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The first weekly Teaser (then called "Brain-Teasers") was published on February 26, 1961. The puzzle was prefaced by this ominous message:

* The problem below is the invention of a reader who observers: "Any who are stumped by it after the expiry of an hour should feel cause for concern."

Take on the challenge if you dare!

* Problem 1
Tall Story by H Wright
"We're a biggish family in more ways than one," said Jeremy. "Five, including triplets, and three of us the same height. I'm 6ft and aged 72; Jim's three inches taller than John and three years older; and John and Julian's combined heights are 5ft 11in more than Joe's, and their combined ages 71 years more than his. Our aggregate height in inches equals our aggregate age in years, but no one's age in years equals Joe's height in inches."

What were the name, age and height of the tallest of the triplets?

Oops, feel a bit dizzy just reading that.

Is it of the same order of puzzle as "Mr Green likes bananas, Mrs Brown drives a lorry and Mr Grey is turned on by seamed stockings. Where does Mr Black live ?" which are apparently solved with a grid.

One way to approach it is to look at the possible combinations of triplets (there are 10, but 3 can immediately be ruled out, Jim and John having different ages) and people with the same height (again 10, but 6 can be ruled out because in addition to Jim and John having different heights Joe's height cannot be 72").

The facts provided mean that each of these possible combinations can be fully evaluated (eg if Jeremy, Jim and Julian are the same height, they must all be 72" [we know Jeremy is 72"]; John must be 69" [3" less than Jim]; and Joe must be 70" [71" less than the combined heights of John and Julian]).

The three triplets cannot also be the three who are the same height (each brother's age would be the same as his height, which is ruled out by no-one's age being the same as Joe's height). There is only one pair of different age/height combinations which add up to the same total (359), and this provides the answer.

I am in awe, spoffy.