Sep/Oct ’18 Brain Teasers

1. I What do bulletproof vests, fire escapes, windshield wipers, and laser printers all have in common? 
2. On which day of the year are there more collect calls than any other day of the year?
3. If you were to spell out numbers, how far would you have to go until you would find the letter “A”?   
4. A mystery number between 0 and 1 ends at the thousandths place, is 0.64 when rounded to the hundredths place, and has digits that add up to 13.  What is the mystery number?  (Thanks to subscriber Joshua Walters, FSIL, for this one.)
5. I am a three-digit number.  My tens digit is five more than my ones digit.  My hundreds digit is eight less than my tens digit.  What number am I?
6. There is a basket containing 5 apples.  How do you divide the apples among 5 children, so that each child receives one apple while 1 apple remains in the basket.
7. What mathematical symbol can be placed between 5 & 9 which results in a number greater than 5, but less than 9?
8. A half is a third of it.  What is it?
9. A man enters his cabin in Texas.  When he exits his cabin, he’s in England.  How did that happen?
10. As you near the finish line of a 5-kilometer fun run, you overtake the person who was in second place.  What place are you right after doing that?
11. Paul was twenty years old in 1980, but only fifteen years old in 1985.  How was that possible?  (Hint? Be Careful.)
12. Sally is 54 years old and her mother is 80.  How many years ago was Sally’s mother three times Sally’s age?
13. What number do you get when you multiply all of the numbers on a telephone’s number pad?
14. What is the value of 1/2 of 2/3 of 3/4 of 4/5 of 5/6 of 6/7 of 7/8 of 8/9 of 9/10 of 1000?  (There is a shortcut hiding here.)
15.  When can CAT + DOG = 592?  

FUN BONUS:  As mentioned, copies of Spitballs From the Back Row can be purchased through October for $12.75 (softcover) or $21.25 (hardcover).  Each price represents a 15% discount from the retail price.  What IS the retail price of each version, then?