MINDBENDER

1. Emma takes five minutes to peel three parsnips, while Jamie can peel two parsnips in six minutes. How long will it take both of them to peel twenty-one parsnips? 2. What connects alarm, frequency and silence? 3. Which composer and Aosdána member can be A NERDY DAEMON? 4. Which is the odd one out: Katy Perry’s E.T., Dr Dre’s I Need a Doctor, Akon’s Smack That, 50 Cent’s My Life? 5. Starting with I, add a letter and shuffle to make a new word each time until you reach STARTLING.

1 Twenty-two and a half minutes. 2 They may all follow radio. 3 Raymond Deane. 4 Katy Perry’s E.T., which features Kanye West; the others feature Eminem. 5 One way is i, in, gin, sing, rings, string, staring, starling, startling.