Aug 20, 2022
Okay, I promised two crummy little puzzlers for today. But these are not crummy. Doug didn't get either one of them actually. So they passed the test.
But you know, I realized the other day that we have a lot of kids that listen to our show, and the puzzles never give the kids an opportunity to participate. So for this one, you have to be under 15 years old.
These two puzzlers are for kids ages 8 and up, let's say. And adults, who think like 8-year-olds...
The beauty of these two puzzles is they can be as challenging for an adult as they are for a child and yet they are solvable by a child.
Here's the first of them.
You were in a room where you have two strings hanging from the ceiling. The strings run from the ceiling all the way down to the floor. And your assignment is to attach the two ends of the string that are at the floor to each other, to tie them together. However, you notice that if you grab one string, and you begin to walk toward the other string, you can't make it because you can't reach the other string. It's too far away. So you put down the first string and try to grab the other one. But it won't reach either.
But if you had both ends in your hand, you would be able to fasten the strings together over your head. On your tippy toes, you could stand there with your hands over your head and you would just be able to tie them together.
All you have at your disposal is a pair of scissors.
So the question is, how do you do this? That is puzzler number 1, the strings.
Puzzle number two!
You have a piece of newspaper. How big is a piece of old newspaper? A full-size newspaper is about three feet by two feet, let's say.
How is it possible that you and a friend can stand on the same piece of paper and yet not be able to touch each other? You put the paper on the floor, and both you and your friend are standing on the same sheet and you can't touch each other. So that's the second puzzler.
The strings and the newspaper.
These are not easy little puzzlers. These are beauties!
Two beautiful little puzzlements here! The Strings and The Newspaper. And we have the answers.
The first one. The strings! Here it is.
I stipulated that all you have is a pair of scissors in the room with the two strings. The scissors were actually a very interesting part of this. That's why I thought this was not such a crummy puzzler because of the scissors. If I had said you have your keys, everyone would have gotten it in a minute, because you would have realized that the only thing you could do with the keys would be to tie them to one of the strings and then start swinging it like a pendulum. But you can also do that with the scissors, right? You send one string out to swing with the scissors and then when it comes back, you grab it while holding on to the other string and you inadvertently cut the first string and that's it. Good one!
The second one. The newspaper.
You have a sheet of standard old newspaper. Like the New York Times or something. And the question is, how is it possible that you and a friend can stand on the same piece of a newspaper when it is on the floor and not be able to touch each other? Standing on the same piece of standard old newspaper. The way you do it, is you place the newspaper sheet in a doorway, and then you close the door. Half the sheet is in one room and half the sheet is in another room, separating the door. So you can both be standing on the newspaper and unable to touch each other.
So good right?
Beauties. I think these were two beautiful puzzlers.
