Brain Teasers
Mind Reading
Two old friends, Fred and Ted, had managed to work a party piece that no one could figure out. Fred would go out of the room, and Ted would invite the guests to select an item. They were then asked to continue to think of it so that Fred could read their minds. Fred would be blindfolded so that there could be no possibility of visual clues. Ted would then start to ask Fred questions:
On one occasion Ted asked:
"Did we think of the word sock?"
"Absolutely not." replied Fred.
"Well, was it an ashtray?"
"No."
"OK, is it the word plate?"
Again the answer was negative.
"So, are we thinking of the word china?"
"No." replied Fred.
"Are we thinking of the word carpet?"
"No," replied Fred, " the word you are thinking of is chair."
Everyone gasped. He was right.
How did Fred and Ted work their party piece?
On one occasion Ted asked:
"Did we think of the word sock?"
"Absolutely not." replied Fred.
"Well, was it an ashtray?"
"No."
"OK, is it the word plate?"
Again the answer was negative.
"So, are we thinking of the word china?"
"No." replied Fred.
"Are we thinking of the word carpet?"
"No," replied Fred, " the word you are thinking of is chair."
Everyone gasped. He was right.
How did Fred and Ted work their party piece?
Hint
It isn't down to mind reading so it must be some kind of trick, you can count on that.Answer
It is simply the third letter of each item selected spells the answer.soCk
asHtray
plAte
chIna
caRpet
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Comments
Great teaser, I got it though
cool teaser i love it!!!
whatever
Question 1: If it was too easy, why did you need to look at the hint?
Question 2: If the hint was useless, does that indicate that you did you not understand the ‘you can count..’ part of the hint to indicate a need to ‘count’ to solve this?
Question 2: If the hint was useless, does that indicate that you did you not understand the ‘you can count..’ part of the hint to indicate a need to ‘count’ to solve this?
I know this comment is way after the fact, but does platinum ever have anything nice to say. Dumbell, if you read these again don't sweat him or her. Platinum would have been one of the people at the party you could have toyed with for hours with that piece.
It was too easy next time try something a lil harder
If you check the site you will find that I have submitted a number of teaser, with a wide range of levels, from quite simple for the younger members, to more complex for the more advanced.
This is a family site and as such should cater for all abilities and age ranges.
This is a family site and as such should cater for all abilities and age ranges.
Couldn't have put it better myself.
Can you guess what I'm thinking of?
Cool teaser!
Mine was lame
Cool teaser!
Mine was lame
Once you got the hint, it was sorta easy if u thought about it. but its a really cool teaser!
Great comment, dumbell! Since the hint used the word, "count", I thought answer was Fred counted and prearranged to agree to the 6th question!
what if they chose different objects????
i read the comments.i agree i thought it was easy,but clever.i got a grin out of it
That was a good one. I like those kind. Good job!
that was a good one!
That was a good one! It took me awhile.
OOOOOH, clever Can't wait to post mine
I liked this one.
It's very similar to a game we played at a camping trip I took in College. Reading about it and trying to figrue out how they did was almost as fun as being there and playing
It's very similar to a game we played at a camping trip I took in College. Reading about it and trying to figrue out how they did was almost as fun as being there and playing
very interesting i must say
but it was also very strange about the third letter
i think i am going to add it to one of my favourites
but it was also very strange about the third letter
i think i am going to add it to one of my favourites
That was great! !
CCOOOOLL
CCOOOOLL
Good Teaser. It reminded me of a game me and my friend used to play in High school. It would have really good if you would have just left it as, "What was the group thinking of?
thats really cool!!
So how did he know???
I don't get it.
i've done a trick like this before. it's called black magic, and it's very similar except you say "yes" to the object after they say a black object
i like the teaser (kind of). i feel very sorry for both fred and ted trying to remember which words were said when and which the third letter was so they can work out what it spelt...the only problem i can see is where fred could jump in too early with a word thinking it had been spelled (eg, say "you're thinking of a car" when ted was trying to spell out "carpet"). could also see problems spelling out complicated words (trying to find a word with the right letter in the right place)
good teser! got me stumped
very good i wouldve never guessed that
Very good and very creative. Although, I didn't guess the answer but, when I read the answer it made perfect sense and become obvious! I enjoyed this one.
You copied this mystery right off a book.
wow..i like this one way easy..the way i like it and the only way i get it
To Sherlock129
Just because it has appeared in a book does not mean it was 'copied' from that book.
It could be that it has been submitted here by the person who wrote the book it was seen in, or was submitted for inclusion in that book by the person who submitted it here.
Some of us do have a life away from this site.
Some of those who have teasers on this site have written mind bender or teaser books of their own, and I know of at least three of us who are regular writers for mensa.
Just because it has appeared in a book does not mean it was 'copied' from that book.
It could be that it has been submitted here by the person who wrote the book it was seen in, or was submitted for inclusion in that book by the person who submitted it here.
Some of us do have a life away from this site.
Some of those who have teasers on this site have written mind bender or teaser books of their own, and I know of at least three of us who are regular writers for mensa.
I liked this one, it was fun and I got it! w00t! I had something else to say, but I forgot...Oh well. It was great, keep it up!
I liked it! It was really fun!
that was wicked good! I'll have to do that to my old cronies
It was pretty simple, but just try doing this at a party and no one will figure you out
Nice one
I DONT GET IT BUT IT SEEMS LKE A GOOD ONE
Very clever! Excellent Teaser!
aPlatinum is a Fantastic Also Great (not)
put the capital letters together
what does that spell?
yup FA*
put the capital letters together
what does that spell?
yup FA*
haha, i didn't get it but i have an identical twin and we pretend to 'mind read' all the time. we've worked on our technique for years this was good, but it seems a little hard to do in real life. there ought to be a stop signal of some kind, otherwise, you could end up only getting half of the word, like 'bird' from 'birdbath' and i think it would be hard to think that fast. The first letter is easy (that's what i thought it might be) but the third? i would be umming and ahing so much! Anyway, nice job
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