Too Late?

Paul R. McClenon of Washington D.C. contributed this problem to the January-February 1964 issue of Recreational Mathematics Magazine:

The poor patient read the prescription which would save his life. ‘Mix carefully a one-pint drink, made of scotch whisky and water, mixed one to five (1/6 scotch, 5/6 water). Drink it quickly and go to bed.’

However, the patient finds only the following items at hand:

A one-quart bottle, about half full of scotch whisky.
An eight-ounce glass.
An unlimited supply of water from his faucet.
A sink with a drain.
No other containers or measuring devices.

He can pour from either container to the other, without spilling a drop, and can fill either to the brim without loss. How should he mix the prescription? Will he figure it out in time? Will he be saved? Did a doctor or bartender write this prescription?

The magazine went out of business before it could publish the solution. I’ll leave it to you.

05/17/2013 UPDATE: There seem to be a number of ways to accomplish this. Here’s one:

We need a 16-ounce dose that’s 1/6 whiskey, so the final mixture must contain 2.666 ounces of whiskey.

  1. Fill the 8-ounce glass with whiskey, then empty the jug.
  2. Return the glassful of whiskey to the empty jug and add two glassfuls of water.
  3. Fill the glass with this 2-to-1 mixture of water and whiskey. The 8-ounce glass now contains 2.666 ounces of whiskey, our target.
  4. Empty the bottle, pour the glass’ contents into it, and add one 8-ounce glassful of water.

That leaves us with 16 ounces in the jug, 1/6 of which is whiskey and the rest water, as directed.

Thanks to everyone who wrote in.

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Black and White

shinkman chess problem

By William Anthony Shinkman. White to mate in two moves.

Click for Answer
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Name Sense

A 1936 poser by British puzzle maven Hubert Phillips:

A man I met in Fleet Street yesterday told me the following anecdote:

‘I met yesterday (he said) a friend of mine whom I had not seen since I was at Oxford. That was some years ago and we had not, during all that time, had any communication with one another. Nor had we at Oxford any friends or acquaintances in common.

‘I was delighted to see my friend, nevertheless. “I suppose,” I said, “that lots of things have happened to you.”

‘”Why, yes,” was the answer. “I am married now and this is my little girl.”

‘I looked at the child — a pretty little thing of about six. “And what is your name, my dear,” I asked her. “Margaret,” was the reply. “Aha,” said I, “the same name as your mother’s.”‘

How did the speaker know?

Click for Answer
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Parting Shot

http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Samuel_Wilberforce_(1805%E2%80%931873),_Bishop_of_Oxford,_by_George_Richmond_1868.jpg

Bishop Samuel Wilberforce was fond of riddles. After his death in 1873, this one was found among his literary papers:

I’m the sweetest of sounds in Orchestra heard,
Yet in Orchestra never was seen.
I’m a bird of gay plumage, yet less like a bird,
Nothing ever in Nature was seen.
Touch the earth I expire, in water I die,
In air I lose breath, yet can swim and can fly;
Darkness destroys me, and light is my death,
And I only keep going by holding my breath.
If my name can’t be guessed by a boy or a man,
By a woman or girl it certainly can.

No one knows the answer.

07/05/2013 UPDATE: A great many readers have sent me proposed answers since I posted this item. The overwhelming favorite is “a whale” (or “orca”); others include “a woman’s voice” and “a soap bubble.” The latter was favored by Henry Dudeney (in his 300 Best Word Puzzles) — he, like everyone, is confident of his solution:

“We have no doubt that the correct answer is that we gave (apparently for the first time in print) in the Guardian for 6th February, 1920. This answer is the word BUBBLE. It is an old name for Bagpipes, the word exactly answers every line of the enigma, though the final couplet may be perplexing. The explanation is that ‘Bubble’ is an old name for breast.”

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