What Digit Does Each Letter Represent?

This is what you know:

1. Each letter represents a different digit from 1 to 9
2. The total of each row is 17.
3. (B × B) + B + F = A
4. C × F = EF (a 2-digit number, not their product)

A B C
D E F

What digit does each letter represent?

A = 7
B = 1
C = 9

D = 8
E = 4
F = 5

A + B + C = 17
D + E + F = 17
B2 + B + F = A
C × F = EF

To begin with, B has to be a 1 or 2 or else A wouldn’t be a single digit. Plug in B = 2, gives you 6 + F = A, meaning F and A can only be (1,7) or (3,9). To get 17, C would have to be 8 or 6, but those values don’t work for C × F = EF. So B must be 1.

2 + F = A means F and A can be (2,4), (3,5), (4,6), (5,7), (6,8) or (7,9). To get 17 on the top row, the only option that leaves C as a single digit is F = 5 and A = 7.

C × F = EF
9 × 5 = 45, so E = 4 and D = 8 to make the second row equal to 17.

Posted in Brain Teasers

An Oddly Priced Fish Shop

A fish shop with odd pricing sells fish for the following prices: A trout costs $20, a salmon is $19, and a plaice comes in at $16. Using their pricing logic, how much would they charge for a mackerel?

$13. The price is calculated by using the position in the alphabet of the first letter of the name of the fish. An Albacore would be $1, a Bandfish would be $2. Note, I do not recommend using this pricing strategy unless you find yourself with an assortment of cheap Zebrafish.

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Rhonda At the Ballet

Rhonda will go see ballet but not the opera. Her favorite number is eight and she doesn’t like nine. She likes salmon but not trout. She hates Mondays and likes Wednesdays. Does she use a comb or a brush?

A comb. Rhonda likes words with silent letters, like her name.

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One Six Seven Nine to Twenty Four

Given the numbers 1, 6, 7 and 9, find an equation that equals 24. You may only use each digit once.

91 – 67 = 24 or
(9 – 6) x (7 + 1) = 3 x 8 = 24 or
6 x √9 + 7 – 1 = 18 + 6 = 24

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I Climb Higher When Hot

I climb higher when hot,
But beware my rage,
I’ll kill with a breath,
If I can escape my cage.

Mercury. It rises when encased in a thermometer when it’s hot and mercury poisoning results from inhaling mercury.

Posted in Riddles
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Graphical Rebus Six

What does this rebus represent?

Rebus

Waterloo Sunset

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Swallow

You can swallow me, but I can swallow you. What am I?

Water.

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I Drift Forever With The Current

I drift forever with the current
down these long canals they’ve made
Tame, yet wild, I run elusive
Multitasking to your aid.
Before I came, the world was darker
Colder, sometimes, rougher, true
But though I might make living easy,
I’m good at killing people too.

Electricity (or lightning).

Posted in Riddles

Head, Tail, Brown and No Legs

What has a head, a tail, is brown, and has no legs?

A penny.

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An Urgent Phone Call

A man was working the night shift when he received an urgent phone call, giving him information that caused him to dash home at breakneck speed.

On bursting into his bedroom quite breathless he found his informant was quite correct. His wife was in bed with someone he had never seen before.

However, far from being angry, he greeted them both with a smile and a few hours later brought them both breakfast in bed.

What is the explanation for this odd behavior?

His wife had just given birth.

Posted in Brain Teasers