Can you solve these Soviet puzzles for kids? (PICS)

Russia Beyond (Archive photo)
In the USSR, they loved logic, brain teasers and “entertaining” math. Try your hand at solving the tasks that were given to Soviet schoolchildren!

1. What is the number of the parking space where the car is parked?

2. Which way is the bus going?

3. How did the police inspector figure out the lie?

A stranger came into the police inspector’s office. He was extremely anxious and shared this story: “This morning I came back from my vacation. I was on the train all night. I didn’t get much sleep, so, when I came home, I decided to lie down on the sofa. From exhaustion, I did not immediately notice that the grand piano had disappeared from the room and the coffee table and armchair had been moved. On this piece of paper, I drew a plan of the arrangement of the furniture in the room before I left.” “Here’s the thing, dear sir,” said the inspector, looking at the drawing. “First of all, it is quite clear to me that you had no piano at all. Now let’s find out why you needed this lie.” How did the inspector know there was no piano?

4. The boys went with watering cans to water the vegetable garden. Which one will bring more water?

5. The artist made seven mistakes. Can you find them all?

THE ANSWERS!

1. 87 (No complicated math is needed here, just turn the picture upside down)

2. Show some abstract thinking! We can’t see the doors of the bus, so it’s going left (although, some might argue the bus is not going in either direction, as it is stationary!).

3. The shaped notch of a grand piano is always on the right side, so the instrument in the picture is depicted incorrectly and the stranger does not know what it really looks like.

4. The boy on the left has a bigger watering can, but the spouts are on the same level. Therefore, there will be as much water in the big watering can as in the small one (and the rest will simply pour out through the spout - the law of physics of communicating vessels).

5. 1) The road signs suggest arrows and turning to different directions, but there aren’t any roads; 2) Trees are not allowed to stand under power lines; 3) The moon shines from one side, but the power line support and car heading left cast a shadow in a different direction; 4) The constellation of the Big Dipper is depicted in reverse; 5) The Moon cannot be between the Big Dipper and Polaris; 6) There are no insulators on the power lines; 7) The cars are heading in different directions, but they share the same one-lane road.

If you enjoyed these brain teasers, try these puzzles, too!

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