The Town of 20,000 Boots

Puzzler time.

In a small, hard-to-find country, there are two neighboring towns separated by a mountain.

We’ll call them Abba and Bubba.

Now in Abba, there are exactly 20,000 people.

Some interesting things about the folks in Abba:

1% of them have only one foot, so they wear just one boot.

Of everyone else, half don’t wear boots at all.

The remaining half wear two boots, like normal people.

So far, so good.

Now, over in Bubba, things are a little different.

We don’t know how many people live there—call it X.

But we do know this:

20% of the people have only one foot and wear one boot.

Of the rest, half go barefoot.

The other half wears two boots.

And here’s the twist:

If you walked through Bubba and counted every boot being worn, you’d count exactly 20,000 boots.

So the puzzler question is:

How many people live in Bubba?

Good luck.

Answer the Puzzler »

Remember last week's puzzler?

The Ordinary

Answer time.

Back in the 1800s, there was a kind of bicycle called the “ordinary.”

This was the one with the giant front wheel and the tiny back wheel—what some people called the penny-farthing.

It was expensive, hard to ride, and more than a little dangerous.

In fact, the most common accident was something called a “header,” where the rider would go flying over the handlebars.

So eventually, inventors came up with something better: the “safety bicycle.”

This had two wheels of equal size, a chain drive, and gearing—basically like the bicycles we use today.

But at first, nobody liked it.

People thought it was ugly, inefficient, and not nearly as elegant as the old high-wheelers.

Then, in 1889, a veterinary surgeon in Belfast patented a simple accessory.

And that one invention changed everything.

Suddenly, the safety bicycle became faster, more comfortable, and started winning races.

And just like that, the old high-wheel bikes disappeared.

So the puzzler question is:

What did this veterinary surgeon invent—or what was his name?