An Oddly Priced Fish Shop

A fish shop with odd pricing sells fish for the following prices: A trout costs $20, a salmon is $19, and a plaice comes in at $16. Using their pricing logic, how much would they charge for a mackerel?

$13. The price is calculated by using the position in the alphabet of the first letter of the name of the fish. An Albacore would be $1, a Bandfish would be $2. Note, I do not recommend using this pricing strategy unless you find yourself with an assortment of cheap Zebrafish.

Posted in Brain Teasers

Making Lots of Shirts

In a textile factory, 5 machines take exactly 5 minutes to make 5 shirts. How many minutes will it take 100 machines to produce 100 shirts?

5 minutes. It takes each machine 5 minutes to make a shirt, so if you have all 100 machines running at the same time, they’ll produce the 100 shirts in 5 minutes.

Posted in Brain Teasers

You Twirl My Body

You twirl my body but I keep my head up high.
When I go in I keep things tight.

What am I?

A screw.

Posted in Riddles
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Hidden Animals

How many animals can you find in this story?

“Scram, you can’t catch me!” yelled the thief. While running to escape, his shirt skewered a box of nails. He ripped free, but skidded to a stop as he passed a policeman. He tried to run again, then cowered in fright. Crime doesn’t pay.

I found thirteen, listed in the order they’re found.

1. ram
2. ant
3. cat
4. ape
5. ewe
6. ox
7. kid
8. ass
9. man
10. nag
11. hen
12. cow
13. doe

Posted in Brain Teasers

Pronounced As One Letter, Written With Three

Pronounced as one letter,
And written with three,
Two letters there are,
And two only in me.
I’m double, I’m single,
I’m black, blue, and gray,
I’m read from both ends,
And the same either way.

What am I?

Eye. It’s pronounced like the letter ‘i’, but written with three letters. There are only two letters used (‘e’ and ‘y’). The eye is double with two ‘e’s and represents a single eye. The eye is made up of various colors, some of which are black, blue and gray. And lastly, the eye is a palindrome, spelled the same forward and backward.

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I Always Send You In The Right Direction

I always send you in the right direction,
I’m arrayed in black and white,
Ignore me and lose my protection,
No more than two words are in sight.

What am I?

one-way

A one way street sign. It tells you the correct way to go, is black and white (in the United States), going the wrong way can get you a citation and the sign only has two words on it.

Posted in Riddles

I Never Return

What are these three related items? When I am placed somewhere I will never stand up. Whatever you give me I will eat. When I go I never return.

A stove, fire, smoke.

Essentially a duplicate of A Group of Three but I’m keeping it here to avoid broken links.

Posted in Riddles

Sum of 22

Fill in numbers such that the sum of each 3-character row is 22 while the sum of all five numbers is 30.

a
bcd
e

The problem works out to a set of three equations:
b + c + d = 22
a + c + e = 22
a + b + c + d + e = 30

Solving for c = 14, leaving d = 8 – b and e = 8 – a. In other words, c must be 14, but the other two numbers just have to add up to 8. The requirement that they be unique rules out 4 + 4, so you’re left to choose from the following combations for b + d and a + e:
0 + 8
1 + 7
2 + 6
3 + 5

Posted in Brain Teasers

I See Much But Change Little

I see much but change little,
I am firm, irresolute,
Powerful but gentle,
I can rip apart mountains,
Yet be moved by gentle stirrings,
I am valued and wasted,
I am life itself,
And I give life to others.

What am I?

A tree. A tall one can see long distances but don’t change much. They are strong and powerful, and the roots of a tree can slowly tear apart a mountain. The gentle stirrings of the wind can blow their branches and leaves. Trees are valuable as they provide wood and paper, but they are also wasted. And lastly, trees, like all plants, provide us with life-giving oxygen.

Posted in Riddles

What Has Four Legs and Flies?

What has four legs and flies?

A horse with bugs or two pairs of trousers. The four legs should be obvious and the flies are the zippers.

Posted in Riddles