Up and Down and Round About

I’m up and down and round about,
yet all the world can’t find me out.
Though thousands have employed their leisure,
they never yet could find my measure.
I’m found in almost every garden,
In a compass or a farden.
There’s neither chariot coach nor mill
may move one inch except I will.

What am I?

A circle.

Posted in Riddles

In Times Of War He Burns Asunder

Man walks over, man walks under,
In times of war he burns asunder.

What is it?

A bridge.

Posted in Riddles

A Fruity Series

What is the next letter in this fruity series?

a a a p p ?

Y.

The series consists of the letters of papaya in alphabetical order.

Posted in Brain Teasers

What’s The Captain’s Name?

I was standing by a railing,
watching a ship a sailing.
What is the Captain’s name.
If you don’t know his name,
It’s you to blame.
What is the Captain’s name.

“What” is the name of the Captain.

Thanks to Sherry for submitting this one. Here’s the backstory of the riddle.

“One of my favorites I remember as a child from my father, he always said it was a Newfoundland riddle. I don’t know where it may have originated. This is usually spoken. Ensure you say it as a statement and not a question.”

Posted in Riddles

Largest Product

Using all the digits from 1 to 7, what two numbers have the largest product? For example, 1234 x 567 = 699678 but you can do much better than that.

742 x 6531 = 4,846,002.

A similar problem can be found in L.A. Graham’s Ingenious Mathematical Problems and Methods with a range of 1 to 9, but the principle remains the same – the numbers with the smallest difference produce the largest product. You start out with the highest two digits, 7 and 6, then attach 5 and 4, putting the smaller of the two digits with the larger number, giving you 74 and 65. The next two highest digits are 3 and 2, giving you 742 and 653. Finally, you add the 1 to the lower number. Page 80 has the details of that solution.

Posted in Brain Teasers

amid eerie nighed won spawn

What phrase do these words sound like when rearranged?

amid eerie nighed won spawn

“Won spawn amid nighed eerie” sounds like, “Once upon a midnight dreary”, from The Raven by Edgar Allan Poe.

Posted in Brain Teasers

I Am A Word Of Meanings Three

I am a word of meanings three.
Three ways of spelling me there be.
The first is an odour, a smell if you will.
The second some money, but not in a bill.
The third is past tense, a method of passing things on or around.

Can you tell me now, what these words are, that have the same sound?

Scent, cent, sent.

Posted in Riddles

Sits in the Corner

I sit in a corner and travel around the world. What am I?

A stamp.

This is nearly a duplicate of Lives in the Corner.

Posted in Riddles

What Goes Up And Down But Doesn’t Move?

What goes up and down but doesn’t move?

A staircase. They go up and down, but you’re the one moving.

Posted in Riddles

Next in the Sequence

Here is a series of numbers. What is the next number in the sequence?

1
11
21
1211
111221
312211

13112221

The next number in the series counts the previous numbers. Thus the first number is 1, which is one 1, or 11. To describe 11, you have two 1’s, or 21. Now you have one 2 and one 1, so the next number is 1211. The solution is to continue describing the previous number using only numbers.

Posted in Brain Teasers
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