Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

Hi all. Rather than posting erratically (if at all) over the next week, I'm just going to call it today. I'll be back in the new year, so keep the rss feed up and running for that first day back.

I want to thank everyone for their contributions to the answers (and corrections!) each day and wish you all a Happy Holidays! whatever you might celebrate along with a Happy New Year! to you all!

Thanks again and I'll see you on January 2nd.

-Mike

How many words can you see?

How many words can you find? Each word must contain the central O and no letter can be used twice, however, the letters do not have to be connected. Proper nouns are not allowed, however, plurals are. There is at least one nine letter word. Excellent: 20 words. Good: 16 words. Average: 14 words.

O F O
L O O
P R F

Who won what?

A, B, C, D and E ran a race. The medals were gold, silver and bronze.

1) A will not win the gold, nor B the silver.
2) C will win a medal, and D will not.
3) D and E will both win medals.
4) D will not win the silver, nor E the bronze.
5) A will win a medal, and C will not.

Who won which of the medals?

Achmed and Ali

Achmed and Ali are camel-drivers and on one day they decided to quit their job. They wanted to become shepherds. So they went to the market and sold all their camels. The amount of money(dinars) they received for each camel is the same as the total of camels they owned. For that money they bought as many sheep as possible at 10 dinars a sheep. For the money that was left they bought a goat.

On their way home they got in a fight and decided to split up. When they divided the sheep there was one sheep left. So Ali said to Achmed "I take the last sheep and you can get the goat". "That's not fair" said Achmed, "a goat costs lesser than a sheep". "Ok", Ali said "then I will give you one of my dogs and then we are even". And Achmed agreed.

How much does a dog cost?

How much rope?

A fool wants to tie a rope around the earth. So he buys a rope of 40,000 KM and ties it around the world. His neighbor, also a fool, wants to do the same only he wants the rope on sticks 1 meter above the ground.

How much more rope does he need?
And how much more rope do you need when you use a tennis ball instead of the earth?

Falls in the middle

What word creates two new words. For example: green completes ever - ___ - horn to make evergreen and greenhorn.

1. LENGTH - _______ - CRACK
2. WITH - _______ - OVER
3. MAKE - _______ - LESS

Finish the series

1)
Job I'm Job

2)
WEAR
LONG

3)
YOU
JUST
ME

4)
Mind
Matter

5)
DDDWESTDDD

6)
lem
ade

What is it?

1)
running home

2)
ri

poorch

3)
yaplayrd

4)
XQQME

5)
Must get here
Must get here
Must get here

6)
"derful"

7)
Give Get
Give Get
Give Get
Give Get

Christmas Trivia

Answer as many or as few as you like:

1. What popular children's cracker today was introduced in 1902 as a Christmas ornament?
2. In 1939 Robert May created this Christmas figure as a Christmas promotion for Montgomery Ward department store in Chicago.
3. Who was the United States first ambassador to Mexico?
4. What popular Christmas candy today had it’s debute and was given out by a choirmaster in 1670 to quiet the noisy children?
5. What best selling Christmas song did Gene Autry record in 1951?
6. What American President barred the Christmas Tree from being displayed in the White House?
7. What years were the first machine printed Christmas Card offered in a United States Variety Store?
8. The politicians, women’s groups, and seniors’ organizations protested this Christmas song written in 1979 and popularized by Elmo and Patsy.
9. “Crying up the lum “ is how some Scottish children tell Santa Claus their Christmas gift wishes. What is “crying up the lum “?
10. The Nutcracker phenomenon started as a story by E.T.A. Hoffmann in what year?

et al

What does this represent?

___ ( Porky + Babe ) et

What word is this?

Put this on,
And warm you'll be.
Take one off,
And an emotion, you'll see.

Wild, Wild West

It's another anagram post. Who are these wild and wooly western characters?

In a sly local
Black brat
Killed by hit
Orb-like leech
Yuck! Sadden sadistic bunch

Sporting Chance

Can you decipher the following six anagrams?
Goons hit
Mother not planned
If wet lighting
Lenient stab
Stingy scam
Bat on mind

Read carefully, plot twist ahead

In the back yard there is a hollow stump that contains six ears of corn. If a healthy squirrel carries out only three ears each day, how many days will it take to empty the stump?

A horse is a horse, of course

A horse is tied to a 15 foot rope and there is a bail of hay 25 feet away from him. Yet the horse is able to eat from the bail of hay. How is this possible?

They must by argyle

There is a clothing store in Bartlesville. The owner has devised his own method of pricing items. A vest costs $20, socks cost $25, a tie costs $15 and a blouse costs $30. Using the method, how much would a pair of underwear cost?

Four Cars

Four cars come to a four way stop, all coming from a different direction. They can't decide who got there first, so they all go forward at the same time. They do not crash into each other, but all four cars go. How is this possible?

Could you repeat that?

As a whole, I am both safe and secure. Behead me, and I become a place of meeting. Behead me again, and I am the partner of ready. Restore me, and I become the domain of beasts. What am I?

Math time

Solve the following math problem without pencil and paper or a calculator: Take 1000 and add 40 to it. Now add another 1000. Now add 30. Add another 1000. Now add 20. Now add another 1000. Now add 10. What is the total?

Three, it's a magic number

What three-letter word can be added to the following words to form three common six-letter words?

her, any, tom

Thanksgiving Trivia

Since this will be my last question until after the weekend, I just wanted to wish everyone a great Thanksgiving (if you're from around here) and a wonderful weekend if you're not.

1. Thanksgiving is celebrated only in the United States (T or F)?
2. The first store to hold a Thanksgiving parade was?
3. Thanksgiving became a national holiday thanks to a woman editor of The Godey's Lady's Book" who started a writing campaign. What was her name?
4. How many pilgrims came over on the Mayflower?
5. About how many survived to celebrate?
6. How many of those survivors were women?
7. You know those funny looking hats and shoes with buckles? Did the Pilgrims actually wear them?

The beagle boys

In the cartoon show, Duck Tales (and in the comics), the beagle boys always had the numbers 167 used in two different sequences on their shirts to indicate their prison number. For instance, one beagle boy had the number 167 671, while another had 761 716. The only restriction was the pattern could not be repeated, so the number 167 167 would not be possible. How many different combinations could they have and still be unique?

In other words, how many beagle boys could there be?

Where are we?

0 D E/W = P.M.




BTW, that's a zero at the beginning, not an O.

Step to Pest

PEST is an anagram of STEP. LIVE is an anagram of VEIL. Morph STEP into PEST by changing one letter at a time. Do the same for VEIL and LIVE. The catch is that the VEIL-LIVE morphing must be part of the STEP-PEST morphing. Each step must produce a valid word in the English language. No word can be used more than once.

STEP ----> VEIL ----> LIVE ----> PEST

A time traveling philanderer

John was a man with very few morals. Tired of being chased out of homes by angry husbands, John builds a time machine. He manages to travel back in time to 17th century England where he meets a woman (who also has very few morals). Noticing she has no wedding ring on her ring finger, he feels confident in going back to her place. 20 minutes later, John was very surprised when her husband bursts into the bedroom and chases him out.

What went wrong for our anti-hero?


BTW, this is my attempt at writing an interesting trivia question. If you have the time, go ahead and feel free to critique it.

Products

What is the product of the following series:

(x-a), (x-b), (x-c), .....(x-z) ?

I'm surprised there's a word for this

What do you study if you pursue deltiology?

This could take a while

Below, 10 nine letter words have been broken into chunks of three letters. These chunks have been mixed up, no chunk is used twice and all chunks are used. Can you determine what the 10 words are?

ely rec ant htn fer ort
ent cer por sin lig ian
lio row use rar lib ive
tfo sca ing ing far eth
som dif est dig imp mho

Snakes and lizards, oh my!

Below is a printout of reptiles and amphibians which have had every other letter removed. Can you replace the missing letters?

*e*r*p*n
*o*t*i*e
*r*c*d*l*
*u*t*e
*o*c*s*n
*e*t
*k*n*

Time

I was having trouble sleeping last night and I tossed and turned well into the night. Our local town hall has a clock which strikes on the hour and also strikes just once on the half hour. During one of my more awake moments I heard the clock strike once, but I could not tell what time it was. Half an hour later it struck once again, but I still could not tell what time it was. Finally, half an hour later it struck once again and I knew what the time was. What time was it?


Bonus points to anyone who can tell me who said this: "Time. Ask me for anything but time."

How do you spell rebus, anyways?

What is represented by the two rebus below?
1)
CLOUD
TH



2)
ha ir

What am I today?

My 7658 is a large stick.
My 5634 is a strong desire.
My 712 holds animals.
My 845 is a fish.
What am I?

In order

What word would correctly continue this sequence:

AID
GUESS
DEGREE
ESTATE
AVENUE
SENSE
?

Can you get from Low to Shot, using a chain of words. For example, to get from Shop to Hole, the following chain works:
Shop
Lift
Off
Shore
Line
Man
Hole

The connecting words are:
Shoplift
Liftoff
Offshore
Shoreline
Lineman
Manhole

So, can you do it? (- represent the missing letters, so the first word has three missing letters).
Low
D - - -
F - - -
O - -
S - - -
L - - -
Shot

Anagram

A novel by a Scottish writer




* As a sidenote, this is my 365th post here. I wonder if that counts drafts (I keep the answers in draft form for the next day)? But if not, that means I've got a years worth of puzzles, riddles, math problems, anagrams, etc... Wow! I never thought I could do that.

Function of infinity

In the function f(x), f(x) equals the sum of the digits of x and the sum of the new number's digits and so on until one digit is remaining. For example:

f(787)=f(7+8+7)=f(22)=f(2+2)=f(4)=4
and
f(9135899)=f(9+1+3+5+8+9+9)= f(44)=f(4+4)=f(8)=8

So, if we assume that infinity is equal to 9999999999999... with an infinite amount of digits, then what is f(infinity)?

Happy Halloween

Can you get them all? No? How about 3? :-) These are all silly riddles to entertain, not puzzle.

1. What is a vampires favorite test?
2. What does a skeleton order at a restaurant?
3. What do you get when a mummy joins a band?
4. What’s a zombie’s favorite breakfast cereal?
5. What do goblins mail home on vacation?
6. What kind of pets do ghosts have?
7. What is the little ghost’s favorite party game?
8. Who did the ghost invite to his party?
9. Why did the ghost take his family on an elevator ride every day?
10. What kind of street does a ghost live on?
11. What kind of music do ghosts like?
12. What kind of cars do ghosts drive?
13. What did the papa ghost say to his children when they got in the car?
14. Where does a girl ghost go to get her hair done?
15. What do children ghosts have for lunch?
16. What do baby ghosts wear on their feet?
17. What does a ghost put on his cereal in the morning?
18. At ghost school what does the teacher say when a student has the correct answer?
19. What is a ghost’s favorite oatmeal?

When in Rome

What number comes next in this series?

100, 500, 1, 50, 1000, 5, ?

Of course

What animal completes this series?

fly, spider, bird, cat, dog, goat, cow, ?

Who said this

"Character is like a tree and reputation is its shadow. The shadow is what we think it is; the tree is the real thing."

Death comes... or maybe not.

Once upon a time there was a dad and 3 kids. When the kids were adults, the dad was old and Death came to take the dad. The first son, who became a lawyer, begged Death to let the dad live a few more years. Death agreed. When Death came back, the second son, who became a doctor begged Death to let his father live a few more days. Death agreed. When Death came back the third son, who became a priest begged Death to let the dad live till that candle wick burned out and he pointed to a candle. Death agreed. The Third son knew Death wouldn't come back and he didn't. Why not?

Math Trivia

What number when multiplied against itself will result in a number which includes the numbers (1 - 9) in forward order, and then descending in order from the 9? (i.e., to get the number: 12,345,678,987,654,321)

Fools that be..

I'm looking for a translation, please?

All articles that coruscate with resplendence are not truly auriferous.

What's next?

Z X C V B N ?



BTW, did anyone see the opening to The Office last night? It really made me think about this site!

That is

There are five phrases below. Can you solve them?
1)
.That is


2)
BUSINES

3)
FLIGHTFLIGHT

4)
PAWALKRK

5)
Knee
Lights

Add a line

Add a single line to the equation in order to make it true.

105 + 2 + 5 = 350

English Test

What do these words have in common: age, blame, curb, dance, evidence, fence, gleam, harm, interest, jam, kiss, latch, motion, nest, order, part, quiz, rest, signal, trust, use, view, win, x-ray, yield, zone?

It's your move

Six drinking glasses stand in a row, with the first three full of juice and the next three empty. By moving only one glass can you arrange them so empty and full glasses alternate?

What word am I?

I'm a ten-letter word, but when I am heard,
I have only four, not one letter more.

My first two sounds are neat; a kind of sheet,
That starts with spread, not the kind on a bed.

Of my sounds, the third is what will be heard,
alphabetically, in the middle of modus operandi.

If you want to hear more, then like the shore,
I end at the sea, that's a hint, you see.

What word am I?

What do you mean by that?

What is the meaning of this rebus?

ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQUSTRVWXYZ

A little easier today...

Insert one word in each pair to link the two words together. The end of the first word is the beginning of the second.

Stop____House
Half_____Clock
Swan____Bird
Rock_____Striper

Pennies, Nickels, Quarters, Dimes...

If a penny is copper, and a quarter is silver, what color is a nickle?

Seven Ate Nine

Can you replace the missing digits in the number 789,XYZ so that the resulting number is divisibile by 7, 8 and 9? The only restriction being you can't use a 7,8, or 9.

Amazing Song

A man is sitting in a pub feeling rather poor. He sees the man next to him pull a wad of $50 bills out of his wallet.

He turns to the rich man and says to him,

"I have an amazing talent: I know almost every song that has ever existed."

The rich man laughs.

The poor man says, "I am willing to bet you all the money you have in your wallet that I can sing a genuine song with a lady's name of your choice in it."

The rich man laughs again and says, "OK, how about my daughter's name, Joanna Armstrong-Miller?"

The rich man goes home poor. The poor man goes home rich.

What song did he sing?

What's so special?

What is special about these four words?

what, hole, ales, test

Word Box 3

All right, last one.

Word Boxes are like miniature crossword puzzles, except that each word is filled in across and down the grid. That is, the answer to 1 across is the same word as the answer to 1 down; 2 across is the same as 2 down; etc. Can you solve this Word Box?

1. Knife
2. Rabbit
3. Part of the eye
4. Sleeveless torso garment

Word Box 2

Yesterdays was almost too easy, but let's see how you do today...

Word Boxes are like miniature crossword puzzles, except that each word is filled in across and down the grid. That is, the answer to 1 across is the same word as the answer to 1 down; 2 across is the same as 2 down; etc. Can you solve this Word Box?

1. To wander about
2. Inspiration of invention
3. To show the way
4. Woman

Word Box

Word Boxes are like miniature crossword puzzles, except that each word is filled in across and down the grid. That is, the answer to 1 across is the same word as the answer to 1 down; 2 across is the same as 2 down; etc. Can you solve this Word Box?

1. Crossbow ammunition
2. Do what you're told
3. Jump
4. Category

You think you can figure this one out?

Johnny was given 16 coins by his older, somewhat meaner brother, Mark. He told him that he could keep them all if he could place all 16 on the table in such a way that they formed 15 rows with 4 coins in each row.

After 10 minutes, Johnny walked away with the coins and Mark, after complaining futilely to his mother, left with nothing.

How did Johnny place the coins?


Look below for a hint.










Hint: Stars and pentagons

Fill in the blanks

In this word pyramid you have to take the letters from the first line and put them around the letter on the second line to form a new word. Once you have the next word, do the same with the next line.

Art
_ e _ _
_ _ _ _ h
_ _ _ _ e _
f _ _ _ _ _ _
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ d

Shipping Woes

5 guys who live in apartments make orders from the same company. Unfortunately the shipping company delivered every order to the wrong apartment.

1. Roger, who doesn't live in an end apartment, ordered the television set.
2. Tom lived next door to the man who received the dishware.
3. Mr. Weiseman, who didn't receive the automotive tools, lives two apartments from the man who ordered the downhill skis, and one apartment from Harry.
4. Ed, whose last name isn't Smith, lives in apartment #3, didn't receive the automotive tools.
5. Mr. Smith, who doesn't live in apartment #4, ordered the golf clubs but he received the item that Mr. Campbell ordered, which wasn't downhill skis.
6. The bachelor in apartment #1, which isn't Tom, ordered what Al received.
7. The man in apartment #2, who didn't receive the golf clubs, lives next door to where what he ordered was delivered.
8. Mr. Bates didn't order the downhill skis.
9. The television set was not delivered to Ed's apartment.
10. Tom lives in apartment #5.
11. Nothing is known about Mr. Harper.


Put together the apt number with the right first and last name, along with what they ordered and what they got.

Clock Face

You have an analog clock whose face is number in a circle from 1 to 12, with 12 facing "north", 3 "east", 6 "south", and 9 "west". You are allowed to draw two lines which go all the way across the clock face, and divide the numbers on the clock into 3 or 4 groups depending on if the lines intersect. How can you draw the lines so that the numbers in each group add up to the same sum.

It took me two and a half hours to get to work today

You're sitting in a car that's not moving with a helium-filled balloon, which is resting up against the car's ceiling somewhere near its middle. The driver hits the gas and the car accelerates forward, throwing you back into your seat.

What happens to the balloon?

I don't know if this is true, but...

In the early 1960's, NASA was sending electronic gear into outer space on unmanned missions. They'd already sent somebody into space, but they wanted to make sure that if they were going to send people up for longer flights, that they had a chance of surviving. They were sending electronic gear up to test a variety of things like radiation exposure, and so on.

The equipment kept failing, but they couldn't figure out why.

Finally, someone determined that the circuits were overheating, so they installed a fan to cool off the devices.

However, the problems persisted. Why?

Reverse the words

The second word will be the first word reversed (e.g. tar & rat)

1. As he was packing the _____ he noticed a few _____ on his arm.

2. He got a _____ for putting the papers in the _____.

3. She was so _____ she forgot to make the _____.

4. The poor man had to _____ next to the pile of orange ______.

5. The _____ was wearing a _____ so he could be recognised.

6. The _____ had made just one _____ in their class project - they had forgotten to add the flag at the back.

Word Pyramid

In this word pyramid you have to take the letters from the word pea and put them around the 'h' to form a new word. Once you have the next word, do the same with the next line.

pea
h _ _ _
s _ _ _ _
_ _ r _ _ _
_ _ _ _ _ _ n
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ l

Walk the dog

Some pets have become lost and its up to you to find them and their owners. Can you figure out who belongs to who and where the pet got lost?

1. A rabbit and a dog are two of the lost pets.
2. The pet lost in the garden is owned by Mary.
3. Robert does not own a dog.
4. John's pet was lost in the woods.
5. The cat was not lost in the woods or in the park.

How old?

The grandson is about as many days old as the son is in weeks. The grandson is approximately as many months old as the father is in years. The ages of the grandson, the son, and the father add up to 120 years. What are their ages?

Government Subsidies

The government pays farmers a specific fee for each row of four trees that they plant. An enterprising, but dishonest farmer found a way of planting five rows of four trees using only ten trees. How did he do it?

Stamp collection

My sister has six red stamps and three blue ones. In her collection, seven stamps are from Mexico and six stamps are from France. One stamp is purple and it is not from Mexico or France. Two of her Mexican stamps are red and one is blue. Two of her French stamps are blue and three are red. How many stamps does she have?

Fill 'er up

A scientist is experimenting with bacteria that are one micron in diameter and that reproduce by dividing every minute into two bacteria. At 12:00 PM, he puts a single organism in a container. At precisely 1:00 PM, the container is full.

At what time was the container half full?

How big was the container?

Quick logic

Rana, Toni and Millie are sisters. Their ages are 9,12 and 14 years.
You need to deduce which sister is 9 years old, which one is 12 and which one is 14.

You have two clues:
Clue 1 : Toni's age is not in the 4-times table.
Clue 2 : Millie's age can be divided exactly by the number of days in a week.

Can you speak a little more clearly?

Example: "Don't place the two wheeled vehicle in a position preceding the equine mammal," is the proverb "Don't put the cart before the horse."

1. Positive aesthetic appeal is solely the equivalent of the thickness of the epidermis.

2. The ground covering of slender leaved plants is always a more vibrant hue of a common secondary color in the proximity of the opposite surface of a structure serving as a boundary.

3. Produce the sound of sharp tapping by striking blows to a processed piece of secondary xylem from a large perennial plant.

4. The gyre that emanates shrill sounds receives the viscous lubricant.

Weighty Issue

Martin rushed into the room bearing good news.

"Joseph, your idea worked! The company liked the idea of using only two types of weights to measure heavy objects!" announced Martin, giving the letter to Joseph.

"I told you so. Given any two types of weights, you can measure objects that are above a certain weight," explained Joseph, reading the letter, "Well, as long as the two weights are not both even."

Martin thought for a moment and then realized that he had no clue what Joseph meant by that, so he asked, "Huh? What? Isn't the new weight system designed to measure all types of objects?"

Joseph smiled and replied, "Technically, yes. However, this system can't measure objects that weigh 1 pound, 2 pounds and other lighter objects. Besides, both weights are heavier than 10 pounds."

"Really? But then why did the company like it?" wondered Martin, "What use does it have then? Can it measure 300 pounds? 90 pounds? 69 pounds?!"

"Yes, yes, and no." Joseph laughed, "You're not getting the point. The company only weighs things 120 pounds or heavier. This weighing system can't measure 119 pounds but any object above 119 pounds can be expressed as a sum of combinations of these two weights."

After hearing that, Martin was even more confused. Finally, Joseph said, "Look, 17 (5+5+7) can be expressed as a sum of only 5s and 7s. 18, on the other hand, can't. It works on the same principles. Think about it. You'll get it eventually."

Assuming everything has integer weights, what were the two types of weights that Joseph suggested?

You may have issues with this

issues
issues
issues
issues
issues
issues
issues
issues
issues
issues

Three Distinct

Can you find three distinct positive integers A, B and C such that the sum of their reciprocals equals 1?

In other words: 1/A + 1/B + 1/C = 1 where A does not equal B does not equal C (and A does not equal C).

Squares

The number 150 is expressible as the sum of distinct squares, as shown:
150 = 100 + 49 + 1 = 10^2 + 7^2 + 1^2

Every number above 150 is expressible as the sum of distinct squares. But there are 37 numbers that cannot be expressed in this fashion. Care to find the largest one?

Sum Days

Some people believe that January 1, 2000 is the first day of the 21st century. Other people believe that the honor belongs to January 1, 2001. But everyone should agree that January 1, 2002 is the first "sum-day" of the new century- when you write out that date in standard notation, it becomes 01/01/02, and 1+1=2. More generally, a sum-day is a date in which the day and month add up to the year. With that in mind:

A) What is the last sum-day of the 21st century?

B) How many sum-days are there in the 21st century?

Sheep-days

Imagine a pasture that is just big enough to feed 11 sheep for a total of 8 days. It turns out that if we reduce the number of sheep to 10, they would be able to eat for 9 days.

Theoretically, how long could two sheep last?

I am a number

I am a number with the following properties:

1. If I am not a multiple of 4, then I am between 60 and 69.
2. If I am a multiple of 3, I am between 50 and 59.
3. If I am not a multiple of 6, I am between 70 and 79.

What number am I?

I'm lost

I live on Sunset Boulevard, where there are 6 houses on my side of the block. The house numbers are consecutive even numbers. The sum of all 6 house numbers is 8790. You don't know which block I live on, and it's a long street, but I will tell you that I live in the lowest number on my side of the block. What's my address?

Occupied

Frank leaves home. When he tries to return, a man wearing a mask blocks his path.

1.) What is Frank doing?
2.) What is the masked man's occupation?
3.) Where is Frank's "safe place?"

Have a headache, yet?

If the puzzle you solved before you solved the puzzle you solved after you solved the puzzle you solved before you solved this one, was harder than the puzzle you solved after you solved the puzzle you solved before you solved this one, was the puzzle you solved before you solved this one harder than this one?

Truth teller

Melissa and Jessica were working on the computer along with their friends Sandy and Nicole. Suddenly, I heard a crash and then lots of shouts. I rushed in to find out what was going on, finding the computer monitor on the ground, surrounded with broken glass! Sandy and Jessica spoke almost at the same time:

Jessica saying, "It wasn't me!"
Sandy saying, "It was Nicole!"
Melissa yelled, "No, it was Sandy!"
With a pretty straight face Nicole said, "Sandy's a liar."

Only one of them was telling the truth, so who knocked over the monitor?

Are you a square?

Solve each clue below. The answers will form a word square.

Example of a word square:
THE
HEN
END

1. Pansy genus
2. Charged column type
3. Beginning
4. Lord
5. Performed

Spare change?

Mary had a coin purse with fifty coins, totaling exactly $1.00. Unfortunately, while counting her change, she dropped one coin. What is the probability that it was a penny?

Football

Bill, Ken, and Mark are, not necessarily in this order, a quarterback, a receiver, and a kicker. The kicker, who is the shortest of the three, is a bachelor. Bill, who is Ken's father-in-law, is taller than the receiver.

Who plays in which position?

Translation, please?

"QDD XML ILXELJRR PR QF MFOXDTPFE, DPAJ Q YJEJHQKDJ KMT. NXM ZQYJ OPLRH QF PFRHPFWH, HZJF QF XIPFPXF, HZJF Q AFXSDJTEJ QR HZJ IDQFH ZQR LXXH, KMT, QFT OLMPH. HLMRH HZJ PFRHPFWH HX HZJ JFT, HZXMEZ NXM WQF LJFTJL FX LJQRXF."








Hint 1: Quote is from Ralph Waldo Emerson

Hint 2: Quote is from -LQDIZ SQDTX JGJLRXF

Three at a time

Each group has three words that are spelled the same, except for one letter (each group describes a different set of words). Example: king, ring, wing.

1a) a military rank
1b) a landed estate
1c) an elected official

2a) to turn upside down
2b) to cover completely
2c) to create for the first time

3a) a sticky substance
3b) jewel
3c) slang for "leg"

4a) to abuse verbally
4b) to make a new version
4c) to restore to life

How hot is it?

The Celsius scale is derived from the Fahrenheit scale by making a linear adjustment. The Celsius scale was created to make the freezing point of water 0 and the boiling point 100 degrees Celsius, as Fahrenheit measures these two points at 32 and 212 degrees respectively.

There is one point the Celsius and Fahrenheit scales have in common. What is it?

All in the family

I have three sisters, and all of us are mothers. My sister Kay has two nephews and three nieces. My sister Jane has one nephew and three nieces. My sister Belle has one nephew and five nieces. I have one daughter. How many nephews and nieces do I have?

I had a dentist appt this morning

So, here's the riddle (joke).

Why did the tree see the dentist?

Rarely still

I am mother and father, but never birth or nurse. I'm rarely still, but I never wander. What am I?

This is tricky

Add up these ten numbers without a calculator:
6
12
18
30
48
78
126
204
330
534

Spoilers below!!!






Hint: there's a trick to this...

Hint2: Notice anything funny about this series of numbers?

Hint3: You can answer this question using the seventh number in the series.



BTW, I changed the main page a little bit so recent comments show up in the sidebar. Please let me know what you think of the changes. More than any other site, this one depends on its readers, so please let me know if you like/dislike anything.

Are you going nuts?

1. Big country in South America.
2. A pod is my pad.
3. This came down in Germany.
4. Confection ingredient.
5. Sneaking a look-on.
6. Gorillas show dominance by beating this.
7. May be found in the company of a witch.

Twin Errors

Six sets of twins ( a boy and a girl in every case) made several errors in their history and geography examinations; and it was noted that every girl made precisely the same number of errors as her brother in the two subjects. Name each pair of siblings and their surname and work out how many mistakes each made in their history and geography examination papers.

1. The boy ( not Luke ) whose sister is Louella made more history errors than Sammy.
2. George did better in history than the boy surnamed O'Connell, who made either one more or one less geography error than the twins surnamed Dean.
3. Anne made either one more or one less geography error than Louella.
4. The twins who made 11 geography errors didn't make exactly 11 history errors.
5. David and his sister made either one more or one less mistake in the history exam than the twins who made 14 geography errors.
6 Edward and his sister did worse at history than the pair who made 15 geography errors. Edward made one more error in the geography exam than Luke.
7. The McCall twins didn't make one less history mistake than the Vole twins
8. Susan ( who made seven history errors ) made one less geography error than the girl who made one less history error than Anne.
9. The twins surnamed Waters made one more history mistake than the twins surnamed Seal, who made more geography errors than the McCall twins.
10. Gail made one more geography error than the girl who made one more history error than Louella.
11. Martin made either one more or one less geography error than his best friend and his sister, who made more history mistakes than Diane.
12. Wendy and her brother ( who didn't make a total of eight history mistakes ) didn't make as many errors in geography as George and his sister.

Brothers are - David, Edward, George, Luke, Martin & Sammy.
Sisters are - Anne, Diane, Gail, Louella, Susan & Wendy.
Surnames are- Dean, McCall, O'Connell, Seal, Vole & Waters.
Geography errors are - 10, 11, 12, 14, 15 & 16.
History errors are 6, 7, 8, 10, 11 & 12.

Equal treatment

Can you move two digits so as to make this a true statement?

6145 - 1 = 6143




BTW, I can't believe how much traffic I'm getting from people looking to answer the leap frog puzzle. Who would have thought this many people would have as much trouble as I did doing this puzzle?

Some days are easier... this is not one of them

What is represented by this rebus?

sun rock rock *rock*



And can you decipher this?

J K

A 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 Q

Get all emotional

What emotion is an anagram of a homonym of an antonym of a homonym of an anagram of wolf?

School supplies

1. One who secretly keeps watch on another or others + A small rounded portion of bread + Not yes, but __ + 20th letter of the alphabet + A printed or written literary work
2. A fenced enclosure for animals + Window ____s
3. To withdraw from a game of poker in defeat + Err...
4. Pigment + 4th letter in the alphabet + A fenced enclosure for animals + Window ____s
5. Unsoiled + 24th letter in the alphabet
6. To tie or secure + Err...
7. Spherical object + A sharp or tapered end + What you hit when you bowl
8. Tigger's best friend + Lyr
9. Not fastened + Singular for what falls from trees in Autumn + To give money to in return for goods or services + To, for, or by each; for every
10. Common greeting + Something a lamp gives off + Err...

Run faster!

In a 10 kilometer race, Alex beat Bob by 20 meters and Carl by 40 meters. If Bob and Carl were to run a 10 kilometer race, and Bob gave Carl a 20-meter head start, who would probably win?

Honeymoon

Five couples are going on honeymoons to five different places where they will participate in five different activities. Determine the first and last names of each couple, where they went honeymooning and what activity they participated in.

1. Ethan, who is not married to Chrissy, admired the photos of Spain that Jacob Brown showed to him.
2. Matthew, whose last name is not Emerson, enjoyed Portugal.
3. The couple who went sightseeing did so in the Dominican Republic.
4. Sharon had heard lovely things about the Dominican, but decided to go to Spain.
5. Matthew and Tina are not married nor are Janna and Ethan.
6. Ethan didn't go stargazing.
7. The five couples are represented by the Peters, Cuba, Chrissy, Bradley and sailing.
8. Jacob, who isn't a Howe, felt a little seasick during his activity.
9. Patrick, who isn't married to Tina, wished he'd gone sightseeing like Bradley Green, but instead he ended up going shopping.
10. The scuba diving couple didn't do so in Cuba.
11. Bradley and Josie had a great time on their honeymoon.

Know how to fight

McIntosh and Newton gave birth to me.
I've lived all of my life in Tennessee.

Trained from a young child, to know how to fight.
I have proven that I can wear the green and white.

What am I?

What are the odds again?

The field of statistics owes a great deal of it's history to the human desire to gamble. At one point, a major contributor to statistics was interested in the following question:

What's the probability of rolling at least one six in four rolls of a die?

What are the odds?

Four cards are dealt from the top of a well shuffled deck. What are the odds that they are four aces?

Kind Gift

Mrs Smith decided to give a gift of three pots (she made them herself!) filled with homemade apple jelly to her next door neighbors. Her neighbors were a family of two fathers and two sons. They were very happy with their gifts!

How were they able to split their three apple jelly jars equally and fairly between themselves?

I would have thought it happens more often

Only one common English word appears when you translate numbers into Roman numerals. What is that number/word?

Having trouble? One of the following works:

38, 54, 626, 1009, 2376, 3128

I would have thought it happens more often

Only one common English word appears when you translate numbers into Roman numerals. What is that number/word?

Having trouble? One of the following works:

38, 54, 626, 1009, 2376, 3128

Squared or Cubed

There is only one 2-digit number (between 10 and 99) that is both a square and a cube. What is it?

There is only one 3-digit number that is both a cube and a square. What is it?

Just to be clear, a square is a number you get by multiply any number by itself. So 4 is a square (2x2 = 4) and so is 16 (4x4 = 16). A cube is a number you get by multiplying any number by itself three times, i.e. 27 is a cube (3x3x3) and 125 (5x5x5).

Leap Frog

I can never remember how to do this. I always have to work it out every time I see it.

You have six frogs trying to cross the stream. On the first three stones, there are three frogs (A)lex, (B)obby, and (C)arl. On the other side of the stream are three more frogs, on three more stones. Their names are (D)eb, (E)nid, and (F)rancine.

So, when they start, they look like this:
A B C _ D E F

There's an empty stone in the middle. A, B and C want to get to the side D, E and F are on and vice-versa. But none of the frogs want to get wet today. Each frog can leap-frog over another frog (if they are of the opposite sex) or can jump to an empty stone that's next to them. How do you get them to switch sides?

Did I explain that well enough?

Uncle Ben

"OR LOML YVFZXMCF LUU UJLRI OVF HVJR MIY OVF HMXXRL VF VI YMIARW UJ OMNVIA TULO UJ LORS TUWWUHRY."

"HR MWR MXX TUWI VAIUWMIL, TEL UIR SEFL HUWP OMWY LU WRSMVI FLEZVY."

"OR LOML FZRMPF SEGO, VF SEGO SVFLMPRI."

These are three famous sayings from Ben Franklin. Can you translate them all?

Food for class

Sierra, Grace, Daniel, Savannah, and Austin each went to the grocery store and bought a number (5, 3, 2, 6, and 9) of some type of plant (eggplants, carrots, grapefruits, peanuts, and bunches of celery). They each only bought one type of plant, however they differed in how much they bought.

They carried the items that they bought to class.

What did each person bring to class?
1. Daniel said that his items come from the root of a plant.
2. Savannah said that the edible part of her items are the seeds.
3. Someone brought in three grapefruits.
4. Sierra said that her items come from the stem of a plant.
5. Austin brought in the most number of items.
6. Someone brought in five bunches of celery.
7. Savannah brought in less than eight items.
8. Grace's items are not a vegetable.
9. Someone brought in two carrots.

Hungry?

B M = 2 A B P, S S, L, C, P, O on a S S B

Largest Number

What's the largest number you can make with just two digits?

Or, What's the smallest?

Cracking Up

A cracker company isn't pleased when it finds out the results of a survey it has taken. According to the survey, although customers would rather have a cracker than nothing at all, those same customers would prefer peanuts to anything else!

A junior employee decides this is his big chance for promotion. He claims to his boss what the survey really saids was that customers prefer crackers to peanuts. How in the world could he come to that conclusion?

Dinner with the family

Savannah is hosting Thanksgiving this year. She invited her family (Hannah, Daniel, Jacob, Makayla, Justin, Destiny, Thomas, and Nicole) to her house. Her father, her sister, her mother, her uncle, her grandmother, her aunt, her grandfather, and her brother all had a great time at her house!

Figure out how each person is related to Savannah and make a family tree.

1. Hannah is Savannah's aunt.
2. Makayla is not Savannah's sister.
3. Justin is Destiny's brother.
4. Jacob is Savannah's father.
5. Nicole is not Savannah's grandmother.
6. Nicole is Destiny's mother.
7. Daniel is Nicole's brother.
8. Justin has no children.
9. In the afternoon, all of the men were watching football. Nicole, Makayla, Destiny, and Hannah were talking and not watching football.
10. Destiny is not Savannah's mother.

More in Common

What do these three have in common?

Municipal parking lot
Electric utility
Rhythm in verse

Say what?

What are the three common phrases hidden below?

In the general area, but failing to acquire the roll of tobacco.

Please pardon my accidental use of a romance language derived from Latin.

Direct your attention to the melodic tones currently occurring.

Common Ground

What do the following have in common?

Parade
Malt Shop
Tackle box

Translation, please?

Can you translate this inspirational statement?

IYO PEXDI WXTDEG PEMCS KO Q LCEDOS YOQXI.

It's a murder

A "murder" of crows is what you call a bunch these black birds. What's a group of flamingos called?

Flag Day

Fred ran a flag making business. Things were looking bleak when, out of the blue, someone called from the Paraguayan Embassy. They needed an urgent consignment of 1000 Paraguayan flags by the following week.

Fred got to work straight away. He got a picture of the current Paraguayan flag, got hold of the required cloth and he and his staff worked without stopping until the flags were dispatched. The business was saved, or so he thought.

Unfortunately, the Embassy refused to pay and returned them all. Fred has now lost his business, but why?




On a side note, Happy 4th of July! It's going to be a nice long weekend for me, so I'll see you on Wednesday!

Anagram Links

An Anagram Link is a set of 2 words that link together by the last letter of one word, and the first letter of the other. Both words contain the same letters, but in different orders. Such as: team/meat.

Can you find the following Anagram Links by using the clues?


1) Link at W. One word means to clean.

2) Link at S, or T. One word means one who is employed to do services for someone.

3) Link at D. One word means to challenge someone to do something.

4) Link at D. One word means to walk on, over, or along.

5) Link at F, or G. One word is a sport

Animal Sounds

Example. To run away or escape: flea (flee)

1. hair-control foam
2. very exposed
3. tellin' falsities
4. a lamenting cry
5. a dull person
6. a precious or loved one
7. first you get a parking ticket, then you get this
8. these make up a chain

Is it raining again?

The science teacher loves to trick his class every year with his lesson on making a cloud in a very large water jug.

To make the cloud he fills the jug with a gallon of water, starts a match and lets some of the smoke seep into the jug (the water needs something to cling to to make the cloud).

Then he starts to pressurize it manually. He gets a pump and he starts pumping it. He pumps for about a minute and still no cloud. All of his students think he is doing something wrong, but he just isn't done, yet. What's the last step?

It's a joke, get it?

Yes, these really are jokes.

Why do some people appear bright until you hear them speak?

How are computers like air conditioning?

Symbolism

Can you make this statement true by adding two mathematic symbols?
25-9=2

Sporting Groups

In these two groups, which two sports should swap places?

Group A:
Football (NFL or American)
Soccer
Baseball


Group B:
Volleyball
Basketball
Ice Hockey


Hint: This is a math question.

April Fool's Day

April Fool's day is a day for all pranksters to look forward to. But what is it called in Japan? in France? in Spain?

Author

Trivia Question: What famous author died in 1941 after swallowing a toothpick?

Cadet

I came across some trivia over the past week I thought I'd share. Happy Father's day to everyone, by the way!

What's a cadet in New Zealand? - a bus driver, farmhand, or young soldier?

What am I

"I am the center of gravity, hold a capital situation in Vienna, and as I am foremost in every victory, am allowed by all to be invaluable. Though I am invisible, I am clearly seen in the midst of a river. I could name three who are in love with me and have three associates in vice. It is vain that you seek me for I have long been in heaven yet even now lie embalmed in the grave. What am I?"

Riddles part something or other

1) What is bought by the yard and worn by the foot?
2) What is the best thing to make in a hurry?
3) With what do you fill a barrel to make it lighter than when it is empty?
4) What is always coming but never arrives?

Right you are

What can be right but never wrong?

Quick to die?

A little bit of trivia today: Which will kill a person faster, lack of sleep or lack of food (not water)?

Bonus points to anyone who knows how long each takes.

Six Letters

That was a nice vacation, but I'm glad to be back.

Start with a 6-letter word. Replace one letter to find the next word. No word is repeated in the trip until we are back to where we started. Clues are given along the way.
1. block and tackle
2.
3. recycled glass
4.
5. decorative moulding
6.
7. online purchase software
8.
9. paid a visit
10.
11. hauled
12 (we are back !)

Shiny Stars

Like shiny stars rested on an even plain,
The rubber planet will soon crash.
So the young can develop their brain,
They save the 'stars' and they laugh.

King me

What king can you make if you takethe head of a lamb, the middle of a pig, the hind of a buffalo, and the tail of a dragon?

What's next?

What is the next integer in this series?

1,000
1,000,000,000
1,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000
100
1
?

For a hint, look at this riddle for a clue.

BTW, I'll be on vacation next week, so my posting may be sporadic. I believe I'll be able to do so, but I'm just not sure.

Riddle me this?

Mates unbalanced,
Or so they seem;
But paired in tandem,
A deadly team.

She so gently round,
Him so firm and straight,
Yet when they are compounded,
Woe to them they hate.

Short and sweet

What kind of room has no windows or doors?

Simple logic

Nick, Sean and Rhonda went shopping together for music on Saturday and Sunday. The CDs they purchased are either jazz or rock. When they visit the store, each person will purchase one (and one only) CD.

1) Either Sean or Rhonda will pick rock, but not both of them.
2) If Sean picks rock, Nick picks jazz
3) Nick and Rhonda do not pick jazz.

Which one of the three purchased a jazz CD on Saturday and a rock CD on Sunday?

Who won?

8 friends decided to play in a pool tournament. They played a single elimination tournament, with three rounds (the first round, second round, and finals). Using the clues below can you determine who beat whom in each round?

Boys: Jack, Jamie, Jim, Roger, Tommy

Girls: Jessica, Renee, Tina

Clues:

1. No one ever played against someone else with the same first name initial.

2. The four people who advanced to the second round were Renee, the person who beat Tina in the first round, the loser of the final match, and the man who played Jessica in the first round.

3. 3 games of the first round, and 1 game of the second round were played by two people of the opposite sex.

4. Jack only played against a man one time in the tournament, and Roger played against a man in every round he played in.

5. Renee played against Jack at some point in the tournament.

6. The two people who played in the final round were the winner, and the man who beat Tommy in the 2nd round.

7. Jim always played against a man in the tournament.

8. Jessica did not play against the eventual champion.

Squared

Imagine, if you would, that you have 16 toothpicks and you arrange them as shown in the picture below. Moving only one toothpick can you turn the five squares into six?



BTW, Do you know of any good brain teasers, riddles, puzzles, etc.. that I could put up here? I have over 250 'questions' here so far and I would love it if you could contribute some of your own.

Going to the Orchard

The local orchard has a strange pricing structure. Each bag holds seven apples for which they charge five cents. If you want an eighth apple, you get charged 15 cents. So, if you want to buy 23 apples, you would have to pay 15 cents for three bags and 30 cents for the remaining two for a total of 45 cents.

My question is which costs more: 10 apples, 30 apples or 50 apples?

There's no real puzzle or hard math here, but the answer may surprise you.

Move me

A sundial is a timepiece that has the fewest number of moving parts. Which timepiece has the most moving parts?

What's missing?

PALOO
YDESDA
DENBU
PPIZZ
ZEWALS

Two letters at the front, two at the end. Can you figure out these words? There is a theme, here, so if you get one, it may make the rest easier.

Full House in Yahtzee

The game of Yahtzee is played with five dice. On the first turn, a player rolls all five dice, and then may decide to put aside any of the dice before rolling again. Each player has a maximum of three rolls to try to get a favorable combination of dice.

If a player rolls two 2s and two 4s on his/her first roll, and keeps all four of these dice aside, what is the probability of getting a full house in one of his/her next two rolls? In other words, what is the probability of getting either a 2 or a 4 in one of the next two rolls?



I haven't done a good stats problem in a while....

Spoonerism

A spoonerism is a pair of words that can have their initial sounds switched to form new words. The pairs need only sound the same, not necessarily be spelled the same (power saw & sour paw, horse cart & coarse heart). There may sometimes be one or two connecting words (kick the stone & stick the cone, king of the rats & ring of the cats). Given the following definitions, what are the spoonerisms?

1) spoiled Neanderthal child & courageous cougar
2) child of a sorceress & liquid in a trench
3) milk and cheese & fops who are imaginary beings with magical powers
4) fondle feathers & Amsterdam

What State are you in?

What U.S. state does the following mean?

HLIBNMT

Hint: becomes a

letter me

My first three letters are a term for golf,
While my second, third, and fourth are drawings.
My first four are less than a whole,
And all of me is a celebration.

What am I?

Are you a cat person?

Scientists have proven that cats have more hair on one side then their other side. Some people believe that this is because when cats lay on their side they need insulation from the cold on the floor or ground. Which side of a cat has more hair?

A horse with no name

A horse travels the same distance every day.

Oddly, two of its legs travel 30 miles each day and the other two legs travel nearly 31 miles.

It would seem that two of the horse's legs must be one mile ahead of the other two legs, but of course this can't be true.

Since the horse is normal, how is this situation possible?

I did it 'My Way'

Allen, Bruce, Claire, Donna, and Emma were the top five finishers in their school's talent contest. They finished up filling, in no particular order, 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th, and 5th places. Oddly enough, the children came from, in no particular order, 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th, and 5th grades! In another startling coincidence, they all performed to the song "My Way" but they all did something different to the music. They either sang, tap-danced, hummed, yodelled, or whistled.

1. None of the numbers in the order of finish were exactly the same as the grade numbers.
2. Claire finished in front of Allen but behind the singer, and Donna, and the tap-dancer too, but those last three people are not necessarily in any particular order.
3. Emma finished behind Bruce but ahead of Donna.
4. The singer was in 3rd grade and the tap dancer was in 1st grade.
5. The child that was the hummer deserved to finish in last place and did finish there.
6. The yodeller was in 4th grade.

Dressed to the Nines

How do you six nines to equal exactly 100? You can use addition, division, decimals, etc... just no other digits.

Arrange the letters

Place the alphabets A to I into the 3 x 3 box. E is to the right of C. A is to the right of G which is above B, which is to the left of F. I is above D which is to the left of G.

In case it isn't clear, your solution should look like:
A B C
D E F
G H I

But, of course, not in that order.

Who, what, when?

A family medical practice has four doctors that work during the day (Dr. Karp, Dr. Moore, Dr. Conwit, and Dr. Nguyen). The computer somehow mixed up the records for some of the appointments (10:10 a.m., 11:05 a.m., 10:05 a.m., and 11:30 a.m.). The nurse who is trying to fix the records knows that Nathan, Michael, Jose, and Matthew made the appointments. The patients have already been to their doctor a different number of times (zero, one, two, and three).

Help the nurse by figuring out which doctor each patient is going to see, the number of times they have already seen the doctor, and the time of their appointment.

1. Dr. Conwit read in his charts that his patient has previously seen him three times.

2. Dr. Karp did not schedule any appointments before 11:00 a.m.

3. The person who has an appointment at 10:05 a.m. has already been to the same doctor, however the patient is not the one who has been to the doctor either three or zero times.

4. Dr. Conwit did not schedule any appointments before 11:25 a.m.

5. Dr. Moore did not schedule any appointments before 9:55 a.m.

6. Dr. Moore read in his charts that his patient has previously seen him two times.

7. Dr. Nguyen did not schedule any appointments before 9:45 a.m.

8. Dr. Karp read in his charts that his patient has previously seen him one time.

9. Dr. Karp is not currently accepting new patients.

10. Jose's appointment is after Nathan's and before Michael's.

11. Michael's appointment is 1 hour and 20 minutes after Matthew's appointment.

12. Michael has been to the doctor either three or one time.

Its light

This is as light as a feather, yet no man can hold it for long.
What is it?

How high can you go?

How high would you have to count before you would use the letter A in the English language spelling of a whole number.

What is it?

What is black when you buy it, red when you use it, and gray when you throw it away?

Change for a dollar?

Divide $542 (in whole $ increments) into a number of bags so that I can ask for any amount between $1 and $542, and you can give me the proper amount by giving me a certain number of these bags without opening them. What is the minimum number of bags you will require?

Three days

Can you name three consecutive days without using the words Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday, or Sunday?

Cigars are bad for you kids!

Because cigars cannot be entirely smoked, a hobo who collects cigar butts can make a cigar to smoke out of every 5 butts that he finds. Today, he has collected 25 cigar butts. How many cigars will he be able to smoke?

Fill 'er up

Fill in the missing numbers in the 4x4 grid such that the rows, columns and the two diagonals all add up to the same number:

32 19 .. 8
10 25 .. ..
9 .. .. ..
35 16 .. 11

illogical

A Steel fixer, a painter, and an Electrician applied for jobs with a famous construction firm. From the information given below can you identify each worker's full name, job, and age?
1. Names: abe, Nicholas, Matt. Surnames: Jones, Lincoln, Ryan. Ages: 25, 30, 35 NOT RESPECTIVELY.
2. Jones, the Electrician, is older than abe.
3. Nicholas is the Painter.
4. The Steel fixer is 30 years old.
5. The youngest worker of the three is not called Ryan.

In case it isn't clear:
First Names: Abe, Nicholas and Matt
Last Name: Jones, Lincoln, and Ryan
Jobs: Steel Fixer, Painter and Electrician
Ages: 25, 30, and 35

Into the basket

A basket contains 5 apples. Do you know how to divide them to 5 kids so that each one has an apple and one apple stays in the basket?

Are you Canadian?

Why can't a man living in the USA be buried in Canada?
If there are 3 apples and you take away 2, how many do you have?
Why do Chinese men eat more rice than Japanese men?
What word describes a woman who does not have all her fingers on one hand?

Siege

A square medieval castle on a square island was under siege. All around the island, there was 10 metres wide water moat. But the conquerors could make foot-bridges only 9.5 metres long. Nevertheless a wise man was able to figure out how to get over the water. What do you think was his advice?

(There's a place on the other side to put the bridge against, not just a sheer wall. Water moat has square corners - that section of the moat is about 14.1 metres wide.)

Can you see the forest?

You can find roads without cars,
And roam thru forests without trees,
Cities exist without houses?
Whatever can I be?

Big family

Mr. and Mrs. Smith have six daughters and each daughter has one brother.
How many people are in the Smith family?

Share?

If you have me you want to share me. If you share me you won't have me. What am I?

It's going to be another busy weekend, so I'll see you on Monday!

Family affairs

Five couples each have one child.
Each child is a different age than any of the other children.
Each child has a favorite toy which is different from any of the other children's favorite toys.
Each family eats at only one fast food restaurant.
No two women have the same name and no two men have the same name.
The children's names are not known.

The child who plays with trains is the youngest.
Bill's child plays with GI Joe.
Julie's child likes Pokeman.
Mike's family eats at Taco Bell.
The family of the 4 year old likes Kentucky Fried Chicken.
The oldest child is four years older than Marie's child.
The child who plays with Barbie is 8 years old.
The child with the age is in the middle, has a mother named Marie.
The child in the family that eats at McDonalds has a two year age difference with Larry's child.
Carol is the mother in the family that eats at Dairy Queen.
The child that plays Nintendo likes Burger King.
Steve's child is two years apart in age from the child of the family that eats at Kentucky Fried Chicken.
The child that plays with trains is two years apart from the 6 year old.
The child that eats at McDonalds is two years older or younger than Regina's child.
Lisa's child is 10.

Who is married to George?

This is just fun

Solve the puzzle by saying them out loud, over and over, faster and faster, repeating the phrase, until you "hear" the answer. Example: LAWN SAND JEALOUS (place) Answer: Los Angeles

1. SHOCK CUSSED TOE (~a person~)
2. SAND TACKLE LAWS (~a fictional character~)
3. MY GULCH HOARD UN (~a person~)
4. MOW BEAD HICK (~a book~)
5. TALL MISCHIEF HER SUN (~a person~)
6. CHICK HE TUB AN AN US (~a product~)
7. THOUGH TIGHT AN HICK (~a thing~)
8. AISLE OH VIEW (~a phrase~)
9. TUB RAID HEAP HUNCH (~a old TV show~)
10. CARESS TROUGHER CLUMP US (~a person~)
11. DOCKED HEARSE WHOSE (~a person~)
12. THUMB ILL KEY WAKE OWL LICKS HE (~a place~)
13. AGE ANT HUB BLOWS HEAVEN (~a fictional character~)
14. THESE HOUND DOVE MOO SICK (~a movie~)
15. BUCK SPUN HE (~a fictional character~)


I just thought this was fun... It shouldn't be hard.

Title goes here

The title of this book has been put into very fancy language. Can you name the book?

“The objects, or people, have been removed from their previous localities through the power of a naturally moving phenomenon.”

The envelope speaks the truth

There are three envelopes. One has a check in it. You can't touch the envelopes (or look at them through a light or anything like that). Only one envelope has a true statement written on it, the other two are false.

The envelopes have the following writing:

1. This envelope does not have the check
2. This envelope has the check
3. The second envelope does not have the check

Which envelope should you open?

Harder than it looks

If you divide thirty by a half and add ten , what would the answer be?
.
.
.
BTW, it's going to be a busy weekend, so I don't think I'll have any other questions this weekend.

Duck, duck, duck,... Goose!

There are 2 ducks in front of 2 other ducks.
There are 2 ducks behind 2 other ducks.
There are 2 ducks beside 2 other ducks.


How many ducks are there?

Hopefully, I'll get this puzzle right

The gentlemen Dutch, English, Painter, and Writer are all teachers at the same secondary school. Each teacher teaches two different subjects. Furthermore:

1) Three teachers teach Dutch language
2) There is only one math teacher
3) There are two teachers for chemistry
4) Two teachers, Simon and mister English, teach history
5) Peter doesn't teach Dutch language
6) Steven is chemistry teacher
7) Mister Dutch doesn't teach any course that is tought by Karl or mister Painter.

The Question: What is the full name of each teacher and which two subjects does each one teach?

In case it isn't clear from the clues:
First Names: Simon, Peter, Steven, Karl
Last Names: Dutch, English, Painter, Writer
Each teacher has two classes: Dutch (3), math (1), chemistry (2), history (2)

Arrange the numbers

Arrange the numbers 1 through 9 on a tic tac toe board such that the numbers in each row, column, and diagonal add up to 15.

Two cups

You have two cups, one containing orange juice and one containing and equal amount of lemonade. One teaspoon of the orange juice is taken and mixed with the lemonade. Then a teaspoon of this mixture is mixed back into the orange juice. Is there more lemonade in the orange juice or more orange juice in the lemonade?

Five Houses

Five adjoining terraced houses, numbered consecutively from 1-5 are each painted in three different colors of the rainbow. Can you discover the colors of the walls, windows and front doors of each house?

1. The house with an orange front door and indigo walls isn't No 3 (which has green windows).
2. No 2 has yellow walls and red windows. No 5 has a red front door.
3. The house with orange walls and blue windows is directly next door to the house with a green front door and violet walls.

House No: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5
Walls Color: Red, Green, Blue, Orange, and Yellow
Door Color: Red, Yellow, Orange, Violet, and Indigo
Window Colors: Red, Green, Blue, Violet and Indigo

Pick a card

How good are you at magic?

I ask Alex to pick any 5 cards out of a deck with no Jokers.

He can inspect then shuffle the deck before picking any five cards. He picks out 5 cards then hands them to me (Peter can't see any of this). I look at the cards and I pick 1 card out and give it back to Alex. I then arrange the other four cards in a special way, and give those 4 cards all face down, and in a neat pile, to Peter.

Peter looks at the 4 cards i gave him, and says out loud which card alex is holding (suit and number). How?

The solution uses pure logic, not slight of hand.

10 km walk... ugggh

A 120 wire cable has been laid firmly underground between two telephone exchanges located 10km apart.

Unfortunately after the cable was laid it was discovered to be the wrong type, the problem is the individual wires are not labeled. There is no visual way of knowing which wire is which and thus connections at either end is not immediately possible.

You are a trainee technician and your boss has asked you to identify and label the wires at both ends without ripping it all up. You have no transport and only a battery and light bulb to test continuity. You do have tape and pen for labeling the wires.

What is the shortest distance in kilometers you will need to walk to correctly identify and label each wire?

The warden

The warden meets with 23 new prisoners when they arrive. He tells them, "You may meet today and plan a strategy. But after today, you will be in isolated cells and will have no communication with one another.

"In the prison is a switch room, which contains two light switches labeled 1 and 2, each of which can be in either up or the down position. I am not telling you their present positions. The switches are not connected to anything.

"After today, from time to time whenever I feel so inclined, I will select one prisoner at random and escort him to the switch room. This prisoner will select one of the two switches and reverse its position. He must move one, but only one of the switches. He can't move both but he can't move none either. Then he'll be led back to his cell.

"No one else will enter the switch room until I lead the next prisoner there, and he'll be instructed to do the same thing. I'm going to choose prisoners at random. I may choose the same guy three times in a row, or I may jump around and come back.

"But, given enough time, everyone will eventually visit the switch room as many times as everyone else. At any time anyone of you may declare to me, 'We have all visited the switch room.' and be 100% sure.

"If it is true, then you will all be set free. If it is false, and somebody has not yet visited the switch room, you will be fed to the alligators. You will be carefully monitored, and any attempt to break any of these rules will result in instant death to all of you"

What is the strategy they come up with so that they can be free?
Show Hint Show Solution

Hint: Take a long-term perspective. Solve the puzzler for three prisoners, then do it for 23 prisoners.

Do you have this on your desk?

A corporate businessman has two cubes on his office desk. Every day he arranges both cubes so that the front faces show the current day of the month.

What numbers are on the faces of the cubes to allow this?

Note: You can't represent the day "7" with a single cube with a side that says 7 on it. You have to use both cubes all the time. So the 7th day would be "07".

Dinner Party

Yesterday evening, Helen and her husband invited their neighbours (two couples) for a dinner at home. The six of them sat at a round table. Helen tells you the following:

* "Victor sat on the left of the woman who sat on the left of the man who sat on the left of Anna.
* Esther sat on the left of the man who sat on the left of the woman who sat on the left of the man who sat on the left of the woman who sat on the left of my husband.
* Jim sat on the left of the woman who sat on the left of Roger.
* I did not sit beside my husband."

The Question: What is the name of Helen's husband?

Looking for a job?

A Steel fixer, a painter, and an Electrician applied for jobs with a famous construction firm. From the information given below can you identify each worker's full name, job, and age?

Names: Ashraf, Nader, Maher.
Surnames: Fathy, Khedr, Badr.
Ages: 25, 30, 35

1. Fathy, the Electrician, is older than Ashraf.
2. Nader is the Painter.
3. The Steel fixer is 30 years old.
4. The youngest worker of the three is not called Badr.

A wedding feast

At the Miller's wedding, it was determined that 90% of the guests had chicken, 80% had peas, 70% had vanilla cake, and 60% had ice cream. No one, however, had all four items. What percentage of the guests had at least one of the two deserts?

Tie color

There are 3 gentlemen in a meeting: Mr. Yellow, Mr. Green and Mr. Brown. They are wearing yellow, green and brown ties. Mr. Yellow says: "Did you notice that the color of our ties are different from our names?" The person who is wearing the green tie says, "Yes, you are right!"

Do you know who is wearing what color of tie?

Are you guilty?

There was a robbery in which a lot of goods were stolen. The robber(s) left in a truck. It is known that : (1) No one other than A, B and C was involved in the robbery. (2) C never commits a crime without inviting A to be his accomplice. (3) B does not know how to drive. So, is A innocent or guilty?

Uranium

What would happen if you swallowed uranium?

small wound?

What would you call a small wound?

Painful

When do you have acute pain?

(this is a joke/riddle).

Brother can't be bothered

When a girl slips on the ice, why can't her brother help her up?

I'm not feeling well today, so...

Today you get a medical: joke/riddle

What sickness do cowboys get from riding wild horses?

Smallest Integer

What is the smallest positive integer that leaves a remainder of 1 when divided by 2, remainder of 2 when divided by 3, a remainder of 3 when divided by 4, … and a remainder of 9 when divided by 10?

Sing a song of six pence

Every Friday night is open mike night at Gabriel’s Tavern. Gabriel had started it many years ago to give his Friday night business a boost and it had grown to become a very successful and respected event. Bands, comedians, singers, the event drew talented people from all areas of entertainment, hoping to make a name for themselves. Talent scouts from the city had even started attending the event because of the quality of entertainers that Gabriel’s open mike night attracted. His walls were full of autographed pictures of now-big time entertainers that had once been regulars to Open Mike Night. This Friday was no exception to the outstanding talent that Gabriel’s Tavern hosted. In total, he had five bands take advantage of his open mike this week, all of them well received by the tavern’s patrons. Determine the name of each band, the full name of each band’s lead singer, and the number of members in each band.

1. The two bands with three members were Bountiful Glory and the band with Steve as a lead singer.

2. Tin Cup had a male lead singer, but it wasn’t Michael Fisk. Swarez wasn’t the lead singer for Envy.

3. The two bands with four members were the band that had Mr. Barnet as lead singer and the band with Rachel as lead singer.

4. The Howling Dogs didn’t have Wanda Marsh as a lead singer. Larry didn’t sing with Envy.

5. The band with five members was End Zone.

6. Mr. Lariet didn’t sing for Tin Cup. Michael didn’t sing for Bountiful Glory.

Looking for some Vitamin C?

Greengrocer C. Carrot wants to expose his oranges neatly for sale. Doing this he discovers that one orange is left over when he places them in groups of three. The same happens if he tries to place them in groups of 5, 7, or 9 oranges. Only when he makes groups of 11 oranges, it fits exactly.

The Question: How many oranges does the greengrocer have at least?

Reading time!

Two friends, Alex and Bob, go to a bookshop, together with their sons Peter and Tim. All four of them buy some books; each book costs a whole amount in dollars. When they leave the bookshop, they notice that both fathers have spent 21 dollars more than their respective sons. Moreover, each of them paid per book the same amount of dollars as books that he bought. The difference between the number of books of Alex and Peter is five.

Who is the father of Tim?

What am I?

I turn around once.
What is out will not get in.
I turn around again.
What is in will not get out.

what am I?

Five 5's

Can you make 5 5's into 37?

5 5 5 5 5 = 37.

What I'm looking for is something like this: 5+5*5-5/5=29, but the answer should be 37. Can you do it?

Multiply by four

Bert and Ernie take turns multiplying numbers. First Bert chooses the number 4. Ernie multiplies it by 4 to get 16. Bert multiplies that by 4 to get 64. Ernie multiplies that by 4 to get 256.

After going back and forth several times, one of them comes up with the number 1,048,576. Who came up with that number, Bert or Ernie?

And no, you don't need a calculator for this one.

Why is Deal or No Deal right?

One of the first posts I did here was on the Monty Hall problem. In short: you are presented with three doors (1,2,3) and are told there is a prize behind one of them. You select door one (at random). The host reveals that behind door number 2 (2 being one of the doors you didn't select) there is no prize. At this point, your best strategy is to switch to the third door since there is a 2 in 3 chance of the prize being behind door number three.

So, my question today is, why doesn't Deal or No Deal fall into this trap? When there are only two suitcases left to be opened, plus the one the contestant chose: why can the execs at NBC say there is a 1 in 3 chance of the highest prize being in the suitcase the contestant chose at the beginning?

Or am I wrong and they are lying to the viewers?

In case you aren't familiar with the game, you can play it online at addicting games.

Race to the finish

Four top athletes competed in two qualifying 400 metre races. The results were mislaid, but various notes were taken:

No-one finished both races in the same position. John beat Mr Donald in both races. Steve Curtail came third in the second race and Dave came last in the first race. In the second race, Mr Arnold won and Mr Bowler came last. In the first race, Steve beat Kev, but Kev beat John.

Can you determine who finished where in each of the races?

Trivia in parts

My last 3 can be a type of sauce. My first 3 can be soft material that can protect you. I am a type of fabric, or an article of clothing made from this fabric. What am I?

This is not a typo?

.. ... -.- --- - .-.- ... .--

What comes next in the series above?

Let's go for a ride on a train

On a train, Smith, Robinson, and Jones are the fireman, brakeman, and the engineer, but NOT respectively. Also aboard the train are three businessmen who have the same names: a Mr. Smith, a Mr. Robinson, and a Mr. Jones.

1. Mr. Robinson Lives in Detroit.
2. The brakeman lives exactly halfway between Chicago and Detroit
3. Mr. Jones earns exactly $20,000 per year.
4. The brakeman's nearest neighbor, one of the passengers, earns exactly three times as much as the brakeman.
5. Smith beats the fireman in billiards.
6. The passenger whose name is the same as the brakeman's lives in Chicago.

Who is the Engineer?

Feeding time

Zookeeper George was in charge of feeding all of the animals in the morning. He had a regular schedule that he followed every day. Can you figure it out from the clues?

1) The giraffes were fed before the zebras but after the monkeys.
2) The bears were fed 15 minutes after the monkeys.
3) The lions were fed after the zebras.

The feeding times were 6:30, 6:45, 7:00, 7:15, and 7:30 AM. And he can only feed one animal at each time.

Pen Pyramid

P E N
_ P E N
P E N _ _
_ _ P E N _
_ _ _ P E N _
_ _ _ P E N _ _
_ _ P E N _ _ _ _
_ _ P E N _ _ _ _ _



Hints:
1) Candid
2) Lincoln's on this
3) Regret
4) Hang
5) Asps and Vipers
6) Costly
7) European Capital

First class

Define the letter class of a whole number as the number of letters in that number. For example, the letter class of 16 (Sixteen) is 7, while the letter class of 7 (seven) is 5 and the letter class of 300 (three hundred) is 12. There is only one number between 1 and 5,000 that is theonly representative of it's class. Care to find it?

I'll put a hint in the comments section.

Gossip heard round the world

There are six busybodies in town who like to share information. Whenever one of them calls another, by the end of the call they both know evertything that the other one knew beforehand. One day, each of the six picks up a juicy piece of gossip. What is the minimum number of phone calss required before all six of them know all six of these tidbits?

Is it worth the 25 cent toy?

Let's say there is a cereal that is putting out four different toys in their cereal box. Assuming the prizes are placed randomly and are evenly distributed, how many boxes of cereal would you need to buy on average (or, if you like, you should expect to buy how many boxes) before you got all four?

Before or behind?

Len always has it before. Paul has it behind. Bryan has never had it at all. Girls can have it only once. Boys don't need it. Mrs. Mulligan, the widow, has it twice in succession. Dr. Lowell of Harvard has it twice as bad at the end as at the beginning. Do you know what it is?

Series of questions

What are the next two numbers in the given series?

2, 11, 75, 700, 8476, ?, ?

Save yourself

A prisoner is told "If you tell a lie we will hang you; if you tell the truth we will shoot you."

What can he say to save himself? Note that he must say something to save himself.

P, J and B were hanging out together...

B, J and P are related to each other.

1. Among the three are B's legal spouse, J's sibling and P's sister-in-law.
2. B's legal spouse and J's sibling are of the same sex.

Who is the married man?

How many squares would there be?

If you were to construct a 7 x 7 checkered square (i.e., a 7 x 7 chess board), how many squares would there be in total? (Hint: it's not 49)

An oldie but a goodie

A man traveled by car to a destination 25 miles away. The journey was made between 7 and 9am, so the roads were congested and progress was slow. The journey took 75 minutes, which means that his average speed was 20 miles per hour. He took the same route on the return and traveling in the middle of the day made faster time: his return journey lasted just 25 minutes, meaning that his average speed fro the return journey was 60 miles per hour.

What was his average speed for the two journeys combined?

What was his name, again?

What did the 'S' stand for in President Harry S. Truman's name?


This has been a busy weekend, so consider this my question for Saturday and Sunday.

Thanks!

Random number

Try thinking out a random 3-digit number and writing it twice on a piece of paper, forming a 6-digit number (for example the number is 123, than you will have to put down 123123 on the paper). Now divide this 6-digit number by 7. There will be no remainder, I guarantee. Now divide the result by 11. No remainder again, I guarantee. Now divide the new result by 13. What happened?

I'll be there in a jiffy!

How much time is a jiffy?

PS: This is a trivia question.

Fire Trivia

Why are walls often "sweaty" after a fire? (This is a trivia question, not a riddle or a joke).

May I?

What does this represent?
"May I have a large container of coffee Thank You."

And no, I'm not looking for an order at your local restaurant...

What are the odds?

With March Madness quickly approaching, I thought this might be an appropriate question. When you fill out your bracket(s), keep in mind there are X different ways for the real outcome to occur.

What's X, assuming all outcomes are equal?

In case you aren't familiar, March Madness involves 64 (ignore the playoff for the 64th spot, please) teams. The teams are paired up in a college basketball NCAA tournament.

On your mark...

What does: ON THE ON THE represent?

A little more subtle?

What does: PUNISHMENT represent?

How much was that?

There is an inexpensive item (less than a dollar) that can be purchased in the US. You could buy it with four US Coins. If you wanted two of these items, you'd need at least six coins. However if you bought three, you'd only need two coins. How much does the item cost?

US coins you can use: penny (1 cent), nickel (5 cents), dime (10 cents), quarter (25 cents) or half-dollar (50 cents).

Tags: math, puzzle

When in Rome

Prove that one half of nine is four.

Also, prove that one half of eight is three.

Tags: math, riddle

English trivia

What is the only word in the English language that if
you capitalize the word it changes the pronunciation
and meaning of the word?

Fire one!

What does:

CC FIRE

represent?

Tags: riddle

uh... what?

What does: WAT CH represent?

What, do you live in a barn?

When it is open it is closed and when it is closed it is open. What is it?

It's mine, all mine!

What does: MY L1111IFE represent?

Heavy I'm not

Fowards, I'm Heavy. Backwards I'm Not. What Am I?

Stay dry, but is it worth it?

7 guys come out of a car. As they are going to their
destination, it starts to rain. 6 of the guys start to
run for shelter but the other doesn't change his movements.
The 6 guys get soaked while the other is completely dry.
Why did the 6 guys get wet but the other remained dry?

friendly?

What does:

standing
friend miss friend

represent?

What is it?

What is as tall as a house and round as a cup,
yet all the kings horses could not draw it all up?

Nail in the tree

When Sandy was six years old she hammered a nail into her favorite
tree to mark her height. Ten years later she returned to see how
much higher the nail was. If the tree grew by 5 centimeters each
year, how much higher would the nail be?

Tags: riddle

Represent yourself

What does: FEW FEW MENTION MENTION represent?

Gone Fishin'

A boy rides the bus to the local Hardware Store. While there he buys a
fishing pole that's 5 feet long. The boy goes to get on the bus to go home
but is stopped by the bus driver. The bus driver tells him he can't board
the bus with anything over 4 feet long.

The boy goes back to the Hardware store and buys one thing then returns
and boards the bus.

The pole can not be cut, bent, broken or taken apart. What did the boy buy
to allow him to board the bus with the fishing pole?

Tags: brain teaser, riddle

Move the Match

In each of the following three, move a single match to form valid equations. The = and + are composed of two matches each.

1. \/|+|=\/

2. \/|+|=\/|

3. \/|+|=|||

One more riddle

A word I know, six letters it contains. Subtract just one, and twelve is what remains.

Tags: riddle

Riddle me this?

What object has keys that open no locks, space but no room, and you can enter but not go in?

Tags: riddle

What comes next?

What is the next letter: W I T N .. ?

Double Down

What English word starting with 'B' has three consecutive double letters?

Tags: riddle

Heat things up

When I fill a balloon with water and I hold a burning candle underneath it for some time, the balloon will explode. True or False?

Race you to the bottom!

You have two cylinders with the same dimensions. The weight of both cylinders is identical. One is a massive wooden cylinder, the other one a tube made of iron. When you release them both at the same time on the top of a slope (1 meter at an angle of 45°), which one will be down first?

T Stop

What begins with T, ends with T, and has T in it?

Tags: riddle

It's getting hot in here

You're sitting in a small room (2 by 2 meter). It's very hot in the room. Then you have an idea and you rush off to get a big refrigerator. You put it in the room, switch it on with the door open, thinking you'll be able to lower the temperature of the room. Will the temperature go down in the room?

Tags: trivia, science

Can you get pi from e

I got this one from rec.puzzles. If you want to see some great answers, the link is part of the title.

Using only the constant e (the base of natural logarithms, 2.71828...) a
dozen times, plus addition, multiplication, subtraction, division,
exponentiation, and parentheses, create an expression that comes as close as
possible to the value of pi (3.14159...). Other operations or constants are
not allowed (no roots, absolute values, imaginary numbers, etc.). The
constant e must appear exactly twelve times.

For example:

(e+e+e+e+e+e)/(e+e)+e+e-e-e = 3

Which differs from pi by less than 0.15. I'm sure than someone can do
better.

Carl G.

Tags: math, puzzle

What is it?

1)

S...W
R.....I
E...N
N

2)
AM: Live Live
PM: Die Die

3)
Mine = 456
His = 768
Hers = 523
Yours = 908

Now what phrase can you get from the rebus below?
4 7 5 8
5 6 2 0
6 8 3 9

4)
HO
HO
+HO
-----

5)
What phrase is represented below?

Sigh_

How many languages can you speak?

What is the one thing in the world that can speak all the languages?

12 in a dozen

Example: 12 = E in a D = 12 eggs in a dozen

12 = H to K
12 = I in a F
12 = J on a J
12 = L of H

Who am I?

I saw this one over at rec.puzzles. I don't know who the author is.

Google Groups : rec.puzzles:

I leave home
I turn right
I turn left
I turn left
I turn left
Who am I?

Only three are good friends

Four friends were shown a number. Here's what they had to say:

Andy: It has two digits
Betty: It goes evenly into 150
Cathy: It is not 150
David: It is divisible by 25

It turns out that one (and only one) of the friends is lying. Which friend lied?

Logic Puzzle

Professions: doctor, attorney, nurse, teacher, student
Accessory: Necklace, Pin, earrings, ring, Bracelet
Jewel: Ruby, diamond, Garnet, Emerald, Sapphire
Names: Wanda, Julie, Sarah, Mary, Wilma

Five friends met together at a high school reunion. They chatted about old times as well as current issues. Each one in turn said what their profession was. One of the women was in college working on her master's degree in botony. At the reunion, they noticed that each of the women were wearing a piece of jewelry that was different from each other in funtion and the gemstone type. Two of the pieces were a ruby necklace and a sapphire bracelet. Match each person to their profession and piece of jewlery.


The attorney noticed that Julie's eyes exactly matched the color of the gemstone that she was wearing.

Wanda and Wilma chatted about old boyfriends they had. Wilma couldn't stop noticing the tennis braclet that Wanda was wearing.

Mary chatted politely to the two friends in the medical profession. How strange it seemed to her that they had both chosed to wear the same color gemstone.

The teacher explained that blue had always been her favorite color and that all her accessories had blue stones as well.

The attorney was not wearing the leaf pin accented with a one carat emerald. However, she noticed that that pin would coordinate with her ring with a leaf motif.

Sarah explained how her job as a nurse was very rewarding to her. She really enjoyed helping people in need. Her earrings glittered as she talked.

Crack the code

Justin Case and Auntie Bellum are fellow con artists who deliver coded messages to each other to communicate. Recently Auntie Bellum was put in jail for stealing a rare and expensive diamond. Only a few days after this, Justin Case sent her a friendly letter asking her how she was. On the inside of the envelope of the letter, he hid a code. Yesterday, Auntie Bellum escaped and left the envelope and the letter inside the jail cell. The police did some research and found the code on the inside of the envelope, but they haven't been able to crack it. Could you help the police find out what the message is?

This is the code:
llwatchawtfeclocklnisksundialcirbetimersool

If you really want to cheat, I found this puzzle at braingle.

Opposites

In the following code, each symbol stands for a one of five letters.

! stands for R, U, O, N, or V
? stands for U, D, L, W, or J
@ stands for A, G, P, E, or Y
; stands for O, M, I, C, or S

The four letter code word, @!;?, can be translated into two English words that are opposites. What are the two words?

Tags: puzzle, riddle, brainteaser

Ticket to Ride

Each of the railroad stations in a certain area sells tickets to every other station on the line. This practice was continued when several new stations were added, and 52 additional sets of tickets had to be printed. How many stations were there originally, and how many new ones had to be added?

Tags: math, puzzle

Why round?

Here's a trivia question for you. Why are manhole covers round and not square?

Tags: trivia

It's a gas

A woman was found dead in her room with the windows and door locked from the inside. She had died from being gassed. The gas fireplace had been left on. She had been seen entering the room by her sister. It was assumed she had accidently put the gas on and forgotten to light it and the death was ruled accidental. But, in fact, her husband had killed her. How did he do it?

Tags: whodunit

This is trivia, not a riddle

A mother told her six-year-old daughter that her dog had been hit by a car and died. The little girl burst into tears. Half an hour later, the mother told her daughter the dog had not been hit by a car and was just fine. Why did the mother tell her daughter this? (and who was the daughter?)

Tags: trivia

Extended Family

At a family reunion, it was found that the folowing relationships existed: Father, Mother, Son, Daughter, Uncle, Aunt, Brother, Sister, Cousin, Nephew, Niece. However, there were only four people present. How was this possible?

If you're from blogazoo, here's a gazoo for you!

Speed of Light

Your light switch is all the way across the room from your bed. Yet, you are able to turn off your light switch, and then jump into bed before your room gets dark. There are no timers used. How can you do it?

Tags: riddle

Over Medication

Millions of people buy a particular medicine. The disease for which the medicine is effective is one that these people have virtually no chance of catching. What do they buy?

Tags: riddle

Lazy Waiter

A man in a restaurant complained to the waiter there was a fly in his cup of coffee. The waiter apologized and promised to bring back a fresh cup. He returned a few moments later. The man tasted the coffee and complained again saying this was the same cup of coffee, the waiter had just removed the fly and returned with the same cup. How did he know?

Tags: riddles, puzzle, logic

The missing number

Can you discover the missing number in this series?

37, 10, 82
29, 11, 47
96, 15, 87
42, ?, 15