How Many Mangoes?

From a basket of mangoes when counted in twos there was one extra,
counted in threes there were two extra,
counted in fours there were three extra,
counted in fives there were four extra,
counted in sixes there were five extra,
but counted in sevens there were no extras.

At least how many mangoes were there in the basket?

119. The number has to be evenly divisible by seven for there to be no extras when counting in sevens, and it has to be odd in order for there to be one extra when counting by twos. It also can’t be evenly divisible by three through six. 119 is the first odd multiple of 7 that satisfies the requirements.

Posted in Brain Teasers

What Gets Wetter As It Dries?

What gets wetter as it dries?

A towel.

Posted in Riddles

What’s So Funny Ethel?

Merle was checking out at the grocery store. Ethel, a friendly cashier, said the total was $63.59. He gave her a $100 bill and she began laughing as she counted out his change. Then she gave him a high five and Merle left the store chuckling.

What was so funny?

The amount of change was $36.41, which meant Ethel handed Merle one of everything in her drawer:

$20 bill
$10 bill
$5 bill
$1 bill
A quarter
A dime
A nickel
A cent
———
$36.41

Good ol’ Ethel.

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

Passing Second in a Race

If you are running in a race and pass the person in second place, what position are you in?

Second place. If you guessed first place, the person in first place is still there. But I’m sure you’re catching up.

Posted in Brain Teasers

The Sheep’s Will

A farmer dies leaving a will dividing his flock of nineteen sheep with the following ratios:

Half to his oldest son, a quarter to the middle son and one fifth to his youngest son.

Without cutting any sheep up, how did the executor of the will fulfill the farmer’s wishes?

The executor went to the neighbouring farm and asked to borrow a sheep for a few minutes. Then he returned to the sons and said, “Half of the (now) twenty sheep is 10. A quarter of the twenty sheep is 5. A fifth of the twenty sheep is 4. 10 + 5 + 4 = 19. Then the executor took the borrowed 20th sheep back to the neighbour.

Thanks to Annette for sending this in.

Posted in Brain Teasers

Feared By Most But Experienced By All

I am a five-letter word and am feared by most but experienced by all. If you remove my first and last letters I bring life. If you add an ‘r’ between the third and fourth letters I am almost nothing and if you remove the first letter from this new word, I am your home.

What am I?

Death (eat, dearth, earth). No one can escape death, but many fear it. Removing the first and last letters leaves eat, and we must eat to stay alive. Adding the ‘r’ turns death into dearth, which is scarcity and removing the first letter of dearth leaves earth, where you live, assuming this riddle hasn’t reached extraterrestrials.

Posted in Riddles

Starts and Ends with E

What starts with “e”, ends with “e” and has one letter in it?

Envelope. Eye is a potential alternative. When spoken out loud it sounds like a single letter (I).

Posted in Riddles

Sixteen, Twenty-six, Then What?

Fill in the missing numbers in this number series.

16, 26, ?, 43, 50, ?, 61, 65, ?, 70, 71

The method to create the series is start by adding 10, then decrease the addend by 1 for each new number in the sequence. That gives us:

16 + 10 = 26
26 + 9 = 35
35 + 8 = 43
43 + 7 = 50
50 + 6 = 56
56 + 5 = 61
61 + 4 = 65
65 + 3 = 68
68 + 2 = 70
70 + 1 = 71

Posted in Brain Teasers

Swiftest Traveling Horses

Two horses,
Swiftest traveling,
Harnessed in a pair,
And grazing ever in places,
Distant from them.

What am I?

Eyes.

Posted in Riddles