The Secret Lair

A secret lair has a code to only allow members to enter. The person wanting to enter says a random number, then is told a number in response. In order to enter they must say the correct third number. Here are sequences that allowed entrance.

1 3 5
27 11 6
9 4 4

What’s the third number of this series?

16 7 ?

Five because s-e-v-e-n has 5 letters. The first number can be anything, the second number is the number of letters in the first number, and the third number is the number of letters in the second number.

Posted in Brain Teasers

First is Twice in Apple

My first is twice in apple but not once in tart.
My second is in liver but not in heart.
My third is in giant and also in ghost.
Whole I’m best, when I am roast.
What am I?

You are a pig.

Posted in Riddles

Wolves and Owls

You are in the woods with owls and wolves. There are 22 eyes and 32 legs. How many owls and wolves are there?

5 owls and 5 wolves, (not 6 owls because 2 of the eyes and legs are yours).

2 * owls + 2 * wolves = 20 eyes
2 * owls + 4 * wolves = 30 legs
owls + wolves = 10 eyes → owls = 10 – wolves
owls + 2 * wolves = 15 → 10 – wolves + 2 * wolves = 15 → wolves = 5
owls + 5 = 10 → owls = 5

Posted in Brain Teasers

The Quirky Fruit Stand

At a quirky fruit stand, an orange costs 18 cents, a pineapple costs 27 cents and a grape costs 15 cents. Using the same logic, how much does a mango cost?

A mango costs 15 cents. The logic is 3 cents per letter.

Posted in Brain Teasers

Painting a Bigger Room

A painter needed 3 days to paint a room. How long would it take him, working at the same rate, to paint a room twice as large (twice the width and twice the height)?

12 days because the walls would be four times as big as the first room.

If the walls are 10 ft x 10 ft, then each wall has 100 square feet. Adding the four walls makes 400 square feet to paint. Doubling the width and height of the walls to 20 ft x 20 ft means each wall is now 400 square feet, for a total of 1600 square feet to paint. 1600 ft is four times 400 square feet, thus if it took him 3 days to paint 400 square feet, it will take 12 days (or four times as much) to paint 1600 square feet.

Posted in Brain Teasers

Six Glasses In a Row

There are six glasses in a row. The first three are full of water, and the next three are empty. By moving only one glass how can you make them alternate between full and empty?

Pour the water from the 2nd glass into the 5th glass.

Posted in Brain Teasers

Lennie’s List of Names

Lennie was cleaning up some old papers in his office and found a list with the following names:

Washington
Jefferson
Lincoln
Hamilton
Jackson
Grant

The last name on the list was mostly worn away and he couldn’t make it out. What was the last name and why?

Franklin. It’s a list of the men on U.S. currency, $1, $2, $5, $10, $20 and $50. The $100 bill has Franklin. And an interesting tidbit is that Hamilton, along with Franklin, are the only two men in the list who did not serve as president.

Posted in Riddles

A Room With No Windows

You are in a room with no windows, doors or any exit. The only items are a mirror and a table. How do you escape?

Hint: This is not a typical brain teaser.

Look in the mirror, then at the wall and back at the mirror to see what you saw. Use the saw to cut the table in half and join the two halves to make a whole. Put the “hole” on the wall and climb out.

I know, it’s lame. I like to have brain teasers that you can realistically guess, but this one’s so popular, I feel an obligation to include it.

Posted in Brain Teasers
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Job Hopping Jeremy

Jeremy was making $10 an hour at his summer job, but he hated the work. He decided to take a 50% pay cut to work at an easier job. He liked his new job at first, then grew bored and found another job paying 50% more than he was currently making. What was his hourly pay at the third job?

$7.50. If you guessed $10, don’t feel bad. Percentages can be counter intuitive.

First job: $10/hour
Second job: $10/hour – ($10 &times .5) = $5/hour
Third job: $5/hour + ($5 × .5) = $7.50

Posted in Brain Teasers

Lucrezia Borgia

Lucrezia Borgia invited a prospective victim to lunch. They ate a hearty meal of roast venison, with a selection of fresh vegetables, all washed down with the finest wine imported from Bordeaux, France.

After the meal, they ate figs and freshly picked grapes.

“Just one apple left”, said Lucrezia, “I insist you have it.

“No”, said the guest, “I couldn’t”.

“Tell you what”, said Lucrezia, “we’ll share it”, and promptly sliced the apple in two with her sharpest knife. The guest and Lucrezia started to eat their respective halves when the guest’s eyes rolled towards the ceiling and he fell over, dead.

“Another victim successfully dispatched,” thought Lucrezia.

How did she do it?

She used a knife coated on just one edge with cyanide. When she sliced the apple in two, only the victim’s half was poisoned.

Posted in Brain Teasers