An octopus has 8 legs. A hippogriff has 6 legs and 2 pairs of wings. A sphinx has 6 legs and one pair of wings. Now we have all 3 kinds and a total of 18 insects in a cage. We have a total of 118 legs and 20 pairs of wings. How many insects do we have of each kind?

Peter wakes up daily to pick up his cycle and crosses the border between Spain and France daily with a bag on his shoulder. He is investigated daily by the officials but they don't find anything suspicious.

If we tell you that he is smuggling something what would it be?

Your job is to measure 45 minutes if you have only two cords and matches to light the cords.

1. The two cords are twisted from various materials, so their different segments can burn at different rates.
2. Each cord burns from end to end in exactly one hour.

Describe your way of measuring the 45 minutes.

The sum of a mother, her baby and her dog's weight is 170 Kg. How much does the baby weigh if the mother weighs 100 kg more than the combined weight of the baby and the dog, and the dog weighs 60 per cent less than the baby?

Pronounced as one letter,
And written with three,
Two letters there are,
And two only in me.
I am double, I am single,
I am black blue and grey,
I am read from both ends,
And the same either way.

John speaks the truth only once a day in a week. Below are a few hints for you:

First: Days are Sunday, Monday and so on.
Second: One day he says, "I lie on Monday and Tuesday".
Third: On the next day, he says, "Today is either Thursday, Saturday or Sunday".
Fourth: On the next day, he says, "I lie on Wednesday and Friday".

Can you identify the day on which he speaks the truth?

Can anyone tell me a word in the English dictionary which has a silent 'z'?

Three men in a cafe order a meal the total cost of which is $15. They each contribute $5. The waiter takes the money to the chef who recognises the three as friends and asks the waiter to return $5 to the men.

The waiter is not only poor at mathematics but dishonest and instead of going to the trouble of splitting the $5 between the three he simply gives them $1 each and pockets the remaining $2 for himself.

Now, each of the men effectively paid $4, the total paid is therefore $12. Add the $2 in the waiters pocket and this comes to $14. Where has the other $1 gone from the original $15?

The following alphametic has only one solution. Can you find it?
ENLIST + SILENT + LISTEN = ANAGRAM

PS: You may start the number from 0.

Suppose that you are trapped on the surface of a frozen lake. The surface is so smooth and ideal that there is no friction at all. You cant make any grip on the ice and no wind is blowing to help you out. You have just a mobile phone with you which has got no reception disabling you to call for help.

How will you plan your escape before you freeze to death on the frozen lake?