Earlier today I set you the following four puzzles from my new book, Football School: the Ultimate Puzzle Book:
1. Which of these two watering cans can carry the most water?
Solution: The smaller one on the left can carry the most water, since the spout is higher and you cannot fill a can higher than the spout. Once the water level hits the level of the spout it will begin to leak.
2. How do you get the ball in the net just by moving your head? (Or your screen if you are reading this on a mobile device.)
Stare at the fly, and then bring your head to the screen (or the screen to your eyes). You will see the ball move into the net.
3. In the following sentences I have replaced some words with their initials. Can you work out the meanings of the sentences? I’ve done the first one for you, so you get the hang of it. Some of the sentences concern football, and some don’t. Four of these appear in the book. I added four new ones just for you.
(i) A F T has 11 P. (A Football Team has 11 Players.)
(ii) A Y has 12 M.
A Year has 12 Months
(iii) E have won 1 W C.
England have won 1 World Cup.
(iv) A H has 5 F.
A Hand has 5 Fingers.
(v) The A has 26 L.
The Alphabet has 26 Letters.
(vi) If you have S of C, S-I for 7 D.
If you have Symptoms of Coronavirus, Self-Isolate for 7 Days.
(vii) M has 2 B Hs.
May has 2 Bank Holidays.
(viii) B J has at least 6 C.
Boris Johnson has at least 6 Children.
4. The image below contains at least 50 things beginning with B. Can you find them all?
In fact, I will give a prize of the book to the reader who sends me a the most amusing B-word that is in the picture but that is not something a child would ever spot.
Thank you SO MUCH for the hundreds of suggestions.
My favourites were: bedlam, boldness (of the man throwing away toilet paper), blatancy (of disregard for essential items), breaking-down (of lockdown rules), black, bacteria, Bildungsroman, Brunelleschi dome, braggadocio, baroqueness, bonhomie, Bruegelism, balletomane, biodiversity, barbarism, belching biped, Bourgeois, BDSM, blowhard.
And the winner is…. ‘ball park figures’. Okay, so it’s not a single word, but I love the pun. My column my rules! (A book on its way to you Nicola Coupe.) Please keep making suggestions below the line.
I hope you enjoyed today’s puzzles. I’ll be back in two weeks.
I set a puzzle here every two weeks on a Monday. I’m always on the look-out for great puzzles. If you would like to suggest one, email me.
If you are reading this in the Guardian app, and you want a notification each time I post a puzzle, or its solution, click the ‘Follow Alex Bellos’ button above.
Football School: the Ultimate Puzzle Book by Alex Bellos and Ben Lyttleton, illustrated by Spike Gerrell, is out on Thursday. It’s the eighth book in the Football School series, which aims to inspire reading and curiosity through football, and is packed with logic games, crosswords, riddles, spot the differences, and much more. In the authors’ biased opinion it would make a perfect activity book during lockdown.
If you want more Football School, please join us every Friday at 10am UK on our YouTube channel, when we broadcast a live Football School class with lots of interactive activities for Key Stage 2 pupils.
