Cloisters - Christmas Special 2006

Paul's Puzzles

Here we have not one, not two, but three great puzzles from ace puzzler Paul. We'll be choosing three lucky winners on 15th February, who will win NCS vouchers towards the course of their choice. So get puzzling.

1 Hans Slammer

Hans Slammer, the skiing instructor, sets off for a morning's exercise on the slopes. He is wearing the new pedskimeter which, by the cunning use of a microlaser device, measures his mileage whether he is skiing, running, or taking the ski-lift.

At 9 o'clock Hans sets off cross-country skiing to the slopes. When he arrives at the slopes some time later, he checks his pedskimeter and his watch, and finds that he has kept up a brisk 12 mph. His average speed downhill he measures to be 20 mph.

Having skied downhill several times, he takes his final journey to the top of the slope, removes his skis and runs home. As he walks through the door at the stroke of 1 o'clock, Professor Pedski greets him, 'Well, Hans, how did the trial go? What is your total mileage?'

'32 miles altogether', replied Hans. 'I averaged 12 mph there, 20 mph downhill, and I spent 4 times as long riding up on the ski-lift as I spent skiing down again. I forgot to time myself coming home, so I can't tell how fast I ran.'

'Well I can,' replied Pedski, 'and if I may say so, you kept up quite a good pace considering you were wearing ski boots and the snow is thick.'

How fast did Hans run home?

2 Ben Chimes

Mr Ben Chimes, Big Ben to his friends, had never learned to tell the time. One day, shortly after lunch, he arrived at his friend’s house to spend the afternoon playing golf. As he arrived, he glanced at the kitchen clock and noticed that both the hour and minute hands were exactly on adjacent minute ticks on the clock face.

After a leisurely round of golf, they retired to the club house for a few drinks. 'It's fast approaching my bedtime,' said Big Ben after a while, 'I must be going. And would you believe it, both the hour and the minute hands are again exactly on adjacent minute ticks.'

How long had Big Ben spent with his friend ?

3 Lord Blunderbuss

Lord Blunderbuss was walking his hounds in the gardens of Blunderbuss Towers late in the afternoon when he noticed that the lowering sun was casting an unusual pattern of small bumps on the lawn. The next day his gardener, who was given the task of removing the turf, discovered a huge cache of cannonballs all laid out neatly in the shape of a perfect square.

His Lordship instructed his gardener to pile up the cannonballs elsewhere and replace the turf. To his surprise, the gardener discovered that he could pile up all the cannonballs into a perfect square-based pyramid.

How many cannonballs did they discover?