BEJQXYZ

What is significant about the following set of letters?

BEJQXYZ

They are the only letters in the alphabet that are not found at the beginning of the name of a state in the United States of America. The rest of the letters in the alphabet, namely ACDFGHIKLMNOPRSTUVW, start the name of at least one state. Incidentally, eight different states each start with the letters M and N, tying them for the most states starting with a particular letter. The next highest is a three-way tie between A, I and W with four each.

Posted in Brain Teasers

From Cold To Warm In Four Steps

How do you get from cold to warm in four steps, changing only one letter at a time to form a new word at each step?

cold
cord
word
worm
warm

An alternative is:
cold
cord
word
ward
warm

Yet another option, thanks to Beth:
cold
cord
card
ward
warm

Posted in Brain Teasers

What is the center of gravity?

What is the center of gravity?

V. The letter ‘v’ is the center of the word gravity.

Posted in Riddles

In Your Body Free the First Two Times

What is in your body for free the first and the second time but the third time you have to buy yourself?

Your teeth. You get baby teeth and adult teeth as part of the life package, but once you lose those you get to pay for dentures (or scare small children with your sunken face).

Posted in Riddles

Presidents and Parents

How could the 22nd and the 24th U.S. Presidents have the same parents, but not be brothers?

The 22nd and 24th U.S. presidents were both the same person – Grover Cleveland.

Posted in Brain Teasers

A Seemingly Simple Math Problem

What is the answer to this problem?

1 + 1 + 1 + 1 + 1
1 + 1 + 1 + 1 + 1
1 + 1 × 0 + 1 = ?

30.

There are two tricks to this one. The first is 1 × 0. But it’s mostly there as a distraction. Yes, 1 × 0 is 0, but that doesn’t affect anything else in the equation. The second, far trickier element is that the lines ending with 1 don’t have a + sign next to them. That means they should be combined with the following line.

Let’s put the equation all on one line, shall we?

1 + 1 + 1 + 1 + 11 + 1 + 1 + 1 + 11 + 1 × 0 + 1 = ?

And the answer to that equation is 30.

Posted in Brain Teasers

Silver Tears Falling Down

Silver tears falling down,
Nature’s clear imposter,
Sparkling, shining like a gown,
Adorn an elephant or horse,
Silver, PVC or even lead,
Bringing cheer to all around,
For such a simple thread.

Tinsel.

Tinsel emulates icicles, which are like tears and are clear in nature. Tinsel sparkles and shines, and is used to adorn elephants and horses in India. Tinsel is made from silver, PVC and was once made from lead. Tinsel brings back fond memories to many (including myself) and represents far more than a simple metallic thread would normally warrant.

Happy Holidays!

Posted in Riddles

What Goes In the Water Red?

What goes in the water red
And comes out black?

Iron

Posted in Riddles

Apples Rebus

What does this represent?

APPLE
APPLE
APPLE
aPPLe
APPLE

I haven’t figured this out yet. Bad apple doesn’t really fit with the lowercase letters. They’re both vowels, but I don’t know if that’s relevant. The fourth one looks kind of like a hill, could it be apple hill?

Posted in Brain Teasers
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Three Letter Word Completion

What three letter word can complete the below words?

B___
D___
M___ET
P___ING
SH___

Ark, which produces: bark, dark, market, parking, shark.

Posted in Brain Teasers