What is HIJKLMNO?

HIJKLMNO

What 5-letter word does this represent?

Water. Or literally, H to O, which sounds the same as H2O.

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An Extraordinary Event

On the sixth of May in the year 1978 at exactly thirty-four minutes past noon, a most extraordinary event occurred. This singular occasion will probably never be witnessed by anyone who was alive at that time. What happened?

The time and date was 12:34 5/6/78, counting from one to eight. The next time this event will occur is 12:34 6 May 2078. Unless someone alive in 1978 lives to be over a hundred, they won’t be alive when it happens again.

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2, 3, 6

What number comes next in this series?

2 3 6 7 1 9 4 5 ___

8. The numbers are in reverse alphabetical order.

Two, three, six, seven, one, nine, four, five, eight.

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You Hold My Tail

You hold my tail while I fish for you. What am I?

A fishing net.

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A Secret From Everyone

I am eight letters long and am kept a secret from everyone. Letters two through four spell an animal, letters four to the end make a weapon, letters one, two and eight make what you use in an exam and my third and fourth letters are the same.

What am I?

A password. You should keep your password a secret from everyone, letters two through four spell ass, an animal also known as a donkey. Letters four to the end spell sword, which is a deadly weapon and the letters one, two and eight make pad, which is used for writing during an exam. Lastly, the third and fourth letters are both ‘s’

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A Home But No Family

I have an end but no beginning, a home but no family, a space without room. I never speak but there is no word I cannot make. What am I?

A keyboard.

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Sum of 22

Fill in numbers such that the sum of each 3-character row is 22 while the sum of all five numbers is 30.

a
bcd
e

The problem works out to a set of three equations:
b + c + d = 22
a + c + e = 22
a + b + c + d + e = 30

Solving for c = 14, leaving d = 8 – b and e = 8 – a. In other words, c must be 14, but the other two numbers just have to add up to 8. The requirement that they be unique rules out 4 + 4, so you’re left to choose from the following combations for b + d and a + e:
0 + 8
1 + 7
2 + 6
3 + 5

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Letter Missing From a Series

What letter is missing from this series?
B C D G P T V Z

The letter E. The series contains all of the letters that rhyme with bee (apologies to any English speakers who pronounce Z as zed instead of zee if this confused you).

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From Scraps to Pants

A tailor can make a pair of pants from the scraps left over from sewing up five pairs of pants. If he has twenty-five scraps, how many pairs of pants can he make?

Six pairs of pants. He can make five initially, but once he’s done making five pairs of pants, he’ll have five remaining sets of scraps, meaning he can make an additional pair of pants, totaling six.

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The Lost City of Chenarz

You want to go on an adventure to the remote city of Chenarz, but it’s 120 miles off the Pacific coast. To conserve money, take the smallest number of people as possible. Each person can carry enough food for five days but you can only travel 30 miles a day. You want to reach Chenarz, stay overnight, and return the next day. How many people, including yourself, must you take to reach the city?

Note: Please don’t let anyone starve.

You will need three other members in your party to accomplish your mission for a total of four people.

Four people × 5 day’s rations = 20 day’s rations.

Day 1: 5 rations – Four day’s rations are used. One person goes back using one day’s ration for the return trip.
Day 2: 5 rations – Remaining three members use three day’s rations. One goes back using two day’s rations for the return trip.
Day 3: 5 rations – Remaining two use two day’s rations. One goes back using three day’s rations for the return trip.
Day 4: 1 ration – You use one day’s rations. You reach the city and stay the night.
Day 5: 4 rations – You return to the coast using up four day’s rations.

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