A bag contains 64 balls of eight different colours. There are eight of each colour (including red). What is the least number you would have to pick, without looking, to be sure of selecting 3 red balls?
In Greek mythology, the Sphinx sat outside of Thebes and asked this riddle of all travellers who passed by. If the traveller failed to solve the riddle, then the Sphinx killed him/her. And if the traveller answered the riddle correctly, then the Sphinx would destroy herself. The riddle:
What goes on four legs in the morning, on two legs at noon, and on three legs in the evening?
Oedipus solved the riddle, and the Sphinx destroyed herself.
The day before the 1996 U.S. presidential election, the NYT Crossword contained the clue “Lead story in tomorrow’s newspaper,” the puzzle was built so that both electoral outcomes were correct answers, requiring 7 other clues to have dual responses.
