A Box Without Hinges

A box without hinges, key or lid,
Yet golden treasure inside is hid.

What is it?

An egg.

(From J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Hobbit)

Posted in Riddles

Shared Birthdays

In 2012 a class was divided into 2 groups. Their assignment was to find the names of at least 3 children who were born on the same day from 5 different months of 2011. These were the results:

Group 1
August 20: Oliver, William, and Adam.
January 3: John, Alice, and Ken.
September 7: Bruce, Shane, and Peter.
June 11: April, Patrick, and Bobby.
July 19: Trent, Julie, and Charles.

Group 2
March 1: Karl, Willie, and Patty.
February 29: Blake, Kobe, and Wayne.
December 24: Kyle, Chad, and Zoe.
May 12: Matthew, Manny, and Adrian.
November 20: Greg, Fiona, and Elizabeth.

The members of group 2 got an F on the assignment. Why?

Group 2 failed because 2011 wasn’t a leap year, meaning there was no February 29th.

Posted in Brain Teasers

An Ancient Invention

What ancient invention allows people to see through walls?

A window.

Posted in Riddles

777, 888 and 999

You are given the numbers 777, 888 and 999. Using the numbers once and adding, subtracting, multiplying or dividing, how can you make 999?

(7 x 7 x 7) + (9 x 9 x 8) + ((9 – 8) x 8) = 999
(77 + 7) + 888 + (9 + 9 + 9) = 999

If other operators were allowed, another solution would be 999 modulo (888 x 777). I’m sure there are more solutions.

Posted in Brain Teasers

Why This Particular Order?

Why are these letters grouped in this particular order?

1) DFGHLPRU
2) KSTV
3) CO
4) AIW
8) MN

The letters are grouped by the number of U.S. States beginning with that letter. M and N are tied for each starting eight states.

Posted in Brain Teasers

What Times Seven Is All Fours?

What is the smallest integer that is all 4s when multiplied by 7?

63,492 × 7 = 444,444

Posted in Brain Teasers

Harvest Though No Grain

I harvest you, though you’ve no grain,
I reap you in the wind and rain,
You bleed not but your soft meat
And nectar makes a sweetest treat.
What am I?

A clam or oyster. You harvest clams or oysters on the beach or go diving, and the beach is often windy and rainy. Neither bleeds but are known for having, soft, slimy meat, and people often drink the “clam nectar” or “oyster juice”.

Thanks to Helena for this submission

Posted in Riddles
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I Make Men Crazy

I can make men crazy,
I shine when you retire.
I move water without a touch,
My colors may cause you ire.

The moon. The moon has a long association with being crazy (lunar being the basis for a lunatic). It shines at night, when you go to bed. The moon’s gravity creates the ocean tides and when the moon is different colors it can mean bad weather is on its way.

Posted in Riddles

Traveling Colorful Balls

Kevin, Charles, Larry and Alex are in a room that’s about 110 feet long. In front of them are 5 balls which are exactly 100 ft from the exit. The balls are yellow, purple, green, red and blue, respectively. Each man must carry a ball to the exit. After traveling 20 ft a ball will change color twice. The sequence of color changes is always the same: yellow, purple, green, red, and blue.

At 80 ft Kevin’s ball is red.
At 40 ft Larry’s ball is purple.
At 60 ft Charles’ ball is blue
At 100 ft Alex’s ball is purple.

What color ball was left behind?

The remaining ball was blue. Here’s a table of each ball and the color it changes to at 20, 40, 60, 80 and 100 ft. Kevin’s started out yellow, Larry’s was green, Charles’ was red and Alex began with a purple ball, leaving blue as the one nobody picked.

  20 ft 40 ft 60 ft 80 ft 100 ft
Yellow Green Blue Purple Red Yellow
Purple Red Yellow Green Blue Purple
Green Blue Purple Red Yellow Green
Red Yellow Green Blue Purple Red
Blue Purple Red Yellow Green Blue
Posted in Brain Teasers

Words Ending in GRY

Think of words ending in -GRY. Angry and hungry are two of them. There are only three words in the English language. What is the third word? The word is something that everyone uses every day. If you have listened carefully, I have already told you what it is.

The riddle states, “There are only three words in the English language. What is the third word?” The third word of the phrase “the English language” is of course “language.” Don’t get angry at me, I didn’t make it up :)

xkcd’s take on this riddle

Posted in Riddles