Riddle:
A boy presses a side of a blue pencil to a side of a yellow pencil, holding both pencils vertically. One inch of the pressed side of the blue pencil, measuring from its lower end, is smeared with paint. The yellow pencil is held steady while the boy slides the blue pencil down 1 inch, continueing to press it against the yellow one. He returns the blue pencil to its former position, then again it slides down 1 inch. He continues until he has lowered the blue pencil 5 times and raised it 5 times- 10 moves in all.
Supposed that during this time the paint neither dries nor diminishes in quantity. How many inches of each pencil will be sneared with paint after the tenth move?
Answer: At the start, 1inch of the yellow pencil gets smeared with wet paint. As the blue pencil is moved downward, a second inch of the blue pencils smears a second inch of the yellow pencil.
Each pair of down and up movesof the blue pencil smears 1 more inch of each pencil. 5 pairs of moves will smear 5 inches. This together with the initial inch, makes 6 inches for each pencil.
Riddle:
0,1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9
How can you use the digits above once each only to compose two fractions which when added together equal 1?
Answer: 35/70 + 148/296 = 1
Riddle:
The king dies and two men, the true heir and an impostor, both claim to be his long-lost son. Both fit the description of the rightful heir: about the right age, height, coloring and general appearance. Finally, one of the elders proposes a test to identify the true heir. One man agrees to the test while the other flatly re-fuses. The one who agreed is immediately sent on his way, and the one who re-fused is correctly identified as the rightful heir. Can you figure out why?
Answer: The test was a blood test. The elder remembered that the true prince was a hemophiliac.
Riddle:
There were five men going to church and it started to rain. The four that ran got wet and the one that stood still stayed dry. How did the one stay dry?
Answer: It was a body in a coffin with the bearers.
Riddle:
A mother has three sick children. She has a 24-ounce bottle of medicine and needs to give each child eight ounces of the medicine. She is unable to get to the store and has only three clean containers, which measure 5, 11 and 13 ounces. The electricity is out and she has no way of heating water to wash the containers and doesn't want to spread germs. How can she divide the medicine to give each child an equal portion without having any two children drink from the same container?
Answer: Fill the 5 oz. and 11 oz. Containers from the 24 oz. container. This leaves 8 oz. in the 24 oz. bottle. Next empty the 11 oz. bottle by pouring the contents into the 13 oz. bottle. Fill the 13 oz. bottle from the 5 oz. container (with 2 oz.) and put the remaining 3 oz. in the 11 oz. bottle. This leaves the 5 oz. container empty. Now pour 5 oz. from the 13 oz. bottle into the 5 oz. bottle leaving 8 oz. in the 13 oz. bottle. Finally pour the 5 oz. bottle contents into the 11 oz. bottle giving 8 oz. in this container.
Riddle:
You can use me to stop,
You take me to smoke;
Not only do I stop, But I am a stop,
And the result of pool's first stroke.
What am I?
Answer: Brake/ Break
Riddle:
Rearrange all the letters in each of the sentences to form, in each case, a well-known proverb.
1. I don't admit women are faint.
2. It rocks. The broad flag of the free.
3. Strong lion's share almost gone.
What are the proverbs?
Answer: 1. Time and tide wait for no man.
2. Birds of a feather flock together.
3. A rolling sone gathers no moss.
Riddle:
A great banquet was prepared for a Roman emperor and his courtiers. 22 Dormice, 40 Larks' Tongues, 30 Flamingos and 40 Roast Parrots were served.
How many portions of Boiled Ostrich were served?
Answer: 42. Each vowel is worth 2 and each consonant 4, so Dormice gives 22, ect.
Riddle:
You are given a set of scales and 12 marbles. The scales are of the old balance variety. That is, a small dish hangs from each end of a rod that is balanced in the middle. The device enables you to conclude either that the contents of the dishes weigh the same or that the dish that falls lower has heavier contents than the other. The 12 marbles appear to be identical. In fact, 11 of them are identical, and one is of different weight. Your task is to identify the unusual marble and discard it. You are allowed to use the scales three times if you wish, but no more. Note that the unusual marble may be heavier or lighter than the others. How can you identify it and determine whether it is heavy or light?
Answer: Number the marbles from 1 to 12. For the first weighing put marbles 1,2,3 and 4 on one side and marbles 5,6,7 and 8 on the other. The marbles will either they balance or not. If they balance, then the different marble is in group 9,10,11,12. Thus, we would put 1 and 2 on one side and 9 and 10 on the other. If these balance then the different marble is either 11 or 12. Weigh marble 1 against 11. If they balance, the different marble is number 12. If they do not balance, then 11 is the different marble. If 1 and 2 vs 9 and 10 do not balance, then the different marble is either 9 or 10. Again, weigh 1 against 9. If they balance, the different marble is number 10, otherwise, it is number 9. That was the easy part. What if the first weighing 1,2,3,4 vs 5,6,7,8 does not balance? Then any one of these marbles could be a different marble. Now, in order to proceed, keep track of which side is heavy for each of the following weighings. Suppose that 5,6,7 and 8 is the heavy side. We now weigh 1,5 and 6 against 2,7 and 8. If they balance, then the different marble is either 3 or 4. Weigh 4 against 9, a known good marble. If they balance then the different marble is 3 or 4. Then, if 1,5 and 6 vs 2,7 and 8 do not balance, and 2,7,8 is the heavy side, then either 7 or 8 is a different, heavy marble, or 1 is a different, light marble. For the third weighing, weigh 7 against 8. Whichever side is heavy is the different marble. If they balance, then 1 is the different marble. Should the weighing of 1,5 and 6 vs 2,7 and 8 show 1,5,6 to be the heavy side, then either 5 or 6 is a different heavy marble or 2 is a light different marble. Weigh 5 against 6. The heavier one is the different marble. If they balance, then 2 is a different light marble.
Riddle:
The word FACETIOUSLY contains the six vowels, A-E-I-O-U and Y, in their alphabetical order. Can you find another English word that does the same?
Answer: The word is abstemiously. There may be others.
Riddle:
You have two container, a 5 gallon and a 3 gallon container. How do you measure out 4 gallons?
Answer: Fill up the 3 gallon container and pour the 3 gallons into the 5 gallon container.Then, fill the 3 gallon container back up, and pour it into the 5 gallon container.The 3 gallon container will have 1 gallon left. Empty the 5 gallon container.Pour the remining 1 gallon into the 5 gallon container.Then fill the 3 gallon container back up and pour it into the 5 gallon container.Thus, you have 4 gallons.
Riddle:
A man goes to work at the same time each day and travels part of his journey facing forwards and the remainder facing backwards. When he returns at the end of his working day, he only faces forwards.
How can this be?
Answer: He works in the engine room of a liner! To get to work, he walks along the decks from his cabin facing forwards, and down the ladders between decks facing backwards. However, when he finishes, he only needs to face forwards to climb the ladders again and walk along the deck back to his cabin.
Riddle:
I like indigo but not blue, I like onions but not turnips, I like forms but not shapes. According to the same rule, do I like tomatoes or avocados?
Answer: Avocadoes - I like all things that start with a preposition.
Riddle:
It's always 1 to 6, it's always 15 to 20, it's always 5, but it's never 21, unless it's flying.
What is it?
Answer: The answer is: a dice. An explanation: "It's always 1 to 6": the numbers on the faces of the dice, "it's always 15 to 20": the sum of the exposed faces when the dice comes to rest after being thrown, "it's always 5": the number of exposed faces when the dice is at rest, "but it's never 21": the sum of the exposed faces is never 21 when the dice is at rest, "unless it's flying": the sum of all exposed faces when the dice is flying is 21 (1 + 2 + 3 + 4 + 5 + 6).
Riddle:
A boy leaves home in the morning to go to school. At the moment he leaves the house he looks at the clock in the mirror. The clock has no number indication and for this reason, the boy makes a mistake in interpreting the time (mirror-image). Just assuming the clock must be out of order, the boy cycles to school, where he arrives after twenty minutes. At that moment the clock at school shows a time that is two and a half hours later than the time that the boy saw on the clock at home. What time is it?
Answer: The difference between the real time and the time of the mirror image is two hours and ten minutes (two and a half hours, minus the twenty minutes of cycling). Therefore, the original time on the clock at home that morning could only have been five minutes past seven: The difference between these clocks is exactly 2 hours and ten minutes (note that also five minutes past one can be mirrored in a similar way, but this is not in the morning!). Conclusion: The boy reaches school at five minutes past seven plus twenty minutes of cycling, which is twenty-five minutes past seven!...
Riddle:
Ben walked into a hardware store and asked the price of some items. The salesman said: One costs $1, Eight costs $1, Seventeen cost $2, One hundred four costs $3 and One thousand seventy two costs $4. What was Ben buying?
Answer: Ben was buying home address numbers and they cost $1 per digit.
Riddle:
You are locked in a house and you have four objects. You have a wooden chair, a ladder, a piano, and a rubber ax. You can only pick one object and you can't get out by breaking anything. What would you use to get out?
Answer: You use the piano KEYS to ulock the door!
Riddle:
Two travelers spend from 12 o'clock to 6 o'clock walking along a level road, up a hill, and back again. Their pace is 4 mph on the level, 3 mph uphill, and 6 mph downhill.
How far do they walk and at what time do they reach the top of the hill?
Answer: 24 miles half past three.
Riddle:
A car's odometer shows 72927 miles, a palindromic number. What are the minimum miles you would need to travel to form another?
Answer: 110 miles. (73037)
Riddle:
My first is often at the front door. My second is found in the cereal family. My third is what most people want. My whole is one of the United States. What am I?
Answer: MATRIMONY (mat rye money). Which is certainly a "united state"!
