1. The following letters comprise the entire alphabet. Well, in fact, a few letters are missing, and those letters are the focus of this puzzle. Without writing anything on paper, can you rearrange the missing letters and find the word that is spelled? D F G I J K M N P Q T U V W X Y Z

 

 

2. This is an easy one. There are eight coins and seven weigh the same while one is lighter. You have a pair of balance scales. Identify the light coin in two weighings. And one of the possibilities has an alternative solution. What is it?

 

 

The answers to July’s puzzles were supplied in the July issue.

 

Here are the answers to this month’s puzzles:

 

 

Answers:

 

1. Bachelors

 

2. Place three coins on each side of the balance. If they are equal, the light coin is one of the remaining two. Place one of the remaining two on each side of the balance and the light coin is quickly found. If the initial weighing isn’t equal, the higher side contains the lighter coin. Take two of the coins from the higher side. Place one on each side of the balance. If they’re equal, the third coin is the light one. If unequal, the lighter is the odd one out. In the initial weighing, however, if the three coins on each side of the balance are equal to the other three, there’s an alternative next stage. Instead of weighing the other two coins, you could weigh one of them against one of the known equal coins. If equal, you know that the final coin is the odd one. If unequal, you also know the answer.