You may remember that last week we helped young Albert open the company safe in his bid to get access to a rare clock. Well, it seems that the company are especially hot on security. When he opened the safe door, Albert was confronted with three boxes. Each had a picture of a different form of transport (a speedboat, a racecar and a horse).
The note simply said….
Hi ,
The rare clock is in one of these boxes. You only get to open one box and your task is to open the one containing the clock. Here is a clue that might help – “I am the same going forwards as backwards”
Good Luck
Bob (company director)
Which box should Albert open?
As ever, please do not submit your solution, but feel free to say if you think that you have solved it and how long it took. Answer on Monday! Have a good weekend.
Update: For those that get it straight away, Briantist has posed a nice follow-up question – how do you spell ‘a hungry horse’ in four letters?
June 26, 2009 at 6:17 am |
I know the answer, and it took me all of 5 seconds.
I’m not joking.
June 26, 2009 at 6:30 am |
Got it! 20 seconds or so. Now I can relax for the weekend.
June 26, 2009 at 8:30 am
That pretty much sums up how I feel about these puzzles. Thanks for throwing in an easy one Richard. I can get back to work without distraction now.
June 26, 2009 at 6:30 am |
Yes, tad easy this week.
June 26, 2009 at 6:49 am |
Terribly clever!
June 26, 2009 at 6:53 am |
Ah Richard. One even I can do. It must be too easy!
June 26, 2009 at 6:59 am |
Yay! I could do this one!! got it straight away. =)
June 26, 2009 at 7:02 am |
Good morning.
Took me 5 seconds. But very clever!
Greetz
Mathias
June 26, 2009 at 7:03 am |
Yes! Got it in about 30 seconds
Love the TARDIS by the way, I’d definately have one in my house!
June 26, 2009 at 7:36 am |
No problemo. Got it pretty much instantly.
I like the easy ones!
D (My brain ain’t quite good enough for some of the harder ones…)
June 26, 2009 at 12:36 pm
I agree – I like the easy ones! Got this one in under 10 seconds
June 26, 2009 at 8:02 am |
Oh come on, I thought these were meant to be challenging??!!
June 26, 2009 at 8:03 am |
Took me about 2 seconds after finishing reading the question.
June 26, 2009 at 8:03 am |
far too easy it took less than two seconds
June 26, 2009 at 8:07 am |
Got it and I think 5 seconds would be generous.
Seems to be very unambiguous, but I look forward to the spew of convaluted reality-stretching ‘alternative’ answers.
June 26, 2009 at 9:14 am
I’m going to make up one of those answers, just for you.
June 26, 2009 at 8:08 am |
Very quickly.
June 26, 2009 at 8:15 am |
Ok it’s been 5 minutes for me and I still don’t get it.
June 26, 2009 at 8:16 am |
With this kind of security, who needs locks anymore?
June 26, 2009 at 8:21 am |
I was quite pleased with myself about getting this til I saw everyone saying how easy it was…although it did take be about 10 seconds
June 26, 2009 at 8:22 am |
this was tooooo simple!
June 26, 2009 at 8:28 am |
Easy! Took me about 2 seconds. Your other one with the numbers got me, though.
June 26, 2009 at 8:28 am |
Oh if only I had a man, a plan or a canal………
June 26, 2009 at 2:06 pm
LMAO
June 26, 2009 at 8:47 am |
Too easy. Albert needs to get a job with sane ppl
June 26, 2009 at 8:52 am |
Finally one I got right away!
June 26, 2009 at 8:52 am |
Easy! Took me seconds. Like these ones.
June 26, 2009 at 8:53 am |
Got it as soon as it occured to me to read the instructions above the photograph carefully.
June 26, 2009 at 8:58 am |
Is it the first friday puzzle I actually solved (out of five so far
) ?
June 26, 2009 at 9:00 am |
at least i don’t need to wait till Monday to get the answer
June 26, 2009 at 9:08 am |
I got the theory pretty much within a few seconds and the actual answer ages later – I knew what I was looking for, but thought I was wrong because I couldn’t see it. How retarded do you have to be to know what you are looking for, then stare blankly because despite knowing it must be there you can’t see it?
Still, got it. HELL YEAH.
June 26, 2009 at 9:35 am
I did exactly the same thing!
June 26, 2009 at 9:11 am |
Got this one in about 2 seconds.
Which makes me feel better about not figuring out last week’s.
June 26, 2009 at 9:11 am |
About 10 seconds…
June 26, 2009 at 9:14 am |
10 seconds
June 26, 2009 at 9:15 am |
About 30 seconds. Now where’s my rotavator?
June 26, 2009 at 9:18 am |
Yay got it straight away.
June 26, 2009 at 9:20 am |
easy peasy…:-)
June 26, 2009 at 9:31 am |
Kind of already knew the answer, so v. quick.
June 26, 2009 at 9:33 am |
Yay! Took me ages but I normally fail completely so pretty happy with myself.
June 26, 2009 at 9:34 am |
Just like ScreamingGreenConure I worked out the theory instantly and then doubted myself as I couldn’t see it, got it after about 5 minutes of hard staring!
Mental note to self, remember to read these things very very carefully!
June 26, 2009 at 1:34 pm
I am so glad I am not the only one.
June 26, 2009 at 9:36 am |
Got it after my second read. Was trying to be too clever at first.
June 26, 2009 at 9:46 am |
Got it pretty quickly, this week! Felt really proud at first until I saw everyone else saying how easy this week’s was. Bad times.
June 26, 2009 at 9:48 am |
Liked it.
June 26, 2009 at 10:09 am |
I keep thinking of the question: how do you write ‘a hungry horse’ in four letter…
June 26, 2009 at 10:21 am |
The property of the one box that makes it the right one hit me even before i saw the question…8P This is the first friday puzzle i have got immediately!
June 26, 2009 at 10:27 am |
Pretty much instantly. Anyone who’s read GEB[1] would do the same, of course.
[1] We have all read it, right?
June 26, 2009 at 10:55 am |
I got what you were looking for immediately, but took me a few seconds to find it.
yay me! This makes up for my not getting the super easy one from last week right?
June 26, 2009 at 10:57 am |
I saw in 5 seconds. Glad when I get the easy ones.
June 26, 2009 at 11:07 am |
about 10 seconds. easy.
June 26, 2009 at 11:21 am |
I’m pretty sure I got it if it’s as easy as I think it is – thought you might be using trickery though, so it took awhile….
June 26, 2009 at 11:22 am |
a couple of seconds – I relate better to words than to numbers!
June 26, 2009 at 11:25 am |
Too easy!
June 26, 2009 at 11:32 am |
I had to read the question 2 times before i saw the answer
June 26, 2009 at 11:43 am |
Too easy. I feel cheated!
)
June 26, 2009 at 11:46 am |
Easy one for me for once! Only because the same thing as the correct answer is in one of the “zones” in an online game that I play
June 26, 2009 at 11:49 am |
Way too easy!
June 26, 2009 at 11:57 am |
that was an easy one, but it’s cool to finally be able to solve a puzzle this time hahaha
June 26, 2009 at 12:26 pm |
I thought I had it, then saw people saying it was something of a trick. Looked again, and saw we were both right.
June 26, 2009 at 12:39 pm |
I got it. About 2 seconds. Only because you asked me how long it took.
June 26, 2009 at 12:40 pm |
Easy! The only thing that struck me was that an Englishman would never say ‘racecar’, hmmmmmm
June 26, 2009 at 12:42 pm |
The obvious answer just can’t be right. See what you’ve done to our minds? I’ll keep looking for alternatives all weekend!
June 26, 2009 at 1:01 pm |
4.75s (I timed myself)
June 26, 2009 at 1:03 pm |
5 seconds. I wonder if it’s worth people posting whether they’ve heard the puzzle (or similar) before, or if they had to actually figure it out.
This one I had heard before.
June 26, 2009 at 2:03 pm
I’d previously heard the factoid on which the answer was based, if that makes sense.
June 26, 2009 at 1:07 pm |
Thanks for your kind information.braindumps
June 26, 2009 at 1:29 pm |
I think I have it. After seeing everyone say how easy it was, I went back to re-read it. And got it nearly immediately. But it was my second read through.
June 26, 2009 at 1:32 pm |
Now I see bees, I won!
P.S.
I prefer pi.
June 26, 2009 at 10:25 pm
I wonder if the race car is a toyota?
June 26, 2009 at 2:12 pm |
Easy or not (I really didn’t have to work all that hard at it) it was a lot of fun and I thank you for not only posting this, but the do the test video as well.
Cheers.
June 26, 2009 at 2:24 pm |
bah-not even remotely challenging. . .
June 26, 2009 at 2:26 pm |
Got it – just a second or two.
June 26, 2009 at 3:51 pm |
Got it in a few seconds, (mainly because i know the puzzle as an album name by my favorite band.)
June 26, 2009 at 3:53 pm
oh and the horse one took me about a minute.
Funny though.
June 26, 2009 at 4:02 pm |
Great fun concept, which I’ve only just discovered – your whole weekly puzzle thing, I mean – meanwhile I got it as I read it, which was gratifying – and by the looks of it your other puzzles are harder, so I’ll take a look around your blog – thanks
June 26, 2009 at 4:18 pm |
Yes, it was quite easy. Even I got it after a couple of mins., and that’s saying something
June 26, 2009 at 7:20 pm |
Newbie to this blog… interesting blog..
This was very simple compared to the other Friday puzzles. Took less than a minute.
June 26, 2009 at 8:50 pm |
Got it in a very short period of time
June 26, 2009 at 8:51 pm |
I got it! First one I’ve really gotten. It took less than 5 seconds.
June 26, 2009 at 9:22 pm |
got it after reading comment including word TARDIS. thanks Frankie!
June 26, 2009 at 9:34 pm |
Got it , including an answer to the supplementary. You could make a case for saying that the answer is only three letters…
June 26, 2009 at 11:52 pm |
Got it in about 3.5 secounds. as it is a word puzzle not a mind game.
June 27, 2009 at 12:47 am |
[...] It’s the Friday puzzle! You may remember that last week we helped young Albert open the company safe in his bid to get access to a rare clock. [...] [...]
June 27, 2009 at 8:12 am |
got it really quickly. i read something like this but in trivia form (regarding the answer) somewhere.
June 27, 2009 at 9:15 am |
Got tricked by the transportation thing. Oh and the extra ‘challenge’ was google able (Ugh I feel guilty and stupid now).
Mr eyes, very clever haha.
June 27, 2009 at 10:59 am |
I had an unfair advantage, being a fan of the band Reuben.
June 27, 2009 at 11:04 am |
I (finally) got both answers in under a two seconds each.
At bloody last!
June 27, 2009 at 2:25 pm |
2 seconds. Easy. Perhaps crossword addicts find it easier than others. Some of the comments are clever.
June 27, 2009 at 10:03 pm |
about 5 seconds for the clock puzzle……and the hungry horse is even easier!
June 28, 2009 at 1:10 am |
Just a few seconds to get it! Too easy. The answer to the follow-up question is a bit lame. It doesn’t have any logic. I had to “cheat” and search for it.
June 28, 2009 at 1:57 am |
too easy Richard, and that’s what worries me!!!
June 28, 2009 at 2:04 am |
ahhhh I forgot about the spelling of the hungry horse! OK I got that too, but not until I totally through out the ‘words’ with vowels in them (oooops!)
June 28, 2009 at 3:47 am |
I had to google the hungry horse one and I still didn’t get it. I think this is because it is based on a particular piece of slang I’ve never heard. We must not have that slang in Arkansas.
June 28, 2009 at 12:01 pm |
I already knew it from an album title by Reuben.
Awesome though.
June 28, 2009 at 3:59 pm |
Wow That Was Easy, So much for being hard
June 28, 2009 at 9:21 pm |
About 1 second, I am feeling so clever!
June 29, 2009 at 12:08 am |
Is it cheating if you find the right search prhrase to find the answer using Google? Hmmm I guess it is huh??
2 minutes 
June 29, 2009 at 2:34 am |
Think I got it. Took a minute or so.
July 15, 2009 at 4:57 pm |
I didn’t get the horse one – where are the answers though Rich?