We think that this is quite a hard puzzle so we are giving you the whole festive period to solve it - have fun!
A farmer has raised several turkeys and has sold all but one of them. The remaining turkey is destined for the farmer's family's Christmas dinner. Unfortunately for the farmer (but maybe fortunately for the turkey) a week before Christmas the turkey realises what is going on and decides to hide.
There are five huts in which the turkey can hide numbered one to five, all in a row, and the turkey hides in one of them during the night. The pattern for the ensuing search is as follows:
- Each morning the farmer looks in one of the huts.
- If the turkey is in the hut the farmer locks the door, the turkey is trapped, and Christmas dinner is saved.
- If the hut is empty the farmer leaves and overnight the turkey moves to one of the adjacent huts. For example, if it is in hut two it must move to either hut one or hut three, and if it is in hut five it must move to hut four.
- The next morning the farmer has another look, and so on.
The farmer has only six mornings left to find the turkey. Can you devise a method that guarantees that the farmer will find the turkey within six searches?
As usual you can post your answer as a comment on this website, reply to the post on Facebook, or retweet or reply on Twitter @quizmastershop.
We’ll give the answer and explanation on Monday 4th January at 9.00 as usual.