Never Ahead, Ever Behind

Never ahead, ever behind,
Yet flying swiftly past;
For a child I last forever,
For adults I’m gone too fast.

What am I?

Childhood.

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I’m Not an Enjoyable Friend

I am something many people don’t enjoy having as a friend, including you. But I am called upon anytime someone is injured. I have 5 letters and when my last letter is put before my first letter, I become a country.

What am I?

Pains. No one enjoys being in pain, when you’re injured you have pain, and when you move the s to the front, it becomes Spain.

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Scrambled Auctioned

What are two other words (anagrams) that can be made from the letters in “auctioned”?

1. Cautioned
2. Education

Posted in Brain Teasers

What is HIJKLMNO?

HIJKLMNO

What 5-letter word does this represent?

Water. Or literally, H to O, which sounds the same as H2O.

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Five Hundred Begins It

Five hundred begins it, five hundred ends it,
Five in the middle is seen;
First of all figures, the first of all letters,
Take up their stations between.
Join all together, and then you will bring
Before you the name of an eminent king.

DAVID (Roman numerals).

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Nine-Letter Word, Common as Air

A nine-letter word, common as air,
When each letter’s cut, a new word to pare,
Take a letter each round and continue to one.
Name the word and the path and then you’ll be done.

Surprisingly, there are several nine-letter words that can have one letter removed in each round to make a new word all the way to one letter, which must be ‘a’ or ‘i’. Startling is the most common answer, but I’ve included the other words I’m aware of. I don’t include plural words, like cleansers, drownings, splatters, starvings, trappings and wrappings because it’s kind of cheating.

startling
Remove the l to make starting (or remove the t to make starling)
Remove the t to make staring
Remove the a to make string
Remove the r to make sting
Remove the t to make sing
Remove the g to make sin
Remove the s to make in
Remove the n to make I

splitting
Remove the l to make spitting
Remove the p to make sitting
Remove a t to make siting
Remove the first i to make sting
Remove the s to make ting
Remove the g to make tin
Remove the t to make in
Remove the n to make I

stringier
Remove the r to make stingier
Remove the i to make stinger
Remove the t to make singer
Remove the r to make singe
Remove the g to make sine
Remove the e to make sin
Remove the s to make in
Remove the n to make I

strapping
Remove the s to make trapping
Remove the t to make rapping
Remove the p to make raping
Remove the r to make aping
Remove the a to make ping
Remove the g to make pin
Remove the p to make in
Remove the n to make I

Posted in Riddles

At Birth It Can’t Start Nor By Death Is It Ended

More precious than gold, but cannot be bought,
Can never be sold, only earned if it’s sought,
If it is broken it can still can be mended,
At birth it can’t start nor by death is it ended.

Friendship. It is more precious than gold to have a genuine friend, and true friendship cannot be bought or sold, only earned. When a friendship is broken it can be fixed and infants aren’t able to make friends until they’re older, but death can’t end it. Love doesn’t work as an answer because a friendship requires two people to interact, while parents love their children as soon as they’re born.

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Consecutive Christmas Caroling

My family sings Christmas carols at the hospital where my wife works.
We do this every year and since we started, have not missed a single year.
The next time we do this will be the 18th consecutive Christmas.
My 15 year old daughter has been every time.

How is this possible?

She was born in March 1999 so the first year she came was December 1999 (before her 1st birthday).
Her first time was when she was 0, second time when she was 1, third time when she was 2, etc…

Now that she is 15, she has been 16 times. Oh and of course she was also present in December 1998 in her mum’s belly, due to be born the next March.

So, a total of 17 times and next time will be the 18th.

Thanks to Michael for submitting this real-life brain teaser about his family.

Posted in Brain Teasers

In School Without Learning

I’m in school without learning,
And control from the middle.

What am I?

A fish. They swim in schools and the fish in the middle of a school control the school. The fish on the outside are guided by those in the middle.

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Words Ending in GRY

Think of words ending in -GRY. Angry and hungry are two of them. There are only three words in the English language. What is the third word? The word is something that everyone uses every day. If you have listened carefully, I have already told you what it is.

The riddle states, “There are only three words in the English language. What is the third word?” The third word of the phrase “the English language” is of course “language.” Don’t get angry at me, I didn’t make it up :)

xkcd’s take on this riddle

Posted in Riddles