Riddle: Victoria's best friend, Kayla, meets up with two guys whom Victoria likes: Andrew and Phillip. Both boys ask Kayla who Victoria likes more. Kayla didn't want to reveal her best friend's secret, but she gave the boys a hint: Victoria likes pizza, but she hates burgers. Her favorite color is green, but she doesn't like purple. She has a pet parakeet, but she avoids dogs. And Victoria always goes to the mall instead of the beach. Based on the hint, which boy does Victoria like more?
Answer: Victoria likes Phillip more than Andrew. We have to look for some pattern in the hint Kayla gave the boys. Things such as "mall", "parakeet", "green", and "pizza" contain double letters, whereas things like "beach", "dog", "purple", and "burger" do not. The name "Phillip" contains the double letter "L", but the name "Andrew" doesn't have any double letters. Therefore, Victoria likes Phillip.
Riddle: Ryan and his son Ralph go to a pet store. Ralph sees a very cute rabbit, and asks Ryan to buy it for him. Ryan seems unsure about it, and tells Ralph, "Oh, Ralph, these rabbits can breed every two months, and each time, they will produce four bunnies. We're going to have so many rabbits in our house after a year, and I don't want to take care of them! They'll be too much to take care of!". Ralph laughs at Ryan and says,"Don't be so silly, Dad! We're not going to have that many rabbits in our house after that long!". Who is correct, and how many rabbits will Ralph and Ryan have in a year?
Answer: Ralph is correct; they will only have one rabbit after a year. Ralph and Ryan only saw one rabbit in the pet store, but a single rabbit simply can't breed on its own; it takes TWO rabbits to breed. Therefore, after one year, the two of them will only have that one rabbit…if they choose to buy it, that is.
Riddle: Nicholas loves to collect pairs of shoes. All of his pairs of shoes are blue, except for three; all of them are white, except for three; all of them are brown, except for three; finally, all of them are beige, except for three. How many pairs of shoes does Nicholas have?
Answer: Nicholas has four pairs of shoes. Let's say that x is the number of pairs of shoes Nicholas has. x - 3 should be the term we need to use because the phrase "(color) except for three" means that three pairs of shoes in his collection are NOT of that color. And we should use this term four times because four colors are mentioned in the riddle. 4(x - 3) should be equal to x because once again, x represents the number of pairs of shoes. Here is the algebra: 4 (x - 3) = x 4x - 12 = x -12 = -3x 4 = x Therefore, there are four pairs of shoes in Nicholas' collection: one blue, one white, one brown, and one beige.
Riddle: Lauren has a lemon tree. The number of lemons on the tree doubles every week. In 28 weeks, Lauren should expect the tree to be completely covered with fruit. How many weeks will it take for the tree to be half-covered with apples?
Answer: Zero. If I asked you about lemons, the answer would be 27 weeks because the number of lemons on Lauren's tree doubles every week. However, I asked you about APPLES, and they don't grow on lemon trees; therefore, the answer is zero.
Riddle: Irene and her friend Mark were walking down the street when they saw two houses. Mark wanted to play a game with Irene. He said, "One family lives in each house. And each family has two pets: either dogs or cats. The first family has a dog who likes dry food, while the other pet likes canned food. The second family has a 6-year-old dog and a newborn pet. If you can guess which family has a cat, I'll take you out for lunch." Irene manages to get the riddle right, and the two of them go out for lunch. Which family did she choose?
Answer: Irene chose the first family. There are three different possibilities for the pets that the first family has: 1) an older dog and a younger cat; 2) a younger dog, and an older cat, and; 3) two dogs. Two of these options involve a cat, and all of them are equally possible, so the chance of the first family having a cat is 2/3. There are two different possibilities for the pets that the second family has: 1) a 6-year-old dog and a newborn dog, and; 2) a 6-year-old dog and a newborn cat. One of these options involves a cat, and both of them are equally possible, so the chance of the second family having a cat is 1/2. Irene's odds of winning will be higher if she chooses the first family.
Riddle: Dillon, Brandon, and Jacob are brothers. Assuming that all three of the following statements are true, which of them is the youngest? 1) Dillon is the oldest. 2) Brandon is not the oldest. 3) Jacob is not the youngest.
Answer: Brandon is the youngest brother. Dillon cannot be the youngest brother because the first statement says that he is the oldest; he can't be the oldest brother and the youngest one at the same time. Jacob cannot be the youngest brother either, because the third statement says that he is NOT the youngest; he can't be the youngest brother and NOT the youngest one at the same time. This leaves us with Brandon.
Riddle: Mr. Green, Mr. Brown, and Mr. Black meet up for coffee one Monday morning. Mr. Green says, "Hey, do you realize that we're all wearing shirts of colors that don't match our names?". The man wearing the brown shirt says, "Wow, Mr. Green, you're right"! What colored shirt is each man wearing?
Answer: Mr. Green cannot be wearing the green shirt, because his statement that all three men are wearing shirts that don't match their names is correct. And he cannot be wearing the brown shirt, because the man wearing the brown shirt replied to his words, and let's be honest–it doesn't make sense to reply to your OWN words, right? This means Mr. Green can only be wearing the black shirt. Mr. Brown can either be wearing a green or a black shirt. The black shirt is already taken, so Mr. Brown is wearing the green shirt. And Mr. Black is wearing the brown shirt.
Riddle: Walker has to unlock his locker to get his uniform and get dressed for his basketball game. However, his lock requires a three-digit code to be unlocked. Walker doesn't know the exact code, but here are some clues. A) 8-6-5 One number is correct and in the right position. B) 8-4-0 One number is correct but in the wrong position. C) 3-5-0 Two numbers are correct but in the wrong positions. D) 3-6-9 Nothing is correct. E) 7-6-9 One number is correct but in the wrong position. What is the code?
Answer: The code is 0-7-5. Starting with Clue D, we can eliminate 3, 6, and 9, and all instances of those numbers, because none of them are in the final code. 8 cannot be in the final code because Clues A and B would contradict each other if it was in the code. This means that 5 is in the code, and it takes the third position; we can therefore eliminate 4, too. From Clue C, we can conclude that 5 and 0 are part of the code, because 3 is not (we already eliminated it based on Clue D). And based on Clue E, the last digit we need is 7, because we already eliminated 6 and 9 based on Clue D. We do not know the positions of 0 and 7, however, but we know that 5 takes the third position, which leaves us with just two options for the code: either 7-0-5 or 0-7-5. 7-0-5 cannot be the code because it would contradict Clue E since 7 cannot go in the first position; it can only go in the second position, while 0 goes in the first position. This means that the correct code is 0-7-5.
Riddle: Zoe wants to do a science experiment where she drops two tennis balls into two buckets. She will drop the first tennis ball into a bucket filled with water at a temperature of 20°C, and she will drop the second tennis ball into a bucket at 20°F. Assuming that both tennis balls are completely identical and that they are both dropped into the buckets simultaneously, which ball will reach the bottom of its bucket first?
Answer: The tennis ball dropped into the second bucket will reach the bottom first. The water in the first bucket will slow down the first tennis ball, and thus, it will take longer for that ball to reach the bottom of the bucket. Did you think the "water" in the second bucket had to be frozen at 20°F? Well, I didn't say that there was water in the second bucket–the bucket ITSELF was at 20°F. Therefore, there is no water or ice to slow the first tennis ball down.
Riddle: Zane is a big boss in a hugely successful company. Every week, however, he finds out that one of his worst employees has been stealing his documents. After a whole year of stolen documents, Zane rounds up his three worst employees– Kelly, Raymond, and Natalia– and questions them. Kelly says, "Raymond has been stealing your documents!". Raymond says, "I haven't been stealing your documents!". Natalia says, "I haven't been stealing your documents, either!". Only one of the employees is telling the truth. Who has been stealing the documents, and which employee is telling the truth?
Answer: Natalia has been stealing the documents. Raymond is telling the truth. If Kelly was the one stealing the documents, then she would be lying, and Raymond would be telling the truth. But then, Natalia would also be telling the truth, which goes against the condition that only one employee is telling the truth. If Raymond was the one stealing the documents, then he would be lying, Kelly would be telling the truth, and Natalia would also be telling the truth. This also contradicts that only one employee is honest. If Natalia was the one stealing the documents, then she is lying. But then, who is telling the truth? It's not Kelly, because if it was so, both she and Natalia would be telling the truth, and Raymond would be lying, which doesn't meet the requirements. Therefore, Raymond is telling the truth, Kelly and Natalia are both lying, and Natalia is the one stealing the documents.