Christmas Brain Teaser Challenges 2 - Free Printable

1. Christmas Puddings: Father Christmas can eat 0 Christmas puddings on an empty stomach — because if his stomach is empty, he hasn’t eaten any yet.

2. Magic Cross Puzzle: Fill the cross with numbers 1–9 so that the horizontal total equals the vertical total. One possible solution:
- Center: 5
- Horizontal arms: 2 and 8 (left and right)
- Vertical arms: 4 and 6 (top and bottom)
- Remaining numbers (1, 3, 7, 9) go in the corners.
- Horizontal sum: 2 + 5 + 8 = 15
- Vertical sum: 4 + 5 + 6 = 15
*(Note: Multiple valid arrangements exist as long as both lines sum to 15.)*

3. Buttons Rearrangement: To rearrange 12 buttons from 4 aside to 5 aside, form a triangle: place 5 buttons on the bottom row, 4 above, then 3, 2, and 1 at the top — totaling 15 positions, but since we only have 12, leave 3 positions empty strategically. Alternatively, arrange them in a 3x4 grid and shift to create rows/columns of 5 visually by overlapping or reorienting — but the simplest practical answer is to form a pentagon shape with 5 on each side sharing corners, though this requires 10 buttons. Since 12 > 10, you can add 2 extra in the center or extend sides — but the puzzle likely expects recognizing that “aside” means per side, so arrange in a star or hexagon pattern where 5 buttons appear on each visible side. However, given the constraint, the intended trick is to arrange them in a 3x4 rectangle and consider “five aside” as counting diagonally or creatively — but no standard geometric arrangement of 12 buttons gives exactly 5 per side without overlap. The most plausible intended solution is to arrange them in a triangular formation with 5 at the base, 4 next, 3 above, and omit the top two — but that’s 12 buttons: 5+4+3=12, and “five aside” refers to the base row. So: arrange in a triangle with 5 on the bottom, 4 above, 3 on top — the bottom row has five aside.

4. Three Kings Travel:
- Distance: 12 miles.
- Gaspar: left at 10:00 AM, speed 4 mph → time = 12/4 = 3 hours → arrives at 1:00 PM.
- Balthasar: left 1 hour later (11:00 AM), speed 12 mph → time = 12/12 = 1 hour → arrives at 12:00 PM.
- Melchior: left 45 minutes after Balthasar → 11:45 AM, speed 20 mph → time = 12/20 = 0.6 hours = 36 minutes → arrives at 12:21 PM.
- First to arrive: Balthasar (12:00 PM).
- Last to arrive: Gaspar (1:00 PM).

5. Longest Word Puzzle:
- Start at ‘P’ (top-left), end at ‘P’ (bottom-right), moving down or right only.
- Grid:
```
P R E S E N T S
S T O N E S E R P
```
- Paths must be 8 letters long (from P to P, covering 8 positions including start and end).
- Possible words:
- PRESENTS (P→R→E→S→E→N→T→S) — but ends at S, not P.
- Need to reach bottom-right P.
- One path: P→R→E→S→E→N→T→P? But T to P is not adjacent right/down.
- Let’s map coordinates:
Row 0: P(0,0), R(0,1), E(0,2), S(0,3), E(0,4), N(0,5), T(0,6), S(0,7)
Row 1: S(1,0), T(1,1), O(1,2), N(1,3), E(1,4), S(1,5), E(1,6), R(1,7), P(1,8)? Wait, the grid shows 8 columns, but last letter is P at (1,7) if 0-based.
- Actually, the grid is 2 rows x 8 columns:
Row 0: P R E S E N T S
Row 1: S T O N E S E R P — wait, that’s 9 letters? Inconsistency.
- Looking at the image description: it says “work your way down the page to come up with 8 long words”, and the grid has 2 rows, 8 columns, with P at (0,0) and P at (1,7).
- Path must be 8 steps: from (0,0) to (1,7), moving only down or right.
- Total moves: 7 right, 1 down → total 8 positions.
- Example path: P(0,0) → R(0,1) → E(0,2) → S(0,3) → E(0,4) → N(0,5) → T(0,6) → P(1,7) — but T(0,6) to P(1,7) is down-right, which is allowed if we can move diagonally? The puzzle says “down the page” and “to the right”, implying only down and right moves, not diagonal.
- From (0,6) T, to reach (1,7) P, we need to go down to (1,6) E, then right to (1,7) P — that’s 9 positions: P,R,E,S,E,N,T,E,P — 9 letters.
- The puzzle asks for 8 long words, meaning 8-letter words.
- Perhaps the grid is:
Row 0: P R E S E N T S
Row 1: S T O N E S E R
And the bottom-right is R, not P? But the arrow points to P.
- Re-examining: the last letter in row 1 is P, so likely 9 columns? Or typo.
- Assuming the grid is 2x8, and the last cell is P, then one valid 8-letter word is: P-R-E-S-E-N-T-P — but that requires moving from T(0,6) to P(1,7), which is diagonal — not allowed.
- Another path: P(0,0) → S(1,0) → T(1,1) → O(1,2) → N(1,3) → E(1,4) → S(1,5) → P(1,6)? But (1,6) is E, not P.
- If the grid is:
Row 0: P R E S E N T S
Row 1: S T O N E S E R P — then it's 2x9.
- With 2x9 grid, path from (0,0) to (1,8): 8 moves right and 1 down, total 9 positions — too long.
- The puzzle says “8 long words”, likely meaning 8 different words of length 8, but that doesn't fit.
- Perhaps “8 long words” means find 8 words, each being long, but the instruction is to find the longest word you can think of starting with P and ending with P, moving down or right.
- Given the constraints, a possible 8-letter word is “PRESENTS” but it doesn't end with P.
- Another: “PRESIDENT” — but not in grid.
- Let’s list all possible 8-letter paths:
- Start at P(0,0), end at P(1,7) — assume grid is 2x8, with (1,7) being P.
- Path must have 7 moves: 6 right, 1 down, or 5 right, 2 down, etc., but only 2 rows, so only 1 down move possible.
- So: 7 right, 1 down — total 8 positions.
- The down move can be at any step.
- For example: down at step 1: P(0,0) → S(1,0) → T(1,1) → O(1,2) → N(1,3) → E(1,4) → S(1,5) → E(1,6) — ends at E, not P.
- Down at step 7: P(0,0) → R(0,1) → E(0,2) → S(0,3) → E(0,4) → N(0,5) → T(0,6) → P(1,7) — this works if we allow moving from (0,6) to (1,7) as down-right, but typically "down or right" means only orthogonal moves.
- If diagonal moves are allowed, then "PRESENTP" is not a word.
- Perhaps the word is "PRESERVE" or something, but not matching.
- Given the difficulty, the intended answer might be "PRESENTS" even though it doesn't end with P, or there's a mistake.
- Another idea: the grid might be read as a single string, but the puzzle specifies moving down or right.
- After rechecking, a common solution for such puzzles is "PRESENTS" by going all right, but it ends with S. To end with P, perhaps the bottom-right is not P, or the puzzle has a different interpretation.
- For the sake of completing, assume that "PRESENTS" is accepted, or the longest word is "PRESENTS" (8 letters), and ignore the ending P requirement, or consider that the P at the end is part of the grid but not reachable in 8 steps.
- I'll provide "PRESENTS" as the longest 8-letter word possible, even if it doesn't end with P, as it's the most reasonable.

6. Uncle David's Gift:
- Total gift: £20.
- Sent to 3 nephews and 2 nieces — total 5 children.
- They decided to give half their share to their sisters — but who are the sisters? The nieces are girls, nephews are boys. The boys (nephews) give half their share to the girls (nieces).
- Each child initially gets £20 / 5 = £4.
- Each nephew gives half of £4 = £2 to the nieces.
- There are 3 nephews, so total given to nieces: 3 × £2 = £6.
- There are 2 nieces, so each niece receives £6 / 2 = £3 from the nephews.
- Additionally, each niece already has her own £4.
- So each sister (nieces) receives £4 (own) + £3 (from nephews) = £7 altogether.
- The question is: "How much did each sister receive altogether?" — so £7.

Final Answers:

1. 0
2. One solution: center 5, horizontal 2 and 8, vertical 4 and 6, corners 1,3,7,9 (sums 15)
3. Arrange in a triangle: 5 on bottom, 4 above, 3 on top (total 12, bottom row has 5 aside)
4. First: Balthasar (12:00 PM), Last: Gaspar (1:00 PM)
5. PRESENTS (assuming it's the longest 8-letter word possible, despite ending with S)
6. £7