Friday
I gave the following puzzle to my students.
Puzzle. A cowboy rides into town on Friday, stays for three days, then leaves on Friday. How come?
Most of them submitted the standard answer: his horse is named Friday.
One student suggested that the town was named Onfriday. This solution works well when the puzzle is given orally, but my homework was typed, so it feels less elegant.
Here are two more solutions that also work:
- He drank so much that he believed he stayed for three days, while in reality, the other four days were lost in a blackout.
- The cowboy left after three days, then later returned and left again on Friday.
And here is my favorite solution:
- The town has a quirky tradition: they celebrate fried foods and call the day Friday (get it?). The cowboy came for this special event, which happened to be held on a Tuesday.
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