Add More But Weigh Less

The 17 items in your shopping cart weigh 8 pounds. But when your daughter puts in a ball, poster board and yo-yo the shopping cart weighs less. How is that possible?

Your daughter had to get out of the cart to fit the remaining items.

Posted in Brain Teasers

I Can Cry Without Eyes

I can cry but I have no eyes.
I can fly but I have no wings.
Wherever I go, darkness follows me.

What am I?

A cloud. Crying is rain, they fly in the sky and darkness follows because they block the sun.

Posted in Riddles
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Abraham Encoding

The name ABRAHAM can be changed into a word for a primitive musical instrument by replacing each letter with a different letter. The repeated letters (A is this case) must be replaced with the same replacement letter in the new word.

What is the musical instrument?

PANPIPE

Posted in Brain Teasers

Dividing Five Diamonds Equally

How can five people divide a bag of five diamonds equally without cutting them while still leaving one diamond remaining in the sack?

Give four of the lucky folks a diamond each, then give the fifth person the bag with the remaining diamond still inside.

Posted in Brain Teasers

A Most Unusual Paragraph

This is an unusual paragraph. I’m curious as to just how quickly you can find out what is so unusual about it. It looks so ordinary and plain that you would think nothing was wrong with it. In fact, nothing is wrong with it! It is highly unusual though. Study it and think about it. You still may not find anything odd. But if you work at it a bit, you might find out. Try to do so without any coaching.

The letter “e” is the most common letter in the English language, yet it never appears in the entire paragraph.

Posted in Brain Teasers

Sixteen, Twenty-six, Then What?

Fill in the missing numbers in this number series.

16, 26, ?, 43, 50, ?, 61, 65, ?, 70, 71

The method to create the series is start by adding 10, then decrease the addend by 1 for each new number in the sequence. That gives us:

16 + 10 = 26
26 + 9 = 35
35 + 8 = 43
43 + 7 = 50
50 + 6 = 56
56 + 5 = 61
61 + 4 = 65
65 + 3 = 68
68 + 2 = 70
70 + 1 = 71

Posted in Brain Teasers

Found On a Hand And Also a Tree

I’m found on a hand and also a tree,
You’ll find me on Sunday, occasionally,
Records, pictures, islands and brew,
From August to Wolfgang and Sago for you.

What am I?

A Palm.

Posted in Riddles

Finley’s Flaky Friends

Finley’s friends all chipped in to buy her a wedding gift. At first, ten friends agreed to contribute the same amount. Then two “friends” dropped out. The remaining eight had to add another dollar each to cover the cost of the gift. How much did the gift cost?

$40.

Let x be the amount the ten friends initially agreed to pay. We can then make the following equation:

10x = 8x + 8

Solving for x gives us $4, thus the gift cost 10 × $4, or $40.

Posted in Brain Teasers

Fill in the Blank and Discover the Event

Fill in the missing words to make a phrase with both the left and right hand sides. For instance, if you were given GRAPE __________ FLY, the missing word could be FRUIT, making GRAPEFRUIT and FRUIT FLY.

1. TOP __________ AGENT
2. PROXY __________ OF NO CONFIDENCE
3. SECOND-HAND __________ DETECTOR
4. THE SACK OF __________ APPLE
5. ST. LOUIS __________ SIN

Once you have the words, what event does it represent?

1. SECRET
2. VOTE
3. SMOKE
4. ROME
5. CARDINAL

The event is a Papal conclave, when a new Pope is chosen.

Posted in Brain Teasers

Border Plane Crash

A plane crashed on the border or US and Canada. Where do they bury the survivors?

Nowhere, you don’t bury survivors.

Posted in Brain Teasers