December Mindbenders

Christmas Wrapped Up

Mr and Mrs Black have just started their Christmas shopping and wrapping.  So far they have bought a present for each of their four children, wrapped each in a different colour of paper, and spaced them equally in a line in front of the Christmas tree.

Determine whose present is which in the line, and what colour each is wrapped in, from the following clues:

  1. Helen’s present is immediately right of the one wrapped in gold paper.
  2. Eve’s present is further left than the one in red paper.
  3. Peter’s present is further from the one in silver paper than the blue-papered one is.
  4. Bernard has the girls’ presents immediately either side of his own.

Answer

Quick and Easy

  1. You reach the camp just as it gets dark.  You have no electricity, and when you open your matchbox, you find that there is only one match left.  There is a log fire, a paraffin lamp and a gas stove.  What should you light first?
  2. New Year’s Day is always a week after Christmas.  In 1979, Christmas Day was a Tuesday.  What day was New Year in that year?
  3. From the street, the name of a hairdresser’s shop appears in large cut-out letters stuck to the window.  Inside, I look diagonally at one of the mirrors on the side wall, and see the name reflected in the mirror.  Does the name appear the right way round, or reversed?

Answers

The Tree

Rows from top to bottom:
?; 100 216; 2 12 8; 10 12 10 18; 1 4 2 3 4; 5 6 2 2 5 9

What number goes at the top of the tree?

Answer

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