mscroggs.co.uk
mscroggs.co.uk

subscribe

Puzzles

20 December

The diagram to the right shows (two copies of) quadrilateral ABCD.
The sum of the angles ABC and BCD (green and blue in quadrilateral on the left) is 180°. The sum of the angles ABC and DAB (green and orange in quadrilateral on the left) is also 180°. In the diagram on the right, a point inside the quadrilateral has been used to draw two triangles.
The area of the quadrilateral is 850. What is the smallest that the total area of the two triangles could be?

Show answer

19 December

120 is the smallest number with exactly 16 factors (including 1 and 120 itself).
What is the second smallest number with exactly 16 factors (including 1 and the number itself)?

Show answer

18 December

Noel writes the integers from 1 to 1000 in a large triangle like this:
The number 12 is directly below the number 6. Which number is directly below the number 133?

Show answer

Tags: numbers

17 December

Put the digits 1 to 9 (using each digit exactly once) in the boxes so that the sums are correct. The sums should be read left to right and top to bottom ignoring the usual order of operations. For example, 4+3×2 is 14, not 10. Today's number is the product of the numbers in the red boxes.
++= 10
+ × ×
++= 12
+ +
++= 23
=
10
=
12
=
23

Show answer

Tags: numbers, grids

16 December

Noel writes the integers from 1 to 1000 in a large triangle like this:
The rightmost number in the row containing the number 6 is 9. What is the rightmost number in the row containing the number 300?

Show answer

Tags: numbers

15 December

There are 3 even numbers between 3 and 9.
What is the only odd number \(n\) such that there are \(n\) even numbers between \(n\) and 729?

Show answer & extension

14 December

Holly draws a line of connected regular pentagons like this:
She continues the pattern until she has drawn 204 pentagons. The perimeter of each pentagon is 5. What is the perimeter of her line of pentagons?

Show answer

Tags: pentagons

13 December

Today's number is given in this crossnumber. The across clues are given as normal, but the down clues are given in a random order: you must work out which clue goes with each down entry and solve the crossnumber to find today's number. No number in the completed grid starts with 0.

Show answer

Archive

Show me a random puzzle
 Most recent collections 

Advent calendar 2025

Advent calendar 2024

Advent calendar 2023

Advent calendar 2022


List of all puzzles

Tags

cube numbers chess square grids square roots gerrymandering trigonometry odd numbers time shape averages bases christmas proportion geometry decahedra volume range crossnumbers probabilty addition scales cryptic clues even numbers floors 3d shapes integers symmetry combinatorics partitions prime numbers dice axes calculus triangle numbers indices algebra dodecagons functions area geometric means lines sequences menace 2d shapes square numbers pentagons sport factors coordinates numbers regular shapes digital clocks shapes clocks logic angles doubling perimeter division graphs consecutive integers tangents determinants mean star numbers multiplication consecutive numbers dates taxicab geometry powers speed dominos games remainders means ave quadrilaterals planes prime factors crosswords people maths xor lists binary expansions polygons unit fractions money sets rectangles integration hexagons neighbours chalkdust crossnumber cubics differentiation palindromes the only crossnumber balancing books pascal's triangle circles sums tournaments matrices cards polynomials squares number digital products factorials spheres rugby multiples coins folding tube maps tiling parabolas geometric mean colouring albgebra wordplay perfect numbers cryptic crossnumbers arrows ellipses elections surds triangles complex numbers fractions chocolate digits advent grids medians sum to infinity multiplaction squares median percentages probability routes quadratics products irreducible numbers

Archive

Show me a random puzzle
▼ show ▼
© Matthew Scroggs 2012–2026