Are you sharp enough to solve clever puzzles? To interpret clues beyond their apparent meaning? Doing so shows you have a high IQ on the nerd scale and might be a good computer programmer, mathematician or engineer.
We offer puzzles each Monday here at MindMatters.ai. Good ones are often surrounded by obfuscations meant to derail thought trails and otherwise distract. Sharp minds can see through these distractions, focus on the problem and offer solutions. We call these puzzles Micro Softies after the ones Microsoft used to use to select programmers.
Last Monday’s Micro Softy was inspired by an old CBS television show, Alfred Hitchcock Presents (1955‒1962), which premiered on October 2, 1955. We’ll give the answer to that puzzle below, after presenting this week’s Micro Softy which also deals with old time television. Gunsmoke (1955‒1975), the first adult TV western, also premiered on CBS a month earlier on September 10, 1955 as a continuation of a highly successful weekly radio drama.
The weekly episodes have aged well. Gunsmoke has recently been showing up today on Nielsen’s weekly Top-10 list of “acquired” streaming series.
on Gunsmoke, thanking me for GunsmokeNet.com
From childhood memories, I was obsessed by Gunsmoke. When I got older, I started the website GunsmokeNet.com. It was a success. In 2002, the site received a USA TODAY Hot Site award. James Arness, who played Marshal Matt Dillon on the series, sent me an autographed picture thanking me for the site. It still contains a lot of fun material, but its maintenance has been neglected for decades. Today it looks pretty clunky.
So this Monday’s Micro Softy is based on a Gunsmoke story. Read the puzzle carefully:
Gunslinger Hack Prine rode into Dodge City at noon on Friday. Prine got into a fair gunfight and killed a man at the Longbranch Saloon the night after he arrived. Marshal Matt Dillon told him to “Get out of Dodge” by noon the next day. So Hack Prine rode out of town three days after he arrived, also at noon on Friday.
Fridays normally only occur once a week, not three days apart. So how can this be?
Read the answer next Monday.
Solution to Micro Softy 59: Alfred Hitchcock’s Low-Pressure Tire
The physics of connecting two identical containers, like tires or balloons, can result in a counterintuitive outcome. When two identical balloons — one smaller (less inflated) and one larger (more inflated) — are connected, the smaller balloon empties into the larger one. Does this happen with connected tires? Will the smaller deflated tire, nearly flat on one side, empty into the fully inflated one?
No. The direction of air flow is due to pressure — not size.
The smaller of the two balloons has more pressure. Think of when you blow up a balloon. When is it the hardest to inflate? In the beginning when the balloon is small. A lot of pressure is needed then. Blowing hard enough to get a balloon started can turn your face red. When the balloon gets larger, less pressure is required. So the balloon with the larger pressure — the small one — forces its air into the larger balloon. Likewise, the fully inflated tire with more pressure will force air into the less inflated tire with low pressure.
Before watching the Alfred Hitchcock Presents episode where a Good Samaritan uses a tire inflation device to help a newlywed couple, I had never heard of a hose that connects two tires to transfer air pressure. I’ve since discovered that there are lots of commercially available hoses designed specifically for that purpose. Google “tire-to-tire air transfer” for a list.
The Monday Micro Softy is a weekly feature of GeekPlanet News. Here are the links to all the puzzles and answers to date:
Monday Microsofty 59: Alfred Hitchcock’s low-pressure tire. Could the tire in the old Hitchcock film really be reinflated in the way shown? The solution to last week’s puzzle is to ask whether the way each of the relationships is created makes any difference.
Monday Microsofty 58: Is a famous bassist his own grandfather? Rolling Stone bassist can make such a claim but how far can he take it? Is he also his own grandson? We are reversing our usual order and giving the answer to #57 first. Ben could have one of two possible family relationships to me.
Monday Micro Softy 57: My Mother’s Mother-in-Law. Can you figure out this “relativity” puzzle? Part of the trick to solving Monday Microsofty 56 is to decide whether or not to give it a high five.
Monday Micro Softy 56: “Elon Musk”’s circle of numbers The circle of numbers looks pretty simple until you start thinking about it… If you suspected that last week’s talk of baseball was just a distraction from the real puzzle hint, now you can find out.
Monday Micro Softy 55: “It happens every spring.” Baseball, that is. Here’s a puzzle that takes in baseball’s summer. To solve last week’s puzzle, you don’t need to know the distance. Check the problem again for the number you do need to know. You can find puzzles 51 through 54 here as well.
Monday Micro Softy 50: Cutting through the cornbread. How did Yuri Senior cut the cornbread into eight identical portions using only three straight cuts? You can guess the answer to Microsofty 49 if you try the test question yourself at home, using a small mirror. Links to Microsofties 46 through 49 are here as well.
Monday Micro Softy 45: Can Tony beat the fast-food curfew? An early curfew on fast food service motivated a boy to exercise more vigorously. But how fast was he pedaling? To solve Micro Softy 44, recall that Tony doesn’t need to take the individual pills each day, only the prescribed amount of each. You will find links here to Micros Softies 41 through 44 as well.
Monday Micro Softy 40: The fate of a false prophet. He wasn’t actually fired for being a false prophet but for something that his prophecy unintentionally revealed. The solution to Micro Softy 39 lies in considering an alternative possible meaning of a word commonly used in sports. You will also find links to Micro Softies 30 through 39 and their answers here as well.
Monday Micro Softy 29: A funeral lament in four lines. The funeral director was puzzled by Dan’s description of his relationship to the deceased but there was no question that his grief was sincere Here, you will also find links to Microsofties 22 through 29.
Monday Micro Softy 21: Finding More of the Deadly Fentanyl Pills. Here, you will also find links to Microsofties 11 through 20 as well.
Monday Micro Softy 11: What Happened to That Other Dollar? Here you will find links to the first ten Micro Softies. Have fun!
