Latest news with #brainteasers
Yahoo
6 days ago
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Carol Vorderman unveals brutal 'competitive' streak as she stars in new game show
Carol Vorderman, best known for her extraordinary maths skills, couldn't suppress her competitive side while participating in the show Celebrity Puzzling. "At first, I thought I'd be very gracious and allow my fellow guests to answer the question so the world can see how clever they are," she says. "But after about half an hour, the genteel lady aspect went out of the window. I'm very competitive." Series host Jeremy Vine was impressed by Carol's tactics, commenting, "During the final round, Memory Bank, Carol had a technique that I'm still trying to work out," and adding, "But the look of concentration she had - it was like Roger Federer, a laser!". READ MORE: Coronation Street spoilers see party horror as Aadi Alahan's exit storyline 'confirmed' READ MORE: Coronation Street 'to bring back' icon 33 years after first episode as Lou's mum 'revealed' In this new Channel 5 competition, with Jeremy at the helm, team captains Carol Vorderman and Sally Lindsay tackle brain-teasing challenges, joined each episode by a roster of celebrity brains ready to test their intellect. The lineup kicks off with Gareth Malone and Ore Oduba, followed by stars such as Scarlett Moffatt, Stephen Bailey, Melvin Odoom, Miles Jupp, Dom Joly, and others determined to put their cognition to the test. Host Jeremy admits he often felt tempted to jump into the action himself saying, "I didn't always have the answers," but recognises the restraint needed in his role. "I quickly realised that, as the quiz master, you feel locked out. You can't shout the answer out. That's the price you pay for watching these competitors do battle." Some guests on the show also took him by surprise. "I knew Shaun Williamson would be nervous about it," he commented, highlighting how different this was from Shaun's comfort zone. "It's not his usual territory. But I could see he knew stuff and was having a good time." He found former England goalkeeper David James' approach to the challenges fascinating: "Sportspeople's brains just work differently. It was enjoyable to watch." Every episode's six-round structure meant there was never a dull moment, yet Carol particularly struggled with one part: Cinema Cypher, where film titles were disguised as cryptic symbols. Carol explained her difficulties with the game, "I found it hard because I had to go backwards," revealing her weakness when it comes to recalling movie titles. "I'm absolutely rubbish with movie titles. I know The Godfather series, Lord of the Rings, Star Wars but I couldn't tell you what their names are, though I've probably seen all of those multiple times." She got especially tripped up on School of Rock, despite the hints. "When the clue said it was a Jack Black film, I thought of all the movies I knew and tried to make them fit," she confessed, acknowledging that she might have been too forceful in her attempts. Even though she stumbled, Carol relished the challenge, "That's the worst thing I did but I really enjoyed trying to work it out," she expressed. Aside from the brain-teasers, for Carol, becoming a team captain brought unexpected joy. "I can't remember ever being a team captain before and I really enjoyed it." TV legend Carol Vorderman spilled the beans on her recent game show experience, revealing she was starstruck by the knowledge of fellow contestants. "This was interesting because I was with Scarlett Morfatt on one show and then Paul Sinha another show. In terms of general knowledge, that's vast - Paul is one of the top quizzers in the country!". She also praised the show's format for playing to celebrity strengths. "The questions were totally geared to those celebs," Carol shared, "I didn't know pop bands but Scarlett did. It was brilliantly done." Carol gushed about working with her close pal Sally Lindsay, adding a touch of personal warmth to the set. "Sally is just a joy," she beamed, "She's actually one of my best friends so it was a joy to be with her even though the way our brains work is different. We're both Northern, feisty women and we like a laugh. So I loved being in that studio." Reflecting on her lifelong puzzle passion, Carol reminisced about her childhood hobbies. "I've always loved puzzles. When I was a child, I used to buy old maths books," she recalled. Those books were her early challenges, as she raced against time with pencil in hand. "They were my puzzles. I would sit at home with my pencil and go against the clock. Chess is one of the big ones." Her enthusiasm for chess even led her to host a historic match in 1993 between chess giants Garry Kasparov and Nigel Short. The event marked a milestone as the Kremlin's first commercial venture, a speed chess championship. Nowadays, Carol is an avid Sudoku enthusiast, finding joy in solving complex grids during her train journeys back to Bristol after filming. Jeremy's bond with puzzles holds a special place in his heart. "My dad, who died about six years ago, was a big fan of Carol's," he shares, "He was a mathematician and he spent his life in higher education and he was obsessed with one thing which was aligning the prime numbers, only divisible by one. He spent half a century with notepads trying to work it out. That's my memory of holidays - my dad sitting with a pad and a pencil, trying to work it out this living secret." Celebrity Puzzling is fundamentally a show about human connections. Expect competitive spirits, fits of giggles and genuine matey vibes that make for utterly delightful viewing. So fetch your favourite brew, plump up those pillows and get cosy - Celebrity Puzzling is the perfect chance to tune out the world and give your grey cells a workout.
The Guardian
09-06-2025
- Entertainment
- The Guardian
Can you solve it? The deductive decade – ten years of Monday puzzles
Forgive me the indulgence of celebrating ten years of this column. Toot toot! I began posting biweekly brainteasers at the end of May 2015, originally addressing you folk as 'guzzlers' – Guardian puzzlers. The cringy coinage didn't stick, but the column did, and here we are a decade and 260 columns later. Some data. Total page views are now 38 million, which averages out at about 150,000 views per puzzle – a whopping number, I'd say. Thanks to everyone for the encouragement and support. For today's offerings I decided to go back through the archive and repost ten of my favourites. Some may be familiar, others not. Please graze, maybe even guzzle – and here's to the next ten years! 1. Bat and ball Three friends (A, B and C) are playing ping pong. They play the usual way: the winner stays on, and the loser waits their turn again. At the end of the day, they summarise the number of games that each of them played: A played 10 B played 15 C played 17. Who lost the second game? 2. Tricky trams Why are the tram's overhead cables positioned to make a zigzag, rather than straight line? 3. Read the question 3. What is never odd or even? 4. Catch the cat A straight corridor has 7 doors along one side. Behind one of the doors sits a cat. Your mission is to find the cat by opening the correct door. Each day you can open only one door. If the cat is there, you win. If the cat is not there, the door closes, and you must wait until the next day before you can open a door again. If the cat was always to sit behind the same door, you would be able to find it in at most seven days, by opening each door in turn. But this mischievous moggy is restless. Every night it moves randomly either one door to the left or one to the right. Although if it is behind the first or last door, it has only one option for where it can move. How many days do you now need to make sure you can catch the cat? 5. Mystery number I have a ten digit number, abcdefghij. Each of the digits is different, and a is divisible by 1 ab is divisible by 2 abc is divisible by 3 abcd is divisible by 4 abcde is divisible by 5 abcdef is divisible by 6 abcdefg is divisible by 7 abcdefgh is divisible by 8 abcdefghi is divisible by 9 abcdefghij is divisible by 10 What's my number? [To clarify: a, b, c, d, e, f, g, h, i, and j are all single digits. Each digit from 0 to 9 is represented by exactly one letter. The number abcdefghij is a ten-digit number whose first digit is a, second digit is b, and so on. It does not mean that you multiply a x b x c x…] 6. Disappearing cub This picture has not been doctored. Explain why the reflection has a yellow lion cub. 7. Crazy triangle Show that there is a triangle, the sum of whose three heights is less than 1mm, that has an area greater than the surface of the Earth (510m km2). 8. Deck dilemma Your friend chooses at random a card from a standard deck of 52 cards, and keeps this card concealed. You have to guess which of the 52 cards it is. Before your guess, you can ask your friend one of the following three questions: is the card red? is the card a face card? (Jack, Queen or King) is the card the ace of spades? Your friend will answer truthfully. What question would you ask that gives you the best chance of guessing the correct card? 9. The question with no question (a) All of the following. (b) None of the following. (c) Some of the following. (d) All of the above. (e) None of the above. [Just to reassure you, nothing has been omitted here.] 10. Triangle fold Find a way to fold a square piece of paper into an equilateral triangle. The triangle can be of any size. I'll be back at 5pm UK with the solutions. PLEASE NO SPOILERS Instead please recommend your favourites from the 260 you have read here over the years. Sources: 1. Adrian Paenza, 2. Kvantik magaizine, 3. Des MacHale, 4. New York Times. 5. John Conway, 6. Matt Pritchard, 7. Trần Phương, 8. Henk Tijms, 9. Parabola, 10. The Paper Puzzle Book. I've been setting a puzzle here on alternate Mondays since 2015. I'm always on the look-out for great puzzles. If you would like to suggest one, email me.
The Sun
01-06-2025
- Entertainment
- The Sun
Everyone can see the triangles in this challenging brainteaser – but only one in five can guess it right, can YOU?
THERE are different ways to put your brain to the test, from optical illusions that warp the way you see the world to tricky challenges that'll leave you scratching your head. This puzzle will test your observation skills - and only one in five get it right. Twist Museum – London's immersive experience dedicated to visual perception and cognitive illusions – has unveiled a brand-new brain teaser that's leaving people across the UK stumped. The latest optical puzzle invites the public to solve a deceptively simple question: How many triangles are in this image? But don't be fooled – this visual illusion is trickier than it looks. Released as part of Twist Museum's ongoing mission to challenge the way we see and think, the puzzle isn't just a game, it's a window into how our brains interpret complex visual information. Perfect for puzzle-lovers, illusion enthusiasts, and curious minds alike, their latest teaser offers a quick mental workout that's as entertaining as it is enlightening. So - are you up for the challenge? See if you can uncover every hidden triangle - but will you be among the few who get it right? Certain brainteasers and optical illusions, particularly those that involve patterns or sequences, can help strengthen both short-term and long-term memory. By working through puzzles on a regular basis, you will actively engage the brain's memory systems and directly improve your future attempts at visual challenges. Many brain teasers, like this one, require challengers thinking outside the box. 99 percent of people can't find the hidden objects in under 20 seconds - are you up to the challenge This enhances creative problem-solving skills by encouraging the brain to come up with innovative solutions. It also translates to real-life situations where you might need to approach challenges in new and inventive ways. Did you manage to find the bee in the brainteaser? Check the image below to see the answer and put your friends and family to the test to see who is the true champion. How can optical illusions and brainteasers help me? Engaging in activities like solving optical illusions and brainteasers can have many cognitive benefits as it can stimulate various brain regions. Some benefits include: Cognitive stimulation: Engaging in these activities challenges the brain, promoting mental agility and flexibility. Problem-solving skills: Regular practice enhances analytical thinking and problem-solving abilities. Memory improvement: These challenges often require memory recall and can contribute to better memory function. Creativity: They encourage thinking outside the box, fostering creativity and innovative thought processes. Focus and attention: Working on optical illusions and brainteasers requires concentration, contributing to improved focus. Stress relief: The enjoyable nature of these puzzles can act as a form of relaxation and stress relief. The answers: 2
The Sun
21-05-2025
- Entertainment
- The Sun
Everyone can see the Margaritas but only the most eagle-eyed can spot the cocktail without the lime
FOR many, cocktails are part and parcel of summer. In fact, recipes for the drinks are searched over 266k in a year, with more than three million searches for " cocktails near me". 3 3 And if you're a fan of a DIY cocktail, you're probably well aware of the ingredients that go into a Margarita. So it might not be too hard for you to spot the cocktail in this brain teaser, created by VSO, that doesn't have a lime on the rim. Others might find it harder to spot the Margarita glass without the slice. If you're struggling, divide the image into quarters and take on each part in turn. Just go up and down each column and row, then you can rule out any of the sections that just have glasses with limes on them. For those still unable to find the glass, you might want to check on the left side of the image. Any luck? If not, check the top left of the image and you might be lucky enough to find it. It has recently been proven that doing brainteasers is beneficial to our mental health, as it keeps the brain active. "What is well understood about both the brain and mental health is that people are highly driven to pursue learning," clinical psychologist in neuropsychology Dr Amber Johnston told Yahoo UK. Everyone can see the sun in this hot weather scene - but you're a genius if you can spot 5 differences in under 10 seconds "Anything that offers new challenge and learning opportunities has been found to lead to greater well-being and enjoyment, with studies showing that people prefer to choose a novel and challenging task over an easy, repetitive one, even without reward for participating in either. "Because we are naturally motivated towards challenge and learning, brainteasers fit into a fun category of hobbies that can improve our mental health." How can optical illusions and brainteasers help me? Engaging in activities like solving optical illusions and brainteasers can have many cognitive benefits as it can stimulate various brain regions. Some benefits include: Cognitive stimulation: Engaging in these activities challenges the brain, promoting mental agility and flexibility. Problem-solving skills: Regular practice enhances analytical thinking and problem-solving abilities. Memory improvement: These challenges often require memory recall and can contribute to better memory function. Creativity: They encourage thinking outside the box, fostering creativity and innovative thought processes. Focus and attention: Working on optical illusions and brainteasers requires concentration, contributing to improved focus. Stress relief: The enjoyable nature of these puzzles can act as a form of relaxation and stress relief. It's also important to mix things up - by not doing the same puzzles day after day. "What we recommend for overall enhancement of higher level thinking skills, particularly in an older population worried about having less cognitive stimulation in their daily lives, is to challenge your brain in as many unique and diverse ways as you can," Dr Johnson added. "Maybe a crossword or Wordle, and why not a pub quiz?"
