Downward Grows the Root

Downward grows the root.
Outward grows the skin.
Upward grows the shoot.
What way blows the wind?

Wayward.

By Sef Daystrom

Posted in Riddles

Snakes and Mice

On a remote (imaginary) island, there are 11 snakes and a single mouse. As you’d expect, snakes eat the mice. But contrary to what you’d expect, when a snake eats a mouse, it turns into one.

The snakes live by only two rules:

1. Don’t get eaten.
2. Eat mice as long as rule #1 isn’t violated.

How many snakes and mice will there be left on the island?

10 snakes, 1 mouse.

If there were only a single snake and mouse, the snake could eat the mouse, then turn into one, leaving a single mouse.

If there were two snakes and a single mouse, rule 2 would keep either of the snakes from eating the mouse to avoid being eaten themselves.

With three snakes and one mouse, one of the snakes could eat a mouse and be safe as a mouse thanks to rule 2.

This pattern continues. With an even number of snakes, nothing happens. With an odd number of snakes, one snake can eat the mouse.

Thus, with 11 snakes, one snake would eat the mouse, turn into one and leave 10 snakes and 1 mouse.

Posted in Brain Teasers

One Hundred Point Words

The answer to each clue is a single, 100-point word, or a word whose letters add up to 100, with a = 1, b = 2. I wrote this word value calculator so you can easily check your guesses.

i. Peanut butter tastes like this.
ii. The hat a Dad wears.
iii. To fire a chef,
iv. A smart timepiece.
v. Figured it out again.
vi. Where a kid can sleep.
vii. The magical fruit leaves you doing this.
viii. Betrayed for this much silver.
ix. A baked good that is height challenged.
x. A sticky way to neaten your hair.

i. nutty
ii. fatherhood
iii. cookout
iv. clockwise
v. resolved
vi. boycott
vii. tooting
viii. thirty
ix. shortcake
x. honeycomb

Posted in Riddles

Rude Otto

Hannah, Otto, Todd and Eve were walking down the street. Suddenly Otto rudely told Todd he was an outsider and didn’t belong. What made Todd different?

Todd is not a palindrome.

Posted in Brain Teasers

Special Two Letter Combinations

What do these three letter combinations have in common?

DE
HI
MN

Hint: These combinations don’t have it in common.

AK
IN
WY

They are the only three US state abbreviations whose two letters are next to each other in the alphabet.

DE – Delaware
HI – Hawaii
MN – Minnesota

Posted in Brain Teasers

Animals On the Ark

How many of each animal did Moses take on the ark?

None. Moses didn’t have an ark, Noah did (and yes, he took 2 of each animal).

Posted in Brain Teasers

False Positive HIV Test

Imagine an HIV test that is 95% accurate (false positive rate of 5%) and around 2% of the tested population is infected with HIV. What is the probability that you actually have HIV when your test comes back positive?

29%

To read more about this, see the False Positive Paradox page on Wikipedia.

Posted in Brain Teasers

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

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

Weight In My Belly

Weight in my belly;
trees on my back;
nails in my ribs;
feet I do lack.

A ship.

Posted in Riddles