Almost Catching Fire

People come and watch, from far away to see
Burning brightly, almost catching fire,
The colder it is the hotter I’ll be.
Then I die.

What am I?

Fall leaves changing colors. “Burning” with bright colors, when it’s cold outside the brighter the colors are.

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Lucky Number Seven

How is 7 different from the rest of the numbers from 1-10?

7 (seven) is the only one with two syllables.

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777, 888 and 999

You are given the numbers 777, 888 and 999. Using the numbers once and adding, subtracting, multiplying or dividing, how can you make 999?

(7 x 7 x 7) + (9 x 9 x 8) + ((9 – 8) x 8) = 999
(77 + 7) + 888 + (9 + 9 + 9) = 999

If other operators were allowed, another solution would be 999 modulo (888 x 777). I’m sure there are more solutions.

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A Third of the Way But Only Halfway There

You’ve traveled a third of the way, yet you’re only halfway there.

Where are you going?

Hint: The answer applies in the US but not in Europe.

You’re in a build headed to the fourth floor. When you reach the second floor, you’ve gone one floor and have two more floors left, so you’re 1/3 of the way. But at the same time, you’re on the 2nd floor and have two more floors to get to the 4th floor, thus you’re halfway there.

This doesn’t work in Europe, because they typically refer to the “first floor” as the ground floor, and the first floor is one story up.

Thanks to Danny Llinas for submitting this.

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A Group of Three

I give you a group of three. One is sitting down, and will never get up. The second eats as much as is given to him, yet is always hungry. The third goes away and never returns.

Stove, fire, smoke.

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Odd Row Out

Which row is the odd one out?

A.KNQTWZ
B.BFJNRV
C.AFKPVZ
D.369121518
E.71115192327
F.131823283338

C is the odd row out.

In A two letters are skipped between each letter.
In B three letters are skipped between each letter.
In C four letters are skipped between each letter except V, which should be U.
The numbers in rows D, E and F follow the same pattern.

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Bowl That Can’t Be Filled

I am as round and deep as a bowl, but all the world’s water couldn’t fill me up. What am I?

A sieve.

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A Big Rig Crossing a Bridge

An 18-wheeler is crossing a 4 kilometer bridge that can only support 10,000 kilograms and that’s exactly how much the rig weighs. Halfway across the bridge a 30 gram sparrow lands on the cab, but the bridge doesn’t collapse. Why not?

Since the bridge is 4 kilometers long, the halfway point would be 2 kilometers. The 18-wheeler would have used much more than 30g of fuel to drive 2 kilometers.

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A Great Woman

The first two letters of this English word refer to a male, the first three refer to a female, the first four to a great man and the whole word is a great woman.

What is the word?

Heroine (he, her, hero)

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Four Nines To Make a Hundred

How can you make four 9’s equal 100?

99 9/9 = 100

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