Fun with words and puzzles - September 2008

Every month we hope to bring you a puzzle or two for those who enjoy crosswords and conundrums.

This month we have A PEAL BY CANDLELIGHT and TRAFFIC CONGESTION

You can find the answers to the puzzles somewhere within this website - just find the hidden link on a web page.

A PEAL BY CANDLELIGHT - with special thanks to Angela Newing.

A band of ringers obtained permision to go for a peal at a certain church which had no electricity an they decided to ring by the light of two candles.Both candles were the same length but of different thicknesses, so that one would burn for a total of four hours and the other for five. They lit the two candles and riased the bells. The bells were slow but the peal was eventually finished. On extinguishing the candles afterwards it was noted that what remained of one candle was exactly four times the length of what remained of the other.

The question is "How long had the candles been alight?"

TRAFFIC CONGESTION - with special thanks to Angela Newing.

Bert lives some distance from the tower and makes the journey twice a week, once for Sunday ringing and once for practice night. During the week there is more traffic than on Sundays and this makes a considerable difference to Bert's travelling time. Last Friday he averaged 20 mph and arrive 5 minutes late; on Sunday he allowed himself the same time in which to get there but was able to average 35 mph and arrived 10 minutes early.

The question is "How far from the tower does Bert live?"