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

Finding Rhymes in Categories

Find rhymes for each set of words so the first is a category and the rest are items in the category.

For example, LOYALTY: spring, clean, rinse → ROYALTY: king, queen, prince

1. LOIN: mortar, climb, pickle
2. SQUISH: famine, search, doubt
3. GILDING: radium, Bose, hassle
4. THYME: surgery, girder, scrutiny

1. COIN: quarter, dime, nickel
2. FISH: salmon, perch, trout
3. BUILDING: stadium, mosque, castle
4. CRIME: perjury, murder, mutiny

Posted in Brain Teasers

Has Wings But Cannot Fly

What has wings but can not fly.
Is enclosed, but can outside also lie.
Can open itself up or close itself away.
Is the place of kings and queens,
And doggerel of every means.
What is it upon which I stand,
Which can lead us to different lands?

A stage.

Posted in Riddles

Brothers And Sisters Of Leopold

If Leopold had one more sister he would have twice as many sisters as brothers.
If he had one more brother he would have the same number of each.

How many brothers and sisters does Leopold have?

Three sisters and two brothers.

Posted in Brain Teasers

The Truck and the Plane

A delivery truck from the post office is sent to the airport to meet a cargo plane at its planned arrival time. The plane lands ahead of schedule and its contents are brought toward the post office by bicycle. After a half hour, the bicycle meets the truck and the mail is transferred.

The truck returns from the post office 20 minutes early. How early did the plane arrive? (Assume all transactions are instantaneous)

The delivery truck arrived back 20 minutes early, so it would have taken 20 minutes to go from where it met the bicycle to get to the airport and back. Therefore, the bicycle and truck met when the truck was 10 minutes from the airport. Adding those 10 minutes to the 30 minutes the truck had already driven to meet the bicycle means the plane arrived 40 minutes ahead of schedule.

Posted in Brain Teasers

The Old Man’s Book

Milton shuffled slowly along the shelves browsing books. He finally walked up to the counter and handed the girl a book. She looked at the inside cover and told him it would be $3.75. Milton handed her the money and walked away without the book. The girl watched him leave empty-handed but didn’t try to stop him. Why?

Milton was a forgetful and naughty fellow. He was summoning his courage to approach the counter to return his overdue book. The kindly lass at the counter saw the book was 15 days overdue and had accrued the egregious late fee of $3.75 (25 cents a day). Lesson learned, Milton never returned a book late again.

Posted in Brain Teasers

Until I Am Measured

Until I am measured
I am not known,
Yet how you miss me
When I have flown.

Time.

Posted in Riddles

A Person, Place and Thing

Fill in the blanks to make three common, English words (no plurals). The answers are a person, a place and a thing, in that order.

1. _ _ L F B A _ _
2. _ _ _ C K Y A _ _
3. _ _ O D P E _ _ _ _

1. HALFBACK
2. BRICKYARD or STOCKYARD
3. WOODPECKER

Posted in Brain Teasers

I Drift Forever With The Current

I drift forever with the current
down these long canals they’ve made
Tame, yet wild, I run elusive
Multitasking to your aid.
Before I came, the world was darker
Colder, sometimes, rougher, true
But though I might make living easy,
I’m good at killing people too.

Electricity (or lightning).

Posted in Riddles

A Seed of Three Letters

I am a seed, three letters in the name,
Take away two and I sound quite the same.

What am I?

Pea.

Posted in Riddles