A Piece of Cake

Did you bake a cake for a New Year party? Or bought a fancy cake and stored it in the refrigerator to reveal just after midnight for a sweet new year. Imagine that you take the cake plate out and one piece is missing. Help find this piece. You may want to print this puzzle out to look closer.

Your answers accepted any time until midnight on Sunday on our Family Puzzle Marathon. They will be hidden till then and everyone who submitted something reasonable will get a puzzle point.

A Pizza Puzzle

Summer is the time of picnics, various camps, late sport activities, music in the park, take out dinners and of course... pizza.  In our Pizza Palace a Large pizza costs 1.5 as much as a Small pizza. And, the diameter of a Large pizza is 1.5 times than that of a Small pizza. Is it a better deal to buy three Small pizzas, two Large or the same?

Your answers are accepted any time until midnight Eastern Time on Sunday, on our Family Puzzle Marathon.

Pizza image from cali.org distributed under CCL.     

Pastry Dilemma

I was buying birthday pastry this week and saw that the 11" x 3" lemon pie is $24 while the 4" diameter round version of this pie is $10. And you know what is the best part of those pies? The buttery crust perimeter that is touching the delicious tart lemon filling and heavenly soft meringue.  If you want to spend $50 on the pies and would like to have the maximum perimeter-to-cake size ratio, what pies should you pick?

Your answers are accepted any time until midnight Eastern Time on Sunday, on our Family Puzzle Marathon.

Supermarket Math

In it really nice to see credit cards coming up with interesting ideas to earn our loyalty and lure us to spend. An unusual  offer came this week from one of the Food Store Credit Card companies.  I can choose 10 products from this food chain (that I shop in regularly) and when paying by this credit card I will always receive a 5% discount on each of these products. No need to stock up the basement or attic, the offer is valid forever. Caviar and alcohol are not included in the list.

My first thought was - diapers - definitely one of the most expensive items in my shopping cart. But then I had my doubts (perhaps organic milk or eggs cost me more over a year, in 3 years I wont need diapers any more) and decided to turn this into a puzzle.
What 10 products would you choose and how?

Your answers are accepted any time until midnight Eastern Time on Sunday, on our Family Puzzle Marathon.

Shopping cart icon by Simon Adriaensen, distributed under CCL.

A 9-minute steak

This is a famous tricky puzzle wrapped in a new story.

You are a cook in a restaurant. A regular picky customer orders a steak that should be done in exactly 9 minutes. How can you measure these 9 minutes if the only precise clocks you have are a four minute hourglass, and a seven minute hourglass?

Top image by kamums, distributed under CCL.

Your thoughts and ideas accepted any time until midnight on Sunday Janury 8th(EST), on our Family Puzzle Marathon. They will be hidden till then and everyone who submitted something reasonable will get a puzzle point.

Chipotle Math

A friend who is living abroad told us that what he misses most about the US is Chipotle Mexican food. Curiously, we checked out the new branch that recently opened in our neighborhood and quickly became hooked. It seems very simple: tortilla or taco and a few basic but delicious ingredients:

But the combination of flavors, the freshness of ingredients, the spectrum of spiciness that you can choose from, and just the right proportions of everything make it a special comfort meal.

We noticed that there is claim on some of Chipotle paper cups and wrapping paper that "there are 60-some-thousand flavor combinations." 60,000 is quite a large number. Do you think it is really possible with all these ingredients pictured above?

Answers accepted all day long on Friday April 15th and Saturday April 16th, on our Family Puzzle Marathon. They will be hidden until Sunday morning (EST) and everyone who solved it will get a puzzle point. Please, explain your answer.

Cookies and Milk

This puzzle comes with a prize! First person to submit a correct solution will get a Mastermind game from the Pressman Toys. To read about the history of the Mastermind game, click here.

The new school principal thought she'd get the children to drink the milk at recess more cheerfully by offering cookies with it. She ordered a box of cookies delivered to school daily. A lot of children had cold and were out on different days. One day the principal noted that if there were five fewer children the next day, each kid would get two more cookies. However, the absentee list was low the next day, and she had four more children instead of five fewer. As a result each child received one cookie less than the day before. How many cookies did the children get the second day?

This puzzle is from the "The Mensa Genius Quiz-a-day book" and every ordinary genius like you can solve it.

Image above is by michelleTNS distributed under CCL.

Answers accepted all day long on Friday, on our Family Puzzle Marathon. They will be hidden until Saturday morning (EST) and everyone who contributed something reasonable will get a puzzle point. Please, explain your answer.

Help Create The Restaurant Menu

This puzzle is dedicated to our most recent 10-puzzle-points winners: Donna, Dennis, and Katrina.

Katrina and Dennis, who happen to be a husband and wife, decided to lease the popular spot no longer occupied by the Hollywood video and open a restaurant. But what is a restaurant without a top chef? They lured in a rising Food Channel star - chef Donna. Smart and creative as usual, they decided on a restaurant gimmick - college students employees will help your kids do homework while you can enjoy the food, wine and an uninterrupted conversation.



The DDK Family Restaurant has been open for only a year and already got the prestigious Best Afterschool and Less is More awards. The local news channel did a poll of the restaurant visitors and found that 70% had their own single favorite among the 10 amazing dishes Donna created and always came back for it. The remaining 30% percent wished there would be some new entries every time they come - something that Dennis and Katrina didn't offer so far. Dennis and Katrina invited Donna for a brainstorming session to interpret the results of this poll and see how they can make their customers even happier. Donna said that she can not offer more than 10 choices each day. Can you help them figure out how frequently and how many items on the menu they should vary?

Answers accepted all day long on Friday, on our Family Puzzle Marathon. They will be hidden until Saturday morning (EST) and everyone who contributed something reasonable will get a puzzle point. If you feel some information is missing - make any assumptions you want, just state them specifically.

Last One Is A Rotten Egg

Real life puzzle today. You buy a dozen eggs, you use them to cook. Noticing that just a few are left, you buy a dozen more. You fill up all the empty egg spots in your refrigerator, then refill and buy more as necessary. How do you make sure that your egg queue is not violated and that those purchased first are being used before those purchased last? That no eggs stays for too long. That the last egg you pick from the corner of your refrigerator's egg tray in not the rotten one.




Ideas accepted all day long on Friday, on our Family Puzzle Marathon. They will be hidden until Saturday morning (EST) and everyone who shares egg wisdom will get a puzzle point.

Bullfight in Barcelona

This puzzle is rated PG-13 and touches a controversial issue.
We all heard about the Spanish tradition of bull fighting and have suspected it is still being practiced somewhere around the globe. Have you ever assumed you would witness one yourself?
Walking around Barcelona, my husband and I came to an intriguing castle that turned out to be Plaza de Toros Monumental, a bull fighting arena. We were fascinated to learn that it so happens that a rare bull fighting show is being held on the evening of the same day. Now, we strictly oppose animal cruelty. I stopped buying any leather or fur coats many years ago. My husband attempted vegetarianism but eventually we put a line at eating meat only once a week. Still, watching Corrida - Spanish bull fighting show - looked like once-in-a-lifetime-experience. It would happen with or without us. So, perhaps it is worth experiencing it. We bought the tickets, changed our plans and ambivalent about our actions, arrived to Plaza De Toros at 7.30pm.
It was a show: well-staged, acted, but disgusting and morally terrifying. In an hour during which our curiosity overstretched our guts, we saw four bulls masterfully killed right in front of our eyes. One was given a "parole" by the cheering crowd and the Presidente who looked like Don Corleone presiding over the show. I assume that at least two more bulls were killed after we left before the show was over. Six total.
I won't share the barbaric details of the process. It seems like this tradition is going away in Catalonia and perhaps in the rest of Spain. By observing it once most will alter their perception of Carmen's toreador and remove the imaginary veil of romanticism and heroism from bull fighting.
Apparently half of the meat from the killed bulls is donated to the poor and the rest is being sold to the restaurants around the town. Among the guilty nightmarish thoughts that occurred to me after the show was: what are the chances that we'll be eating meat from one of these six bulls served for dinner tomorrow? According to a recent survey, there are around 11,000 restaurants, bars and cafes in Barcelona. Say, each bull weights around 1,000 pounds. Assume that each meat portion is around half a pound. Dare to answer?

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Fair Cake Split Among Three

If you are a lawyer or you have more than one kid, most certainly you are used to "This is not fair!" statements. "Not fair - he got more dessert," "No fair - why should I do chores if she is enjoying life?" etc etc. Imagine that you have something, like a yummy looking chocolate cake or a pile of chocolate sprinkles, that you need to divide among competing parties while minimizing "not fair" statements. When you have two competing parties - two kids - the solution is well-known. You offer one of them to divide the cake into two parts, and then the other one should pick her/his part first. Now, imagine you have three competing parties. Can you think of a creative strategy to help these parties divide their treasure, so that "no fair" screams will be minimized.

Image via Flickr by terren.
Submit your answer on our Family Puzzle Marathon Be first to solve three puzzles and get a prize! One puzzle per week, please.

Matzo Balls Puzzle

Who doesn't love chicken soup? How about a special but rare treat of chicken soup with Matzo balls? During the recent Passover celebration my kids were helping me to roll these balls from the Manischewitz Ball Mix. According to the package directions, it was enough to make around 10 balls of diameter 1". We had two packs and I realized that it is not going to be enough as kids wanted to have more than two for everyone. We decided to make the Matzo balls smaller, with 0.5" diameter. Can you help me to estimate how many balls we will end up having?

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Hot Pink Gum Balls

My kids hate shopping. It means that they need to be bribed whenever we pass near a store I need to check. Last week, when visiting Marshall's, I gave in when my daughter eyed a Gumball machine. There were five colors of gum balls inside: blue, red, white, green and hot pink. Ten balls of each color, mixed well. I saw her wishing for hot pink with her tight closed fists... and remembered our last week socks' puzzle. Except that now the question is, how many gum balls do we need to get in order to be absolutely positively sure that one of them is hot pink.

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All This Fat

How much fat do you consume when you drink a glass of 2% milk and eat a fat free toasted English muffin with a piece (25 gram) of 91% fat free cheese? What if you choose a fat free milk but go for a bite of your favorite 30% fat Brie?

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Toblerone Math

Your friend looooves Toblerone chocolate and you decide to surprise her with a few of them for her birthday. How many you should buy and what is the best way of packing them to make sure they arrive without breaking apart and you use minimal wrapping materials?


This puzzle may have many creative solutions.

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Cake Violation

Someone in your apartment tasted the chocolate cake that you baked earlier and have been saving for after the dinner. Even more horrifying, the fork was left on the cake's plate inside the refrigerator. Questioning of all the inhabitants was not very helpful. Your son said, "I'm innocent - and so is dad." His sister said, "The grandpa did it, and my brother is innocent." Grandpa said, "I'm innocent, one of the kids did it as usual." Husband said, "I didn't do it and my daughter stayed in her room all the evening."

Who should not be getting the cake after dinner?

Read the answers or add your own on our Family Puzzle Marathon page. Be first to solve three puzzles and you will get a prize!

Heavenly Madeleines

We have recently discovered the angelical taste of Madeleine cookies, especially when consumed with a cup of morning coffee. And we quickly became Madeleine junkies. In fact, busy as we are with work and kids, we find ourselves driving all the way to Costco to snap a box of heavenly Madeleines.

I know very well that we are not alone.
French novelists, Marcel Proust, wrote hundred years ago in Remembrance of Things Past:

She sent out for one of those short, plump little cakes called petites madeleines, which look as though they had been moulded in the fluted scallop of a pilgrim's shell. And soon, mechanically, weary after a dull day with the prospect of a depressing morrow, I raised to my lips a spoonful of the tea in which I had soaked a morsel of the cake. No sooner had the warm liquid, and the crumbs with it, touched my palate than a shudder ran through my whole body, and I stopped, intent upon the extraordinary changes that were taking place…at once the vicissitudes of life had become indifferent to me, its disasters innocuous, its brevity illusory…

Alert to the shell-like shape of the cookies, I recently discovered that they are also sold by our local supermarket: a box of 10oz is $4.99. Costco is way cheaper: a large box of 21oz is $5.99, but the store is 20mins away. I would say that I value the time and gas spent on driving to Costco as $50 more that driving and shopping at the local store. How many Madeline boxes do I need to buy at Costco to make a trip there more cost effective than a quick stop at the local supermarket?

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Disposable Utensils: how many to buy?

Every time I organize a rather large party and decide to use disposable utensils, I am at loss how many plates, spoons, forks, knives, napkins and cups to buy. Two per person may be a very approximate guess. But we all know that there is more to it: there are usually many more knives left that forks, most of us will re-use their plate for another round of helpings but will not re-use the same glass for another drink. Running out of utensils may be a disaster for a party, buying too much is unnecessary expense and may mean another box for your already full storage closet. What is the smart party planning math you are using personally or professionally?

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How to Fit the Cake on a Plate

You promised to bake a cake for your friend's birthday. The problem is that the only baking tray you have is 30" by 10", but the fancy plate you have been planning to present you cake on is round, with a diameter of 29". What is the best solution, if you would like to make the largest cake possible and to present it in a most elegant way?

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The Missing Rum Puzzle

On the bad ship Naughty Nellie, five of the crew had been ordered to stand on desk in a line. Someone had drunk the captain's rum and the culprit was one of the five crewmen. Captain Crutch appeared and hobbled up and down the line.
"I can smell the rum on your breath, matey!" he said to the man in the middle. Big Bob was standing next to and on the right of either Cruel Colin or Evil Eddie, and Dirty Dog was two places from Awful Andrew. Exactly three consecutive places were in alphabetical order. Who had drunk the rum?

(this puzzle is from a great "Brain Busters!" book by Barry R. Clarke)

Please explain your answer on our Family Puzzle Marathon site. Solve three puzzles and get a prize!