The Odd-one-out Dilemma
I do not like odd-one-out puzzles. This old and famous example is one of the reasons why. When given the list: skyscraper, cathedral, temple, and prayer, people usually pick “prayer” as the odd-one-out because it’s not a building. On the other hand, when the order is prayer, temple, cathedral, and skyscraper, people would pick “skyscraper” as it is not related to religion.
I created several pairs of questions that might have a similar issue: the answer depends on how the list is ordered.
Odd-one-out dilemma. Pick the odd-one-out from:
- Pen, book, notebook, tissue.
- Tissue, notebook, book, pen.
Odd-one-out dilemma. Pick the odd-one-out from:
- Banana, apple, orange, grape, lime, nectarine, artichoke.
- Artichoke, nectarine, lime, grape, orange, apple, banana.
Odd-one-out dilemma. Pick the odd-one-out from:
- 6, 3, 15, 9, 5.
- 5, 9, 15, 3, 6.
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James:
Agree! For the last one I spotted at least three convincing answers (divisibility by 2, divisibility by 3, number of digits). But for the second one, I can only see the argument for artichoke – maybe someone can tell me what I’m missing 🙂
5 July 2023, 4:22 amAnton:
Hi, James! I suppose, you`re missing the shape )
5 July 2023, 7:43 amLeo B.:
Banana is the only one not ending with E.
5 July 2023, 11:14 amCristóbal Camarero:
You can always find something special about any item. It may feel more or less forced. Some examples:
– Lime is the only one without ‘a’.
– Grape is the only one starting with two consonants.
– 6 is the only even number.
5 July 2023, 1:40 pm– 3 is the only one that divides its surrounding numbers.
– 15 is the only one representable as the product of two different numbers in the list.
– 9 is the only square number.
– 5 is the only one not divisible by 3.
– In the first ordering, 15 is the only one greater than the preceding number.
– In the second ordering, 3 is the only one lower than the preceding number.