Average skills? There was an article recently - I think by Joel on Software - that everyone thinks they're hiring in the top 1%. I have to admit I'm kind of curious as to what you were looking for in your team when you hired the guy, I can't tell unless you elaborate more. In addition, I agree with danilocampos: the problem might be in your hiring process. I'm not sure that throwing out puzzles or whatever will help you reduce your number of false positives.