Rainbow Neighborhood

There was a neighborhood of one-story houses.
One was red and everything in the house was red.
Another was purple and everything in the house was purple.
Yet another was yellow and everything in the house was yellow.
Still another was blue and everything in the house was blue.
In the green house everything was green,
and in the gray house everything was grey.

What color were the stairs in the yellow house?

There are no stairs in any of the houses because they only have one story.

Posted in Brain Teasers

Shuns the Light of Day

What must be in the oven yet can not be baked?
Grows in the heat yet shuns the light of day?
What sinks in water but rises with air?
Looks like skin but is fine as hair?

Yeast.

Posted in Riddles
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The Start Of What You Might Conceive

I’m the start of whatever you might conceive.
Next I describe a Thanksgiving meal.
Last I transform to a state we all leave.

What am I?

begin, binge, being. Everything has a beginning, Thanksgiving dinner is known for being a meal of excessive consumption and the mortal state of being (or the state of a human being) is one which, for all our efforts to extend, will eventually end.

Posted in Riddles

Gain and Lose the Most

Some are quick to take it.
Others must be coaxed.
Those who choose to take it
gain and lose the most.

Risk.

By Sef Daystrom

Posted in Riddles

My Tines

My tines are long.
My tines are short.
My tines end ere
My first report.

What am I?

A lightning bolt.

Posted in Riddles

Bank Wait Times

Suppose a small bank has one teller and customer transactions take 10 minutes on average. With 5.8 customers arriving per hour, what is the expected wait time? What would it be if you added a second teller?

With one teller, customers will wait nearly five hours on average. But adding a second teller makes the wait go down to 3 minutes.

Thanks to John D. Cook for this one.

Posted in Brain Teasers

24 from 9, 6, 11 and 3

How do you get 24 from 9, 6, 11 and 3 using addition, subtraction, multiplication or division?

There are multiple solutions.

(6 – 3) × 11 – 9

(11 – 6) × 3 + 9

(9 – 6) × (11 – 3)

Posted in Brain Teasers

I Look Like What I Represent

I am one of very few, perhaps the only one, to look like what I represent. What am I?

The word ‘bed’, which looks like an actual bed. The ‘b’ is the headboard, the ‘e’ is the mattress and the ‘d’ is the foot board.

If you know of another word that looks like the object it represents, add it in the comments.

Posted in Riddles

Find The Country Names

How many country names can you find in the following statements?

Don’t reach in a crack in the rocks, there might be snakes in there.
While I was on the highway called the Alcan, a daily occurrence was car breakdowns.
The top social class, as defined by many, is the upper-upper.

Three.

1. China (reaCH IN A)
2. Canada (alCAN A DAily)
3. Peru (upPER-Upper)

Posted in Brain Teasers

I Am A Word Of Meanings Three

I am a word of meanings three.
Three ways of spelling me there be.
The first is an odour, a smell if you will.
The second some money, but not in a bill.
The third is past tense, a method of passing things on or around.

Can you tell me now, what these words are, that have the same sound?

Scent, cent, sent.

Posted in Riddles