Halo of Water, Tongue of Wood

Halo of water, tongue of wood
Skin of stone, long I’ve stood.
My fingers short reach to the sky
Inside my heart men live and die.

A castle.

Posted in Riddles

How to Make the Great Escape

Shawn and Kyle are bunk mates in prison and are desperate to escape. There is an unbarred window high above them, but the walls are smooth and it’s too high for them to reach even when standing on each other’s shoulders. Their cell has no furnishings other than a toilet and even when standing on the toilet and each other’s shoulders, they can’t reach the window.

They’ve tried digging through the dirt floor but the wall extends 50 feet below. How could escape through the window?

Smurf imprisoned

They could dig down with their hands, but it would take too long to dig 50 feet down. Instead, they could pile the dirt they dig up to give them enough height to reach the window. If they put the toilet seat down, they could pile the dirt on top, then get on each other’s shoulders to reach the window. That would mean only one of them would be able to get out. The remaining prisoner could either continue piling dirt to account for the missing guy or the escaped prisoner could come back with a rope to help his mate escape.

Posted in Brain Teasers

Going the Wrong Way on a One-Way Street

Noreen doesn’t have a driver’s license and goes the wrong way on a one-way street, then turns left at a corner with a “No left turns” sign. A policeman sees her but does nothing. Why?

She was walking.

Posted in Brain Teasers

Holds Fast To The Center Of Everything

There is one word that stands the test of time and holds fast to the center of everything. Though everyone will try at least once in their life to move around this word, but in fact, unknowingly, they use it every moment of the day. Young or old, awake or in sleep, human or animal, this word stands fast. It belongs to everyone, to all living things, but no one can master it. The word is?

Gravity.

Posted in Riddles

Sweet And Valuable, But Lightning Fast

A tiny thing, that you exist,
Sweet and valuable, but lightning fast,
Combined minds and a member of royalty,
Without me you would die.

What am I?

The letter ‘b’, the verb to be or a bee. The letter b and a bee are both small and to be means you exist. Bees make honey, which is sweet, and their wings are going at around 230 beats per second. Bees are valuable because they pollinate flowers. They live in hives and the queen bee runs the show. If it weren’t for bees, we would probably starve to death.

Posted in Riddles

Stand Take Mine

What does this sentence represent?

Stand   Take  Mine  Taking
  I     You    To     My

I understand you undertake to undermine my undertaking.

Posted in Brain Teasers
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Horse Fence

Farmer Finnegan needs to build a fence to keep his horses on his property. He only has a little over 1.5 miles of fence materials, but there’s also a mile-long straight river running through his property. What shape should he use for the fenced in area to give his horses the most space possible?

Our dear friend Finnegan should build a half-circle fence with the river as the diameter, giving the horses about 0.4 square miles to frolic and play in.

Area of semi-circle = πr2 / 2 = π × .5 miles2 / 2 = 0.3927

Posted in Brain Teasers

100 Less Than 99

Where do you find that 100 is less than 99?

On a microwave. Most microwaves will run for a minute if you enter 100, but will run for a minute and 39 seconds if you enter 99.

100 is also less than 99 in an ordered ranking, where 1 is first, and 100th is a lower rank than 99th place.

Posted in Brain Teasers

What is HIJKLMNO?

HIJKLMNO

What 5-letter word does this represent?

Water. Or literally, H to O, which sounds the same as H2O.

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How Old Is The Shepherd?

There are 125 sheep and 5 dogs in a flock.

How old is the shepherd?

You can’t determine the answer.

I debated adding this riddle because it is less of a riddle and more of an illustration of how kids are (or are not) being taught to think for themselves. But after reading how kids feel the need to make up an answer without understanding why, I thought this could be a good reminder for all of us to exercise our critical thinking skills.

(via Student Voices)

Posted in Riddles