Twice Four and Twenty Blackbirds

Twice four and twenty blackbirds sitting in the rain.
I shot and killed a quarter of them. How many do remain?

After shooting a quarter of the birds, the rest would fly off, so the remaining birds, brutally shot by you, would be:

(2 × (4 + 20)) / 4 = 12

Posted in Brain Teasers

Kings And Lords And Christians Raised Them

Kings and lords and christians raised them
Since they stand for higher powers
Yet few of them would stand, I’m certain,
If women ruled this world of ours.

A tower.

Posted in Riddles

The Beggar’s Brother

A beggar’s brother went out to sea and drowned.
But the drowned man had no brother.
What was the relationship between the man who drowned and the beggar?

The beggar was his sister.

Posted in Brain Teasers

I Am Big And Mighty

I am big and mighty, and scared of sharp objects.
I feed everyone and watch people go by.
I have my feet stuck and hate talking with my big mouth.

What am I?

A tree.

Posted in Riddles

A Third As Old

Barry is 67 years old. His daughter is 43. When was she 1/3 as old as him?

31 years ago.

Here’s one way to solve it.

Let x = how many years ago

We get this equation: 67 – x = 3 × (43 – x)

Solving for x gives us 31.

Posted in Brain Teasers

What is the secret to this?

What is the secret to this?

A1
C1
E3
H3

What comes next?

I2.

Each entry is a letter, in alphabetical order starting with A, followed by the number of occurrences of that letter in the phrase “What is the secret to this”.

There’s one ‘a’, thus we get A1. There are no ‘b’s so it doesn’t appear, then there’s one ‘c’, and so on.

Posted in Brain Teasers

Banana Dresser Grammar

What do these words have in common?

1. Banana
2. Dresser
3. Grammar
4. Potato
5. Revive
6. Uneven
7. Assess

If you move the first letter to the end of the word, it forms the same word backwards. Banana = ananab, dresser = resserd, and so on.

Posted in Brain Teasers

Progressive Countdown

If you’re given a number, subtract 1, then 2 from the result, then 3 from that result and so on until you reach 0 or a negative number.

For example, if you’re given 15:

15 – 1 = 14
14 – 2 = 12
12 – 3 = 9
9 – 4 = 5
5 – 5 = 0

Which of these numbers will finish exactly at zero?

102 103 104 105 106

105

105 – 1 = 104
104 – 2 = 102
102 – 3 = 99
99 – 4 = 95
95 – 5 = 90
90 – 6 = 84
84 – 7 = 77
77 – 8 = 69
69 – 9 = 60
60 – 10 = 50
50 – 11 = 39
39 – 12 = 27
27 – 13 = 14
14 – 14 = 0

Posted in Brain Teasers

In Your Body Free the First Two Times

What is in your body for free the first and the second time but the third time you have to buy yourself?

Your teeth. You get baby teeth and adult teeth as part of the life package, but once you lose those you get to pay for dentures (or scare small children with your sunken face).

Posted in Riddles

In School Without Learning

I’m in school without learning,
And control from the middle.

What am I?

A fish. They swim in schools and the fish in the middle of a school control the school. The fish on the outside are guided by those in the middle.

Posted in Riddles
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