Nearly Hanging

A prisoner is told, “If you tell a lie we will hang you; if you tell the truth we will shoot you.”

What can he say to save himself?

You will hang me. If they hang him, then the statement was true and they could only hang him for telling a lie. If they shoot him, then it makes the statement a lie and they were only to shoot him for telling the truth. An alternate solution is to say, “You will not shoot me,” leading to the same quandary for the killers.

Posted in Brain Teasers

A Seed of Three Letters

I am a seed, three letters in the name,
Take away two and I sound quite the same.

What am I?

Pea.

Posted in Riddles

Measured But Not Seen

What can be measured but not seen?

Time. Or my toes when I’ve had one too many donuts…

Posted in Riddles

I Look Like What I Represent

I am one of very few, perhaps the only one, to look like what I represent. What am I?

The word ‘bed’, which looks like an actual bed. The ‘b’ is the headboard, the ‘e’ is the mattress and the ‘d’ is the foot board.

If you know of another word that looks like the object it represents, add it in the comments.

Posted in Riddles

Cannot Hear or Even See

I cannot hear or even see,
But sense light and sounds there may be,
Sometimes I end up on a hook,
I can be combined with a book.

What am I?

A worm. Worms don’t have eyes or ears, but they can sense light and their bodies can detect vibrations in the ground. Fishers use worms as bait and the term bookwork is used for someone who loves to read.

Posted in Riddles

Four Cards

Four cards are placed in front of you on the table, each with a number on one side and a color on the other. The visible cards show 3, 8, red and brown. Which cards should you turn over in order to test the truth of the statement that if a card shows an even number on one face, then its opposite face is red?

four-cards

You’d need to turn over only the 8 and brown card. Only a card with an even number on one face and which is not red on the other face can invalidate the stated rule. If you turn over the 3 card and it’s not red, it doesn’t invalidate the rule, nor does turning over the red card and finding it has the label 3.

This test was devised by Peter Cathcart Wason and is known as the Wason selection task. Less than 10% of test subjects got it correct in two separate studies.

Posted in Brain Teasers

Waiting For a Man To Die

I cannot be other than what I am
Until the man who made me dies
Power and glory will fall to me finally
Only when he last closes his eyes.

A prince.

Posted in Riddles

Coat Best Put On Wet

What kind of coat is best put on wet?

A coat of paint.

Posted in Riddles

Beach Vogue

What word can be made from three letters of beach and another three from vogue?

Gauche. The letters “ach” from beach and “gue” from vogue.

Posted in Brain Teasers

An Attorney for a Brother

The defendant testified, “The attorney is my brother,” but the attorney took the stand and denied having a brother under oath. Who is lying?

Neither one of them lied. The defendant was the attorney’s sister.

Posted in Brain Teasers