Mind-Boggling Word Puzzles

36 Pages·2012·0.5 MB·English

by  Martin Gardner

Mind-Boggling Word Puzzles
Martin Gardner
V.G. Myers
Copyright
Copyright © 2001 by Martin Gardner All rights reserved.
Bibliographical Note
This Dover edition, first published in 2010, is an unabridged republication of the work
originally published by Sterling Publishing Co., Inc., New York, in 2001.
9780486145686
Manufactured in the United States by Courier Corporation
47496801
www.doverpublications.com
Table of Contents
Title Page
Copyright Page
Foreword
1. Warm-ups
2. Family Talk
3. What Did You Say?
4. Creatures
5. Getting It Right
6. What Do You Have in Mind?
7. Toughies
ANSWERS
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
INDEX
Foreword
Hundreds of puzzle books have been published over the last few decades. It is
surprising how often old puzzles keep appearing over and over again in most puzzle
books, only slightly altered by different story lines. The word and letter puzzles here,
with few exceptions, are unfamiliar ones — not to be found in other collections. Many
are original. Some I found in old and new periodicals. Some were sent to me by friends.
It goes without saying that you’ll enjoy these brainteasers more if you can refrain
from peeking at the answers until you’ve done your best to solve each one.
1. Warm-ups
1. William’s Preferences
William likes apples better than oranges, and vanilla ice cream better than chocolate. He
would rather watch a baseball or football game on TV than hockey, enjoys summer and
fall more than spring and winter, thinks Newsweek a better magazine than Time, and is
convinced that High Noon is a greater Western movie than Destry Rides Again.
Can you explain why William has these preferences?
2. The IDK Band
Six college students, all musicians, decided to form a rock band that they named the
IDKers. The group consisted of five men and a lead singer named Matilda, who was tall
and had red hair. The men were all from New Jersey, but Matilda came to the college
from New York.
When members of the band were asked what IDK stood for, they agreed that they
would always answer, “I don’t know.” Can you guess why they said this?
3. Snowballs
“A snowball sentence,” said Mr. Jones to his daughter, “is one in which each word is
one letter longer than the preceding word. Do you think you can construct such a
sentence?”
The daughter thought for several minutes before she said, “I am not that smart,
father.”
Prove that the daughter was smarter than she said she was.
4. Name the Month
What month is indicated by these strange symbols?
5. Wrong caption