Strip Ground Fan

What one word goes with each of these to make a new phrase?

Strip
Ground
Fan

Out. Strip out is to remove parts from a machine. Ground out is when you hit a ground ball in baseball and are thrown out at first. Fan out is when something, such as cards, are spread out like a fan.

Thanks to Jeremy for solving this.

Posted in Brain Teasers

The Bookworm

A bookworm eats from the first page of an encyclopedia to the last page in a straight line. The encyclopedia consists of ten 1000-page volumes and is sitting on a bookshelf in the usual order. Not counting covers, title pages, etc., how many pages does the bookworm eat through?

        __                             __
      B|  |                           |  |F
      A|1 |...........................|10|R
      C|  |                           |  |O
      K|  |                           |  |N
       |__|                           |__|T
      -------------------------------------

On a book shelf the first page of the first volume is on the “inside”, so the bookworm eats only through the cover of the first volume, then 8 times 1000 pages of Volumes 2 – 9, then through the cover to the 1st page of Vol 10 for a total of 8,000 pages.

Note: The question asks how many pages, not how many sheets of paper.

Posted in Brain Teasers

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

Always Runs, Never Walks

What always runs but never walks, often murmurs, never talks, has a bed but never sleeps, has a mouth but never eats?

A river.

Posted in Riddles

Two More Seconds

Ida puts her coffee into the microwave, as she does every morning, for exactly two minutes. When the microwave goes off, she opens the door, but then closes the door again and sets the microwave for two more seconds. What good would two more seconds be?

To rotate the handle on the mug so she can comfortably remove it.

Posted in Brain Teasers

What’s The Captain’s Name?

I was standing by a railing,
watching a ship a sailing.
What is the Captain’s name.
If you don’t know his name,
It’s you to blame.
What is the Captain’s name.

“What” is the name of the Captain.

Thanks to Sherry for submitting this one. Here’s the backstory of the riddle.

“One of my favorites I remember as a child from my father, he always said it was a Newfoundland riddle. I don’t know where it may have originated. This is usually spoken. Ensure you say it as a statement and not a question.”

Posted in Riddles

777, 888 and 999

You are given the numbers 777, 888 and 999. Using the numbers once and adding, subtracting, multiplying or dividing, how can you make 999?

(7 x 7 x 7) + (9 x 9 x 8) + ((9 – 8) x 8) = 999
(77 + 7) + 888 + (9 + 9 + 9) = 999

If other operators were allowed, another solution would be 999 modulo (888 x 777). I’m sure there are more solutions.

Posted in Brain Teasers

You Melted My Ice

A full glass of water with a single ice cube sits on a table. When the ice has completely melted, will the level of the water have increased, decreased or remain unchanged?

The water level remains unchanged because the ice cube displaces its own weight. If you’re not convinced, read Archimedes’ Principle, which states that any floating object displaces its own weight of fluid. Still not convinced? Here are a few more sources.

Posted in Brain Teasers

Asleep, Parts, Ideals Trianagrams

Rearrange the letters of the first word to form a new one, then rearrange the letters of the new word to form a third.

ASLEEP _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
PARTS _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
IDEALS _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

1. ASLEEP, PLEASE, ELAPSE
2. PARTS, TRAPS, STRAP (TARPS or SPRAT also work)
3. IDEALS, SAILED, LADIES

Posted in Brain Teasers

Add Two To Eleven To Get One

When can you add two to eleven and get one as the correct answer?

When you add two hours to eleven o’clock to get one o’clock.

Posted in Riddles