Literatecode

G’day mates, it is time for a set of puzzles from Defence Signal Directorate of Australian Department of Defence. These puzzles are not actually cryptograms but I like koalas, kangaroos, Steve Irwin and all that stuff so here we go.

PUZZLE 1
This paragraph is kind of unusual. To work out what is wrong with it study it and think about it. It looks normal and you may think nothing at all is odd or unusual about it, but it is. I will not coach or hint to you as to what is not ordinary, you must work it out using logic and skill. Good luck!

Does someone hates “E” so much?

PUZZLE 2
Three switches outside a windowless room are connected to three light bulbs. If you can only enter the room once, how can you determine which switch is connected to which bulb?

Turn on the first switch, wait for 5 min, turn it off. Turn on second switch and go to the room. The shining bulb connected to the 2nd switch, the warm bulb connected to the 1st switch, the cold one - to the 3rd switch.

PUZZLE 3
The product of the ages of David’s children is the square of the sum of their ages. David has less than eight children. None of his children are more than 14 years old. All of his children are at least two years old. How many children does David have and what are their ages?

Four kids ages 2, 4, 6 and 12 years old. However (mind twins, triples, etc) they are also can be 2, 5, 5 and 8. Or there can be five of them at ages 2, 2, 2, 6 and 12. Or 4, 4, 4, 2 and 2. Or there can be six kids ages 4, 4, 2, 2, 2 and 2 years old. And finally David may have seven kids ages 2, 2, 2, 2, 2, 2 and 4 years old. But more likely David have just triples at age 9.

PUZZLE 4
A magic square is a square array of consecutive numbers wherein every row, every column and both main diagonals add up to the same number. Form a 6×6 magic square using the numbers 0 to 35.

 0 34 32  3 31  5  

29 28  9  8 25  6

17 19 21 20 16 12

18 13 15 14 22 23

11 10 26 27  7 24

30  1  2 33  4 35

PUZZLE 5
Find a word and “word container” for each of the clues below. For example, vegetable in a weapon (3 in 5) is s(pea)r.
1. Monkey in a polygon (3 in 9) - tr(ape)zoid
2. Rodents in pasta (4 in 10) - ver(mice)lli
3. Film star in a fish dish (4 in 8) - ked(Gere)e
4. Seabird in a bone (4 in 7) - s(tern)um
5. Capital city in a constellation (4 in 9) - And(Rome)da

PUZZLE 6
If CHAD = 3 FIJI = 4 FRANCE = 8 KYRGYZSTAN = 9 MYANMAR = 10 NIGERIA = 12 Which country has the value of 5?

CYPRUS

No puzzle to form a Pythagorean board though. Alas.