SockPuppet's Puzzle Quiz Challenge

Welcome and thank you for your time to trying out for the Kerbert Xela award. Notice that there are two images (one of Professor E. Gadds from the Mario universe and the other of Professor Layton and Luke from the new Professor Layton series).

You receive Professor E. Gadds if it takes you more than 1 try to correctly answer all the questions listed below. To obtain the Professor Layton and Luke image, you must get all the correct answers for the questions listed below in one try.

• All answers are to be submitted in PM to me. I will then respond with the number of questions you answered correctly, but I will not tell you which ones you got correct.
• With regards to the questions themselves, they will be taken mostly from the Professor Layton and the Curious Village game itself. To some who say that it would be unfair in that those who have the game would have an advantage, keep in mind that these puzzles are quite simple brain teasers with most of them appearing in published puzzle books, mathematics league contests, and sometimes, in centuries-old manuscripts.
• Read each question carefully!!!

With that in mind, I now present to you the actual trivia:

1. Imagine a digital alarm clock. How many times will the clock display three or more of the same number in a row over the course of one day (the clock is based on the 12-hour scale and not on military time)?

2. Two brothers have been hired by a farm to sow flower seeds. They've been assigned a 10-acre plot of land and split it in half so they can work indepently. The older brother starts from the east and the younger brother starts from the west.

The older brother can plow the land at a rate of 20 minutes per acre. THe younger brother takes 40 minutes to plow, but sows seeds at three times the speed as the older brother does.

If sowing seeds on the 10-acre plot pays $100, how much of that money should go to the younger brother?

3. The first letter of the alphabet is A, and the letter B comes after the letter A.

However, the letter you need to worry about is the last one. What is the last letter of the alphabet (it isn't Z)?

4. Fifteen people are trapped aboard a ship that's going to sink in exactly 20 minutes. Their only chance for survival is the five-person life raft stowed on their vessel. To make matters worse, the waters around the ship are teeming with man-eating sharks, so swimming to safety is out of the question.

A round-trip to the nearest island and back to the board takes nine minutes on the raft. How many people will live to see dry land?

5. Ten candles stand burning in a dining room. A strong breeze blows in through an open window and extinguishes two of them. Checking back in on the candles later, you see that one more candle has gone out. To make sure no more flames go out, you shut the window. Assuming the wind doesn't extinguish any more candles, how many candles do you have left in the end?

6. A man has been prescribed 10 pills. Starting today, he must take one pill a day, but because the concentration of the medicine is different in each pill, he must take them in a specific order. Since the pills all look the same, the man has decided to write numbers on each pill to help him remember the order he needs to take them in.

How many pills does he have to number if he wants to keep track of the order?

7. A jar holds a single germ. After one minute, the germ splits into two germs, One minute later, the two germs split again, bringing the total to four germs. Continuing at that rate, a single germ can multiply to fill the whole jar in exactly one hour.

With the above information in mind, how long would it take in minutes to fill the same jar if you started with two germs?

8. The distance four races horses can run around the racetrack in one minute is listed below.

Horse A: Two laps
Horse B: Three laps
Horse C: Four laps
Horse D: Five laps

The horses line up at the starting line and start running in the same direction. What is the least amount of minutes that will pass before all four horses line up at the starting line again?

9. You have only one match left; you want to light the room with an oil lamp, start a fire to warm the room, and heat your bathwater.

In order to complete all of the above actions, what should you light first?

10. A pregnant mouse will give birth once a month, giving birth to 12 babies each time. Baby mice mature and can give birth two months after they are born.

If you purchased one of these baby mice the day after it was born, in 10 months from now, how many mice will you have?

11. A brother and his sister are having the following discussion:

"You know, Sis, if I took away two years from my age and gave them to you, you'd be twice my age"
"Well, why don't you just give me one more top of that? Then I'll be three times your age."

How old is each sibling?

12. A father and son are having the following discussion:

"Dad, I'm 22 now, but just how old are you?"
"Well, I'm as old as your age, plus half of my age."

How old is the father?

13. A camera and case set is selling for $310. The seller tells you that the camera costs $300 more than the case itself and that the case costs the price of the set minus the costs of the camera. You just want to buy the case only, and give the seller a $100 bill. How much change should you get back?

14. Three identical-looking umbrellas are sitting upright in a stand. Assuming the owners don't check their umbrellas' labels, what percentage chance is there that only two people will walk off with their own umbrella?

15. Five cats can catch five mice in five minutes.

With that in mind, how many cats does it take to catch 100 mice in 100 minutes?

16. "___ is 1,000 times ___ ___"
To make the above statement correct, a single letter of the alphabet is needed to be filled in the "___"s . What letter is needed to make the above statement true?

17. You and your girlfriend went on a road trip over the weekend. On the way there, you drove 180 miles, and then your girlfriend drove the rest of the way.

Coming back on the same exact return roads, your girlfriend drove the first 150 miles and then you drive the rest of the way.

What is the difference in miles between the distance you drove and the distance your girlfriend drove?

18. There are 10 two-seater cars attached to the fair's Ferris wheel. The Ferris wheel turns so that one car rotates through the exit platform every minute.

The wheel began operation at 10 in the morning and must be shut down 30 minute later. What's the maximum number of people that could have taken a ride on the wheel in that time period?

19. You climb up a flight of stairs from the first floor to the fourth floor, and it took you 48 seconds to do it.

If you keep on moving at the same speed and rate, how long will it take you to reach the eight floor from the fourth?

20. The following numbers follow a certain rule. What is the missing number?

12311___1213

21. How many times does the number nine appear within whole numbers between one and one hundred?

22. A famous space explorer has just discovered a new planet and landed on its surface to investigate it further.

During his three-hour investigation, he counted 379 male Centurians, 493 female Centurians, and 125 Centurians that had features of both male and female.

As of now, how many aliens are there on this new planet?

23. A clock tower in town rings exactly on time every hour. Every ring the clock tower chimes lasts exactly five seconds before the next one chimes in.

When it is 12 PM, the bell will ring twelve times. How many seconds does it take for you to hear the time?

24. There once lived a fearless knight who slayed many beasts and foes. However, there exists one beast that if the knight is afraid of for rumors say that if anyone were to slay this beast, then his/her own blood is to be spilled in the process. What is the identity of this creature? (eight letter word)

25. A river moves at a pace of 1,000 feet per hour, and upon that river floats a gondola going against the river's flow. At exactly noon, a passenger on the gondola dropped his hat into the river. The gondola turns around 180 degrees exactly 100 feet downstream from the hat once the passenger realizes it is missing. The gondola moves at a speed of 20 feet per minute in still water.

How many minutes will it take for the gondola to catch up with the hat?