The Grandma Rush Riddle

Difficulty: 3/5

You just woke up from sleep and looked at the time. It’s 8:30 now and you need to be at grandma’s at 8:47. That gives you 17 minutes. You are taking three other family members with you, but there’s a catch. Your sportscar can only hold two people at a time, so you’ll have to take multiple trips, and some of your family members take longer to drive than others. You can drive your car fast and it takes you a minute to get to grandma’s. Your sister just learned to drive but is still pretty good at driving and takes two minutes to get to grandma’s. Your father is getting old and takes five minutes, and your mother is extremely cautious and takes ten whole minutes. Also, even if you can drive to grandma’s in one minute, if you have a passenger, for example, your mom, then it will still take you ten minutes to get to grandma’s because your mom slows you down. Finally, your grandma is a war veteran and hates when people are not punctual, so if you are even a minute late, she will beat you with her cane. 

Is it possible to make it to grandma’s in time or will you get THE CANE!!!

Clues:

  • It takes you 1 minute to get to grandma’s, your sister takes two minutes, your dad takes five minutes, and your mom takes ten.
  • Your car can only hold two people at a time.
  • You have 17 minutes in total.
  • You will have to take multiple trips. Getting back from grandma’s takes the same amount of time to get to grandma’s. Example: It takes you one minute to get to grandma’s, therefore, it takes you one minute to get back from grandma’s.
  • Even if you can drive fast, it takes you the same amount of time to get to grandma’s as the slowest person in the car. Example: You and your sister would take two minutes because your sister takes two minutes. It doesn’t matter if you can drive faster.
  • There must always be someone driving the car when moving. You can’t launch your car back to your house.

Comment below if you solve it.

Credit to Alex Gendler

 

Solution: DO NOT READ UNLESS SOLVED

For you, it probably seems that no matter how fast you go, the clock ticks faster. It seems as if you’ll always be at least a minute late, no matter what, but it is still possible. The main trick is to keep the slowest people together, minimizing the time wasted by them, but at the same time, you still need a fast way to get back. Here are the steps and times:

  • You and your sister go to grandma’s first, taking two minutes. 8:32
  • You drive back to your house, taking one minute. 8:33
  • Your mom and dad drive to grandma’s, taking ten whole minutes. 8:43
  • Your sister drives back to get you at your house, taking two minutes. 8:45
  • You and your sister drive back to grandma’s, taking two minutes. 8:47

You just barely beat the clock, and thankfully, your grandma beating you. Maybe next time you’ll set an alarm clock!

Three Gods Riddle

Difficulty: 5/5

You have fallen through a mysterious portal and ended up in Ancient Greece. There, you are met by Zeus, Poseidon, and Hades. You learn that they can help you get back to modern times if they believe you are worthy of such magic. To make them believe you are, you have to appease them by giving them the correct artifacts. However, it is a lot more difficult than it seems. You haven’t read enough about the Ancient Greek gods to know which is Zeus, which is Poseidon, and which is Hades. And to make matters harder, they will only let you ask them three yes or no questions, with each one addressed to any one of the gods. You also know that Poseidon always tells the truth, Hades always lies, and Zeus is always random. There is an even bigger problem though. You have figured out the Greek language enough, but you don’t know which of the two words nai and oxi means no, and which means yes.

How are you supposed to figure out which god is which?

Information:

  • You can ask three yes or no questions.
  • The responding god will either answer nai or oxi to each question. One means yes, the other means no, but you don’t know which is which.
  • Poseidon always tells the truth, Hades always lies, and Zeus answers randomly.
  • Each question must only be directed to one god.
  • You can ask up to three questions to the same god.
  • You do not have to come up with all three questions at once.

Comment below if you solve it.

Based off of the riddle created by Raymond Smullyan and George Boolos. Credit to Alex Gendler.

 

Solution: DO NOT READ UNLESS SOLVED

At first, this riddle may seem impossible. What’s the good of asking a question if you can’t understand the answer? It is possible though, and the trick is crafting your questions carefully so that any answer if useful. First, to work our way around not knowing what nai and oxi mean, we put them in the questions, and by making the questions hypothetical, it will not actually matter if the god is lying or not.

Example: If I asked you blah blah blah, would you say nai?

Here is the logic. If you asked a god, “if I asked you, does 9 – 4 = 5, would you answer nai?”. If nai means yes, Poseidon would answer truthfully, and say “nai”. What if we asked Hades? Well, he knows that he would lie and answer oxi, so he lies again and replies, “nai”.  In his mind, he’s thinking, “I know I’d lie and I’d say oxi to 9 – 4 = 5,” which is why he lies again, giving the same answer as Poseidon.  If “nai” means no, then Poseidon and Hades would still both answer “nai” for there own reasons. If you’re confused, think about it like integers in math. A positive times a positive equals a positive, and a negative times a negative still equals a positive.

Now, we know that asking either Poseidon or Hades will give a definite answer, but what about Zeus? This logic doesn’t help us with Zeus, so our first question should identify a god that isn’t Zeus. Then we identify whether that god is Poseidon or Hades. Finally, once we know that, we just ask a god to identify one of the others.

Now, let’s actually start asking! Look at the picture to help you visualize. Ask the god in the middle, “If I asked you whether the god on my left is Zeus, would you say nai?” If the answer is nai, we now have two possibilities. You could be talking to Zeus, in which case the answer means nothing. But if not, you’re talking to either Poseidon or Hades, and we know that wielding the answer “nai” means your question was true, in which case the god to the left is actually Zeus. Either way, you can now be sure that the god on the right is not Zeus. If the answer was “oxi”, we know the god on the left is not Zeus.

Next, go to the god who you have figured out is not Zeus and ask, “if I asked you, are you Hades, would you answer nai?” Now, because you don’t have to be precarious about the random answer factor, either answer will give its identity. If he answers nai, than logically, he is Hades. If he answers oxi, he is Poseidon.

Finally, now that you know whether that God’s answers are true or false, ask the same god, “if I asked you, is the center god Zeus, would you answer nai?”. Using the process of elimination, you can identify the remaining gods.

The Secrets of the Pyramids

John descended into the heart of one of the Great Pyramids. To enter, he had to climb the side of the pyramid to the opening in the rock high above the ground. Now, he walked down a slippery slope to the bottom of the pyramid. The ancient Egyptians who built this made the interior like a maze, to make it difficult for thieves seeking the treasures buried with the pharaoh, to find their way. Not only that, but they included a fake burial room to make it seem as if the pyramid was empty. John knew these secrets, and easily maneuvered his way to the real burial place of the pharaoh. Of course, the body and coffin had long been removed by the Egyptian Museum in Cairo, but John suspected there to be more secrets hiding underneath the surface. The Ancient Egyptians thought that the spirit of the deceased lived on, which is why they left a small hole near the top of the pyramid for it to escape. They believed that the person’s spirit, or that person’s ba, would take the form of a bird and fly to the sun god Ray. However, John knew that the Egyptians also might like sort of an insurance policy, in case the hole somehow got covered. He thought that there may another way out. John studied the extraordinary hieroglyphics scrolled across the walls. He was one of the few people that could read them, but even to him, the message was cryptic.

Fall to the waiting darkness below,

chose the way in which you’ll go,

beware the dangers that lay ahead,

for the gods may want you dead.

John ran his hands along the wall feeling for any more clues. As he did, he pushed against some sort of door, that opened as he felt it. He fell forward and the door closed behind him, enveloping him the hungry, waiting, darkness.

 

Please comment what you think should happen next.