Closed Christmas Challenges: Riddles

Hydna

Grepolis Team
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Ok this time l think we need something a bit harder so let's try some riddles. Remember if you cant do them all just have a go where you can because every point counts.

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Answer these riddles. Some have more points than others as stated. Post below. Your answers will disappear but we can see them. This competition has a total prize pot of 2500 gold and will close at 9am on 11th December.

1. 2 mortals came across Aphrodite wandering in the woods. They asked her for a Christmas kiss. Aphrodite didn’t want to kiss them so she decided to set a contest. She took 2 golden stags from her stable and gave one to each of them. She asked them to climb on to the stags and ride to the edge of the forest. The winner would earn a kiss but the winner in this case would be the stag that came in second place. She thought that neither one would allow the other to come second so there would be no race and no winner. The mortals thought about this and found a solution. What was it? (2 points)

2. In 2021 Zeus decided to join Santa on his sleigh dropping presents down all the chimneys in the world. They started at the North pole. In which direction did they go?
 (1 point)

3. What can you catch but never throw? (1 point)

4. Artemis gazed around at the beautiful wintry scene below her. Then turned to Hades and said ‘ I love Pine trees but they are just so bad at knitting. Do you know why that is?’ (1 point)

5. I fall from the sky. I am beautiful. I am unique . What am I? (1 point)

6. I have made an appearance in Andros but I spend most of my time at the north pole. Who am I? (2 points)

7. Theseus climbed the steps to his turret and entered his private bathing room. The room was made of stone with no windows. As he closed the wooden door he heard the outer latch click shut. He turned on the taps and let the bath run full planning to work out his escape while he bathed. However, when he tried to turn the taps off neither worked. Assuming the room is watertight how will Theseus avoid drowning? (2 points)

8. Hades decided he needed to build up a few muscles in preparation for the Christmas party. After all he likes to impress Persephone. He picked up his bar and added a 25 pound weight, a 10 pound weight and 3 2 pound weights on each end. How much did he lift altogether? (1 point)

9. Christmas is made of the English alphabet but is still different from the English alphabet. How is that? (1 point)

10. Young Hera is afraid of monsters hiding under her bed. She usually runs from the door to her bed as fast as she can to avoid the monsters catching her. The door, and the bedroom light (a candle) are 12 feet from the bed. She manages to blow out the candle and jump into bed before the room is dark. Assuming that the candle is beside the door and does not move how did she do this? (2 points)

11. Athena is carrying a santa sack full of presents. Ares is carrying 3 santa sacks the same size as Athena’s but Ares load is lighter. How can this be?
 (1 point)

12. Zeus held a wine goblet that was filled to the brim. He raised the goblet in a toast to Santa and then let it drop to the floor without spilling a single drop of wine. How could Zeus drop the goblet from 5 feet up without spilling any wine? (2 points)

13. How many times do the hour and the minute hand cross each other in a 12 hour period? (Start at 12.00 noon and count that once)

 (2 points)

14. How many of each species did Moses take into the Arc? (1 point)

15. King Croesus has placed 99 sacks of fake gold coins in his cave with just one genuine sack of gold. All the sacks contain equal numbers of coins. Fake gold coins weigh 1 oz and the real coins weigh 1.01 oz. There is a set of scales in the cave but they can only be used once. How can you work out which sack contains the real gold? (3 points).

Total marks 23
Good luck.
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Hydna

Grepolis Team
Mmm i think i will offer a clue. Question 1 there can only be one winner :) Aphrodite doesn't want to kiss 2 of them! Anyone can edit their answers before the comp closes.
 

Hydna

Grepolis Team
Ok let's look at the correct answers first. Some of you had a bit of trouble here! I don't think anyone got everything right.

1. 2 mortals came across Aphrodite wandering in the woods. They asked her for a Christmas kiss. Aphrodite didn’t want to kiss them so she decided to set a contest. She took 2 golden stags from her stable and gave one to each of them. She asked them to climb on to the stags and ride to the edge of the forest. The winner would earn a kiss but the winner in this case would be the stag that came in second place. She thought that neither one would allow the other to come second so there would be no race and no winner. The mortals thought about this and found a solution. What was it? (2 points)

Ans: There has to be a winner or there is no race. The winner is the stag that comes 2nd. The solution is to switch stags and then both mortals can race and try to win. This will mean that their own stag, ridden by their opponent, comes in 2nd. I gave 1 point for the recognition that it was the stag that mattered and 1 for switching.

2. In 2021 Zeus decided to join Santa on his sleigh dropping presents down all the chimneys in the world. They started at the North pole. In which direction did they go?
 (1 point)

Ans: South. If you are at the north pole this is the only direction available.

3. What can you catch but never throw? (1 point)

Ans: A cold but I have also allowed 'your breath'.

4. Artemis gazed around at the beautiful wintry scene below her. Then turned to Hades and said ‘ I love Pine trees but they are just so bad at knitting. Do you know why that is?’ (1 point)

Ans: They are bad at knitting because they keep dropping their needles. Here the point is to relate the problem to the needles so any variation of that works.

5. I fall from the sky. I am beautiful. I am unique . What am I? (1 point)

Ans: Since I am unique anything that falls from the sky that fits this works. Snowflake was the ans I was looking for but I did accept lightening and rainbow in the spirit of christmas - i think this is generous since they don't really fall!

6. I have made an appearance in Andros but I spend most of my time at the north pole. Who am I? (2 points)

Ans: Grepo Christmas Elf. You get 2 points if you said exactly this. Elf/Christmas Elf gets only 1. While we are talking about the elf someone conquered him! He says he is not going back there! Do they want coal for Christmas!

7. Theseus climbed the steps to his turret and entered his private bathing room. The room was made of stone with no windows. As he closed the wooden door he heard the outer latch click shut. He turned on the taps and let the bath run full planning to work out his escape while he bathed. However, when he tried to turn the taps off neither worked. Assuming the room is watertight how will Theseus avoid drowning? (2 points)

Ans: You pull the plug. A lot of detailed answers to that one. You get a bonus point if you mention Poseidon since this is Grepolis.

8. Hades decided he needed to build up a few muscles in preparation for the Christmas party. After all he likes to impress Persephone. He picked up his bar and added a 25 pound weight, a 10 pound weight and 3 2 pound weights on each end. How much did he lift altogether? (1 point)

Ans: 82 lb plus the weight of the bar. 25, 10 and 6 (3 x 2) = 41 on each end. You have to say 82 plus the wight of the bar to get the point.

9. Christmas is made of the English alphabet but is still different from the English alphabet. How is that? (1 point)

Ans: There is No L (Noel)

10. Young Hera is afraid of monsters hiding under her bed. She usually runs from the door to her bed as fast as she can to avoid the monsters catching her. The door, and the bedroom light (a candle) are 12 feet from the bed. She manages to blow out the candle and jump into bed before the room is dark. Assuming that the candle is beside the door and does not move how did she do this? (2 points)

Ans: It is still daylight.

11. Athena is carrying a santa sack full of presents. Ares is carrying 3 santa sacks the same size as Athena’s but Ares load is lighter. How can this be?
 (1 point)

Ans: Ares sacks are empty (or the presents do not weigh as much).

12. Zeus held a wine goblet that was filled to the brim. He raised the goblet in a toast to Santa and then let it drop to the floor without spilling a single drop of wine. How could Zeus drop the goblet from 5 feet up without spilling any wine? (2 points)

Ans: The goblet was filled with water so there was no wine to spill. It was suggested he drank the wine and I gave the points for that. He did raise a toast so he could have drunk it.

13. How many times do the hour and the minute hand cross each other in a 12 hour period? (Start at 12.00 noon and count that once)

 (2 points)

Ans: 11. Hands overlap at 12.00 then roughly at 1:05, 2:10, 3:15, 4:20, 5:25, 6:30, 7:35, 8:40, 9:45, 10:50. They never overlap at 11.55 because the hand is moving to the 12 which has already been counted.

14. How many of each species did Moses take into the Arc? (1 point)

Ans: 0. It was Noah's arc.

15. King Croesus has placed 99 sacks of fake gold coins in his cave with just one genuine sack of gold. All the sacks contain equal numbers of coins. Fake gold coins weigh 1 oz and the real coins weigh 1.01 oz. There is a set of scales in the cave but they can only be used once. How can you work out which sack contains the real gold? (3 points).

Ans: You can only use the scales once. Number all the sacks 1-100 then take from the sacks gold coins equal to the number on the sack. So 1 coin from sack 1, 2 from sack 2 and so on. You know that the fake coins weigh 1oz and if all 100 of the sacks were fake this would make a total weight of 5050. However since the real coins weigh 1.01 then the weight will be 5050.01 if the real gold is sack 1, 5050.02 if the real gold is sack 2 and so on. Here you get 2 for the correct ans and an extra 1 for the working out of the calculation. If the calculation was wrong then you do not get the extra point.
 
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Hydna

Grepolis Team
I've marked this carefully but if anyone disagrees please message me and I can check again.

We have 3 clear winners here

Joint 1st @Neesey5150 and @Dooooom2 - 900 gold each (both 21 points)
3rd @Sputnicker with 20 points 700 gold.

Very well done to all participants. I will get the points added to the accumulator.
 
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