BAREFOOTED  MAHATMA  GANDHI  HAD  BAD  BREATH.    HE  WAS  A  SUPER  CALLUSED  FRAGILE  MYSTIC  HEXED  BY  HALITOSIS 

Correct answers came from  Delmar Burkitt,  Andrzej Derdzinski,  Alma Litten,  Julia Minturn,  Carla Nuenke,  William Tippery (and wife),  and  Sally Yocom. 

The answer to puzzle #2 is the distance (D) between the cities is 13 miles.  The setup equation for this is 4/(D-4) = (D-5)/(D+5).  Andrzej  was the only one to submit an answer, which was correct. 

In puzzle #3 there is not a unique solution, as  Andrzej  pointed out in a fine analysis of the puzzle. 

Regrettably, no one else responded to puzzles 2 and 3.  I sure would like to see more participation.

F W V E L B S D Z        S R        B G F        N L B G        X H D J        E D E U I        S T Z D H L Z E F        B D        J S R F H L M C F        V Z E F H B L S Z B I.        J L H U        B A L S Z.       

Dr. Devine, a parapsychologist, was working on an experiment in clairvoyance.  He had a table on which five playing cards, numbered one to five, were lying face down. 

"The cards have been drawn at random from a pack containing 10 of each of the five different kinds of card", he explained to Bocardo, his guest psychic.  "My five subjects over there have written down a guess for each card.  In a moment I shall turn up the cards and score their guesses".  Bocardo spent a moment studying the guesses, which are listed in the table.

"What results would you expect?", Bocardo asked.

"The standard result is what I call a 2-1-0 run", Dr. Devine replied.  "One subject scores 2, three score 1, one scores 0.  One symbol comes up twice, three come up once, and one doesn't come up at all.  One card is guessed by two subjects, three by one, and one is not guessed at all".

"Do let me try!", exclaimed Bocardo, writing down her guesses.

The run was a standard one and Bocardo proved 100% clairvoyant.  What did she guess?

The Michelin sisters, tired of spinsterhood, each took a slimming cure.  Each shed a different proportion of an initial 225 pounds and is now happily married. 

Angela lost less than the girl who took Pinline;  Bertha less than the girl who took Quit;  and Cissie less than the girl who took Reduce.  Dot loss less than the girl who took Shrink.  Reduce proved more effective than Take-off and Angela lost more than Dot.

So on the evidence of this particular user-test, what is the order of merit of the five approaches?