I Stand Like A Sentry

I stand like a sentry
And am barred by the gentry,
The first month and its god oft slip
Between my hard, dun colored lip.

What am I?

Sentries are posted at borders, gates, or doors.
The gentry (in this case to referring to the general populace) bar their doors at night.
The first month is January, named after the Roman god Janus, the double-faced God of doorways, passages and thresholds.
You pass through the doorway (hence the slip), and dun is a brown color, referencing the color of wood, which most doors are made of. Though it’s not commonly referred to, the “lip of the door” is the part of the door that fits into the doorframe on the handle/knob side, particularly if the door is lipped or ridged in order to fit the door frame better.

Thanks to Helena for creating this and sending it in.

Posted in Riddles
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Snail Up The Wall

A snail creeps 10 feet up a wall during the daytime, then falls asleep. It wakes up the next morning and discovers it slipped down 6 feet. If this happens each day, how many days will it take to reach the top of a 20 foot wall?

Four days.

Day 1: up to 10, down to 4
Day 2: up to 14, down to 8
Day 3: up to 18, down to 12
Day 4: up to 22 (20 really) and done

Posted in Brain Teasers

Same Three Digits with Sum of 800

When Florence and Willie finished playing darts, they proudly announced that their 3-digit scores added up to exactly 800 points. Furthermore, each of their scores shared the same 3 digits, without any repeating digits.

What were their two scores?

364 and 436.

You could figure this out mathematically, but instead, I plugged in digits that added up to 10 for the first column, 9 for the second column (since you carry the 1) and 7 for the third column (again, because you’re carrying the 1).

Posted in Brain Teasers

Walks on Graves at Night

This walks on graves at night yet in homes during the day,
Men are scared of it, women like it, children play with it,
It lives on dates and salt,
It is covered in hair,
Its name starts with ‘M’ and it is mentioned in the Quran.

What is it?

Moths.
Most species of moths are nocturnal, yet they are attracted to light and can be found in homes. Men, in the most generic sense, can be scared of moths (see Mottephobia) as well as the damage they can cause as pests to bee hives, grain, flour, trees and agriculture. Women like moths because of the silk they produce. Children frequently chase and play with moths. Moths are attracted to salt and love to eat rotting fruit (such as dates). Some species of moths are densely covered with tiny hairs and of course it starts with the letter ‘m’. Lastly, moths are mentioned in the Quran (101:4 (Asad) [It will occur] on the Day when men will be like moths swarming in confusion)

Posted in Riddles

Numbers Night Club

A man wants to get into a night club where the bouncers test each person before they can enter. The man waits and watches.
A woman walks up to the bouncers and the bouncers say 6. The woman replies with 3 and goes in.
A small man walks up and they say 12. The man replies 6 and is admitted.
The first guy thinks he’s figured it out and walks up. They say 4 and the man replies with 2, but they don’t let him in.

What should he have said?

4. The answer is the number of letters in the number. Six has 3 letters, twelve has 6 letters and four has 4 letters.

Posted in Brain Teasers

Two Fuses

You have a lighter and two fuses that take exactly one hour to burn, but they don’t burn at a steady rate. For example, one fuse could take 59 minutes to burn the first inch and then burn the rest of the fuse in the last minute.

How would you use these two fuses to measure 45 minutes?

Light the first fuse on both ends and the second fuse at only one end. When the first fuse burns out you know 30 minutes have passed. Light the other end of the second fuse and when it burns out, 45 minutes have passed.

Posted in Brain Teasers

Turd Station

At Coney Island (the amusement park in Ohio) over Memorial Day weekend I saw a changing station in the men’s bathroom. A clever fellow had scraped off some letters to make the changing station read, “Turd Station”. What was the original name of the changing station?

sTURDy Station2, by Rubbermaid.

Here’s a picture of one without the letters scratched out.

rubbermaid-changing-station

Posted in Brain Teasers

Number Abbreviations

What do these represent?

24 = HiaD
26 = LotA
7 = DotW
9 = LoaC
12 = SotZ
88 = PK

24 hours in a day
26 letters of the alphabet
7 days of the week
9 lives of a cat
12 signs of the Zodiac
88 piano keys

Posted in Brain Teasers

Forward I’m Heavy

Forward I’m heavy, but backwards I’m not. What am I?

Ton.

Posted in Riddles

Penny, Cork and A Bottle

Given a corked bottle with only a penny inside, how can you remove the penny without pulling out the cork, breaking the bottle and leaving the cork intact?

Push the cork into the bottle, then shake the penny out.

Posted in Brain Teasers