Puzzles for Pleasure

Barry Clarke has gathered together a variety of amusing posers, together with hints and full solutions.

Barry R. Clarke (Author)

9780521466349, Cambridge University Press

Paperback, published 1 September 1994

132 pages, 50 b/w illus.
21.6 x 13.8 x 0.9 cm, 0.185 kg

"...The author, who has a degree in quantum mechanics and has worked as a comedy writer for the BBC, creates novel and funny situations for each of his problems. Approximately half of these puzzles appeared as brain twisters in the Daily Telegraph newspaper in London." David J. Hildreth, The Mathematics Teacher

Are you one of the millions of people throughout the world that are fascinated by puzzles, conundrums and brain teasers? If so then you will want this collection of amusing twisters from Barry Clarke. Based on his extensive experience of writing for the Daily Telegraph, Sunday Times and New Scientist, Clarke has gathered together a variety of posers, together with hints and full solutions. Several examples of a brand new type of puzzle, The Word Bandit, are included as well. The whole gamut of others from logical and liar problems through to digital deletions are included. The puzzles themselves require no special mathematical knowledge, though for those in the 'Advanced' section even seasoned solvers will need to work pretty hard to find the answer. There is something for everyone here; puzzles for children, for the family, for members of Mensa, but above all Puzzles for Pleasure.

A history of recreational mathematics
Part I. Popular Puzzles: Wong sum
Strange street
Harvey's wall climber
Word bandit 1
Prime of life
The horse and the hurdle
Cornflakes and porridge
Railway rhyme
Safe conduct
The doubtful die
Word bandit 2
Middle market
Fractionally mean
Domino chain
Signs of confusion
Room for assistance
King-size conundrum
Word bandit 3
The six sheep pens
Find the burglars
The enigmatic interview
Sorry Dad
Save the city
Crumple towers
Word bandit 4
Romance on the stone
Quite a card
The three piles of coins
Cubic incapacity
Extra sensory deception
True to the tribe
Word bandit 5
The stuff of dreams
Counting sheep
The reclusive inventor
Part II. Advanced Puzzles: The engineer's dilemma
Lost in space
A tall story
The mathematical garden
Round the clock
Pet hate
Sum secret
Selfish sons
The three bears
Cryptic cave lines
The three prisoners
Taking a bath
The balanced bridge
Elixir of life
The great escape
Logical legacy
Wire wizards
The broken pentomino
One for the road
In the same boat
Hints
Solutions
References.

Subject Areas: Mathematics [PB]