Brain Teasers
Rags to Riches
One day, an eccentric billionaire decided to give a destitute man a break. But not a total break, as we shall see. So, he invites him into a room in his mansion with seven doors. There is also a large-screen projector that projects the following five images, repeatedly, one at a time:
A human brain, Earth, the incomplete phrase: 'Fair and ____,' the letters AZCONMUT and a cheese sandwich on plain white bread with the edges perfectly cut off.
The poor man was allowed an entire day to study the images, after which he would have to choose the door that corresponded to the commonality of the images. The next day the man walked through the correct door, and the billionaire made him rich. What door did the man choose?
A human brain, Earth, the incomplete phrase: 'Fair and ____,' the letters AZCONMUT and a cheese sandwich on plain white bread with the edges perfectly cut off.
The poor man was allowed an entire day to study the images, after which he would have to choose the door that corresponded to the commonality of the images. The next day the man walked through the correct door, and the billionaire made him rich. What door did the man choose?
Hint
Take a snack break, have one of the images.Answer
The man chose door number FOUR. Here's why:The image of the human brain made the man think of 'four corners of the mind.'
He recognized the capital letters AZCONMUT to be the abbreviations of the 'Four corner states' Arizona, Colorado, New Mexico, and Utah. He completed the phrase
'Fair and ____' with the word SQUARE, which also has also four corners. When he got hungry, he ordered the same sandwich in the last image. But instead of eating right away, he studied it, until he got the point that it too had four corners. Thus, the poor guy walked into a mansion poorer than poor, and walked out with a cheese sandwich, and enough dough to buy a small country. What he actually did with the money is anybody's guess.
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Comments
Woah!! Big mistake on my part! Sorry about this, but part of the answer got included in the question. Unfortunately, Jake is out for a week so this probably won't get fixed for quite a while. I'll leave him a note to fix it.
Big one indeed
Bobrt. However, I'm happy to see it posted. I think It would be nice to see it w/o part of the solution. I can wait. Thanks again.
Bobrt. However, I'm happy to see it posted. I think It would be nice to see it w/o part of the solution. I can wait. Thanks again.
man i never would have got this i didnt even see the solution in the answer thingy!! well, actually i still dotn see t but oh well! Nice teaser
Jake fixed it. Best regards to him for his unbelievably fast response! THANKS. I'm glad you like the teaser. THANKS AGAIN JAKE.
Wow! Awesome teaser Coda. I have no idea where my mind was, but I wasn't in your neighbourhood, that's for sure.
Thanks. I must say, this is so far my favorite. I hope more difficult and more fun ones follow (got some pending), but I have a particular liking for this one. Thanks
Great I loved it....................
Feb 25, 2003
I think the abbreviation for Arizona is AZ and AR is the abbreviation for Arkansas. But a pretty good teaser, nonetheless.
Hey PackRat:
You were the first to notice this. Thankx. Your're right AZ is Arizona. Thank you for your comments.
You were the first to notice this. Thankx. Your're right AZ is Arizona. Thank you for your comments.
Nice teaser ... I'm from Canada so I didn't get the states part! :d
-tangerine-
-tangerine-
Another cool one. I was doing pretty good until I got floored by the four corner states. I wonder what your explanation for Earth. Four corners of the world? globe? North East West South? This is definitely one of my favorites. Thanks.
Four Corners of the Globe, Four corners of the Earth, Four corners of the World, (Take your pick). I can't BELIEVE I left this out. (And that the editors didn't ask what happened to it)> Hey Griphook, someone mentioned earlier that the abbreviation for Arizona is AZ not AR, so it would be AZCONMUT. I hate to think I cheated folks. Do you think you would have gotten it then?
Greetings my idol. thanks for the reply. It's a pity the explanation got lost,but that doesn't take away anything from your great teaser. Even with the typo on Arizona, I don't think I would have gotten four corner states. Come to think of it, even with Arkansas, the teaser remains a great one. It would be 4 states of the US. Not as brilliant as what you intended but just as valid. Keep them coming. Thanks.
one thing i dont get about this is where Arkansas actually is?
Hi Scharfy,
It was actually AZ (Arizona), not Arkansas (AR) My error. It was recently corrected by the editors. I'll ask you what I asked Griphook: Did that make it easier for you now? Hope not (heh heh)
It was actually AZ (Arizona), not Arkansas (AR) My error. It was recently corrected by the editors. I'll ask you what I asked Griphook: Did that make it easier for you now? Hope not (heh heh)
Oh, and Arizona, New Mexico, Utah, and Colorado make up the "Four Corner" States. Look at them on a map, you'll see why.
I really enjoyed this riddle even though I would have probably have NEVER EVER guessed that answer. A lot of thought must of went into that riddle. And I am not just saying it is good it is GREAT lol well PM me some time
Yay i got it!`
It was good but I am Canadian so I didn't get part of it.
GOOD!!!! Did u come up with that by yourself?
All Original. All the Time WhAcko1. Glad you enjoyed it.
However,
There is a lot of the time something that sparks the brain. For this teaser, my mom used the phrase "Four Corners" while on the telephone w/ someone. I thought the phrase was interesting and went from there. (She also was eating a sandwhich while I was developing the teaser, which I threw in also).
There is a lot of the time something that sparks the brain. For this teaser, my mom used the phrase "Four Corners" while on the telephone w/ someone. I thought the phrase was interesting and went from there. (She also was eating a sandwhich while I was developing the teaser, which I threw in also).
Thats a very good teaser, I was totally stumped, the thing is I don't like it when they give you a whole list of clues! But that one was different, it made me think when I read the answer, Why didn't I know that!
Great teaser really fun.
What's the deal with the Earth Clue?
Sorry. I forgot to include this in the solution. That would be either "FOUR WINDS of the EARTH" or "FOUR CORNERS of the EARTH" (oR Globe).
I had to reread it a couple times and read the answer a couple times but I got it!!!! yay for me even though I'm really slow
Congrats! If you are slow, then what am I?
FANTASTIC!! I was completely stumped and I completely loved it!
Really clever! Worth adding to my favourites list for sure!
Jan 05, 2004
An excellent 3.0/3.0 teaser
My kind of teaser, with more than one clue to 'chew on'. Thanks.
I just wanna say it would help if you said each door was numbered, because if they weren't, how could the poor guy figure out which one was four?
Mar 30, 2004
UMMMMMMMMM. I didn't like it.
no one asked if you liked it or not penguingirl.
i liked the part with the ponys. lol. good teasser. add more ponys next time.
Well I puzzled on this for about 30 minutes and yes, I did have a cheese sandwich while I was thinking, but not because of the hint, just because the suggestion made me hungry, LOL! Damn product placement. ) I arrived at a different answer: Door #6 is the winner. The man enters a room with 7 doors. He knows the door he just used is not correct so we can eliminate that one. That leaves him doors 1 thru 6. Now the puzzle didn't say anything about the doors already being numbered which kinda kills this puzzle from the start, but for argument's sake let's just assume the remaining doors are numbered from left to right in ascending order. There was no description given for the doors, e.g colour, shape, facing direction, etc, so the only unique identifying quality for the doors I could come up with was placement in the order, in other words, a numerical value for each door. 6 doors and 5 clues to me meant find the 1 door that didn't have a clue associated with it. Now, to associate a number with each clue and eliminate the door with that number. The brain has 2 halves; eliminate door #2. The Earth is the 3rd planet from the Sun; eliminate door #3. A square has 4 sides; eliminate door #4. #5 took some thinking. If you assign numerical values to the letters based on the alphabet 1-26, the sum is 113. Add 1+1+3 to get 5 and eliminate door #5. You're left with door #1 and #6. I could not at first equate a cheese sandwich with either 1 or 6, so I considered the fact that these images were being shown in a continuous loop. The sandwich was shown before the brain. I took a leap of faith. What comes before 2? Answer: 1. Eliminate door #1 and you are left with door #6.
That is also one of my favorites. I never would have figured it out witout the hint! Good one!
Wow gidgie, thats astounding!
The answer is door number two. The brain has TWO hemispheres. The earth has TWO poles and TWO hemispheres.
An alternate spelling to Cosmonaut is Cozmonaut. Using AZCONMUT you can spell Cozm_naut. O is missing but there are TWO O's in the word.
In math, a square root or squared uses the number TWO.
The sandwich has TWO slices of bread.
(Okay, the Cosmonaut thing is pretty weak)
An alternate spelling to Cosmonaut is Cozmonaut. Using AZCONMUT you can spell Cozm_naut. O is missing but there are TWO O's in the word.
In math, a square root or squared uses the number TWO.
The sandwich has TWO slices of bread.
(Okay, the Cosmonaut thing is pretty weak)
Brilliant! I got three but my mind has always been a bit on the skew side! (Brain made me think of heart, mind & soul; Earth is 3rd planet from sun; Made the phrase fair and free, rhymes with three; Had NO clue what the letters were (not US); Cheese sandwich has three layers...
Anyone with me??
Anyone with me??
Very Nice, I had fun with this teaser, and enjoyed it. Well thought of, keep them coming. Good job on writing it as well.
WOW!!!
That makes my "Four Doors" teaser look like [expletive deleted]!!!
That makes my "Four Doors" teaser look like [expletive deleted]!!!
it would have been a fair teaser if u actually said the doors were numbered. but interesting concept.
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