Sandy Wood
Brain Game: Bingo for Five
by Sandy Wood - March 19, 2009 - 7:30 AM

bloghead_braingames.jpg

They called themselves the Cinnamon Women, for reasons better left private. Anna, Cora, Erma, Ida and Myra were long-time friends who loved to play bridge. Once a month, however, they met at a local Bingo parlor to let loose. The final game of the night offered a nice $500 pot, and each of the five ladies were only one letter away from winning. In no particular order, one of the women needed B-8, another wanted I-23, a third hoped for N-31, another prayed for G-54, and the last waited for O-72. Based on the following four clues, can you determine which player needed which letter-number “call” in order to emerge victorious and pocket the prize?

1. The call Ida wanted was the lowest possible number for its corresponding letter.
2. The call Myra wanted was four syllables long (letter and number).
3. The number attached to the call Anna wanted was a prime number.
4. Only one woman shared a letter of her first name with the letter of the call she wanted. 

Here is the SOLUTION.

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Comments (10)

  1. I guess you have to know how to play Bingo to get this right…the first clue tripped me up!

    posted by ErinInHouston on 3-19-2009 at 9:13 am

  2. You’re correct, Erin. For anyone else who reads this far and doesn’t know, the numbers in Bingo run 1 through 75, with 15 for each letter.

    Under B: 1-15
    Under I: 16-30
    Under N: 31-45
    Under G: 46-60
    Under O: 61-70

    posted by Sandy Wood on 3-19-2009 at 9:44 am

  3. yea…wikipedia helped me out with the numbers, the rest if it all fell into place after that.

    posted by vikter on 3-19-2009 at 9:58 am

  4. I also used Wikipedia to understand the first clue.

    “Wikipedia… is the best thing ever. Anyone in the world can write anything they want about any subject, so you know you are getting the best possible information.” – The Office

    posted by Chris on 3-19-2009 at 10:43 am

  5. i got it right! the prime number slipped me up a bit (i just had to confirm i was right about it).

    posted by dee on 3-19-2009 at 11:27 am

  6. Woohoo!

    Are we supposed to do these without paper?

    posted by matt on 3-19-2009 at 4:41 pm

  7. I got the bingo tiles, but I really want to know why they were referred to as the “Cinnamon Women.”

    posted by Kevin on 3-19-2009 at 5:00 pm

  8. What I want to know is how 5 play bridge?

    posted by Gern on 3-20-2009 at 12:58 am

  9. The puzzle wasn’t difficult, but how do they play bridge with 5?

    posted by Gern on 3-20-2009 at 1:02 am

  10. Very good question, Gern. It has to do with why they’re called the Cinnamon Women… but I digress.

    posted by Sandy Wood on 3-20-2009 at 9:45 am

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