Eyes That Don’t See
Most of you have two eyes. I only have one.
Most of you have eyeballs. I do not.
Your eyes aren’t dangerous, neither are mine.
But all together, I am extremely dangerous.
You can see things with your eyes.
I can’t see anything, even though the air is clear where my eye is.
What am I?
The eye of a tornado or hurricane. Could also be the eye of a needle.
Flora Not Fauna
I am flora, not fauna,
I am foliage, not trees,
I am shrubbery, not grass,
What am I?
A bush.
Cracked, Made, Told and Played
It can be cracked,
It can be made,
It can be told,
It can be played.
What is it?
A joke.
Up a Drainpipe Down but Not Down a Drainpipe Up
What can go up a drainpipe down but not down a drainpipe up?
An umbrella.
A King and Device of Measure
I am a king but also a common device of measure. What am I?
A ruler. A king is a ruler of people, a ruler is a device to measure distance.
Voiceless It Cries
Voiceless it cries, wingless flutters, toothless bites, mouth-less mutters. What is it?
The wind.
Not the Sort That’s Eaten
I’m not the sort that’s eaten, I’m not the sort you bake,
Don’t put me in an oven, I don’t taste that great,
But when applied correctly, around me you will find,
Problems are so simple when my digits come to mind.
Pi (3.141592653)
Nine-Letter Word, Common as Air
A nine-letter word, common as air,
When each letter’s cut, a new word to pare,
Take a letter each round and continue to one.
Name the word and the path and then you’ll be done.
Surprisingly, there are several nine-letter words that can have one letter removed in each round to make a new word all the way to one letter, which must be ‘a’ or ‘i’. Startling is the most common answer, but I’ve included the other words I’m aware of. I don’t include plural words, like cleansers, drownings, splatters, starvings, trappings and wrappings because it’s kind of cheating.
startling
Remove the l to make starting (or remove the t to make starling)
Remove the t to make staring
Remove the a to make string
Remove the r to make sting
Remove the t to make sing
Remove the g to make sin
Remove the s to make in
Remove the n to make I
splitting
Remove the l to make spitting
Remove the p to make sitting
Remove a t to make siting
Remove the first i to make sting
Remove the s to make ting
Remove the g to make tin
Remove the t to make in
Remove the n to make I
stringier
Remove the r to make stingier
Remove the i to make stinger
Remove the t to make singer
Remove the r to make singe
Remove the g to make sine
Remove the e to make sin
Remove the s to make in
Remove the n to make I
strapping
Remove the s to make trapping
Remove the t to make rapping
Remove the p to make raping
Remove the r to make aping
Remove the a to make ping
Remove the g to make pin
Remove the p to make in
Remove the n to make I