If You Break Me, I Don’t Stop Working

If you break me
I do not stop working,
If you touch me
I may be snared,
If you lose me
Nothing will matter.

Your heart.

Posted in Riddles

Useless Keys

What keys don’t unlock any doors?

Piano keys, keyboard keys, monkey, donkey, turkey, jockey, hockey, doohickey, malarkey and passkey. There may be others, but you get the drift.

Posted in Brain Teasers

A Square and a Cube

What two-digit number is the square of one number and the cube of another?

64

82 = 64
43 = 64

Posted in Brain Teasers

Shortest Word With All the Vowels

What is the shortest word in the English language to contain all of the vowels?

Sequoia, eulogia or miaoued are all good options, but there’s an even shorter (and more obscure) word with all the vowels and not a single consonant: Iouea. It’s not the kind of word you’d use at the dinner table, but it’s listed in the Wikipedia dictionary as a genus of Cretaceous fossil sponges.

If you got really tricky and tried to find a word that contained the letters in the phrase ‘all of the vowels’, you probably found, like I did, that there isn’t one. But it was still worth checking.

Posted in Brain Teasers

Odd Start, Even Finish

What three letter English word has an odd start, an even finish and an infinitely long middle?

The word vex. “v” is Roman numeral 5, which is odd. “x” is Roman numeral 10, which is even. “e” is the base of the natural logarithm and is irrational (e = 2.718281828…). Its mantissa (the part to the right of the decimal point) is infinitely long.

Posted in Riddles

Once I’m Known You Can Hit A Grand Slam

A nine-letter word with but one vowel,
After I’m used you may need a towel,
Tests can be used to learn what I am,
Once I am known you can hit a grand slam.

Strengths. It has 9 letters with only one vowel, when you use your strengths the exertion can cause you to sweat, requiring a towel, tests can identify ones strengths and once you know what they are, you can hit a metaphorical grand slam by employing them in an area of your choosing.

Posted in Riddles

A City in the Twilight

Half-way up the hill, I see thee at last, lying beneath me with thy sounds and sights — A city in the twilight, dim and vast, with smoking roofs, soft bells, and gleaming lights.

The Past (Longfellow).

Posted in Riddles

I’m On A Horse

You’re riding a horse. To the right of you is a cliff and in front of you is an elephant moving at the same pace and you can’t overtake it. To the left of you is a hippo running at the same speed and a lion is chasing you. How do you get to safety?

Get off the merry-go-round.

Posted in Brain Teasers

Divisible By One To Ten

What is the smallest number that is evenly divisible by 1 through 10?

2520.

2520/1 = 2520
2520/2 = 1260
2520/3 = 840
2520/4 = 630
2520/5 = 504
2520/6 = 420
2520/7 = 360
2520/8 = 315
2520/9 = 280
2520/10 = 252

Posted in Brain Teasers

Presidents and Parents

How could the 22nd and the 24th U.S. Presidents have the same parents, but not be brothers?

The 22nd and 24th U.S. presidents were both the same person – Grover Cleveland.

Posted in Brain Teasers