Robbed of Sleep

It prods a man's hand, and it robs him of sleep,
It makes him climb mountains and travel the deep,
It makes him go wander down deep in a cave,
and do almost anything stupid or brave,
The longer denied the greater it grows,
It makes a man learn 'till he thinks that he knows.



This riddle is from braingle.

None of This is Legal

A gambler bet on a horse race, but the bookee wouldn't tell him the results of the race. The bookee gave clues as to how the five horses finished -- which may have included some ties -- and wouldn't pay the gambler off unless the gambler could determine how the five horses finished based on the following clues:

Penuche Fudge finished before Near Miss and after Whispered Promises.
Whispered Promises tied with Penuche Fudge if and only if Happy Go Lucky did not tie with Skipper's Gal.
Penuche Fudge finished as many places after Skipper's Gal as Skipper's Gal finished after Whispered Promises if and only if Whispered Promises finished before Near Miss.

The gambler thought for a moment, then answered correctly. How did the five horses finish the race?

Should Someone Call the Cops

Two monks sit in a tower. The queen kills the king. The monks shake hands and part company.


What's going on here?

The Party is Starting Soon

You have an old-fashioned refrigerator with a small freezer compartment capable of holding seven ice cube trays stacked vertically. But there are no shelves to separate the trays, and if you stack one tray on top of another before the ice cubes in the bottom tray are fully frozen, the top tray will nestle into it, and you won't get full cubes in the bottom tray. You have an unlimited supply of trays, each of which can make a dozen cubes. What's the fastest way to make full-sized ice cubes?

Roll of the Dice

A solo dice game is played thusly: one each turn, a normal pair of dice is rolled. The score is calculated by taking the product, rather than the sum, of the two numbers shown on the dice.

On a particular game, the score for the second roll is five more than the score for the first; the score for the third roll is six less than that of the second; the score for the fourth roll is eleven more than that of the third; and the score for the fifth roll is eight less than that of the fourth. What was the score for each of these five throws?





BTW, Sorry about last week. It's tough to fill in when you're sick.

Mountain Top Viewing

A man leaves home for a mountain at 1pm and reaches the top at 3pm. The following day he departs from the top at 1pm and gets home at 3pm, by following the same path as the day before. Was he necessarily ever at the same point on the path at the same time on both days?

Usually Two People

On your travels, three men stand at a fork in the road. You're not sure which fork you need to take, but each of the three men do. One of these people tells the truth, one always lies, and the third tells the truth sometimes and lies the other times. Each of the three men know each of the others, but you don't know who is who. If you could ask only one of the men (chosen at random, since you don't know which man is which) one yes/no question, what question would you ask to determine the road you wish to take?

A Dollar Short

A day late, but enjoy the humor if you're from the US (Tax day was yesterday).  Enjoy your weekend everyone.  Monday is a holiday for me, so I'll see you on Tuesday.


America is the land of opportunity. Everyone can become a taxpayer.


A fool and his money are soon parted.
The rest of us wait until income tax time.


The latest income-tax form has been greatly simplified. It consists of only three parts:
1. How much did you make last year?
2. How much do you have left?
3. Send amount listed in part 2.

Time Warp

A man had six working clocks in his house and he always checked them before going to bed. One morning he woke up and the three upstairs clocks said 8:15 while the 3 downstairs clocks said 7:30. What happened?

Are You Feeling Greedy?

A giant inverted steel pyramid is perfectly balanced on its point.  Any movement of the pyramid will cause it to topple over.  Underneath the pyramid is a $100 bill.  How do you remove the bill without disturbing the pyramid?

Bal Tyring Cen Rain Sour Dad

Julie was writing out some of her favorite phrases, but realized her word processor was going haywire (it certainly wasn't her typing skills!).  Each time she wrote out a word, one letter was found to be wrong.

Can you help her out and edit the phrases?

1. Ill word end so plan takes pack I pull toy.
2. I pool ant has honey ale boon panted.
3. Paste net wart pot.

Bird Watchers Unite

Abel, Mabel, and Caleb went bird watching. Each of them saw one bird that none of the others did. Each pair saw one bird that the third did not. And one bird was seen by all three. Of the birds Abel saw, two were yellow. Of the birds Mabel saw, three were yellow. Of the birds Caleb saw, four were yellow. How many yellow birds were seen in all? How many non-yellow birds were seen in all?

Here Lies a Special Word

What word begins with 'h', ends with 'n', contains six letters, and contains eight words besides itself without transposing a single letter?

Capital Numbers

Of those numbers whose English representation in capital letters consists only of straight lines, only one number has a value equal to the number of straight line segments required to write it out. What number is this?

Temp Hire for Pennies

You want to hire a temporary employee for one month. You offer him reasonable wages, but the employee suggests an alternative. For the first day of work, he will be paid a penny. For the second day, two pennies. For the third day, four pennies. The salary for each subsequent day will be double the previous day's, until the one month term is over. Ignoring the legalities of such a situation, would it be a good idea to accept the potential employee's proposal?

For the Lovers, The Dreamers, And You

I may have no end, but I end with 'w'.  What am I?

The Man in the Mask is Waiting

Alex wants to go home but can't, because the man in the mask is waiting for him.  The police, if Alex was able to call them, would do nothing to help him.  What's going on here?

Easter Egg Hunt

Last Saturday, the Summerset Exchange Club held its annual Easter Egg Hunt for local children at Miller's Picnic Grove. Five different children were lucky enough to find gold eggs and win big Easter baskets filled with treats by the Bunny himself. Given the clues below, you should be able to deduce each gold egg finder's full name and where his or her prize-winning egg was hidden (one winner found an egg in a hollow stump).

• Mrs. West took both her prize-winning child and Alexis to the Hunt.
• Damian and the Valdez child are the only 1st graders among the basket winners.
• Chip was first to find a gold egg, the West child was second, and the one who found the prize winner in the branches of a pine tree was third.
• The winner who found a gold egg under the leg of a picnic table won a basket immediately ahead of the Young child.
• Neither Alexis nor the Thaxton child was the fourth one to find a gold egg.
• The Valdez child, who didn't win the last Easter basket given away, isn't the one who found the egg in the pine.
• The Ulman child's prize-winner wasn't the egg hidden in the old bird's nest.
• Brook, who isn't the Thaxton child, found the fifth and final gold egg.
• Erica isn't the winner whose egg was hidden under the picnic table.
• The gold egg hidden in the bird's nest wasn't the one Chip found.
• The Thaxton child isn't the basket winner who found the gold egg hidden in the barbecue pit.

Appointment Logic

Joe, Kim, Amy and Bob were all scheduled for their dentist appointment tomorrow afternoon. Unfortunately, the assistant had just lost her machine, and couldn't quite remember who was to come in when. She did know that:

1. Joe's appointment is after those of Kim and Bob.
2. Bob's appointment is before Kim's.
3. Amy's appointment is after Joe's.

The appointments are at 1, 2, 3 and 4.

Can you help the assistant fill in her appointment sheet?