1. While Thomas is shopping at Tommart, he picks out six items that he wishes to purchase. He has a magazine, an orange, a hose, a television, and an apple. Which of the following six items did he also buy?
belt
kazoo
lantern
sandwich
chair
watermelon


PROFESSOR PURPLECTION'S PUZZLE

2. Professor Purplection is always playing mind games with his research assistants, much to their annoyance. However, one student seems to enjoy these games, and always solves them. The good doctor thinks he has a puzzle that will finally stump this assistant. He hands the student a note, and leaves. It reads:

It is important that you bring the item to me that is listed after the word. Make sure to turn off the computer & lights, & clean the fish tank. Also, turn on the answering machine at 2:00, and after third period pencil in the number of papers graded by pen. Only use correction fluid when necessary, and place the folder on the chair that is at my desk. Watch the clock, and be sure to meet me at 4:00 at the Green Apple Book Store.

Much to the professor's surprise, the student shows up on time with the item, just as requested. What was the item he brought with him?

WHAT'S THE PASSWORD?

3. Linda, a private eye who never ceases to astound everyone by how quickly she can wrap up a case, is out to solve yet another crime. It seems that someone has mischievously hacked into the online database maintained by the Many dollar Muchodinero Corporation, and changed their password. The hacker then sent an untraceable e-mail that read: "Doctors divine dominion darts doom dealing demon devotees 55244522." Within a few minutes Linda has found the new password, allowing the company to get back on track. Our super sleuth makes a few suggestions about how to protect against this type of problem in the future before leaving, but only after collecting her fee for another job well done. What was the password? Hint: It is an actual word.

CIRCULAR LOGIC

4. The renowned explorer, adventurer, treasure hunter, escape artist, & mountain climber Alabama Smith has once again gotten himself in a fix. His nemesis, the evil Dr. Nogood, captured Smith while Smith was trying to foil Nogood's plan to destroy civilization & rule the world. Smith comes to after being clubbed over the head by one of the doctor's thugs, & finds that he is in a room with no doors or windows that is lit by torches set in brackets evenly placed along the walls. The torches suddenly flicker, & Smith hears a distinct hissing sound. Soon after, the voice of vile Dr. Nogood booms from a speaker set somewhere far above in the high ceilinged room. "Ah, 'ow nice it tis to see thot you are awake, Schmit!" cackles Nogood. "Ze noise you hear comes frome a highly poisonous gos thot tis now filling ze room. Unless you con tell me wot word completes ze set that I am about to geve you, you will certainly die!" Smith begins to detect a nasty odor, & struggles to steel himself against his fear & concentrate on the question at hand, as the Doctor continues: "Wot comes next in theese series? TRIANGLE, DOT, CIRCLE, SQUARE, CIRCLE, PENTAGON....." Thinking quickly, Smith answers, & after hearing Nogood curse in a foreign tongue (Smith has never been sure of the Doctor's nationality), suddenly finds the floor drop out from under him, & after sliding down a chute, is launched from the side of a hill into the ocean, where he is able to swim to safety, & (eventually) save the world. What was the answer to Dr. Nogood's puzzle?

MATH TEST

6. 5 students take a calculus test on which the lowest possible score is 0, & the highest possible score is 100. The 5 students, Mary, Erik, Tawana, Josh & Leslie, each earned different scores. Tawana outscored Erik by 8 points; Josh scored 1 1/2 times what Mary scored & 10 points higher than Leslie, who scored 2 points higher than Erik. The second highest score was 89. What score did each student achieve on the test?

DOZEN LETTER DILEMMA

The last 4 puzzles each use the following set of letters: ACEHILMNSTUV. The answer to each problem is a word that can be formed with these letters. All of the letters will be used, but not necessarily in each problem. Also, some letters may be used multiple times in each problem. The puzzles give 2 hints about what the answer is, & tell you how many letters are in the answer.

7. Homes for certain flying creatures & a type of allergic reaction (5 letters).

8. Last & greatest (8 letters).

9. Sometimes added to injury & a rude statement made toward someone (6 letters).

10. Used in writing & the length of time that some people must stay in a place (8 letters).



ANSWERS

1. The sandwich. The first letter of this word, along with the first letters of the other products picked out by Thomas, spell out his name. The name of the store (which was in the title) was a hint that hopefully helped you on this one. Another acceptable answer, found by a surfer: Belt - "The first and the fourth words are types of media. The second and the fifth words are fruits. And, the third is a commonly replaced automotive part, as would be the sixth word, if chosen, that being 'belt'." And another answer from a web surfer that I think is pretty good: "I would like to propose an alternate answer (how I figured it). The shapes (2-D) of the objects form a pattern: magazine (quadrilateral), orange (circular), hose (squiggly line), television (quadrilateral), and apple (circular). Therefore the next logical step in the series would be something that's the shape of a squiggly line, i.e., the belt!"

2. The pencil. The professor's note should be read as: "bring the item to me that is listed after the word PERIOD," as a period comes right after "word." "Pencil" comes immediately after the word period in the note.

3. Ointment. Reverse the order of the numbers given, then from beginning to end, that is the number of the letter in each word that forms the password. This puzzle was pretty tough.

4. Wheels. A mammal can be made from the letters of all of the words but this one, and also this was pointed out by an examinee: "I picked the correct answer, 'wheels', but because after looking at the title, 'what strange creatures are THESE.' I was thinking that 'these' referred to more than one. The only word that contains a plural reference to an animal is 'whEELS.'". Another acceptable answer, found by a visitor: "number 4 could also be dogma; it is the only word without double letters; all the rest have either double e or double o." And yet another correct answer found: "Berates, becauses it the only word that the letters of the embedded animal word are not pronounced the same as the animal."

5. Nonagon. The title suggests that the puzzle involves a circle. Take the number of sides of the shapes in the series, & consider "dot" as a decimal point. You have 3.1415, which is clearly pi, so the next number is 9, as that is the next number in pi. The answer is a shape with 9 sides: a nonagon.

6. This was more of a logic problem than a math puzzle. The scores are: Josh - 93; Tawana - 89; Leslie - 83; Erik - 81; Mary - 62.

7. Hives.

8. Ultimate.

9. Insult. The first hint was a reference to the saying "adding insult to injury."

10. Sentence.