In Oven But Not Baked

What must be in the oven yet can not be baked?
Grows in the heat yet shuns the light of day?
What sinks in water but rises with air?
Looks like sand, but is fine as hair?

Yeast.

Posted in Riddles

Run Smoother Than Any Rhyme

What runs smoother than any rhyme, loves to fall but cannot climb?

Water

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

Dwarves and Snow White

The dwarves and Snow White sit down for a bite.
How fast can you guess what she serves her guests next?

Seven Seconds

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Bank Wait Times

Suppose a small bank has one teller and customer transactions take 10 minutes on average. With 5.8 customers arriving per hour, what is the expected wait time? What would it be if you added a second teller?

With one teller, customers will wait nearly five hours on average. But adding a second teller makes the wait go down to 3 minutes.

Thanks to John D. Cook for this one.

Posted in Brain Teasers

Guide and Scraping Along

Guided, I am scraping along,
leaving behind my snow white dust
against that which I am scraping,
for when I am scraping, I must.

Chalk

By Sef Daystrom

Posted in Riddles

Cats and Kittens But No Mittens

Six men are carrying boxes holding six cats and each cat has 6 kittens. How many legs are there in total?

1020. There are 6 men with 2 legs each, for a total of 12 legs.
There are 36 cats with 4 legs each for a total of 144 legs.
There are 216 kittens with 4 legs each for a total of 864 legs
12 + 144 + 864 = 1020.

Posted in Brain Teasers

Poor Sheep

A farmer had 17 sheep. All but 9 died. How many live sheep does he have left?

9. If all but 9 died, there are 9 remaining live sheep.

Posted in Brain Teasers

Rude Otto

Hannah, Otto, Todd and Eve were walking down the street. Suddenly Otto rudely told Todd he was an outsider and didn’t belong. What made Todd different?

Todd is not a palindrome.

Posted in Brain Teasers

Need Me But Give Me Away

People need me but they always give me away.

What am I?

Money.

Posted in Riddles