A classic joke asks: Did you hear about the snake that liked maths?
The author notes that this is one of the oldest jokes in the book.
Today’s puzzle is a reptile-related riddle.
Two snakes of equal width are confined in a cage: one is long, the other short.
The challenge is to design two escape passages, labeled A and B, leading from the cage bottom.
The short snake must be able to escape through passage A, but the long snake cannot.
The long snake must be able to escape through passage B, but the short snake cannot.
The passages cannot include moving parts, trapdoors, or levers. The snakes have circular cross-sections with uniform diameter. They can wiggle but cannot squeeze through sections narrower than their width.
The author states: “I’ll be back at 5pm UK with solutions.”
The official answer to the joke is “adder,” the author notes, but invites readers to suggest funnier alternatives in the comments.
This puzzle column has run on alternate Mondays since 2015. The author welcomes suggestions for future puzzles via email.
📝 This article was rewritten with AI assistance based on content from
The Guardian.
