First, I'm going to give you the classic version of this puzzle, and the answer, then I'll give you a newer version to figure out.

Classic version: You have 40 sugar cubes and three empty cups. How do you distribute all 40 sugar cubes among the three cups so that there's an odd number of sugar cubes in each cup?

Answer: You put one in the first cup, 37 in the second cup, and two in the third cup, then you put the second cup inside the third cup. The second cup still has an odd number (37), and now the third cup also has an odd number (two, plus the 37 in cup two, makes 39 in cup three).

This is a great puzzle to spring on someone, because it takes some thinking to come up with putting one cup inside another. Now for the newer version.

Newer version: You have 40 sugar cubes, and three full cups of coffee. How can you put an odd number of sugar cubes in each cup without spilling any coffee? Since they have coffee in them now, you can not put one cup inside another without spilling the coffee. (Yes, the coffee is liquid, not a cup full of coffee beans)

This newer version was created by Mel Stover, who actually came up with two different solutions to it!

You put one in the first cup, three in the second and 36 in the third. Anyone will agree that 36 is indeed an odd (i.e. strange) number of sugar cubes to put into a cup of coffee.

Let's establish some parameters for this puzzle. I'm assuming that we have use of all 40 cubes. Can we split a cube in half? Would 36.5 be considered an "odd" number? When you say "full" cups of coffee, exactly how full are they?

How about this: we put one cube in a cup of coffee and consume it (the sugar, along with the coffee), then distribute the remaining 39 so that there is an odd number of sugar cubes in each cup?

If you put enough sugar in a cup would it not turn almost solid?

So the classic answer would work as the two-cup would not spill any coffee when put in the 37-cup because the 37 cubes would have sludged up the coffee.

Are we allowed to use the refrigerator/freezer?

How about sipping?

Can we wait a day or so for the liquid to evaporate?

Put however many of the 40 cubes you want in each cup. Each cup will contain an average of 13.333 cubes of sugar.

After coming back, after work, I take my coffee with Sweet & Low so:

After finishing my third cup of coffee, I take the cubes and drop them in the empty cups as before. No spilling.

Mel Stover would be proud of many of these answers (probably all of them!).

Mushu hit on one of Mel's answers, although Mel simply used 1, 1 and 38, with 38 being an extremely odd number of sugar cubes to put in a cup of coffee.

Since this is Mel Stover, I'm not going to put too many restrictions on the solution. Why not use a refrigerator/freezer, finish the coffee, evaporation? The point here is to be creative!

Mel did have one other idea that no one has covered yet, however.

I once had dinner with a lovely French couple in New Caledonia. I'm not sure if this is a particular French custom but they didn't like to drink a lot of strong coffee late at night but they did still want a quick sweet hit.

Dunking a cube each partially into my coffee sucked enough of the liquid into the cube which they then consumed. I'm sure an answer lies there.

(Perhaps just an elaborate seduction technique.) : )

Carefully pour the coffee from each cup back into the coffee pot. Be careful not to spill any.

Put 1 in the first cup, 37 in the second cup, and 2 in the third cup. Put the second cup inside the third cup.

Put 1 sugar cube in each cup and leave 37 cubs on the table (or where they are). (the restriction to use all 40 sugar cubes is mentioned only in the classic version of the puzzle)

Heinz stole my answer, except mine was to put 1 cube in each cup and eat the 37 leftover cubes.

Well, I know why Jonathan Townsend uses Sween 'n' Low - it's because he has no Equal!

Just couldn't resist!

Lee Darrow, C.H.