A:
983 + 86 + 8 = 1077
writing it vertically helps a lot
The B has to be a 1 as the total would be over 1000 and the M has to be a 9 as we are only adding a two digit and 1 digit number and getting over 1000

the last column must be adding up to 17 rather than 7 (otherwise S + A would be 4 and would be 1 and 3 but 3 is already used)
so S + A = 14 and since there will be a carry the next column over A + A + 1 will equal 17
so A = 8 and therefore A = 6

Q: In the “old days”, most people wore a watch and it was not always accurate.  A friend had a watch that gained 6 minutes every hour.  If this watch is set accurately at midnight and the watch stopped a half hour ago and it now shows 8:26AM, what is the current correct time?

A: The watch is gaining 6 minutes every hour, for every hour, the watch will show 66 minutes. Since the watch shows 8:26 am, we know that 506 watch minutes have passed which is 460 real minutes (506 x 60/66 ) = 7 hrs and 40 minutes which would make it 7:40.
The watch stopped 30 minutes ago, therefore the time must now be 8:10 am.