Riddles and Brain Teasers

Rotating Coins Around Coins

You have two coins of equal size on a table, situated end to end vertically. If you roll the top coin around the bottom coin until it returns to its original position, how many times will it have rotated?

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Twice. See this video for more details.

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In Oven But Not Baked

What must be in the oven yet can not be baked?
Grows in the heat yet shuns the light of day?
What sinks in water but rises with air?
Looks like sand, but is fine as hair?

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Yeast.

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Full of Holes Yet Full of Water

I’m full of holes, yet I’m full of water. What am I?

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A sponge.

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Cut One Off And I Become Stronger

I have three letters. Cut one off and I become stronger. Cut two off and I become ten. What am I?

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A fox. Removing the f leaves ox, a strong animal. Cutting off the fo leaves X, the roman numeral for 10.

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Characters In The Correct Order

Put the characters C D M L X in the correct order (not alphabetical).

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X (10), L (50), C (100), D (500), M (1000). They’re Roman numerals in order from smallest to largest.

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Plum Taking

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

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

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A Seed of Three Letters

I am a seed, three letters in the name,
Take away two and I sound quite the same.

What am I?

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Pea.

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Money For Answers

A dad offered to pay his son $5 for every correct answer on his math test. His son said he would pay his Dad $8 for every incorrect answer. There were 26 questions on the test and no money was exchanged.

How did this happen?

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The son got 16 questions correct and missed 10. This means he owed his Dad 10 * $8 = $80, but his Dad owed him 16 * $5 = $80, so it was a wash.
Two math equations to solve it are x + y = 26 and 5x = 8y.

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A Trail of Silver

If you carried my burden, you would be crushed.
Though not rich, I leave a trail of silver.

What am I?

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A snail. They carry their homes on their back, and a house would crush a person (even the tiny houses). And the trail of silver is a bit of a stretch, but it’s the slimy, gooey substance snails leave behind them.

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