How to Think Like Sherlock (17 page)

Exclude the impossible …

Perhaps Holmes’s guiding maxim – a hypothesis that does not fit the facts must be dismissed. Eventually you will be left with the only theory which complies with all the facts. No matter how unlikely it seems, this must be the truth.

Now, to paraphrase the Great Detective, you now know his methods. Use them!

Answers to Quizzes

Answers to Quiz 1 – Letter Scramble

Puzzle 1 – DR WATSON, SHERLOCK HOLMES

Puzzle 2 – MAGNIFYING GLASS, SCOTLAND YARD

Answers to Quiz 2 – Number Sequences

1.
64 (the number doubles each time).

2.
729 (the number multiplies by three each time).

3.
49 (these are the first seven square numbers).

4.
17 (these are the first seven prime numbers).

5.
22, 18 (figures in the even numbered positions increase in steps of two, while figures in odd numbered positions reduce by three).

6.
89 (this is the Fibonacci series in which each figure is the sum of the previous two).

7.
8 (each figure is the product of all the digits in the previous figure).

Answers to Quiz 3 – Word Ladders

i)

Cat

Cot

Hot

Hod

Hid

Kid

ii)

Game

Lame

Lome

Lose

Lost

Loot

Foot

Answers to Quiz 4 – Word Wheel

Name: DRWATSON

Answers to Quiz 5 – Not a Pretty Picture

Answers to Quiz 6 – Speed Reading

1.
Four pounds per week.

2.
The
Encyclopedia Britannica
.

3.
From ten until two.

4.
Ink, pens and blotting paper.

5.
On Thursday and Friday evening.

Answers to Quiz 7 – Lost for Words

1.
out (breakout and outstanding).

2.
moon (honeymoon and moonbeam).

3.
house (greenhouse and housecoat).

4.
book (notebook and bookkeeper).

5.
man (policeman and manhole).

6.
wall (stonewall and wallpaper).

7.
play (screenplay and playtime).

Answers to Quiz 8 – Dingbats

1.
‘The Adventure of the Speckled Band’

2.
‘A Scandal in Bohemia’

3.
‘Silver Blaze’

4.
‘The Crooked Man’

5.
‘The Adventure of the Dancing Men’

6.
‘The Adventure of the Red Circle’ (communism)

7.
‘The Adventure of the Six Napoleons’

8.
‘The Adventure of the Missing Three-Quarter’

9.
‘The Adventure of the Empty House’

10.
‘The Adventure of the Copper Beeches’

Answers to Quiz 9 – What Next?

1.
1 Samuel and 2 Samuel. The sequence is the first ten books of the Old Testament.

2.
S and S. For Saturday and Sunday. The sequence is the initials of the days of the week.

3.
30 and 31. The sequence shows the number of days in each month from January to December.

4.
U and N. For Uranus and Neptune. The sequence is the initial letters of the planets in the solar system by distance from the sun: Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune.

5.
K and L. The sequence is the letters from left to right on the second row of a QWERTY keyboard.

6.
London and Rio de Janeiro. The sequence is the last ten host cities of the Summer Olympic Games up to 2016.

7.
1936 and 1952. The sequence is the years in which a new monarch has come to the English throne since the restoration of the monarchy with the crowning of Charles II.

8.
Serbia and South Sudan. A real teaser! The sequence is of the world’s eight newest countries as recognised by the United Nations.

Answers to Quiz 10 – What on Earth?

1.
The customer had hiccups. This was why he asked for a glass of water. The barman cured him by giving him a shock.

2.
Louise.

3.
Tom put down a pound coin, while Dick paid with five twenty pence pieces.

4.
Never mind whether its legal, it’s impossible. If the woman has a widower, she must be dead!

5.
They shouldn’t be buried. The survivors are alive.

6.
Take a piece of fruit from the box marked ‘Oranges & Lemons’ (which we know is incorrectly labelled). Say you pick out an orange, then you know that box should be labelled ‘Oranges’. The box labelled ‘Lemons’ must thus be relabelled ‘Oranges & Lemons’ and the box originally marked ‘Oranges’ needs the ‘Lemons’ label.

7.
The van.

Answers to Quiz 11 – Most Irregular