What Goes Up But Never Comes Down?

What goes up but never comes down?

Your age.

Posted in Riddles

Alfred’s Tough Cash Request

Alfred is at the bank to cash his $200 check. He tells the cashier he would like some one dollar bills, ten times as many two dollar bills and the rest in fives.

How many of each denomination does the cashier need to give Alfred?

Five $1 bills, 50 $2 bills and 19 $5 bills.

We know that in order to give the rest of the amount in fives, the sum of the one and two dollar bills needs to be divisible by five (i.e. end in 0 or 5).

If we start with a single one dollar bill, we’d need ten two dollar bills to satisfy the request, making $21. But we need a sum that is divisible by 5. So we keep going up, like so:

$1 + $2 * 10 = $21
$2 + $2 * 20 = $42
$3 + $2 * 30 = $63
$4 + $2 * 40 = $84
$5 + $2 * 50 = $105 (Aha! It’s divisible by 5)
$6 + $2 * 60 = $126
$7 + $2 * 70 = $147
$8 + $2 * 80 = $168
$9 + $2 * 90 = $189

So the only option that works is 5 $1 bills and 50 $2 bills, leaving $95 (95 / 5 = 19) to be paid out in 19 fives.

Alfred is one tough customer.

Posted in Brain Teasers

I’ll Always Smile Back

If you drop me I’m sure to crack but give me a smile and I’ll always smile back

A mirror.

Posted in Riddles

Word Party

You watch a group of words going to a party. A word either enters through one of two doors or is turned away by the guards. ‘HIM’ goes through door number one and ‘BUG’ goes through door number two. ‘HER’ is turned away. ‘MINT’ and ‘WEAVE’ go in through door one, ‘DOOR’ and ‘CORD’ take door two and ‘THIS’ and ‘That’ aren’t allowed in.

What determines whether a word can enter and which door they must use?

Door number one is for words composed entirely of capital letters written using only straight lines, such as A, E, F, H, and I. The entire set of letters allowed through door number one are AEFHIKLMNTVWXYZ. Door number two, as might be expected, is for words with capital letters that have a curve, including BCDGJOPQRSU. Any words composed of both straight and curved letters (or lowercase letters) are not allowed in. The word ‘THAT’ would have been sent through door number one, if the letters had been capitalized.

Posted in Brain Teasers

I Live In A Busy Place In The City

I live in a busy place in the city,
I’ll let you stay with me for awhile,
If you don’t feed me, I can get you into trouble.

What am I?

A parking meter.

Posted in Riddles

Almost Catching Fire

People come and watch, from far away to see
Burning brightly, almost catching fire,
The colder it is the hotter I’ll be.
Then I die.

What am I?

Fall leaves changing colors. “Burning” with bright colors, when it’s cold outside the brighter the colors are.

Posted in Riddles
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Tall in Morning, Short at Noon

Tall in the morning, short at noon, gone at night but I’ll be back soon. What am I?

A shadow.

Posted in Riddles

Three Children’s Names

Tom’s mother has three children. One is named April, one is named May. What is the third one named?

Tom

Posted in Brain Teasers

Four Legs and a Foot

What has four legs and a foot, but can’t walk
And a head but can’t talk?

A bed. The foot of the bed can’t walk and the head of the bed can’t talk. It’s probably a good thing that beds can’t walk and talk. Just think of where they’d go and what they’d say…

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Think of Person Who Lives in Disguise

First think of a person who lives in disguise, who deals in secrets and tells naught but lies.
Next tell me what’s the last to mend, the middle of middle and the end of end.
Finally give me the sound often heard during the search for a hard to find word.
Now string them together and answer me this, which creature are you unwilling to kiss?

A spider. The person in disguise is a spy, the letter d is the last letter in mend, in the middle of middle and the last letter of end. When someone can’t think of a word they often say, “Err”. And lastly, I don’t know about you, but I’m not keen to kiss a spider.

This one is a duplicate of Deals In Secrets Tells Nothing But Lies but I’m keeping it to avoid broken links.

Posted in Riddles