This Mind Bender always draws some good responses – ranging from …

• Place one bag on the scales at a time, until you discover the lighter one; and
• Put all bags onto the scales, and remove them one at a time for the result; and
• Assuming it is a balancing scale: Put five bags on each side, then remove two at a time to find the lighter bag; through to …
• Simply lift each bag manually to “feel” which bag is lighter, and avoid the need to use the scales at all.
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A while ago, several people suggested I needed to “raise the bar” a little. And, judging from responses to date … it seems this Mind Bender may have slowed few of them down.

Here are the Answers …
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Thanks for submitting your solutions for the last Mind Bender.

It’s interesting that most people tend to focus upon what is there – rather than what is NOT there – in seeking out a solution. So, it’s good to see that a number of you don’t place such limits on your own thinking.

Some feedback suggested that the words “a” and “the” were missing. And yet, it’s not very difficult to construct a paragraph without them.

However, what is unusual is to have an entire paragraph without ever using the letter “E” – which is the most popular letter in the alphabet.

Anyway, congratulations to those of you who picked it up quickly. And maybe I will have to ‘raise the bar’ going forward.