Lighten Up

1. Why should you never mention the number 288 in front of anyone?
2. How is the moon like a dollar?
3. What is alive and has only 1 foot?

Heather and the Donkey

Heather tied two sacks of salt to the back of her donkey and headed for the market to sell the salt. On the way, Heather and the donkey passed a stream. The donkey jumped in to cool himself. As a result, much of the salt dissolved into the water, ruining the salt for Heather but improving matters for the donkey because his load became much lighter. Heather tried to get to the market on the following days, but the donkey always ruined the salt. Finally, Heather decided to teach the donkey a lesson. She once again set out with the donkey and the two sacks.

What did Heather do differently this time so that after that day the donkey stopped taking a swim?

Makes Me Think of WKRP in Cincinnati

Whilst in a balloon floating stationary off the coast of france, I dropped two wine bottles over the side. If one was empty and the other full, which hit the ground first?

Stolen Bulbs Leave You in the Dark on the Subway

Image via Wikipedia

A large city in the United States had a problem with thefts of light bulbs from its subway system. Thieves would unscrew the light bulbs, leading to cost and security issues. The engineer who was given this challenge could not alter the location of the light bulbs, and he had very little budget to work with, but he came up with a solution.

Do you know what his solution was? What happened?


Another puzzle taken from a book: The Leader's Guide to Lateral Thinking Skills: Unlocking the Creativity and Innovation in You and Your Team

Presidents Should Fear July 4th

Bob glanced up from his newspaper, "Here's an unusual story, Tom.  It says here that three of the first five presidents of the United States died on July 4th.  I wonder what the odds are against a coincidene like that."

"I'm not sure," replied Tom, "but I am willing to give ten-to-one odds that I can name one of the three who died on that date."

Assuming that Tom had no prior knowledge of the dates on which any of the presidents died, was he justified in offering such generous odds?

This puzzle is from Lateral Logic Puzzles by Erwin Brecher.

Thinking of the Muppets Today

Cover of Kermit the Frog

Three of the famous Muppets travel to their favorite amusement parks using either a bike, car, or bus. From the given clues, tell which park each Muppet visited and what kind of transportation each used.

1. Kermit the Frog went to Disneyland.
2. The Muppet who went to MarineWorld used a bike.
3. Miss Piggy went in a car.
4. Fozzie Bear did not use a bus.
5. Only one Muppet has been to Magic Mountain.

Sliding Coins

Image via Wikipedia

A long, metal slide resembling a sliding board has been constructed with 3 holes spaced out along the length of the slide. Coins are placed at the top of the slide and released one after another. For each coin that approaches the first hole the chances are 50 percent that it will fall through the hole. If it makes it past the first hole the chances are 50 percent that it will fall through the second hole. The third hole has the same chances.

How many coins need to be released so that chances are that one coin will make it all the way down the slide?

Free Feet From Facade For Feeling Fabulous

I have two arms, but fingers none.
I have two legs, but cannot run.
I carry well but I have found
not until my feet are off the ground.
What am I?

Feathers to Help You Fly

Many feathers to help it fly,
a body and a head,
but it's not alive,
you determine how far it goes,
you can hold it in your hand,
but it is never thrown.

Fishing for Bobbers

You can paddle your canoe seven miles per hour through any placid lake. The stream flows at three miles per hour. The moment you start to paddle up stream a fisherman looses one of his bobbers in the water fourteen miles up stream of you.

How many hours does it take for you and the bobber to meet?

Drinks and Service on A Friday Night

Five people visit their local restaurant for a drink before dinner. They all have their drink served differently and by different servers. From the clues given below, can you work out which person served whom, which drink they have and in what order they were served.

Someone is served a Cola by Carmen.
Mrs Johnson was not served her Ginger Ale by Marcella.
Mr Weiss was served by Paul.
The person who drinks Cola wasn't served second.
The ice tea drinker was served last.
Marcella served the fourth person in line but they didn't order a Soda Water.
Neither Carmen nor Hans served Mr Petit who was third to be served.
First in line was not Miss La Rue.

Drinkers; Weiss, Muller, Petit, Johnson, La Rue
Servers; Paul, Carmen, Hans, Marcella, Andy
Drinks; Cola, Ginger Ale, Ice, Soda Water, ice tea drinker
Order served; first, second, third, fourth, fifth

Hard to Sing in Primes

Why 12 is not prime, but 11 is, via Wikipedia

The latest release the group Prime Players Three consists of three CDs. Each has a different playing time. Each CD has four tracts and a total playing time of not more that one hour. The four tracks on any one of these CDs each last a prime number of minutes and each one is a different length. Any combination of the three different tracks on any one of the CDs plays for a prime number of minutes.

What are the lengths in minutes of the track on these three CDs?

Monday Morning Logic Is Not My Strong Suit

An apartment building contains six apartments with three upstairs (201,202,203) and three downstairs (101,102,103), each with a single occupant.

Three of them are female - Sally, Denise, and Jenny. Three of them are male - Bob, John, and Tom.

Each person owns a vehicle - two U.S. cars - a Ford Escort, and a Chevy Impala, 3 foreign cars - a Zastava Yugo, a Honda Civic, and a Toyota Corrolla, and a non motorized vehicle - a bicycle.

With the clues below can you show which person lives in each apartment and what vehicle they own?


Bob lives on the lower floor.
Sally lives between John and Denise.
John owns an American car.
The person in Apartment 203 owns a bicycle.
Jenny lives directly below John.
The Yugo owner lives in Apartment 103.
Bob lives between Tom and Jenny.
Tom owns a foreign built car.
The person in apartment 101 drives a foreign built car.
The Impala owner lives on the lower floor.
The Escort owner lives upstairs.
A female owns the bicycle.
A male owns the Escort.
The person in apartment 101 owns the Toyota.