Dead At The End of An Alley

A man is found dead at the end of an alley. A detective who enters the scene sees the letter X and immediately knows who killed the man and why. What did the detective conclude?

The alley is a bowling alley. The man who was killed was a pin spotter (an old profession where they would reset the pins by hand). The X was the marking on the score sheet for a strike. The detective saw the letter X and knew that the person bowled last, got a strike, and was due to bowl again. But they bowled before the pin spotter could get out of the way.

Submitted by Dennis

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.

Posted in Brain Teasers
Tagged with

Julian and Penelope’s Marriage Ages

When Julian and Penelope met, one was half the others age plus seven years. Ten years later when they married, Penelope was thirty, but this time one was nine tenths the age of the other. How old was Julian? (No fractions or partial years, whole numbers only).

Julian was 27 when Penelope was 30.

Posted in Brain Teasers

From Scraps to Pants

A tailor can make a pair of pants from the scraps left over from sewing up five pairs of pants. If he has twenty-five scraps, how many pairs of pants can he make?

Six pairs of pants. He can make five initially, but once he’s done making five pairs of pants, he’ll have five remaining sets of scraps, meaning he can make an additional pair of pants, totaling six.

Posted in Brain Teasers

Takeoff On a Conveyor Belt

If a plane sits on a conveyor belt whose speed matches that of the plane in the opposite direction, can the plane take off?

Yes, because a plane’s wheels roll freely and have no affect on the movement of the plane(unlike a car). The propeller or jet engine makes the plane move and the plane will be able to take off normally. If you don’t believe me, here’s proof.

Posted in Brain Teasers

Letters, Letters, What Comes Next?

What letter comes next letter in this series?

A E F H I ___

K. It’s the series of capital letters without curves in alphabetical order.

Posted in Brain Teasers

Snakes and Mice

On a remote (imaginary) island, there are 11 snakes and a single mouse. As you’d expect, snakes eat the mice. But contrary to what you’d expect, when a snake eats a mouse, it turns into one.

The snakes live by only two rules:

1. Don’t get eaten.
2. Eat mice as long as rule #1 isn’t violated.

How many snakes and mice will there be left on the island?

10 snakes, 1 mouse.

If there were only a single snake and mouse, the snake could eat the mouse, then turn into one, leaving a single mouse.

If there were two snakes and a single mouse, rule 2 would keep either of the snakes from eating the mouse to avoid being eaten themselves.

With three snakes and one mouse, one of the snakes could eat a mouse and be safe as a mouse thanks to rule 2.

This pattern continues. With an even number of snakes, nothing happens. With an odd number of snakes, one snake can eat the mouse.

Thus, with 11 snakes, one snake would eat the mouse, turn into one and leave 10 snakes and 1 mouse.

Posted in Brain Teasers

I Am a Protector

I am a protector.
I sit on a bridge.
One person can see right through me.
Others wonder what I hide.

What am I?

Sunglasses

Posted in Riddles
Tagged with

Your Father’s Sister’s Sister-in-law

What relation would your father’s only single sister’s sister-in-law be to you?

Your mother.

Posted in Brain Teasers

Against the Rules for You to Play Fair

It’s against the rules for you to play fair,
I always win but you don’t care,
I’ve ruined lives and crushed dreams,
But the allure is too much it seems.

What am I?

A casino. If you use methods to make the odds more fair to you, they kick you out. The house always wins, yet people continue to play. Gambling has ruined countless lives and crushed dreams of making millions, but the hope of winning continues to draw people in.

Posted in Riddles
Tagged with