BRAIN TEASERS

You need to think to answer these questions. (e.g., What do the four words have in common: Irish, master, rouse, violent? Answer: Removing one letter gives the name of a flower: iris, aster, rose, violet.)

Freshman level

1. The sum of what three consecutive numbers is 99?

2. What five-letter word is spelled out by the four Roman numerals 6, 5, 1, 500?

3. Divide 6 by 1/2.

Graduate level

4. What do the three words have in common: beagle, brook, stern?

5. What four-letter word can mean both “speedy” and “fixed firmly in place”?

6. Complete the two words by inserting the same three letters in each: co _ _ _ ne, s _ _ _ an

Ph.D. level

7. Provide a proverb that seems to contradict the proverb “You’re never too old to learn.”

8. What is special about the words “facetiously” and “abstemiously”?

Answers: 1. 32, 33, 34. 2. VIVID. 3. Twelve. 4. Removing the first letter gives the name of a bird: eagle, rook, tern. 5. Fast. 6. Cologne, slogan (log). 7. You can’t teach an old dog new tricks. 8. Contain the vowels a, e, i, o and u plus y in alphabetical order.

— North America Syndicate