All I Want is the Candy

You and a friend pass by a standard coin operated vending machine and you decide to get a candy bar. The price is 95 cents but after checking your pockets you only have a dollar and the machine only takes coins.

You turn to your friend and have this conversation.

You: Hey, do you have change for a dollar?
Friend: Let's see... I have 6 US coins but, although they add up to $1.15, I can't break a dollar.
You: Well, can you make change for half a dollar?
Friend: No.
You: How about a quarter?
Friend: Nope. And before you ask I can't make change for a dime or nickel either.
You: Really? And these 6 coins are all US government coins currently in production?
Friend: Yes.
You: Well can you just put your coins into the vending machine and buy me the candy bar, and I'll pay you back?
Friend: Sorry, I'd like to but I can't with the coins I have.

What coins does your friend have?

Nine Letters

Find the two nine-letter antonyms using the letters below:

ERURP
VDRTO
SRESP
YAA

But How Fuel Efficient Are They?

Two cars start from point A at the same time and drive around a circuit more than one mile in length.  While they are driving laps around the circuit, each car must maintain a steady speed.  One car is faster than the other and will pass the other car at certain points.  The first pass occurs 150 yards from point A.

At what distance from A will one car pass the other again?

But Nothing is Ever Missing

ASIDE: For those of you who like twitter better than RSS or e-mail, I've created a twitter account that will twit out when a new post is made here.  You can now follow Question of the Day by following the link.

OK, back to the question.

"There's a mystery in the office, and I just can't seem to make heads or tails of it," Mary said as she sat down for her normal Monday lunch with Inspector Joseph.

Inspector Joseph immediately perked up.  "What kind of mystery?"

"Well, it's the strangest thing.  But let's start at the beginning."

"As you know, we have three workers in the office, there to handle the mail, billing and bookkeeping.  Alice has been there for years and has always been reliable.  She has a bit of a drinking problem and a husband who... well, let's just say he has his own problems."

"Barbara is new.  She worked in Alaska before coming here, and we're still waiting on her records."

"Our third worker is Clarence.  Ever since the new casino boat opened up ... Well, I don't want to point fingers, but there have been some minor irregularities in our petty cash."

"But, here's the mystery.  The office is closed all weekend long, every weekend.  On Monday mornings, I'm usually the first to arrive.  I open up, check the mail, turn off the alarm, etc...  I was working the alarm system three weeks back when I noticed the alarm had been shut off on Saturday.  For five minutes.  Then it got switched back on."

"I thought nothing of it at the time.  I just figured someone had forgotten something and had come back to get it." 

"But every weekend since, the same thing has happened.  The alarm gets shut off on Saturday afternoon for five minutes each time.  All three workers have the password and I've asked all three about it.  But they've all denied visiting the office."

"As I said, this has been going on for weeks now.  Nothing is missing or changed.  I've checked the petty cash box and it's always the same as it was on Friday evening.  I don't suppose any harm is done, but it's baffling."

"There could be harm," the Inspector cut in.  "I can think of one explanation, and I think we need to deal with this right away."

Whom does the inspector suspect, and why?

You Make the Call

The two boys were home to watch the game with their dad.  Junior and Frank were in the kitchen helping their mom, Marie, put together the snacks and drinks, when Junior noticed the bruises on his mother's arms. 

"Did Dad do that to you?", Junior asked.  But his mom didn't answer. 

"What are you going to do when he retires next month and he's hanging around all the time?"  But his mother just asked him to grab the bags of potato chips and pretzels from the pantry.

"Make mine a strong one!" came her husbands shout from the living room.  Marie made up the ice, ginger ale and rye together in tall glasses. 

"Oh dear, I forgot which was which.  Taste the highballs, would you dear?" 

Frank tasted all three, almost choking on the third.  "This one has to be twice as strong as the others."

"It had better be!" his father stated as he walked into the kitchen.  "... Make me walk all the way in here..." as he grabbed his drink out of Frank's hands. 

Frank, Junior and Marie followed their father into the living room and began watching the game.  All four watched through the first quarter, munching on the snacks and drinking.  At the end of the first quarter, Frank senior held up his empty glass, "Get me another."

Marie got up and went to work on the refill.  As she worked in the kitchen, she heard a gasp, then a moan.  By the time she got back into the living room, Frank senior was dead.

"Fast acting poison," the coroner determined.  "I'm certain of it." 

The detective was at a loss, however.  "They all claim they've been eating and drinking from the same bowls and drinks.  They must be lying, covering for each other."

"Not necessarily," the coroner quickly said.

How could Frank senior have been poisoned?  And who could have done it?

Solve the Puzzle

Using the first set of words as your clue, fill in the missing word inside the parentheses below.

CONE (NICK) KRIS
LISP (_ _ _ _) ETON

T Marks the Spot

This is a bit of an experiment.  Hopefully I can get it to work.

Find the starting point and visit each of the square to reach the 'treasure' in the middle marked with a T.

The directions can be read as: 1N:2W = 1 North, 2 West (or up on, left two).  To make the square work, I'm putting in xx if there is no second direction.  So, 2S: xx means go down two.

1S | 1S | 2S
1E | 1E |  xx
-------------
1S |  T  | 1N
xx  |  xx | 2W
-------------
1E | 2N | 2W
2N | 1E | 1N