Life Is Funny

“Life’s funny”, said an old friend when I bumped into him the other day.
“Listen to this, I was born in March, yet I celebrate my birthday in August, and last February I married my mother”.

How is this possible?

He was born in the month of August in a town named March, became a priest and married his widowed mother to her second husband in February (the month).

Posted in Brain Teasers

Find The Hidden Color

Find the color in each of these sentences.

1. Temper or anger are signs of weakness.
2. The money is for Edward.
3. You’ll find I got it elsewhere.
4. One dancer, I see, is out of step.
5. “I’m a gent and a lady’s man,” he said.

1. orange
2. red
3. indigo
4. cerise (This was a tough one)
5. magenta

Posted in Brain Teasers

You Got Me in the Woods

When you went into the woods you got me.
You hated me yet you wanted to find me.
You went home with me cause you couldn’t find me.

What was it?

A splinter.

Posted in Riddles

The More You Have, The Less You See

The more you have of it, the less you see. What is it?

Darkness.

Posted in Riddles

Three Two Three Sequence

What number belongs at the beginning of this sequence?

?, 3, 2, 3, 9, 2, 4, 8, 4, 3, 7, 6

3 ½.

If you break up the numbers into groups of 4, a,b,c,d, then 2 × |a – d| = |b – c|.

9 2 4 8 → 2 × |9 – 8| = |2 – 4|, or 2 × 1 = 2
4 3 7 6 → 2 × |4 – 6| = |3 – 7|, or 2 × 2 = 4, so
n 3 2 3 → 2 × |3 ½ – 3| = |3 – 2|, or 2 × ½ = 1;

I’m not sure this is the correct solution, but it’s the best I’ve found so far. Email me if you know of a better one.

Posted in Brain Teasers
Tagged with

A Creature, Part Man

This creature, part man and part tree,
hates the termite as much as the flea.
His tracks do not match,
and his limbs may detach,
but he’s not a strange creature to see.

What is it?

A man with a wooden leg.

Posted in Riddles

I Can Be Long or Short

I can be long, or I can be short.
I can be grown, and I can be bought.
I can be painted, or left bare.
I can be round, or square.
What am I?

A fingernail.

Posted in Riddles

How to Stay Dry?

A group of ten people are going out for pizza but only two of them have an umbrella to keep them dry. Somehow they are able to walk all the way to the pizza place without getting wet. How?

It’s not raining.

Posted in Brain Teasers

Alfred’s Tough Cash Request

Alfred is at the bank to cash his $200 check. He tells the cashier he would like some one dollar bills, ten times as many two dollar bills and the rest in fives.

How many of each denomination does the cashier need to give Alfred?

Five $1 bills, 50 $2 bills and 19 $5 bills.

We know that in order to give the rest of the amount in fives, the sum of the one and two dollar bills needs to be divisible by five (i.e. end in 0 or 5).

If we start with a single one dollar bill, we’d need ten two dollar bills to satisfy the request, making $21. But we need a sum that is divisible by 5. So we keep going up, like so:

$1 + $2 * 10 = $21
$2 + $2 * 20 = $42
$3 + $2 * 30 = $63
$4 + $2 * 40 = $84
$5 + $2 * 50 = $105 (Aha! It’s divisible by 5)
$6 + $2 * 60 = $126
$7 + $2 * 70 = $147
$8 + $2 * 80 = $168
$9 + $2 * 90 = $189

So the only option that works is 5 $1 bills and 50 $2 bills, leaving $95 (95 / 5 = 19) to be paid out in 19 fives.

Alfred is one tough customer.

Posted in Brain Teasers

What Comes Next I S I T

What comes next in this series?

I S I T P N A A D L I I Y N ___

The letter A.

There are three separate series

1. Starting with the first letter and taking every third letter you get ITALY.
2. Starting with the second letter and taking every third letter you get SPAIN.
3. Starting with the third letter and taking every third letter you get INDIA.

Posted in Brain Teasers