Logic Puzzles

You’ve probably done a few logic puzzles whether it was in school or on the job. I love a challenge and logic puzzles are always challenging to me…that is until I realize how simple the answer is. Can you solve these four logic puzzles without peeking at the answers?

Logic Puzzle 1

A man is wearing black. Black shoes, socks, trousers, coat, gloves and ski mask. He is walking down a back street with all the street lamps off. A black car is coming towards him with its lights off but somehow manages to stop in time. How did the driver see the man?

Clue 1: He wasn’t carrying a torch.
Clue 2: The driver wasn’t using any special technology.
Clue 3: There was nothing special about the car.
Clue 4: There was nothing special about the man or his clothes.
Clue 5: There was nothing special about the street.
Clue 6: The man could see the man because of light, but not because of artificial light.
Clue 7: There wasn’t any moonlight.

Logic Puzzle 2

A man went to a party and drank some of the punch. He then left early. Everyone else at the party who drank the punch subsequently died of poisoning. Why did the man not die?

Clue 1: The man hadn’t poisoned the other people.
Clue 2: The man didn’t know there was poison in the punch.
Clue 3: There was nothing special about the man’s body.
Clue 4: The poison didn’t go into the man’s body.
Clue 5: There was something different about the punch when the man drank it.
Clue 6: Nobody changed anything about the punch after the man drank it.
Clue 7: The change in the punch was connected to its temperature.
Clue 8: The poison was in the punch all the time but could only be drunk as the temperature increased.

Logic Puzzle 3

A woman had two sons who were born on the same hour of the same day of the same year. But they were not twins. How could this be so?

Clue 1: The boys had the same father as each other.
Clue 2: They had the same mother.
Clue 3: They were conceived at the same time.
Clue 4: They were conceived naturally.
Clue 5: There was nothing physically strange about the boys, although they were slightly unusual.

Logic Puzzle 4

This is an unusual paragraph. I’m curious how quickly you can find out what is so unusual about it. It looks so plain you would think nothing was wrong with it. In fact, nothing is wrong with it! It is unusual though. Study it, and think about it, but you still may not find anything odd. But if you work at it a bit, you might find out.

Clue 1: If you translated the text into another language it would no longer be strange.
Clue 2: There are no grammar mistakes in the paragraph.
Clue 3: There are no punctuation mistakes in the paragraph.
Clue 4: There are no spelling mistakes in the paragraph.
Clue 5: However, the strange thing about the text is connected to spelling.
Clue 6: The words in the text are completely normal.

 

 

Answer to logic puzzle 1: It was day time.

Answer to logic puzzle 2: The poison in the punch came from the ice cubes. When the man drank the punch, the ice was fully frozen. Gradually it melted, poisoning the punch.

Answer to logic puzzle 3: They were two of a set of triplets (or quadruplets, etc.). This puzzle stumps many people. They try outlandish solutions involving test-tube babies or surrogate mothers. Why does the brain search for complex solutions when there is a much simpler one available?

Answer to logic puzzle 4: There are no letter E’s in the text. E is usually the most common letter in English.

How well did you do?

Nancy Roe
Author