Plum Taking

A man without eyes saw plums on a tree.
He neither took them nor left them, how can this be?

The man had only one eye and took one plum. (note singular versus plural)

Posted in Brain Teasers

I Am, In Truth, A Yellow Fork

I am, in truth, a yellow fork
From tables in the sky
By inadvertent fingers dropped
The awful cutlery.
Of mansions never quite disclosed
And never quite concealed
The apparatus of the dark
To ignorance revealed.

— Emily Dickenson

Lightning.

Posted in Riddles

An Urgent Phone Call

A man was working the night shift when he received an urgent phone call, giving him information that caused him to dash home at breakneck speed.

On bursting into his bedroom quite breathless he found his informant was quite correct. His wife was in bed with someone he had never seen before.

However, far from being angry, he greeted them both with a smile and a few hours later brought them both breakfast in bed.

What is the explanation for this odd behavior?

His wife had just given birth.

Posted in Brain Teasers

Two Halves And a Whole

Complete the three missing words in the sentence, with the first two words combining to form the third word.

For example:

The prime minister ____ the meeting, even though the ____ was technically the ____ official.
The three missing words would be RAN, KING, and RANKING.

Now solve this one:

When she broke her ____ showing off at the ____ of the ski run, Arya became a ____ among her friends.

LEG, END, LEGEND

When she broke her LEG showing off at the END of the ski run, Arya became a LEGEND among her friends.

Posted in Brain Teasers

Can’t Keep It Until You’ve Given It

You can’t keep this until you have given it.

A promise (or your word).

Posted in Riddles

The Boat at High Tide

A boat has a ladder that has six rungs. Each rung is one foot apart. The bottom rung is one foot from the water. The tide rises at 12 inches every 15 minutes. High tide peaks in one hour.

When the tide is at its highest, how many rungs are under water?

None. The boat is floating on the water, so as the tide rises, so does the ladder.

Posted in Brain Teasers

One Hundred Point Words

The answer to each clue is a single, 100-point word, or a word whose letters add up to 100, with a = 1, b = 2. I wrote this word value calculator so you can easily check your guesses.

i. Peanut butter tastes like this.
ii. The hat a Dad wears.
iii. To fire a chef,
iv. A smart timepiece.
v. Figured it out again.
vi. Where a kid can sleep.
vii. The magical fruit leaves you doing this.
viii. Betrayed for this much silver.
ix. A baked good that is height challenged.
x. A sticky way to neaten your hair.

i. nutty
ii. fatherhood
iii. cookout
iv. clockwise
v. resolved
vi. boycott
vii. tooting
viii. thirty
ix. shortcake
x. honeycomb

Posted in Riddles

Only Hides in the Unwound

What can be seen but never found that only hides in the unwound?

Relaxation. You can see when someone is relaxing, but no one can remain completely relaxed forever. You can relax more easily as you learn to unwind.

Posted in Riddles

You Melted My Ice

A full glass of water with a single ice cube sits on a table. When the ice has completely melted, will the level of the water have increased, decreased or remain unchanged?

The water level remains unchanged because the ice cube displaces its own weight. If you’re not convinced, read Archimedes’ Principle, which states that any floating object displaces its own weight of fluid. Still not convinced? Here are a few more sources.

Posted in Brain Teasers

Seven Letter Word with Ten Words

There is a seven-letter word in the English language that has ten total words without rearranging any of its letters.

What is the word?

Therein

1. the
2. there
3. he
4. in
5. rein
6. her
7. here
8. ere
9. herein
10. therein

Posted in Brain Teasers