Twice Four and Twenty Blackbirds

Twice four and twenty blackbirds sitting in the rain.
I shot and killed a quarter of them. How many do remain?

After shooting a quarter of the birds, the rest would fly off, so the remaining birds, brutally shot by you, would be:

(2 × (4 + 20)) / 4 = 12

Posted in Brain Teasers

The Densest of My Clan

You ride on me every day but barely notice,
I’m hot and cold at the very same time,
I’m the densest of my clan,
And my first three help you enjoy music.

What am I?

Earth. Most people don’t stop to think that they’re hurtling through space on a huge planet. At any given time the Earth has burning hot magma and freezing arctics at the same time. The Earth is the densest planet and the first three letters, “ear” help you listen to music.

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Sometimes I’m a Sphere

Sometimes I’m a sphere,
Sometimes I’m a banana,
And sometimes I’m not there at all.

What am I?

The moon. A full moon is a sphere, a crescent moon looks like a banana, and sometimes the moon is not visible at all.

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At The Sound Of Me, Men May Dream

At the sound of me, men may dream
Or stamp their feet
At the sound of me, women may laugh
Or sometimes weep

Music.

Posted in Riddles

A Silent Z

What word in the English dictionary has a silent z?

The word rendezvous. Even though it’s a French word, it’s in the English dictionary and is pronounced [rahn-duh-voo].

Turns out rendezvous isn’t the only one. Another word is oyez.

Posted in Brain Teasers

A Smiling Guard

Two guards were on duty outside a barracks. One faced up the road to watch for anyone approaching from the North. The other looked down the road to see if anyone approached from the South. Suddenly one of them said to the other, “Why are you smiling?”

How did he know his companion was smiling?

They were facing each other. As to why his companion was smiling, the world may never know.

Posted in Brain Teasers

I Stand Like A Sentry

I stand like a sentry
And am barred by the gentry,
The first month and its god oft slip
Between my hard, dun colored lip.

What am I?

Sentries are posted at borders, gates, or doors.
The gentry (in this case to referring to the general populace) bar their doors at night.
The first month is January, named after the Roman god Janus, the double-faced God of doorways, passages and thresholds.
You pass through the doorway (hence the slip), and dun is a brown color, referencing the color of wood, which most doors are made of. Though it’s not commonly referred to, the “lip of the door” is the part of the door that fits into the doorframe on the handle/knob side, particularly if the door is lipped or ridged in order to fit the door frame better.

Thanks to Helena for creating this and sending it in.

Posted in Riddles
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Mysterious Math

This problem can be solved by preschool children in five to ten minutes, by programmers in an hour and by people with higher education…well, check it yourself.

8809 = 6
7111 = 0
2172 = 0
6666 = 4
1111 = 0
3213 = 0
7662 = 2
9313 = 1
0000 = 4
2222 = 0
3333 = 0
5555 = 0
8193 = 3
8096 = 5
1012 = 1
7777 = 0
9999 = 4
7756 = 1
6855 = 3
9881 = 5
5531 = 0
2581 = ?

What is the missing number and why?

Two. The number is how many closed circles there are in the 4 digits. 0, 6 and 9 each have one, 8 has 2.

Posted in Brain Teasers

Three Consecutive Days

Name three consecutive days without using the words Wednesday, Friday, or Sunday.

Yesterday, today and tomorrow.

Posted in Brain Teasers

Making Lots of Shirts

In a textile factory, 5 machines take exactly 5 minutes to make 5 shirts. How many minutes will it take 100 machines to produce 100 shirts?

5 minutes. It takes each machine 5 minutes to make a shirt, so if you have all 100 machines running at the same time, they’ll produce the 100 shirts in 5 minutes.

Posted in Brain Teasers