Riddle: A son went to his father's house and knocked on the door. When his father answered the door, the son said, "O.K., today is the day I promised to burn your house to the ground." "But I built the house in 1941 with my own two hands. It has a lot of sentimental value, and is still very useful to me," replied the father. "Too bad," said the son, "but I have always loathed it, especially in the wintertime, and I grew to especially hate it since you added that second hole to it when you built the addition to the house when I was a teenager." "But if you burn the house down, where will I go?" asked the father. "You will just have to go where most people go in these modern times," answered the son. "Well, I guess you're right," said his father. The son then promptly escorted his father outside, where the son proceeded to burn the house down to the ground in front of his father's tear-filled eyes. Had this father raised a deranged, sociopathic pyromaniac for a son, or is there another explanation for these bizarre events?
Answer: The father, although he owned a fully functioning home, had never been able to break himself from the habit of going to the bathroom in the Outhouse he had built for his family back in 1941. The son, along with the neighbors, considered the Outhouse to be a public eyesore, and the son had been trying for some time to get his father to agree to let him burn it down.
Riddle: You don't always see me, but I am always there. Not always where you are, but always somewhere. You cannot see through the opposite of me, but I will always be a help for you to see. I'm at the end of where cars go through. Flip a switch and I'm there for you. What am I?
Answer: Light. Explanation: Somewhere in the world, there is always daylight. You can't see through darkness, which is the opposite of light. It is easier to see through light. There is always light at the end of a tunnel. Flip a light switch and light is there. I hope you enjoyed this riddle!
Riddle: Near a castle without a moat, a well-known queen was captured and held hostage by a dark and powerful enemy force. Several of her loyal servants tried to break through enemy lines to free her, but most of them were eliminated during battle. However, one of her servants was able to break through the enemy's defenses to free the queen-at the cost of his own life; but he knew he could never go back once he had started. Can anyone identify this well-known queen and the lowly servant who performed the greatest sacrifice to save her?
Answer: The queen was the white queen, and the servant who was sacrificed was a white pawn who had reached the back row of the black chess pieces—and was subsequently promoted/exchanged for the captured white queen.
Riddle: "Three gods, A, B, and C, are called, in some order, True, False, and Random. True always speaks truly, False always speaks falsely, but whether Random speaks truly or falsely is completely random. You must determine the identities of A, B, and C by asking three yes-or-no questions, and each question must be posed to exactly one god. The gods understand English but will answer all questions in their own language. In their unknown language, the words for "yes" and "no" are "da" and "ja," in some order. You do not know which word means which."
Answer: We’re willing to bet that your brain feels pretty busted at this point. If you’re ready to throw in the towel and hear the solution, we won’t tell! Here are the three questions you should ask, according to Nautilus: 1. To god A: “Does ‘da’ mean ‘yes’ if and only if you are True and if and only if B is Random?” (We supposed A said, “ja,” making B True or False). 2. To god B: “Does “da” mean ‘yes’ if and only if Pluto is a dwarf planet?” (We supposed B said, “da,” making B True.) 3. And to god B (True) again: “Does ‘da’ mean ‘yes’ if and only if A is Random?” Since B’s True, he must say “da,” which means A is Random, leaving C to be False. Don’t beat yourself up if you’re still a little confused. You can start sorting out the solution with this 2008 paper, which claims to have the easiest answer to the brainteaser.
Riddle: A young woman owns two horses, a plane, a gun, a tape with many markings, and a machine with sharp teeth which she uses almost every day. She does not use any of these for transportation or for self-defense (although the gun is loaded), but she does rely on all of these items to meet her financial needs. What does this young woman do for a living, and why does she need this strange assortment of objects?
Answer: The young woman is a carpenter. She uses her two sawhorses, her carpenter’s plane, her nail gun, her tape measure, and her circular saw almost every day as she works to earn a living.