Last week's riddle required a number of different skills. First, you needed to sift through the information in the riddle to determine what was important, and more importantly, what wasn't!
Here's the riddle:
A man walked into a cafe wearing a hat with fuchsia daisies on it. After ordering a strawberry and banana sandwich, he asked for a jug of cherry lemonade, an empty glass, a dinner plate, a match, and one quarter of a kiwi. After straightening his turquoise tie, and pouring the cherry lemonade onto the dinner plate, he said to George, the cafe owner, "If you can transport the cherry lemonade into the glass without touching or moving the plate, I will give you £173.54. You may use the kiwi and the match to do this."
George scratched his balding head, analysing the stranger before him. Minutes later, he walked away £173.54 richer.
How did George get the cherry lemonade into the glass?
This is just an overegged version of the 'lemon wedge, water and a match' riddle. The man's appearance, the £173.54, and indeed, even the cafe, are not important. The feat that George successfully attempted was all that was important, and the tools with which he did it. So the kiwi, match and glass were the important tools here.
First, George stuck the match into the kiwi, so that it would stand straight. Then he lit the match, and put it in the middle of the plate (still stuck in the kiwi). Then he placed the glass upside down over the match. As the flame used up the oxygen in the glass, it created a small vacuum, which sucked in the cherry lemonade through the space between the glass and the plate. Thus, George got the water into the glass without touching or moving the plate. The man with the crazy hat with fuchsia daisies couldn't pay for his strawberry and banana sandwich... so he had to wash dishes.
You can try this experiment at home with appropriate supervision. Want clearer instructions? Click here to learn how to transfer water using a lemon and a match.
Alternatively, here's a video:
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