Your Father’s Sister’s Sister-in-law

What relation would your father’s only single sister’s sister-in-law be to you?

Your mother.

Posted in Brain Teasers

Reflecting on Time

When a clock’s reflection is 2:30, what is the correct time?

9:30

Posted in Brain Teasers

Never For Breakfast

What two things can you never have for breakfast?

Lunch and dinner.

Posted in Riddles

Leaves That Don’t Fall

I have wood but no bark,
And leaves that don’t fall,
I am made up of branches,
and come in sizes of all.

I am completely devoured many times,
over and over by a worm of a kind.
If you want to know the answer of mine,
look for the secret that I’ve stored inside.

What am I?

A library or bookstore.

Posted in Riddles
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Sum of 22

Fill in numbers such that the sum of each 3-character row is 22 while the sum of all five numbers is 30.

a
b c d
e

The problem works out to a set of three equations:
b + c + d = 22
a + c + e = 22
a + b + c + d + e = 30

Solving for c = 14, leaving d = 8 – b and e = 8 – a. In other words, c must be 14, but the other two numbers just have to add up to 8. The requirement that they be unique rules out 4 + 4, so you’re left to choose from the following combations for b + d and a + e:
0 + 8
1 + 7
2 + 6
3 + 5

Posted in Brain Teasers

Which Coin is Counterfeit?

You are given eight coins and told that one of them is counterfeit. The counterfeit one is slightly heavier than the other seven. Otherwise, the coins look identical. Using a simple balance scale, how can you determine which coin is counterfeit using the scale only twice?

First weigh three coins against three others. If the weights are equal, weigh the remaining two against each other. The heavier one is the counterfeit. If one of the groups of three is heavier, weigh two of those coins against each other. If one is heavier, it’s the counterfeit. If they’re equal weight, the third coin is the counterfeit.

Posted in Brain Teasers

How Are These Countries Ordered?

How are these countries ordered?

1. Canada
2. Indonesia
3. Russia
4. Philippines
5. Japan
6. Australia
7. Norway
8. United States
9. New Zealand
10. China

By kilometers of coastline (according to the CIA World Factbook).

1. Canada – 202,080 km / 125,567 mi
2. Indonesia – 54,716 km / 33,998 mi
3. Russia – 37,653 km / 23,396 mi
4. Philippines – 36,289 km / 22548 mi
5. Japan – 29,751 km / 18,486 mi
6. Australia – 25,760 km / 16,006 mi
7. Norway – 25,148 km / 15,626 mi
8. United States – 19,924 km / 12,380 mi
9. New Zealand – 15,134 km / 9403 mi
10. China – 14,500 km / 9009 mi

Note: Greenland has 44,087 km of coastline but it is not yet a fully independent country.

Posted in Brain Teasers

Marble Walls White as Milk

In the marble walls as white as milk,
Lined with skin as soft as silk,
Within a fountain crystal clear,
A golden apple does appear.
No doors are there to this stronghold
Yet thieves break in and steal the gold.

An egg or egg yolk. This is a variation of A Box Without Hinges.

Posted in Riddles

Different Sizes, Colors and Shapes

What comes in different sizes, colors and shapes but creates a larger whole?

A jigsaw puzzle piece.

Posted in Riddles

Say My Name

Say my name and I disappear. What am I?

Silence.

An alternate version is, “What is so fragile it breaks when you say its name?”

Posted in Riddles