Official Mensa® Challenge – January 2024

American Mensa is where brilliance belongs – it’s where friendships are forged for life, business connections and opportunities are made, and where brilliant minds find the chance to engage with others in an intellectually stimulating environment.

Just for LOCAL Life readers: Take the Mensa Practice Test for just $5! Visit americanmensa.org/mht and use offer code: Local21

Questions

1. The following substitution cryptogram will give you some good advice. (The slashes are in place to indicate spaces between words.) 

18 7  /  23 12 22 8 13 7  /  14 26 7 7 22 9
18 21  /  2 12 6  /  4 18 13  /  12 9  /  15 12 8 22
26 8  /  15 12 13 20  /  26 8  /  2 12 6  /  4 18 13

2. The following sentence is written in rather large, obscure words, but when translated, it is a well-known saying. What is it?

Members of the genus homo sapiens who maintain an abode within a permanent or semi-permanent structure composed at least partially or wholly of vitreous, transparent material would find it sagacious to refrain from hurling projectiles of natural material.

3. The addition example below uses all of the numbers from 1 to 9 once and once only. Four of them have been filled in for you. Fill in the rest.

4. The play you saw last night was really dreadful. In fact, you could call it an absolute disaster. The following cryptogram tells you an appropriate name for the director who managed to produce this absolute horror.

YJR    SNP, OMSN; R    DJPE,SM    PG    VPITDR

5. The Great Detective, imprisoned in the Great Criminal’s cellar, finally escaped. He was weak and weary and had to stop frequently at local taverns to refresh himself. What with putting on and taking off his various disguises, he wasn’t able to travel quickly, and it took him 4 days to reach home. The first day, he covered one-sixth of the total distance. On the second day, he covered a quarter of what was left, on the third day, he found himself even slower than usual, and he covered only one-half of what was left. On the fourth day, he covered one-half of the distance remaining, and then a friend in a car spotted him 3 3/4 miles from home. How far was it from his home to the Great Criminal’s cellar?

Answers

1. IT DOESN’T MATTER IF YOU WIN OR LOSE AS LONG AS YOU WIN. Code: A = 26, Z = 1, etc. 

2. People who live in glass houses shouldn’t throw stones. 

3. 275  643  918 

4. THE ABOMINABLE SHOWMAN OF COURSE. (Move 1 letter to the left on a standard keyboard.) 

5. The total distance was 24 miles