What Boys Use, Girls Like and Parents Hate

Boys use it, girls like it, parents hate it. What is this 5-letter word?

The phone.

Posted in Riddles

You’ll Have Me At Night

You’ll have me at night and if you remove the first letter I denote the top, such as on a train

Supper. You eat supper at night, and removing the first letter leaves upper. Thanks to Dude for figuring it out.

Posted in Riddles

Same Forward, Backward and Upside Down

What word is the same written forward, backward and upside down?

NOON. The word needs to be a palindrome and made up of only these letters that look the same upside down:

H I N O S X Z

For instance, SOON doesn’t work, because even though each letter looks the same upside down, it reads NOOS.

Posted in Riddles

A Most Unusual Paragraph

This is an unusual paragraph. I’m curious as to just how quickly you can find out what is so unusual about it. It looks so ordinary and plain that you would think nothing was wrong with it. In fact, nothing is wrong with it! It is highly unusual though. Study it and think about it. You still may not find anything odd. But if you work at it a bit, you might find out. Try to do so without any coaching.

The letter “e” is the most common letter in the English language, yet it never appears in the entire paragraph.

Posted in Brain Teasers

Ted and The Vicious Dog

Ted was lost while driving around the country and saw a house. He parked under a nearby tree and started toward the house. As soon as he got out of his car a huge dog lunged at him from the opposite side of the tree. Fortunately the dog was chained and Ted managed to stay out of reach. Finding no one home at the house, Ted returned to his car, but as he approached the dog lunged at him again. The chain was so long the snarling animal could reach both car doors. How did Ted escape the dog and get back into his car?

Ted moved slowly around the tree keeping just out of the dog’s reach. The animal followed, winding its chain around the tree until it was too short to reach Ted’s car

Posted in Brain Teasers

What are the Things?

In one day, 6 things.
In one week, 4 things.
In one month, 2 things.
In one year, 1 thing.

What are the things?

Odd numbers.

In a day, there are 6 odd hours: 1, 3, 5, 7, 9, 11 (ignoring 24-hour time).

In a week, there are 4 odd-numbered days: 1, 3, 5, 7

In a month, there are 2 odd weeks: 1, 3 (no month has 5 full weeks)

And in a year’s 12 months, there is 1 odd number: 1 (the 1 of 12).

I readily agree the year one is a stretch, but I didn’t write it :)

Posted in Riddles

esroh gnidir

What does this represent?

esroh gnidir

Horse back riding. The words are horse and riding spelled backwards.

Posted in Brain Teasers

I Build Up Castles

I build up castles.
I tear down mountains.
I make some men blind,
I help others to see.
What am I?

Sand.

Posted in Riddles

Feared By Most But Experienced By All

I am a five-letter word and am feared by most but experienced by all. If you remove my first and last letters I bring life. If you add an ‘r’ between the third and fourth letters I am almost nothing and if you remove the first letter from this new word, I am your home.

What am I?

Death (eat, dearth, earth). No one can escape death, but many fear it. Removing the first and last letters leaves eat, and we must eat to stay alive. Adding the ‘r’ turns death into dearth, which is scarcity and removing the first letter of dearth leaves earth, where you live, assuming this riddle hasn’t reached extraterrestrials.

Posted in Riddles

A Red Robe and Staff In Hand

I wear a red robe,
With staff in hand,
And a stone in my throat.
Cut me and I weep red tears

What am I?

A cherry

There are a few other variations of this one:

As I went through the garden gap,
Who should I meet but Dick Red-cap!
A stick in his hand, a stone in his throat,
If you’ll tell me this riddle, I’ll give you a groat.
(Said to be the lyrics to A Cherry)

I slipped down a slippery gap,
Found a man with a red cap,
He had a stick in his back and a stone in his belly,
Riddle me this and I’ll give you a penny.

Posted in Riddles