Hi guzzlers,

I have a different type of puzzle for you today: three riddles suggested by Adam Rubin, a magician, bestselling-writer and puzzle designer. Read the following stories and answer the questions.

1. A retired professional wrestler boards a crowded train in Chicago when a young man stands up to offer his seat. The wrestler is not injured and is only 36 years old. All week, riders on the train offer to give up their seat so that the famous wrestler can sit down instead. Why do people keep offering their seat to this muscular former athlete?

2. Penelope works at the Clocktower Lodge at the top of a mountain ski resort. Early one morning, she arrives at the lodge to discover that someone forgot to wind the clock, and it has stopped running. The eponymous clocktower is the only way to tell time on the top of the mountain and no one else is due to arrive at the lodge for several hours. So, Penelope hops on the chairlift, rides down to the bottom of the mountain, notes the correct time and then rides the chairlift back up to the lodge. If Penelope has no way of telling time while traveling up and down the mountain, how can she be sure to set the clock correctly upon returning to the lodge?

3. One day, Harold cleans out a large glass pickle jar, places it on his desk and drops in a few coins. He decides that each day, he will dump his loose change into the jar and that once the jar is full, he will treat himself to a fancy steak dinner. Three months later, a blind man named Richard visits Harold’s office for the first time. Harold tells Richard about the coin jar he keeps on his desk. The blind man carefully picks up the jar, shakes it once and names the exact amount of change in the jar. “Incredible!” exclaims Harold. He shakes the blind man’s hand and invites him to join him for a steak dinner once the jar is completely full of coins. About how long will it be until then?

You may have heard some of these riddles in other guises, but they have been rebooted here by Adam Rubin, who, as well as penning bestselling children’s books and working behind the scenes for magicians David Blaine and Derek DelGaudio, curates and designs mechanical novelties, optical illusions and impossible objects for the luxury online retailer Art of Play. These puzzles may be oldies, but they are goodies!

I’ve known Adam for years and we have often discussed how magic relates to puzzles. What I like about today’s puzzles is that even though the answers are not difficult – they are hiding in plain sight - you’d be surprised how many people struggle to find them. Magicians will also often present things to you in such a way that you don’t see what is right in front of you.

Adam sees the relationship between magic and puzzles a bit differently: “For me, really good magic tricks and really good puzzles both inspire epiphany—that precious pop of mental clarity. With a puzzle, the epiphany comes when you discover the only possible solution. With a magic trick, the epiphany comes at the moment you realize there is no possible solution.”

I’ll be back with the solutions at 5pm BST today.



***PLEASE NO SPOILERS*** Discuss the link between puzzles and magic instead.

My latest book Visions of Numberland: A Colouring Journey Through the Mysteries of Maths, co-written with the mathematical artist Edmund Harriss, is out this week. It contains a gallery of images from maths, with explanations, to colour in or just contemplate in black and white.

I set a puzzle here every two weeks on a Monday. Send me your email if you want me to alert you each time I post a new one.

I’m always on the look-out for great puzzles. If you would like to suggest one, email me.