the stairs.
Flip the switches to eliminate two that control downstairs lights.

10. I am a window, I am a lamp, I am clouded, I am shining, and I am coloured; set in white, I fill with water and overflow. I say much, but I have no words. What am I?

A lighthouse????

[alwaysmissinpdc]

Sheesh, I just should've waited a minute

[Jesus]

Originally Posted by Bumper

10. I am a window, I am a lamp, I am clouded,
Answer 10. I am an eye.

In wich conditions an eye would be a lamp? Just wondering.