Sam Loyd's Jack and Jill Puzzle

The Puzzle:

Sam Loyd's Jack and Jill Puzzle

Here is a pretty puzzle from Mother Goose's story of Jack and Jill's race for a pail of water.

The distance to the top of the hill was 440 yards, which is just a quarter of a mile.

Jack got to the top first and was 20 yards on the return trip when he met Jill whom he beat home by half a minute.

The record of the race is complicated by the runners being able to run down hill one-half again faster than they ran up, so you are asked to figure out Jack's time for the half mile run.

Do you have the answer? Check against our solution!