Fill in the Missing Element

Here is a series of numbers:

16 06 68 88 ___ 98

What belongs in the blank spot?

87 is the common answer to this, but it has to be flipped upside down, so I consider L8 more correct.

If you flip the numbers horizontally by 180 degrees:

86 87 88 89 90 91

You see that the blank spot is 87, counting from 86 to 91. However, you need to flip it around, so it becomes L8.

Posted in Brain Teasers

Ghoti Pronunciation

How do you pronounce Ghoti?

Fish. The gh is pronounced as in tough, the o as in women and the ti as in nation. Ghoti is a constructed word to illustrate irregularities in English spelling.

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Dry As a Bone

Milton was out for a walk when it started to rain. He did not have an umbrella and wasn’t wearing a hat. His clothes were soaked, yet not a single hair on his head got wet. How did this happen?

Milton sadly suffers from alopecia, more commonly known as baldness. The old coot was as bald as a ping pong ball, leaving not a single hair on his head to get wet.

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I Live Above A Star

I live above a star but never burn. I have 11 neighbors but they never turn. My initials are p, q, r and sometimes s.

What am I?

Number 7 on a phone keypad.

Posted in Riddles

If I Can I Can

If I can, I can,
If I can’t, I freeze.

What am I?

Someone preserving food. The two most common ways of preserving food are canning and freezing. So when you preserve food, if you can can it, you do, otherwise you freeze it.

Posted in Riddles

A Medication of Three Parts

I’m a medication with three parts. The first part is the surname of someone who has been a Mary and a Maria. The second part is a vital organ and the last is plentiful in the ocean.

What am I?

Andrews Liver Salts, an antacid. Julie Andrews played the role of Mary Poppins in the movie of the same name, and Maria in the Sound of Music. It’s tough to live without a liver and a taste of the ocean always includes a touch of salt.

Posted in Riddles

I Can Be Broken Yet I Hold On

I am a word with two meanings. With one I can be broken, with the second I hold on. What am I?

Tie. A tie score can be broken, but when you tie a knot (as in a necktie) it holds together.

Posted in Riddles
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I’m Told and Make You Crazy

I can be told and can make you crazy,
Most people don’t like me and think I’m harmful.

What am I?

A lie. Lies are told, can make people crazy with rage, and most people don’t like to have lies told to them. Lies can’t be harmful though. :) (See what I did there?)

Posted in Riddles

Mental Calculations

Perform this calculation in your head, mentally adding the numbers as quickly as you can. Start with 1000 and add 40. Now add 1000. Add 30 to that, then add another 1000. Now add 20 to that result. Add another 1000 and finally, add 10 to that. What is the total?

4,100. If you got 5,000 you’re not alone. 96% of test subjects get the wrong answer.

Posted in Brain Teasers

Brandon at the Carnival

Brandon was walking around at the carnival. A man called out from a booth and said, “If I can write your exact weight on this piece of paper, you have to pay me $50. If I can’t do it, I’ll pay you $50.”

Brandon checked the booth for a scale but saw nothing. He agreed. Since your weight can fluctuate by a pound or two, he decided that no matter what number the man wrote, he would just say he weighed a pound more or less. In the end, the man in the booth won the $50. How did he do it?

The man in the booth wrote the words, “Your exact weight” on the piece of paper. Brandon paid up.

Posted in Brain Teasers