Community Puzzles

Joan and her boyfriend Fred, who lived in Stockport, were invited and given one of the ornate, if old-fashioned, bedroom suites for their stay. The party lasted the whole weekend and was a delightful affair. The catering was superb, and the congenial atmosphere turned the get-together of old friends into an unforgettable experience. On Monday morning, most guests had departed, and Joan and Fred prepared for their journey home. Having finished their packing, Joan looked around as if searching for something. She finally turned to Fred and asked, jokingly, "You haven't by any chance drunk the glass of water on the dressing table?" Fred nodded, and all of a sudden, pandemonium. Joan had to phone the automobile association's rescue service. Less than an hour later, an AA man arrived, hitched their car to his breakdown van, and towed the embarrassed couple home, where they arrived after a two and a half hour journey. Why?

A burglar gets a tip that a particular building has a lot of valuables inside, so he starts casing the place. On the first night he observes a person arriving at the building, unlocking a garage door, and going inside. After a few monutes, the person leaves, closes the door a re-locks it with a padlock, carefully scrambling the combination. When the coast is clear the burglar takes a closer look at the lock and sees that it's a multiple dial combination lock, the kind with several rotating disks with numbers. For the next couple of weeks, the burglar continues to observe every night. The same thing happens: every night a person arrives and follows the same routine. Finally, one night, after the visitor departs the burglar walks up to the building, unlocks the combination lock, and robs the place. How?

A woman signs her name on a document. A few months later, she moves into a richly furnished new home for free. How?

Anne, Ben and Chris are siblings who were conceived on the same day. This year, Anne will be attending third grade while Ben and Chris attend kindergarten. Why?

A man sitting on a park bench reads a newspaper article headlined “Death at Sea” and knows a murder has been committed.