How many 9s

Now, I don't usually hold grudges or get hung up on things but...*

About a week ago I attended a pub quiz hosted by some folk fae work. T'was a good evening/night (the buffet helped those of us that could eat it stay upright a bit longer), and we came a respectable 4th - just outside the medals. We got some right, some wrong, changes some right answers to wrong ones and I am sure vice versa - but one question is still bugging me.

And stop reading now if you value your time/sanity - you have been warned.

The round: Brainteasers
The question: If you had just built a street with 100 houses on it, how many 9s would you need to number each one from 1 to 100?

For what it's worth, I was way off to begin with. I was an idiot and quickly came up with an answer (wrong) and that was that. The David Beckham a-like on our team soon sorted me out, and we had a satisfactory answer sorted. So we moved on.

Then it hit me, this is a brainteaser round, it cannae be that easy, surely. And then it really hit me - boom, just like that, clarity, I had it, the most elegant solution. What's more, the team loved it! I'm more used to people shrugging or telling me to shut it during pub quizzes, but they were on board, it was perfect.

Or not.

We got nil for that question.

We explained our answer, and why the judge could see the correct answer (our second one) scored out next to our third and final one.

Nothing doing.

So who do you turn to in times like these, why the internet of course. Only this time Mr G. Oogle let us down. He'll find you anything you want to know, but not this. We had been too smart, apparently we had just beaten the internet. Damn.

So as you can see, I struggle with life's tricky questions daily. But I just can't resolve this one. I stand by our final answer, but can see why the one we scored out was correct - I just don't see how that makes it a brainteaser. Anyway, I have left out my answers so as not to spoil the only bit of fun you'll get out of this post. I can enlighten you in the comments below, if you so desire.

Happy brainteasing. Oh, and the shot is of my door. It has been mocking me all week - just as well I don't live at number 9...





* some may** argue that, in fact, that is exactly what I do, but that's no the point

** can be read as will