If I Didn’t Exist, You Wouldn’t Either

I’m a six-letter word. If I did not exist, you wouldn’t either. With my first letter omitted I’m an alternative. The last three letters are feminine. The first four letters make an insect.

Who am I?

Mother

other = an alternative
her = feminine
moth = an insect

Posted in Riddles

Invisible Walls

What invention lets you look right through a wall?

A window.

Posted in Riddles

Reverse to Equal Ten

Which two of these rows can be reversed so the total of each row, across and down, equals 10?

A. 5 4 1
B. 6 1 3
C. 3 5 2

Rows B and C, becoming:

A. 5 4 1
B. 3 1 6
C. 2 5 3

Posted in Brain Teasers

Thin Barn Word Ladder

Get from the word THIN to BARN by changing one letter at a time and forming another English word in each step.

1. THIN
2. _ _ _ _
3. _ _ _ _
4. _ _ _ _
5. _ _ _ _
6. BARN

1. THIN
2. CHIN
3. COIN
4. CORN
5. BORN
6. BARN

Posted in Brain Teasers

Messy Math

What is the answer to this problem?

48 / 2(9 + 3) = ?

It depends. Usually, math has one right answer, but in this case, the order of operations can get a little quirky.

There are two ways to solve this. First, like so:
48 / 2 × (9 + 3) = ?
48 / 2 × (12) = ?
24 × 12 = 288

But another, arguably valid way is:
48 / 2 × (9 + 3) = ?
48 / 2 × (12) = ?
48 / 24 = 2

Thanks to KnowYourMeme for providing a great overview on this one. Math StackExchange has more discussion.

Posted in Brain Teasers

Related Strangers

A man gets off the bus looking for an address and approaches a couple walking in the same direction for directions. The woman says they’re going that way and take him. Along the way the man asks if they’re related. The woman grins and says, “We’re not strangers. This man’s mother is my mother’s mother-in-law.” The man is confused but doesn’t say anything. When he gets back home he tells his wife about the conversation and she can’t figure it out either. They decide to ask their lawyer and he eventually works it out with pen and paper. How are the couple related?

The couple is either a man and his daughter or an uncle and his niece.

Posted in Brain Teasers

I Stretch The Length of A Football Field

I stretch as far as a football field,
Yet I fit in the palm of your hand.
I will make you bleed if you don’t use me often.
You put me in your mouth but don’t eat me,
Then you throw me away.

What am I?

Floss. It typically comes in 100 yard packs, which fit easily in your hand. If you don’t floss regularly, your gums will bleed. You use floss in your mouth then throw it away when you’re done.

Posted in Riddles
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Fred’s Packing Job

Fred was almost done packing for the day, with five packages left. Unfortunately, Fred dropped the labels and had no idea which label went to which package. What is the probability that Fred managed to correctly label exactly four of the five packages?

Zero. If Fred had correctly labeled four packages, the fifth label would belong to the fifth package and all packages would be correctly labeled. Therefore it is impossible to mislabel exactly four packages.

Posted in Brain Teasers

Here Comes My Wife and Daughter

Two men are standing on one side of a bridge and two women are approaching them. One of the men says, “Here comes my wife and daughter” to which the second man replies, “Here comes my wife and daughter”. If they have not married the same woman and the women aren’t pregnant, how is this true?

The men are widowers and married each others’ daughter.

Posted in Brain Teasers

Cut But Never Eaten

What is put on a table and cut but never eaten?

A deck of cards.  You put the cards on the table to play, and you cut the cards to mix them up, but you don’t eat them. Flowers is another possible answer.

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