A Dog Running in the Forest

How far can a dog run into the forest?

Halfway. After that it will be running out of the forest.

Posted in Brain Teasers

Hear a Lot, Say a Lot

I hear a lot
And I say a lot
Few ever look for me
And even fewer ever hear me
I hide in plain sight
Whether its day or night
To help is all I want
But most like to bend me
And as if they had a wand
Never again shall anyone find me
They do this to control
Without realizing the high price of a soul
But when I’m least expected
They’d rather be protected
For there shall be no place to hide
What am I?

The truth.

Posted in Riddles
Tagged with

Not the Sort That’s Eaten

I’m not the sort that’s eaten, I’m not the sort you bake,
Don’t put me in an oven, I don’t taste that great,
But when applied correctly, around me you will find,
Problems are so simple when my digits come to mind.

Pi (3.141592653)

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

Five Games of Checkers

Two children were playing checkers and each played five games. Both children won the same number of games yet there were no ties. How is this possible?

They weren’t playing each other.

Posted in Brain Teasers

Green House And Lots of Babies

There was a green house. Inside the green house there was a white house. Inside the white house there was a red house. Inside the red house there were lots of babies. What is it?

A watermelon.

Posted in Riddles

Two Backbones

I have two backbones and thousands of ribs and I stretch across the land. What am I?

Train tracks.

Posted in Riddles
Tagged with

Nine-Letter Word, Common as Air

A nine-letter word, common as air,
When each letter’s cut, a new word to pare,
Take a letter each round and continue to one.
Name the word and the path and then you’ll be done.

Surprisingly, there are several nine-letter words that can have one letter removed in each round to make a new word all the way to one letter, which must be ‘a’ or ‘i’. Startling is the most common answer, but I’ve included the other words I’m aware of. I don’t include plural words, like cleansers, drownings, splatters, starvings, trappings and wrappings because it’s kind of cheating.

startling
Remove the l to make starting (or remove the t to make starling)
Remove the t to make staring
Remove the a to make string
Remove the r to make sting
Remove the t to make sing
Remove the g to make sin
Remove the s to make in
Remove the n to make I

splitting
Remove the l to make spitting
Remove the p to make sitting
Remove a t to make siting
Remove the first i to make sting
Remove the s to make ting
Remove the g to make tin
Remove the t to make in
Remove the n to make I

stringier
Remove the r to make stingier
Remove the i to make stinger
Remove the t to make singer
Remove the r to make singe
Remove the g to make sine
Remove the e to make sin
Remove the s to make in
Remove the n to make I

strapping
Remove the s to make trapping
Remove the t to make rapping
Remove the p to make raping
Remove the r to make aping
Remove the a to make ping
Remove the g to make pin
Remove the p to make in
Remove the n to make I

Posted in Riddles

What Has Roots Nobody Sees?

What has roots that nobody sees,
Is taller than trees,
Up, up it goes,
Yet it never grows?

A mountain (from Tolkien)

Posted in Riddles

Numbers Map

Arrange the numbers from 1 to 8 in the following sequence.

     a
  b  c  d
  e  f  g
     h

Each number must not be diagonally or directly adjacent to any number directly before or after it.

For example, 2 can only be placed in one spot.

     2
  x  x  x
  x  1  x
     x

Here are two solutions (there might be more).

    7
3   1   4
5   8   6
    2

    2
5   8   6
3   1   4
    7
Posted in Brain Teasers