(This "nonsense puzzle" gets its name from the puzzle I saw it from)

A shopper went into a shop and wanted a dollar's worth of chestnuts when he gave the shopkeeper a one dollar bill and was given five chestnuts. "It is not enough; I ought to have a sixth," the shopper remarked. "But you will have five too many if I gave you one chestnut more", the shopkeeper replied.

How many chestnuts should the man have gotten for 3 twenty dollar bills?

I see a few spots where the trickery could be involved. "five too many" may refer to dollars or cents or coins. "sixth" may also refer to dollars, but only if "dollar bill" refers to a five dollar bill. Also, "he remarked" may refer to either the customer or the shopman. When I first read it, I interpreted as the customer speaking first, then the shopman, but it might be different.

Posted by Tristan on 2004-01-05 20:14:34