Riddle:
Dynamite is a tool that can be used to cut down trees. Cutting a tree 18 inches in diameter requires five sticks of dynamite: one on the north, south, east and west sides of the tree, and the fifth stick on the side to which the tree should fall. During the construction of a dam, a tree 18 inches in diameter was completely covered by water. Since the treetop was fouling the boat's propellers, it had to be cut down. A diver went down and put a stick of dynamite on the four sides of the tree. Since the current is flowing south at 2 knots per hour, on which side of the tree would you instruct the diver to put the fifth stick of dynamite if you wanted the tree to fall north?
Answer: It doesn't matter where the fifth stick is placed, since the tree won't fall in any direction. Being wood, it will float and rise to the surface.
Riddle:
Whether the weather is hot or cold, I will take you wherever you need to go. The direction you take will determine the place. There may be the most difficult roads, but they often lead to the most beautiful destinations. What am I?
Answer: A journey.
Riddle:
Sometimes I am loud and viewed with distaste. Poke out my eye, then I'm on the front of your face. What am I?
Answer: A noise, remove the "eye" aka "i" and you get a nose.
Riddle:
Shirley's two-year-old granddaughter carries around with her something Shirley recently purchased for her in the produce section of a local supermarket. The little girl has the item wrapped in a blanket, pretending it is her baby. She carries her "baby" with her everywhere she goes, and even sleeps with it at nighttime. However, the "baby" has no body, but consists of a brown head with two eyes and a mouth; or is it two eyes and a nose? Sometimes it is difficult to tell, but only the face of the baby peeks out from the surrounding blanket. What type of produce is this "baby" that Shirley's granddaughter carries around with her?
Answer: The two-year-old’s “baby” is actually a coconut which she wraps in a blanket, with the three circular indentations of the “face” turned outward.
Riddle:
During WWII, there was a bridge connecting Germany and Switzerland, and on the German side, there was a sentry tower with a guard in it. He would come out every three minutes to check on the bridge, and he had orders to turn back anyone who tried to get into Germany, and shoot anyone trying to escape without a pass. There was a woman who desperately needed to get into Switzerland, and she knew she didn't have time to get a pass. It would take her at least six minutes to cross the bridge, but she managed to do it. How?
Answer: When the sentry went into the tower, she would start to cross into Switzerland, and when he came out, she would start to walk back into Germany. When he saw her, he would tell her to turn back into Switzerland.
Riddle:
I run, it runs, I stop, it runs. What it it?
Answer: My watch.
Riddle:
You have 52 playing cards, 26 red, and 26 black. You draw cards one by one. A red card pays you a dollar. A black one fines you a dollar. You can stop any time you want. Cards are not returned to the deck after being drawn. What is the optimal stopping rule in terms of maximizing your expected payoff? Also, what is the expected payoff following this optimal rule?
Answer: The solution to this problem is, in my opinion the most difficult to understand of all the puzzles. Indeed I was unable to solve it and didn't receive a complete solution until two years after originally posting it. The final solution, in the form of the spreadsheet was sent to me by Han Zheng. For this reason I have left on the page the thoughts i had before I had the final solution as they represent an easier to understand and more simplistic approach. Also the reasoning may help you arrive at the final solution by yourself or help you understand it. I would recommend reading that answer before you dive into the full answer. But an important thing to note are that as the player we can't lose this game as we can gamble till all the cards are drawn and our net position is zero. From our earlier analysis it is clear we need a dynamic quit rule. A singal value is not sufficent. We must, at each stage consider what cards are remaining, and therefor the probability of a positive or negative outcome from drawing again. For the explanation i will ask you first to consider a deck containing only 6 cards, 3 +ve & 3 -ve (note i'm no longer calling the cards black and red, it confuses me.)
Riddle:
My first is a number, my second another, And each, I assure you, will rhyme with the other. My first you will find is one-fifth of my second, And truly my whole a long period reckoned. Yet my first and my second (nay, think not I cozen), When added together will make but two dozen. How many am I?
Answer: Four Score.
Riddle:
When the day after tomorrow is yesterday, today will be as far from Wednesday as today was from Wednesday when the day before yesterday was tomorrow. What is the day after this day?
Answer: The day is Thursday!
Riddle:
I Make Reading A Challenge, And That Can Cause Some Damage. I Am Difficult To Manage, But When That Happens, The Passage Is Much Less Savage. I Make Many People Frown, But The Answer Is Just To Slow Down. I Know This Is Not What You Had Planned, I Just Hope You Will Understand. What Am I?
Answer: I'm Dyslexia.
Riddle:
Make me thy lyre, even as the forests are. What if my leaves fell like its own -- The tumult of thy mighty harmonies Will take from both a deep autumnal tone. What am I?
Answer: The west wind.
Riddle:
Can you read this? Yy u r Yy u b I c u Yy 4 me
Answer: Too wise you are, too wise you be, I see you too wise for me.
Riddle:
A man is in a room and the door is locked so he can't get out. He has with him a piano, a calendar, and a bed. How does he eat, drink, and get out?
Answer: He uses the dates from the calendar to eat, the springs from the bed to drink and the keys from the piano to get out.
Riddle:
Since a person uses about the same amount of energy walking 2 miles as they would run for 2 miles, would a person use more energy running for 10 minutes, walking for ten minutes, or the same amount of energy?
Answer: Since a person running for 10 minutes would cover more distance than that same person would walking for 10 minutes, he would use more energy running for 10 minutes.
Riddle:
If I'm walking, then I must be running. However, if I'm running, I may be walking.
What am I?
Answer: A Treadmill.
Riddle:
Even though the odds are always in favor of the gambling house, why does the establishment insist on a house limit on stakes?
Answer: Every casino in the world would go bankrupt without a house limit on stakes. Without it, gamblers would keep doubling their stakes until they won. No matter how bad a losing streak they were on, they would eventually win.
Riddle:
A man crosses a desert in 10 days with no water. How?
Answer: He's a camel named Abdul.
The unexpected twist (a camel, not a man) mirrors the surprise element of April Fools' pranks.
Riddle:
Crunchy, soft, and milky sweet. Bueno, luvit, and Golden tree. You can't say no, that's a difficult feat. But take too much and you harm your teeth. What am I?
Answer: The riddle "Crunchy soft and milky sweet Bueno luvit and Golden tree" is unanswered. Do you know the answer? If so, click and add your answer in the comments section.
Riddle:
With potent, flowery words speak I, Of something common, vulgar, dry; I weave webs of pedantic prose, In effort to befuddle those, Who think I while time away, In lofty things, above all-day The common kind that lingers where Monadic beings live and fare; Practical I may not be, But life, it seems, is full of me! What am I?
Answer: A riddler. ( or riddle )
Riddle:
Upon my top there is a golden shop wherein a dollar can't be spent. Along my sides stretch nature's slides which will never relent. At my feet where people meet full of ire, dread and lament. What am I?
Answer: A mountain. On the top one can find clarity and make memories that a conventional shop can't sell. Nature's slides are rivers. At my feet or foot of the mountain is the first step and place everyone has to be to begin the climb, which will be difficult (ire, dread and lament)
