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

Life Measured in Hours

My life can be measured in hours,
I serve by being devoured.
Thin, I am quick
Fat, I am slow
Wind is my foe.

A candle.

Posted in Riddles

Answer This Honestly

What question can you never honestly answer yes to?

Are you asleep? (or dead, or conscious, or being silent).

Posted in Riddles

Three Philosophers Under a Tree

Three philosophers are taking a nap under a tree. While they’re asleep, a small boy smears their noses with red berries. When they awake, they each begin to laugh, thinking the other two are laughing at each other.

But then one philosopher stops laughing, realizing his nose is red too. How did he come to this conclusion?

Let’s call the philosopher’s A, B and C. A reasoned that B was confident his nose wasn’t red. If B saw A’s nose wasn’t red, he would be surprised that C was laughing, because C would have nothing to laugh at. But B wasn’t surprised, therefore, A correctly reasoned his nose was smeared.

Posted in Brain Teasers

The Most Impressive Boundary

The most impressive boundary’s not a wall.
It’s not a manufactured thing at all.
Moving towards it won’t reduce the gap
and nothing marks its presence on a map.

The horizon.

By Sef Daystrom

Posted in Riddles

Never For Breakfast

What two things can you never have for breakfast?

Lunch and dinner.

Posted in Riddles

4 5 6 6

What is the next digit that should appear in this list of numbers?

4 5 6 6 5 4 4 2 ?

7. The digits represent the number of letters in each word of the puzzle. “What” has four letters, “digit” has five letters, “should” has six letters, etc. The last word is “numbers” which has seven letters.

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Mario’s Racing Grandma

Mario is testing out a new car at the racetrack. His grandmother took it for a mile lap and averaged 30mph. How fast does Mario have to drive in the second lap to average 60mph for the two miles?

90mph is an alluring answer, but it’s impossible. At 90mph the second lap would take 40 seconds. If Grannie’s first lap at 30mph took 2 minutes, traveling 2 miles in 2 minutes and 40 seconds is an average speed of 45mph. Traveling an average speed of 60mph for 2 miles would take 2 minutes and since the grandma’s lap took all of those 2 minutes, even if Mario could break the sound barrier he wouldn’t be able to average 60mph.

Posted in Brain Teasers

What Does He Weigh?

The owner of the butcher shop is five foot ten inches tall, has brown hair and wears size 11 1/2 shoes. He is married and has two children, one boy and one girl. What does he weigh?

Meat. The rest of the details were merely distractions. Butchers weigh meat at a butcher shop.

Posted in Brain Teasers

Born In December

Dustin was born on December 28th yet his birthday always falls in the summer. How is this possible?

Dustin is Australian, where the three hottest summer months are December, January and February.

Posted in Brain Teasers