Earlier today I set you the following two puzzles loosely related to 2025. (For more information on the number 2025 please read the original post.) Here they are again with the solutions.
Queens and pawns
Place five queens and three pawns in the 5x5 grid so that no queen is attacking a pawn.
A queen can move horizontally, vertically or diagonally. So, for those unfamiliar with the rules of the chess, the puzzle is asking you to place five pieces in the grid in such a way that there are exactly three cells these pieces cannot move to, horizontally, vertically or diagonally.
Solution
Christmas star
There are 5 triangles in this five pointed star. Can you draw two straight lines through the star to create an image with 10 triangles? For this puzzle, only triangles that have no lines running though them count as triangles. And it is not a trick question – there is a simple way to do it!
Solution
While you solve this puzzle by trial and error, an educated guess might be to use the two lines to create a new star, which will give another 5 triangles. This is in fact the solution – the new star has its centre in the top triangle of the old star, and creates seven new triangles. Two of the old star’s triangles have lines through them and must be discounted, leaving ten in total.
I hope you enjoyed today’s puzzles – see you next year!
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.
