Skip navigation
The Puzzler #19

The Puzzler #19

Think you're smart? Try these brainteasers that recruiters use in actual job interviews.

THIS MONTH'S CONTEST
WHAT TIME IS IT?

What time is it when the following conditions are true:

  1. Both the hour hand and the minute hand are exactly on minute divisions of the clock face, and
  2. The minute hand is exactly 13 minute divisions ahead of the hour hand?

Please email your solution to John Kador [email protected] using the subject line “What Time Is It?” Deadline is July 20, 2010. Two responses will be selected to receive a signed copy of John Kador's How to Ace the Brainteaser Job Interview. Good luck.

BRAINTEASER: LETTER COMBOS

What three letters come next in the following sequence?

QAZ

WSX,

EDC

RFV,

TGB

YHN

???

Hint: Registered Rep. readers work with these letter combinations all the time.

SOLUTION TO PREVIOUS PUZZLER: HOTEL KEY CODES

To recap: the puzzle asked for the relationship between room number and key code.

ROOM NUMBER KEY CODE
326 784
512 598
148 962
278 ?
? 364

Solution: The Room number is 746; the key code is 832. This puzzle drew a record-breaking 350 responses, probably because there are so many ways to solve it. The general rule I applied was pretty simple (I thought): subtract each individual digit in the room numbers from 10 to crack the code. But the puzzle was deeper than I realized. For example, some readers found that the sum of the two numbers is always 1110. Others solved it by algebra, mapping room numbers to floors, or by reversing numbers. Almost everyone got the correct answer. By random selection, the two winners of signed books for this contest are:

David Bunten, Personal Financial Representative, Allstate, Alpharetta, GA

Brad Kent Duenweg, Assistant Vice President, First Citizens Bank, Fayetteville, NC

SOLUTION TO LETTER COMBOS: UJM. Look at any keyboard. This is the vertical sequence of the three-row letter keys going from left to right.

John Kador is the author of 10 books. His latest book is Effective Apology: Mending Fences, Building Bridges, and Restoring Trust (Berrett-Koehler). www.effectiveapology.com

TAGS: Games
Hide comments

Comments

  • Allowed HTML tags: <em> <strong> <blockquote> <br> <p>

Plain text

  • No HTML tags allowed.
  • Web page addresses and e-mail addresses turn into links automatically.
  • Lines and paragraphs break automatically.
Publish