Twenty One Points Divide And Dance

Twenty one points divide and dance,
Twirling and leaping about,
Ladies, Romans and knights of France,
Craving a victor’s rout,
Wrought of wood, ivory or bone,
An exciting yet vicious pursuit,
Ancient, forbidden and crooked,
All in search of the loot.

A die. The standard die has 21 pips (or points), divided up on the six sides of the die which dance around when rolled. Ladies, knights and Romans all played dice as a pastime (though not together). Dice can be made of wood, ivory and bone, among other materials. Dice have been used in Asia since before recorded history and many governments tried unsuccessfully to outlaw the game. Professional gamblers were common and often used loaded dice. Desperate German chaps even bet their own liberty on a single roll of the dice.

Posted in Riddles

Fred’s Packing Job

Fred was almost done packing for the day, with five packages left. Unfortunately, Fred dropped the labels and had no idea which label went to which package. What is the probability that Fred managed to correctly label exactly four of the five packages?

Zero. If Fred had correctly labeled four packages, the fifth label would belong to the fifth package and all packages would be correctly labeled. Therefore it is impossible to mislabel exactly four packages.

Posted in Brain Teasers

Alive Without Breath

Alive without breath,
As cold as death,
Clad in mail never clinking,
Never thirsty, ever drinking

A fish.

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I Wear You Down

I wear you down, yet you will mourn me once I fly.
You can kill me, but I will never die.

Time.

(found in The Copper Gauntlet by Holly Black and Cassandra Clare)

Posted in Riddles

Once I’m Known You Can Hit A Grand Slam

A nine-letter word with but one vowel,
After I’m used you may need a towel,
Tests can be used to learn what I am,
Once I am known you can hit a grand slam.

Strengths. It has 9 letters with only one vowel, when you use your strengths the exertion can cause you to sweat, requiring a towel, tests can identify ones strengths and once you know what they are, you can hit a metaphorical grand slam by employing them in an area of your choosing.

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$63 Exactly

A man owed his friend $63 and repaid him the exact amount in cash without using coins or $1 bills (no online transfers, checks, credit cards or any other tricks) and without requiring change. How did he do it?

A $50 bill, a $5 bill and four $2 bills.

Posted in Brain Teasers

Feared By Most But Experienced By All

I am a five-letter word and am feared by most but experienced by all. If you remove my first and last letters I bring life. If you add an ‘r’ between the third and fourth letters I am almost nothing and if you remove the first letter from this new word, I am your home.

What am I?

Death (eat, dearth, earth). No one can escape death, but many fear it. Removing the first and last letters leaves eat, and we must eat to stay alive. Adding the ‘r’ turns death into dearth, which is scarcity and removing the first letter of dearth leaves earth, where you live, assuming this riddle hasn’t reached extraterrestrials.

Posted in Riddles

Four Against the Masses

We are four against the masses. We are trying to find the one who is the whole package. We sigh, we laugh, we frown while we hope that the next one will be the one. Who are we?

Four orphaned siblings. It seems like there may be a better answer than this. If you have one, please add a comment.

Posted in Riddles

Asks But Never Answers

What asks but never answers?

An owl.

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Stars Awash in a Sheen of Light

Stars awash in a sheen of light
It calls out loud in vile delight.
Listeners endure in fright.
Vicious brute that reigns at night,
Evil whelped of heinous bite,
Renewed by wax, it regains might.
A leading way to slay the beast,
Get the hidden weapon thus released.

What is this describing?
Hint: The first letter of each line has a clue

A werewolf (vulnerable to silver bullets).

Posted in Riddles