Grandma's Attic
You climbed into Grandma's attic to find her old photo albums, and the hatch slammed shut behind you. The key to the hatch is inside a little lockbox with a five-digit code. Look around carefully: there's a quilt on the wall with nine patches, two of them blue, a stack of three round hatboxes, two rocking chairs, and a note in Grandma's handwriting that says 'Solve my puzzles, dear!'
Solve each puzzle to reveal one digit of the code. Type your answer and press Check. Stuck? Take a hint, or show the answer.
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Puzzle 1Solved
Grandma's first note: 'I'm an elephant's long nose, the storage space in the back of a car, and the big wooden box you're sitting on right now. What am I?' The number of letters in the answer is your first digit.
Hint: One word fits all three: a nose, a car part and a big box.AnswerTrunkTRUNK has 5 letters, so the first digit is 5. -
Puzzle 2Solved
A knitting basket holds a note: 'I'm knitting a pair of socks for each of my 4 grandkids. So far I've finished 2 complete pairs, plus one lonely sock still waiting for its partner. Grandpa wants a pair too, but I told him he can knit his own.' How many more single socks does Grandma need to knit? That number is your second digit.
Hint: Grandpa isn't getting any. Count socks, not pairs.Answer34 pairs is 8 socks, Grandma has finished 2 pairs plus 1, which is 5 socks, and 8 minus 5 is 3, so the second digit is 3. -
Puzzle 3Solved
Four old wooden alphabet blocks sit in a row on a shelf: L, I, N, E. Grandma's note says: 'Swap out exactly one block to turn this word into a number.' What number do you make? That number is your third digit.
Hint: Which four-letter number ends in -INE?AnswerNineSwapping the L for an N turns LINE into NINE, so the third digit is 9. -
Puzzle 4Solved
Tucked in a recipe box is a card that just says '19 - 9 - 24.' On the back, Grandma wrote only: 'Z = 26.' Turn the numbers into letters to spell a number. That number is your fourth digit.
Hint: If Z is 26, what is A?AnswerSixWith Z = 26, A = 1, so 19 is S, 9 is I and 24 is X, which spells SIX, and the fourth digit is 6. -
Puzzle 5Solved
The last note is pinned to the quilt: 'My quilt is three patches wide and three patches tall. The two blue patches are in opposite corners. How many patches share a full side with a blue patch? That's your final digit.'
Hint: A corner patch only has two neighbors that share a side.Answer4Each blue corner patch shares a side with 2 patches, and the two corners don't share any neighbors, so 2 + 2 = 4 is the final digit.
The lock clicks open!
The lockbox pops open on 5-3-9-6-4, and the hatch key is sitting right on top of the photo albums. Grandma is waiting at the bottom of the ladder with cookies.