Puzzles from Doc

Doc often gave the Young Rangers brain twisters, obviously trying to develop their lateral thinking skills.  I think this was all part of his plan for them.  I've recorded as many of them as I can here, as they seem to be original with Doc -- some are similar to others I've heard but never identical.  Of course their love of puzzles continued through life and they found or created many more on their own.

Buck's Knights and Knaves
Buck was a real yarn-spinner and was always fascinated by trying to determine what someone else could or could not prove from the information provided.  Often his favorite puzzles involved Knights, who always told the truth, and Knaves, who always, always lied.  All questions are to be answered with a simple yes or no.

What one question can you ask to determine if a single guard is a Knight or Knave?

Given a Knight and a Knave, guarding two paths, one to danger and one to safety, what one question can you ask one of the guards to determine which path to take?  The guards know which path is safe, but you don't know which guard is on which path.

Alice's Philosophical Gems
Alice, with an affinity for oriental perspectives, was always intrigued by the unanswerable questions in life.

If a tree falls in the woods when no one is there to hear it, does it make a sound?

What color is the inside of a watermelon before it is cut open?

How far into the woods can a dog run?

Where exactly is the TOP of the world, and which way is UP?

Is the glass half full, half empty, or the wrong size?

What might go wrong with Murphy's Law?

Tony's Physical Puzzles
Tony, the mechanic of the group, loves purely physical puzzles that stretch your perception of space, like the bent wire puzzles, or 3-D wooden jigsaws with slides and dovetails.  He finds the shamanistic point of view of his grandmother too difficult and confusing.  Here are a few of his puzzles can be done with common items.

Place four pennies on the table so that they all touch each other (but not necessarily the table).  Can you do 5?  6?

Take 7 standard flat-head nails, about 3-4 inches long, and a block of wood.  Make a loose hole in the wood by driving one nail in just 1/4 inch and working it loose with your fingers, then put it back.  Now, balance the remaining 6 nails on the head of the first one, which is standing up loosely in the hole.

Given a steel pipe set vertically in concrete, just large enough to accept a ping-pong ball (oops), how can you get the ping-pong ball back out, without special tools - just things you are sure to have with you every day?

Harold's Chess Games and Puzzles
Harold was president of the Blarneywood Chess club, in part because nobody could beat him and he drove most of his potential opponents away.  He ended up playing himself and devising puzzles to work out.

Arrange 8 queens on a chessboard such that none of them are threatened by another queen. (A5, B3, C1, D7, E2, F8, G6, H4)

Moria Chess - a collection of chess variants in which the "Fellowship Player" moves a group of pieces that enter one edge then move across one chess board onto a second adjoining board.  Ringbearer=King, Wizard=Queen, Man=Knight, Elf=Bishop, Dwarf=Rook, Hobbit=Pawn.  Pieces may "capture" friendly pieces, resulting in them simply switching places.

Free Form Solitaire Version - how many moves with your choice of pieces (including a Ringbearer) to get all onto board two.  Best solution is 4 moves.

Classic Solitaire Version - using the 9 pieces of the traditional Fellowship (3 pawn, 2 knights, rook, bishop, king, queen), get all onto board two.  Best solution unknown.

Race - Two fellowship players race each other across a succession of boards.  When all of one color is on board two, board one is removed, along with any pieces it still contains (they fell behind), and it becomes board three, and so forth.  Each party consists of only those pieces from a standard chess set that they can enter on board 1 before it is gone, and must include a Ringbearer.  Opposing team is considered "friendly" in that captures result only in trading places.  The first player to lose their Ringbearer, when a board is removed, loses.

Contested - (one or two fellowship players) - a number of monsters, blocking walls, and magical items and equipment are placed on board 2 etc. - face down.  They are activated and turned face up when any piece moves adjacent to them (even in passing).  The monsters all have made-up moves (goblins are like pawns with no "forward" and orcs may move diagonal, capture straight, and so forth.  Trolls for instance move in a series of hops like giant footsteps).  Monsters are considered hostile and captures result in elimination of a piece.  I understand the mix of pieces was added to constantly, with the usual mixture 1/4 each of weak monsters (orcs and goblins), strong monsters, walls, and magical items.  Usually only enough are placed to cover the black squares on each new board, which continues on each new board until the pool of pieces (which Harold added to over time) ran out.  The set I saw used squares cut from foam board the same size as the chess board squares.

Nadine's Money Puzzles
Nadine likes to keep a cool head in tense moments, particularly when money is involved.  Puzzles that require clear thinking are her favorites.

Two men check in at the hotel, each giving $100 to the concierge.  On the way up the elevator with the bellhop, they meet an old friend, who they invite to stay in the same room with them.  He agrees, and gives an additional $100 to the bellhop, to take down to the concierge.  The concierge says that for three in one room he can't charge full price, so he gives the bellhop five $10 bills to return and distribute equally to the three men.  Now, 5 doesn't go around evenly to 3 people and the bellhop, feeling he needed a better tip anyway, returned $10 to each man and pocketed the remaining $20.  So each man ended up paying $90, which is $270, and with the $20 pocketed by the bellhop makes $290.  What happened to the other $10?

It's New York City and you're driving a taxi.  The first passenger pays $32 in cash.  The second passenger charges $45 on a credit card.  The third passenger pays with a $50 bill but gets $12 back in change.  The fourth passenger pays $37 but accidentally drops a $10 bill on the floor of the cab.  The fifth passenger had to give an IOU for $52 while the sixth passenger pulled out a gun and took all the cash.  The driver, really mad, gets out of the cab and goes into the police station to report the robbery.  At this point, what color are the driver's eyes?  You should know from this information.