Brain Teasers
Four People in a Race
John, Paul, George, and Ringo all enter a race, but there is nobody at the finish line to judge the ending. When the judge finally shows up to award the prize for coming in first, these are the statements the four of them make:
John: I was neither first nor last.
Paul: I did not finish last.
George: I won the race!
Ringo: I came in last.
The judge starts to hand George the prize, when Yoko, who was watching the race, says, "Exactly one of these four is lying."
To whom should the judge grant the prize?
John: I was neither first nor last.
Paul: I did not finish last.
George: I won the race!
Ringo: I came in last.
The judge starts to hand George the prize, when Yoko, who was watching the race, says, "Exactly one of these four is lying."
To whom should the judge grant the prize?
Answer
The prize should go to Paul.If John is lying, then George and Ringo would be telling the truth, which would mean John was not lying, so he can't be the liar.
If Paul was lying, then Ringo would also be lying, so he must be telling the truth, as well.
So we now know that neither John nor Paul finished last. If Ringo was lying, then George would have finished last, which would mean that he was lying, as well. So Ringo can't be lying.
This leaves George as our liar, so we know George did not finish first. Neither did Ringo (he finished last), nor did John (he finished neither first nor last). Therefore, Paul won the race!
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Comments
It was too simple. I hate it
i liked it!! you see, at first i didnt get it, but then after i looked at it for like another hour, i finally got it, great teaser!!!!
luv_yaz!!
luv_yaz!!
I bet baffeled cant think of anything more original!Quick teaser tsimkin..not every one is supposed to take your brain powers
What if Yoko was lying?
this is a family oriented site and i think you should say you're sorry baffled!!!
my gosh - Baffled, you are completely insane!! I'd suggest you not sepnd the one hour a week the nut house allocates you for the interent to read brain teasers!!!
That was completely unnecessary and crazy - angry, angry little man.
Baffle - please direct me to a brainteaser you have posted that is so brilliant?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!
That was completely unnecessary and crazy - angry, angry little man.
Baffle - please direct me to a brainteaser you have posted that is so brilliant?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!
Jan 11, 2005
That was an easy one
I wish we had spell check on this website. I can understand complaining about a rude comment (which i have not read), but don't say somebody is stupid if you can't even spell the word ("stupidty" is not a word).
Feb 07, 2005
Darn! I always miss the comments that this person (baffled) has to say! But on a more positive note, I enjoyed your teaser. It was alot of fun. Thank you.
I am so smart I figured out a teaser!!!!
I'm stoopid i'm stoopid i'm stoopid i'm stoopid i'm stoopid. This was a fun one...even thought I went at it completely the wrong way! Ooooooops. I tried to figure it out from the whole grid angle...which (DUH) obviously doesn't work if someone was lying! Good one. Oh, and who is this "baffled" jerk anyway? The word is "S-T-U-P-I-D-I-T-Y". (Yes, my misspelling was intentional...gives more weight to my confession of "stoopiditee"
Love it!!!!
that was a really easy teaser
but is still liked it a lot ( i like things that i can get correct)
but is still liked it a lot ( i like things that i can get correct)
Doesn't get much easier than this, but it wasn't bad.
Nice teaser but i assumed that only the ones that were alive were racing even though it said all four so i only kept Ringo and Paul. then it said Ringo finished in last place so i took his word for it and guessed Paul and i was right. Great teaser man
This was really confusing!
I didn't really like it!!
I didn't really like it!!
I'm glad they cleaned up the comments, based on what some people said.
Not everyone is good at logic and you need to have an easy one once in a while so they can get it. There are other sites if you want only very difficult puzzles. I consider this site to be for the general public.
Not everyone is good at logic and you need to have an easy one once in a while so they can get it. There are other sites if you want only very difficult puzzles. I consider this site to be for the general public.
This was a tough one. Always think I have a logical mind, then something like this comes along and takes me down a peg. Thank you for a lot of fun.
That was fun! Even though it was easy... so, I take it you are a Beatles fan, eh? Awesome! Great Teaser!
Does this guy like the Beatles?
Hcut3 I'm with toast9897. If you can't spell a word right don't use it And really don't use it while calling somone else stupid. It just makes you sound stupid.
. Took me hardly a couple of minutes to crack this one.
Liked it!!
Liked it!!
What in Hades was that? Obviously Baffled has to much spare time, GEEZZZ!
someone mentioned "what if yoko was lying"? the brain teaser question was phrased as a 'problem', so the answer would have to be obtained 'logically or mathmatically'. if the question was phrased 'philosophically' or 'rhetorically', then yoko may have been in the equation.or maybe someone was just trying to get a laugh like I would!
that's pretty good, i like it! keep up the good work even though a lot of people might critisize you!
That was hard
that was easy. Hamster, go eat worms!
Who is "baffled"? everyone keeps saying"its" name! its really annoying!
Feb 08, 2005
This was too complex to be fun.
Heh... this was interesting. I got the answer right easily, but when I looked at the answer given - it looks sooo complicated moreso then what I thought! ><
Really there is no need to think so much for this. Just think logically at the plain words in front of you.
Really there is no need to think so much for this. Just think logically at the plain words in front of you.
haha, I just assumed that George was lying. Oh well. Still got it right
Wow!!
this one was easy but hard to catch it
this one was easy but hard to catch it
Who is "Baffeled"?????
These comments are more baffeling then the riddle, but I enjoyed it.
Great one
I got it right, but not for a while. For some reason, I thought that Yoko used the clues to FIGURE OUT that someone was lying. Once I re-read the thing, it was pretty easy.
Logical. Thanks for posting.
for some reason I really like this type of teaser. They take some time and I usually need to write things down in order to answer them. For this reason I need to give this a moderate level instead of easy.
Considering it was the Beatles racing,they were all winners.
I go with Knbrain: Yoko is lying.
I needed paper and pen to get this one. Not too easy, but with some perseverence I got it.
Fun but too easy!!
much too easy
Ha, you can't Beat(le) it!
A very good teaser. It was hard for me. Keep up the good work.
Beatles fan, Eh?
easy.........
I do not like these kinds of teasers even though I got the answer correct. They just are not my thing. Sorry. Who is baffled and why can't we ever see what he has said??
Why dont Yoko just tell the judge who the winner is?
John, Paul, George, Ringo... Aren't those the BEATLES!?
Puzzleman, I was thinking the same thing...
Anyhow, I thoroughly enjoyed it. Plus, I got it!!!
Anyhow, I thoroughly enjoyed it. Plus, I got it!!!
I guess it wouldn't be much fun if Yoko told who won now would it? I never get these kinds. I thought Yoko was lying.
So - the Walrus WAS Paul after all.
Jul 07, 2012
Don't know if anyone else took a easier and lucky (IMO) route to finding who's lying.
This method is does not rely entirely on logic, but rather intuition. As soon as George says that he won and was about to receive the award, Yoko says that one of them is lying. So I just started from the assumption that George was lying and... bingo ;P.
This method is does not rely entirely on logic, but rather intuition. As soon as George says that he won and was about to receive the award, Yoko says that one of them is lying. So I just started from the assumption that George was lying and... bingo ;P.
I did as GreatSlayfer did. Assumed that George had to be the liar (based on Yoko's statement that one person was lying and the reasoning that the other three would have no reason to lie (if you're going to lie why claim to have done worse than you did).
The rest fell into place after that.
It is always fufunny to see people reacting to previous comments on a comment that has been removed.
Though I do wonder who this Baffled guy was. Since his comments seem to get removed with some frequency, he must have been over the top abusive as many "not so nice" comments are allowed to stay.
The rest fell into place after that.
It is always fufunny to see people reacting to previous comments on a comment that has been removed.
Though I do wonder who this Baffled guy was. Since his comments seem to get removed with some frequency, he must have been over the top abusive as many "not so nice" comments are allowed to stay.
Again ... only one comment on this TOTD.
On the TOTD of yesterday ....
HABS mentioned that she "liked it" and hoped the poster (ThinksForFun) would submit more.
Interesting .. very interesting.
ThinksForFun - one of the best current submitters - has posted over SIX new teasers this year !!!!
And none have comments by HABS (or, for that matter, most of the rest of you who are so prolific in the TOTDs).
HABS also mentioned - in an earlier post - that she "doesn't have the time" to check new teasers.
????
One or two mouse clicks?
I hope you all remember these discussions when Braingle collapses due to lack of user support.
US (the BunnyBunch)
Jaye
On the TOTD of yesterday ....
HABS mentioned that she "liked it" and hoped the poster (ThinksForFun) would submit more.
Interesting .. very interesting.
ThinksForFun - one of the best current submitters - has posted over SIX new teasers this year !!!!
And none have comments by HABS (or, for that matter, most of the rest of you who are so prolific in the TOTDs).
HABS also mentioned - in an earlier post - that she "doesn't have the time" to check new teasers.
????
One or two mouse clicks?
I hope you all remember these discussions when Braingle collapses due to lack of user support.
US (the BunnyBunch)
Jaye
I found the teaser fairly easy (but I like easy - the older I get, the lazier my brain gets) Nice Teaser!!
I went with the politically correct answer. Yoko won the race.
I solved this in literally 10 seconds
Fun and easy teaser; I figured George had to be the liar since Yoko stopped him from receiving the winner's prize and only Paul could have been the winner if John and Ringo were telling the truth.
Quick and Easy. Clearly, Paul is always better than John, George and Ringo. Done.
Oh, if you have to use logic, it is very good to have some easier logic puzzles in the mix. This is a very good introductory logic puzzle.
Oh, if you have to use logic, it is very good to have some easier logic puzzles in the mix. This is a very good introductory logic puzzle.
I don't usually like logic puzzles, but this one wasn't too hard to figure out. It was about as hard as I like them. As for the littlegreenman, there were over 200 comments on a puzzle the other day. Wonder how that happened if we have no followers?
Seemed obvious that George was lying & Paul won the race, but I set out to prove it anyway!
It was a fun-filled activity, thanks 4 the Teaser!
It was a fun-filled activity, thanks 4 the Teaser!
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