The following questions are provided by the folks at American Mensa, the High IQ Society. Without seeking the assistance of fellow passengers, can you provide the answers? If you find that you do need some help, scroll down for the answers. By Dr. Abbie F. Salny

1. What do you call a Reno roadside trinket seller­ who is dressed in a crimson outfit? (Hint: The answer is a palindrome.)

_ _ D _ _ _ _ _ _ V _ _ _ _ _

2. Six boys were lined up according to height: Sam was neither the tallest boy nor the shortest. Tim was taller than Sam. Rob was taller than Quint and Paul. Paul was shorter than Quint. Sam was taller than Rob. Joe was shorter than Paul. Who was the shortest?

3. What two sets of words that sound the same but are spelled differently can be used to complete the sentences below?

I was __________ by the famous song to buy a pair of ________ shoes.

When the famous tenor was hired to sing at the church service, he chose his favorite _______, which gave _______ the best chance to excel.

4. To the best of our knowledge, only one other word can be made from all of the letters in the word reabsorption. Can you figure out what it is?

5. First unscramble the letters in each word below, then unscramble the order of the words to create a Tom Swifty sentence.

KOBO SI A EGAP RETNUR
LRAE DSIA MOT PPLIFNLTYA HIST

6. James has two more brothers than he has sisters. His sister Jessica has three times as many brothers as she has sisters. How many siblings are there in the family? (There are no more than 10.)

7. Find the number that best completes the following sequence.

1 2 4 7 11 ___ 22

8. What single three-letter word can be added to the blanks below to make a new word in each case?

SP_____
ST_____
SQU_____
M_____
P_____

9. Fill in the blanks below, one letter at a time, to build a word pyramid.

_

_ T

H _ _ _

W _ A T

_ H _ _ _

Bonus Question: The first successful system for classifying information for ease of retrieval was published in 1876. Who was its author, and what was its primary use?

scroll down for answer


















The Dewy System divides knowledge into 10 numbered classes. The system is still used today in public libraries.