Give yourself a cerebral workout with
How Big Is Your Brain?

By Ian Livingstone and Jamie Thomson

(Answers are after the last question)
 

200
Area Art I

Start the clock!

Which shape has:

1. The largest area.
2. The smallest area.

(And you’re not supposed to use a ruler or other device!)

 

50
Doodlebugs
 

Start the clock!

Here’s a row of doodles. What comes next?

Choose from the numbered doodles below.

199
Rebus Puzzles III
 

Start the clock!

Try to guess the well-known phrase or word from the pictures.

 

*205*
A Gallery of Memories V

You have two minutes to memorize the items below, and when the time is up, you must then write down on a piece of paper as many of the things as you can remember.

Start the clock!

350
Dracula’s Combination
 

Start the clock!

Count Dracula has trouble remembering all the numbers he needs in the modern world, what with PIN numbers, account numbers, security numbers, national insurance numbers and so on. After all, he is over 450 years old, and his memory is fading! To remember the four-figure combination of his safe, he uses his birth date – 28 12 1632.

What is the combination?
 

56
Magic Triangle
 

Start the clock!

You have six numbers: 3, 5, 7, 9, 11 and 13. You must place them in the triangle in such a way that the three numbers on each side add up to 25.
 

202
Key to Atlantis

Start the clock!
 

Dr Lara Flynn, combat archaeologist and plunderer of tombs, has found a grid of buttons guarding the entrance to the long lost city of Atlantis. One button will open the gates – any other button will lead to instant death! Dr Flynn has a clue though, written on an old piece of parchment.

It is in a row or column with a red triangle.
It has a circle one square above it.
It is not next to a green triangle.
It is not next to a blue square.
 

409
Alchemists Jars

Start the clock!

An Alchemist has arranged his potions and elixirs in such a way that each shelf contains a total of nine litres, contained in three types of jar – small, medium and large. How many litres does each jar type contain?

Answers

• Answer to 200:
  Black has the largest area, and light blue has the smallest area.

• Answer to 50:
  The correct answer is number 4. Each doodle has a number of line endings (i.e. the square has no line endings, the second symbol has two, and so on). The sequence simply goes with an extra line ending every time, so the right answer is the next doodle with seven endings, which is doodle number 4.

• Answers to 199:
  Blueberry Pie, the Black Sea, Red in the Face, Grey around the Gills, Blue-eyed Boy, Brownie Points, White Noise, Between the Devil and the Deep Blue Sea.

• Here’s a list of the pictures from 205:
  Cat, Flag, Bomb, Cross,
  Hand, Boat, Arrow, Leaf,
  Teddy Bear, Five, Pirate, Cup and saucer,
  Unhappy face, Star, Man, Bicycle,
  Knife and fork and plate, Tent, Plane, Stag,
  Anchor, Sun, Police car, Flower.
  
  Score yourself one point for every one you remembered (they don’t have to be word perfect – for instance, if you wrote down ‘crucifix’ and we had it as cross that’s fine, you still score a point).

• Answer to 350:
  It’s simple – he just divides each pair of numbers by 4 to get 7.3.4.8. The trick is to realize that no number can be higher than 8, as shown on the lock illustration.

•  Answer to 56:
  This is one solution – you might have come to the same result slightly differently, but that’s OK – score yourself normally.
   

• Answer to 202:
  The blue circle in column 2, row 4 is the right one to push! If you got it wrong, you score nothing, and poor old Dr Flynn dies a horrible death!
   

• Answer to 409:
  Small = 5/8 of a litre, medium = 1¼ litres, large = 2¾ litres.
   

How Big Is Your Brain?
By Ian Livingstone and Jamie Thomson

Published 2007 by Icon Books
Price: £7.99

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