A Third As Old

Barry is 67 years old. His daughter is 43. When was she 1/3 as old as him?

31 years ago.

Here’s one way to solve it.

Let x = how many years ago

We get this equation: 67 – x = 3 × (43 – x)

Solving for x gives us 31.

Posted in Brain Teasers

12-Letter Word With All the Vowels

What 12-letter word has each of the vowels in alphabetical order without any repeated vowels?

Abstemiously. It’s 12 letters long and the letter y is considered a vowel in certain cases, and is included. Facetiously is another word that has all the vowels in order, but it’s only 11 letters long.

Posted in Brain Teasers

Having and Sharing

If you have it, you want to share it.
If you share it, you don’t have it.

What is it?

A secret.

Posted in Riddles

Sentca

Four words can be made from the letters below. What are the words?

S E N T C A

1. ENACTS
2. ASCENT
3. STANCE
4. SECANT

Posted in Brain Teasers

An Ancient Invention

What ancient invention allows people to see through walls?

A window.

Posted in Riddles

Sum of 22

Fill in numbers such that the sum of each 3-character row is 22 while the sum of all five numbers is 30.

a
bcd
e

The problem works out to a set of three equations:
b + c + d = 22
a + c + e = 22
a + b + c + d + e = 30

Solving for c = 14, leaving d = 8 – b and e = 8 – a. In other words, c must be 14, but the other two numbers just have to add up to 8. The requirement that they be unique rules out 4 + 4, so you’re left to choose from the following combations for b + d and a + e:
0 + 8
1 + 7
2 + 6
3 + 5

Posted in Brain Teasers

Seven Letters and Something You Eat

I have seven letters and am something you eat. My only anagram can help your pain. If you remove my first 2 letters I wear things down. Removing my first 3 letters is an adjective and removing my first 4 letters leaves a measure of time.

What am I?

Sausage. You eat sausage, assuage is the only single-word anagram and provides relief from pain. Usage wears things down, sage is an adjective and age is a measure of time.

Posted in Riddles

Word Jumble

Frederick takes half of CONNIE, part of NESTA, part of NELLIE and part of AUNTIE to create something new. What does he call his new creation?

Constantine

Posted in Brain Teasers

Progressive Countdown

If you’re given a number, subtract 1, then 2 from the result, then 3 from that result and so on until you reach 0 or a negative number.

For example, if you’re given 15:

15 – 1 = 14
14 – 2 = 12
12 – 3 = 9
9 – 4 = 5
5 – 5 = 0

Which of these numbers will finish exactly at zero?

102 103 104 105 106

105

105 – 1 = 104
104 – 2 = 102
102 – 3 = 99
99 – 4 = 95
95 – 5 = 90
90 – 6 = 84
84 – 7 = 77
77 – 8 = 69
69 – 9 = 60
60 – 10 = 50
50 – 11 = 39
39 – 12 = 27
27 – 13 = 14
14 – 14 = 0

Posted in Brain Teasers

You’ll Have At Night

You’ll have this six-letter word at night and if you remove the first letter it denotes the top, such as on a train. What is the word?

Supper (upper).

Posted in Riddles