My PV friend Gerry W. tactfully informed me that I messed up the answer to one of my Government Quiz questions in my article last week. I promise that I do know the term for U.S. Representatives is two years (not 4).
Gerry’s email inspired me to try it again, this week seeing if I can trip you up with a few brain teasers, and then not blow the answers myself.
I scoured the Internet for some verbal and mathematical mind-stumping puzzlements of medium difficulty (I didn’t even understand the questions on the hardest ones).
Like last week’s article, the answers are below. I got 5 of 8 right, with one of my misses being the “Triangle” question (once I saw it correctly I wanted to kick myself).
1. RETRIEVER CROSSES RIVER
A man is on one side of a river and calls to his intelligent Golden Retriever on the other side of the river. The Golden immediately crosses the river, joining his master, without getting wet, and without using a bridge or a boat. How did the dog do it?
2. SHRINKING WORD
What is a five-letter word that becomes shorter when you add two letters to it?
3. REVERSE AGING
A person is 25 years old in 1975 and 20 years old in 1980. How did this happen?
4. EXPANDING FAMILY
My parents have six sons including me, and each of us brothers have one sister. How large is my family?
5. HUNGRY BEAR
You leave your campsite for a walk and hike south for precisely 3 miles. Then you turn east and hike for 3 more miles. Then you turn to the north and hike for 3 additional miles, to be startled by a huge bear eating the food you left inside your tent. What color is the bear?
6. MYSTERY PRODUCT
The person who makes it doesn’t use it. The person who buys it doesn’t use it. The person who uses it doesn’t know it. What is it?
How many triangles are pictured above?
8. PLEASE EXCUSE MY DEAR AUNT SALLY
Can you solve this problem? Your kid probably can! 
The solution is based on the Order of Operations for solving math problems.
“Please Excuse My Dear Aunt Sally” is an acronym for the words that set the order of operation: Parenthesis – Exponents – Multiplication – Division – Addition – Subtraction.
Whenever I test my brain like this, I’m reminded that:
