Brain Games: Try These 3 Puzzles

BRAIN GAMES

Puzzles

BY STANLEY NEWMAN

Illustration of a farm with a barn, a farmer and several farm animals around

think

SAY THAT AGAIN

What three-letter verb for something many farmers do is also, when pronounced differently, a noun for an animal found on many farms?

WORDPLAY

UPON REFLECTION

The letters shown to the right are the only ones that look the same when viewed in a mirror, as does MAMMOTH, as shown. What seven-letter preposition ending with T, when written vertically in all caps, also matches its mirror image?

Illustration of a mirror with the word MAMMOTH written in it next to an illustration of a mirror with the letters AHIMOTUVWXY

NUMBER FUN

SUM THING MISSING

Enter each one of the six missing digits from 0 to 9 exactly once, in each of the six blank spaces, to get a correct sum.

Illustration of an arithmetic addition puzzle. The top row is 7 followed by two blank spaces. The row below is a blank space followed by 5 and 3. The bottom row is two blank spaces followed by a 0, followed by a blank space again. The puzzle is to find all the blank spaces.

AARP.ORG/BRAINHEALTH Resources, tips and up-to-date news on dementia and cognitive health

PUZZLE SOLUTIONS

SAY THAT AGAIN SOW
UPON REFLECTION WITHOUT
SUM THING MISSING The first digit of the sum must be 1 because two numbers each less than 1,000 add up to less than 2,000. The only way to get 0 in the tens column of the sum is to have a 4 above the 5 and carry a 1 from the ones column. In the ones column, the only valid way to use the remaining numbers so that the sum in that column is at least 10 is to place the 9 above the 3 and the 2 below it. The 8 and 6 go in the remaining spots.

Illustrations by Sam Island

Unlock Access to AARP Members Edition

Join AARP to Continue

Already a Member? Login