Head Games | Mind & Brain Cover Image: December 2004 Scientific American Magazine See Inside

Head Games

Match wits with the Mensa puzzler



1 An accurate alteration of a well-known statement is coiled in the grid at the left. To spell it out, start with one letter and move to an adjacent letter in any direction. Hint: start with the "F." One letter on the grid is not used.

2 Fill in the blanks below to complete three words that contain the letters "jul."

_ _ JU _ _ _ _ _L _ (harmfully)

_ _ JU _ _ _ _ _ _ _L _ (unwisely)

JU _ _ L _ _ (celebration)

3 The outside of the cube above has been painted purple. How many blocks in the cube have no paint on them? How many have paint only on one side?

4 Stu made some snacks. To share the snacks with Sue and Shelley, he divided the snacks into three parts. Then each of the three ate half of their snacks. Shelley then ate one fourth of what was left of her snacks, Sue ate three fourths of what she had left, and Stu ate one eighth. Sue had two snacks left. How many snacks did Stu make in the first place?

5 Billy and Bob, who are twins and their parents' only children, went to visit their mother's only sister-in-law's only son's only daughter. What relationship was she to the twins?

6 Unscramble the letters in each pie segment at the right and then find the missing letter that completes each word. (The missing letter, indicated by the question mark, is the same for each word.)

7 What is the number that is more than one half of one tenth of one fourth of 2,400?

8 To the best of my knowledge, only one other word can be made from all the letters in the word "directions." Can you figure out what it is?

9 What is the four-digit number (no zeros) in which the last digit is the number of sides on a hexagon, the first digit is one half of the last, the second digit is the first digit subtracted from the last, and the third digit is the sum of the first and second digits? (The digits total 18.)

10 Figure out the pattern in the series below and fill in the blank:

1 8 -- 64 125

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