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Did you know that in planes, the Olympic torch always travels first class in a seat of its own and is kept burning in a specially built flame-proof container?
Did you know that in planes, the Olympic torch always travels first class in a seat of its own and is kept burning in a specially built flame-proof container?

Tease your brain with these mind-boggling puzzles

By Mindsport

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Published: Fri 10 Jun 2016, 12:00 AM

Last updated: Fri 10 Jun 2016, 2:00 AM

E4
Did you know that the original title of the Joseph Heller novel Catch-22 was Catch 18? (The title was changed to avoid confusion with the Leon Uris novel, Mila 18, which had also  been published that year.) Or that the letters YKK on zippers stand for Yoshida Kogyo Kabushibibaisha, the largest zipper manufacturer in the world?
Or that the penknife that has the greatest number of blades is The Year Knife, made by Joseph Rodgers & Sons Ltd of Sheffield, England? Built in 1822 with 1,822 blades, the number of blades on the knife continued to match the year ever since, although it ran out of space for new ones in the year 2000. Or that people didn't always say "hello" when they answered the phone? When the first regular phone service was established in 1878, people said "ahoy".
Or that in planes, the Olympic torch always travels first class in a seat of its own and is kept burning in a specially built flame-proof container? A backup lantern lit from the same torch source also travels in the plane, in case the first one accidentally goes out.
You knew all that, right? Okay then what do you think the bacteria lactobacillus bulgaricus and streptococcus thermophilus have in common?
 
DEAR MS
(The problem was a probability one first put forth by the 19th century puzzle setter Sam Lyod regarding the fall of dice, which was popular at carnivals and the question was whether it was fair or skewed in favour of the operator. - MS)
 
Dicey-Chances Dept:
Of the 216 probable dice-throwing ways, the player's winning probable ways are only 91. Since the operator's winning probable ways are 125, the operator's winning chance is higher at 125/216. Suppose each square has Dh1, then, on each roll, the operator would take in Dh3 and pay out Dh3 when the dice showed three different numbers. When the dice showed two same numbers, the operator makes Dh1 and when the dice showed three same numbers, the operator makes Dh2. For every dirham wagered by a player, regardless of how he places the money, and in what amounts, the player can expect to lose about 7.8 fils in the long run. Thus, the operator gains 7.8 per cent on every dirham bet.
- Suryanarayanan Krishnamoorthy, surya661666@yahoo.com
(The other problem was: "The hands of a wall clock have to work against gravity when moving from 6 to 12, while getting a gravity-assist when moving from 12 to 6. Therefore, time taken to travel from 12 to 6 should, theoretically, be less than the other way around in actual conditions. How is this compensated for?" - MS)
 
On-The-One-Hand Dept:
Observe the second hand of a clock between any two consecutive points. Every move of the hand is timed to equal precisely one second, which consists of the time taken to move from one point to the next as well as the time spent waiting at the current position. The latter would decrease with any increase in time taken to move between the points, and vice versa. Thus, though the hand may move at a faster speed between any two consecutive points between 12 and 6, it would take exactly the same time to move from 12 to 6 as from 6 to 12, as it would spend the remaining part of the second waiting.
- Raja Lahiri, rajasathome@gmail.com
 The hands of the clock are fixed to a spindle and are geared to move according to the movement of the seconds-hand of the clock. This is similar to an object tied up and driven by a power source. Any effort against gravity is compensated by the source of power.
- Saifuddin S F Khomosi, saif_sfk@hotmail.com
 
ENDGAME(S)
 1. In all, 25 of the 26 letters of the alphabet are used while naming the atomic symbols for all the elements. So what is the only letter that is not used?
2. Everyone knows the reason the mercury doesn't fall back (in a mercury thermometer) after you've taken your temperature is because of the constriction in the tube. So how come it passes through it in the first place?

(Mukul can be reached at mukul.mindsport@gmail.com.)


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