Word Games, Riddles and Logic Tests Page 10
column.
lemme
a lot of
lotta
it sounds like a
mighta
let me
outta
might have
shaddup/
out of
shadap
shoulda
should have
sorta
shut up
soundsa
sort of
sup, wazzup
want to
wanna
what are you, what do
you
watcha,
what’s up
wotcha
wouldna
would not
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Riddles
See if you can understand these riddles.
1. What bone will a dog never eat? A trombone.
2. What can you hold without ever touching it? A conversation.
3. What did one magnet say to the other? I find you very attractive.
4. What did the carpet say to the floor? Don’t move, I’ve got you covered.
5. What do you call a calf after it’s six months old? Seven months old.
6. What do you call a song sung in an automobile? A cartoon.
7. What do you call a country where everyone has to drive a red car? A red
carnation.
8. What would the country be called if everyone in it lived in their cars? An
incarnation.
9. What’s round and bad-tempered? A vicious circle.
10. Where do fortune tellers dance? At the crystal ball.
Anagrams
Match the phrases with their anagrams.
The eyes
Built to stay free
The centenarians
Claim “Heck, I sent it
The check is in the
(heh)”
mail
Here come dots
The countryside
I can hear ten “tens”
The earthquakes
No city dust here
The meaning of life
That queer shake
The Morse code
The fine game of nil
Statue of Liberty
They see
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Logical Thinking
In medieval France the beautiful daughter of an extremely rich baron was in love with the handsome son of a poor peasant family. Unfortunately, the baron wanted
his daughter to marry someone from an aristocratic background. So he stopped his daughter from seeing the peasant boy.
However the daughter was as intelligent as she was beautiful. She told her father that she wanted to marry the richest of her suitors. In order to discover which of these suitors was the richest, she suggested that her father should give a large present to each man. This would enable her father to judge how rich the man was by seeing how much difference the gift made to his way of life.
In order to test whether the method worked well, the present (a substantial quantity of gold) would be given to each of the suitors, including the poor peasant boy. All the suitors - and the boy - received the gold.
What did the daughter do next?
Anagrams
Create an anagram from the letters of the words in the first column. The anagram should correspond to the definition.
anagram
definition
loves
find a solution
sonic
you can pay for inexpensive things with these
tired
attempted
tread
classified
tutor
a kind of fish
waits
important to know the size of this when you are buying
crude
trousers or skirts
zoned
successfully treated medically
laxer
another word for twelve
what you should do at the weekends
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Buzz-phrase Generator
A buzz phrase is that sounds important and technical, but through overuse often
loses its original power. Often organizations, academics, or anyone who wants to sound perhaps more intelligent than they are, or to show off their vast knowledge, or simply just to hide something negative behind a string of positive words, will use a buzz phrase.
The Canadian Defense Department devised a buzz-phrase generator to provide
‘instant expertise’ on defense matters and to impart ‘that proper ring of decisive, progressive, knowledgeable authority’.
To use the generator:
• choose any three digit number, e.g. 235
• take one word from each column corresponding to the numbers you have
chosen
• this should give you an ‘authoritative’ phrase e.g. in the case of 235: overall monitored programming
COLUMN A
COLUMN B
COLUMN C
1 integrated
management
options
2 overall
organisational
flexibility
3 systematised
monitored
capability
4 parallel
reciprocal
mobility
5 functional
digital
programming
6 responsive
logistical
concept
7 optimal
transitional
time-phase
8 synchronised
incremental
projection
9 compatible
third generation
hardware
Mathematical 1
There are two clocks: one loses an hour a day; the other has stopped altogether.
Which one is more accurate?
Mathematical 2
An important horse race was about to start. The five jockeys were at the line up and a journalist asked them to make two predictions each about the outcome of the race.
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Archie Arslic: Dodging Dastardly will win. I’ll be second.
Bernie Barsteward: Dodging Dastardly will be second. I’ll come fourth.
Crafty Charlie: I’ll be third. Eddie Egghead will be last.
Dodging Dastardly: Crafty Charlie will win. I’ll come in last.
Eddie Egghead: I’ll be second and Dodging Dastardly will be third.
The race was held and it turned out that each jockey had made only one true prediction. None of them had got both their predictions right. So, in what order did the jockeys come in the race?
Mathematical 3
A train leaves Villetown at 12.00 at a steady 120 km an hour. One hour later, at 13.00, another train leaves Newcity at 80 km an hour. The distance between
Villetown and Newcity is 1200 km. How far apart are the trains one hour before they pass each other?
Animal Farm
Combine a word from the first column with a word from the second column. Note
that the word in the first column is not necessarily the first word in the
combination.
ant
book
bull
boy
cock
doze
cow
heat
hen
inform
toad
skin
sheep
stool
worm
tail
Grammar Challenge 1
A very very superstitious man is driving his car in the middle of town. There are a few/few/a little/little people on the road because it is a public holiday. After a few/
few/a little/little time, a black cat suddenly crosses the road a few/few/a little/little meters in front of him. The man drives on, he doesn’t go left or right up a side street.
Why?
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Grammar Challenge 2
I have five letters and five addressed envelopes. If I place/will place the letters in the envelopes at random, what are the chances that only four letters are/will be in their correct envelopes?
Grammar Challenge 3
What number gives/will give the same result when it is/will be added to five as when it is/will be multiplied by five?
Grammar Challenge 4
Seven men arrive at a meeting, and each/every of them shakes hands once with each/every of the others. How many handshakes does that make?
Grammar Challenge 5
If you put a coin in an empty bottle and insert a cork into the neck of the bottle, how could you remove the coin without taking/to take the cork out or breaking/to break the bottle?
Idioms
Match the expression in column 1 with the related word(s) in column 2. The rela-
tionship between the two columns is not necessarily straightforward.
A near thing ...
Almost
How are things going?
Discuss
Poor thing.
Exact
She knows a thing or two about...
Experienced
She’s got a thing about...
Life
That’s quite another thing.
Obsessed
The thing is ...
Point
The very thing.
Sorry
We’ve got to talk things over.
Surprise
Well, of all things!
Totally different
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Keys to Chapter 7
Keys to Chapter 7
Funny Book Titles
Sea Birds by Al Batross (an albatross is a very large seabird)
Hypnotism by N. Tranced (entranced = when someone has cast a spell on you,
when you are filled with wonder)
Philosophy for Beginners by Ivan I Dear (I have an idea)
Parachuting by Hugo First (you go first)
Robots by Anne Droid (android)
Word Ladder
TEA
SEA
SET
SOT (a chronic drinker)
HOT
Ambiguous Headlines
The bride wore a long white lace dress which fell to the floor. (it seems like
the dress came off the bride, so that was left without the dress)
For those of you who have small children and don’t know it we are now serv-
ing ice cream. ( don’t know it sounds like there are people who don’t know that they have children)
When properly stewed, I really enjoy apricots. ( stewed is a cooking term but also means completely drunk)
I plan to mow the lawn with my husband. (The wife and husband are planning
to mow the lawn together, but it sounds like the wife is going to use her hus-
band as a grass cutter)
You should never crumble your bread or roll in your soup. ( roll refers to a type of bread, but it is also a verb meaning to turn oneself over and over)
Keys to Chapter 7
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Proverbs
Money doesn’t grow on trees - You have to work in order to earn.
Necessity is the mother of invention - If you really need something you will be motivated to get it.
Never speak ill of the dead - When someone is no longer alive, they deserve some respect.
Once bitten, twice shy - If something goes wrong one time then you will think twice before doing the same thing again.
One man’s meat is another man’s poison - What may be good for you may be unsuitable for someone else.
Practice what you preach - You should act in accordance with the advice that you give to others
Proof of the pudding is in the eating - The real value of something can be judged only by practical experience and not from appearance.
Put your money where your mouth is - Actively do what you said you would do.
Talk of the devil - Said when a person appears just when you are talking about them
The grass is always greener (on the other side of the fence) - Another place or scenario always seems better than your current situation.
Rhyming Words
These words do not rhyme: come/home, here/there, mind/wind (i.e. windy,
however the irregular verb to wind - wound - wound is pronounced the same as mind)
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Keys to Chapter 7
Contractions
lemme
let me
lotta
a lot of
mighta
might have
outta
out of
shaddup/
shut up
shadap
shoulda
should have
sorta
sort of
soundsa
it sounds like a
sup, wazzup
what’s up
wanna
want to
watcha,
what are you, what do
wotcha
you
wouldna
would not
Riddles
What bone will a dog never eat? A trombone. (A trombone is a musical instru-
ment, not a type of bone)
What can you hold without ever touching it? A conversation. (The associated
verb with ‘conversation’ is hold)
What did one magnet say to the other? I find you very attractive. (Magnets are
designed to attract opposites)
What did the carpet say to the floor? Don’t move, I’ve got you covered. ( to have something covered also means to have something within the target of a gun) What do you call a calf after it’s six months old? Seven months old.
What do you call a song sung in an automobile? A cartoon. (a car tune)
What do you call a country where everyone has to drive a red car? A red car-
nation. (a red-car nation)
What would the country be called if everyone in it lived in their cars? An
incarnation (an in-car nation).
What’s round and bad-tempered? A vicious circle. ( vicious also means angry) Where do fortune tellers dance? At the crystal ball. (a ball is a formal dance event, a crystal ball is what fortune tellers look in to in order to be able to predict the future)
Keys to Chapter 7
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Anagrams
The eyes = They see
The centenarians = I can hear ten “tens”
The check is in the mail = Claim “Heck, I sent it (heh)”
The countryside = No city dust here
The earthquakes = That queer shake
The meaning of life = The fine game of nil
The Morse code = Here come dots
Statue of Liberty = Built to stay free
Logical Thinking
The daughter ran away with the now enriched peasant boy. (Based on a story
told in The Mechanism of Mind by Edward de Bono, published by J Cape)
Anagrams
solve
coins
tried
rated
trout
waist
cured
dozen
relax
Mathematical 1
The clock which has stopped is more accurate as it will tell the correct time
twice a day, whereas the other one will only be right every 12 days.
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Keys to Chapter 7
Mathematical 2
Crafty Charlie, Archie Arslic, Dodging Dastardly, Bernie Barsteward, Eddie
Egghead
Mathematical 3
The trains approach each other at their combined speeds (120 + 80 = 200 km
an hour). So, one hour before they pass they are 200 km apart.
Animal Farm
informant, bulldoze, cocktail, cowboy, heathen, toadstool, sheepskin,
bookworm
Grammar Challenge 1
>
A very very superstitious man is driving his car in the middle of town. There
are few people on the road because it is a public holiday. After a little time black cat suddenly crosses the road a few meters in front of him. The man drives on, he doesn’t go left or right up a side street. Why?
He didn’t see the cat.
Grammar Challenge 2
I have five letters and five addressed envelopes. If I place t he letters in the envelopes at random, what are the chances that only four letters will be in their correct envelopes?
Nil. If four are corect, all five must be.
Grammar Challenge 3
What number gives the same result when it is added to five as when it is multiplied by five?
One and a quarter.
Keys to Chapter 7
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Grammar Challenge 4
Seven men arrive at a meeting, and each of them shakes hands once with each of the others. How many handshakes does that make?
21.
Grammar Challenge 5
If you put a coin in an empty bottle and insert a cork into the neck of the
bottle, how could you remove the coin without taking the cork out or breaking the bottle?
Push the cork into the bottle and shake the coin out.
Idioms
A near thing ... Almost (It was a near thing ... we almost had an accident)
How are things going? Life (How is life treating you at the moment?)
Poor thing. Sorry (Poor thing - he failed his driving test for the third time,
I feel sorry for him)
She knows a thing or two about... Experienced (She is very experienced in this
area)
She’s got a thing about... Obsessed (She has got a thing about tidiness)
That’s quite another thing. Totally different (Seeing is quite a different thing from believing)
The thing is ... Point (The thing is it’s more difficult than you think - My point is that it is ...)
The very thing. Exact (That’s the very thing I was looking for = That’s exactly
what I was ...)
We’ve got to talk things over. Discuss
Well, of all things! Surprise (She’s won the lottery again! Well, of all things!)
Chapter 8
Language exists as songs, riddles, or epics
that are chanted
Riddles
Match the questions (1-10) with the answers (a-j)
1. The more you take away form it the larger it becomes, the more you add to it the smaller it becomes? What is it?
2. What is put on a table, cut, but never eaten?
3. What holds water yet is full of holes?
4. What word is spelled wrong in every dictionary?
5. What goes up and down the stairs without moving?
6. What is that you want, but when you have it you don’t know that you have it?