Letter Missing From a Series

What letter is missing from this series?
B C D G P T V Z

The letter E. The series contains all of the letters that rhyme with bee (apologies to any English speakers who pronounce Z as zed instead of zee if this confused you).

Posted in Brain Teasers

Twenty One Points Divide And Dance

Twenty one points divide and dance,
Twirling and leaping about,
Ladies, Romans and knights of France,
Craving a victor’s rout,
Wrought of wood, ivory or bone,
An exciting yet vicious pursuit,
Ancient, forbidden and crooked,
All in search of the loot.

A die. The standard die has 21 pips (or points), divided up on the six sides of the die which dance around when rolled. Ladies, knights and Romans all played dice as a pastime (though not together). Dice can be made of wood, ivory and bone, among other materials. Dice have been used in Asia since before recorded history and many governments tried unsuccessfully to outlaw the game. Professional gamblers were common and often used loaded dice. Desperate German chaps even bet their own liberty on a single roll of the dice.

Posted in Riddles

Old Mother Hubbard’s Seven Letters

What seven letters did Old Mother Hubbard use when she opened her cupboard?

O I C U R M T

(Oh, I see you are empty)

Posted in Riddles

Six Glasses In a Row

There are six glasses in a row. The first three are full of water, and the next three are empty. By moving only one glass how can you make them alternate between full and empty?

Pour the water from the 2nd glass into the 5th glass.

Posted in Brain Teasers

A Third of the Way But Only Halfway There

You’ve traveled a third of the way, yet you’re only halfway there.

Where are you going?

Hint: The answer applies in the US but not in Europe.

You’re in a build headed to the fourth floor. When you reach the second floor, you’ve gone one floor and have two more floors left, so you’re 1/3 of the way. But at the same time, you’re on the 2nd floor and have two more floors to get to the 4th floor, thus you’re halfway there.

This doesn’t work in Europe, because they typically refer to the “first floor” as the ground floor, and the first floor is one story up.

Thanks to Danny Llinas for submitting this.

Posted in Brain Teasers

Odd Start, Even Finish

What three letter English word has an odd start, an even finish and an infinitely long middle?

The word vex. “v” is Roman numeral 5, which is odd. “x” is Roman numeral 10, which is even. “e” is the base of the natural logarithm and is irrational (e = 2.718281828…). Its mantissa (the part to the right of the decimal point) is infinitely long.

Posted in Riddles

Company, Congregation or Convocation

Some form a parliament,
Others a company, congregation or convocation,
The mob can see a murder, or clamor and wake,
A bouquet is presented when flushed.

What are we?

Birds. These are collective nouns for groups of birds.
parliament – owls
company – parrots
congregation – plovers
convocation – eagles
mob – emus
murder – crows clamor – rooks
wake – buzzards
bouquet – pheasants (when flushed)

Posted in Riddles

Apples and Lies

During lunch hour a group of boys from Mr. Bryant’s homeroom visited a nearby grocery store. One of the five took an apple.

Jim said, “It was Hank or Tom”.
Hank said, “Neither Eddie nor I did it.”
Tom said, “Both of you are lying.”
Don said, “No, one of them is lying, the other is speaking the truth.”
Eddie said, “No, Don, that is not true.”
When Mr. Bryant was consulted, he said, “Three of these boys are always truthful but two will lie every time.”

Who took the apple?

Tom took the apple
Jim was telling the truth
Hank was telling the truth
Tom was lying
Don was lying
Eddie was telling the truth
(three telling the truth and two lying)

Posted in Brain Teasers

Mislabeled Boxes of Marbles

Three closed boxes have either white marbles, black marbles or both, and they are labeled white, black and both. However, you’re told that each of the labels are wrong. You may reach into one of the boxes and pull out only one marble. Which box should you remove a marble from to determine the contents of all three boxes?

The one labeled both. Since you know it’s labeled incorrectly, it must have all black marbles or all white marbles. After you determine what it contains, you can identify the other two boxes by the process of elimination.

Posted in Brain Teasers

Another Name for Shiva

My first three is another name for the Hindu god Shiva.
My last four create something to wear.
Together I might use a scythe.

What am I?

Harvest.

Har is another name for Shiva.
A vest is something you wear.
And a harvest might use a scythe.

Posted in Riddles
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