Fill in the Missing Element

Here is a series of numbers:

16 06 68 88 ___ 98

What belongs in the blank spot?

87 is the common answer to this, but it has to be flipped upside down, so I consider L8 more correct.

If you flip the numbers horizontally by 180 degrees:

86 87 88 89 90 91

You see that the blank spot is 87, counting from 86 to 91. However, you need to flip it around, so it becomes L8.

Posted in Brain Teasers

I A N Rebus

What does the following rebus represent?

I           A
      N
R           B

Scatterbrain.

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Job Hopping Jeremy

Jeremy was making $10 an hour at his summer job, but he hated the work. He decided to take a 50% pay cut to work at an easier job. He liked his new job at first, then grew bored and found another job paying 50% more than he was currently making. What was his hourly pay at the third job?

$7.50. If you guessed $10, don’t feel bad. Percentages can be counter intuitive.

First job: $10/hour
Second job: $10/hour – ($10 &times .5) = $5/hour
Third job: $5/hour + ($5 × .5) = $7.50

Posted in Brain Teasers

I Can Be Quick, And Then I’m Deadly

I can be quick and then I’m deadly,
I am a rock, shell and bone medley.
If I was made into a man, I’d make people dream,
I gather in millions by ocean, sea and stream.

Sand. Quicksand is deadly (at least in movies). Sand is made up of rocks, shells and bones. The sandman visits you when you dream (again, according to legend, I’ve never seen him…) and there is plenty of sand in the oceans, seas and streams.

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The Same Upside Down

A word of five letters,
Upside down is the same,
A shark does this,
But it’s not to blame.

What is the word?

SWIMS.

If you turn the word upside down it’s the same word (the W and M flip to resemble themselves). A shark swims to attack, but it’s not bad. Sharks are just trying to eat. I’d still recommend you swim away if you see one swimming toward you.

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Not Many People Understand Me

My first three letters stores things. Not many people understand me. What am I?

Binary. Bin is a storage container and binary just 1s and 0s.

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Word Party

You watch a group of words going to a party. A word either enters through one of two doors or is turned away by the guards. ‘HIM’ goes through door number one and ‘BUG’ goes through door number two. ‘HER’ is turned away. ‘MINT’ and ‘WEAVE’ go in through door one, ‘DOOR’ and ‘CORD’ take door two and ‘THIS’ and ‘That’ aren’t allowed in.

What determines whether a word can enter and which door they must use?

Door number one is for words composed entirely of capital letters written using only straight lines, such as A, E, F, H, and I. The entire set of letters allowed through door number one are AEFHIKLMNTVWXYZ. Door number two, as might be expected, is for words with capital letters that have a curve, including BCDGJOPQRSU. Any words composed of both straight and curved letters (or lowercase letters) are not allowed in. The word ‘THAT’ would have been sent through door number one, if the letters had been capitalized.

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Words With Many Faces

My letters become three faces,
One has gone to far away places,
Another sets a standard high,
The third can never be a guy.

What are the three words?

Sailed, ideals and ladies.

Posted in Brain Teasers

Cannot Hear or Even See

I cannot hear or even see,
But sense light and sounds there may be,
Sometimes I end up on a hook,
I can be combined with a book.

What am I?

A worm. Worms don’t have eyes or ears, but they can sense light and their bodies can detect vibrations in the ground. Fishers use worms as bait and the term bookwork is used for someone who loves to read.

Posted in Riddles

Three Five Six To One Hundred

Without changing the order of these numbers, how can they equal 100?

3 5 6 2 54 5

= 3 * (5 – 6) + 2 * 54 – 5
= -3 + 108 – 5
= 105 – 5
= 100

Posted in Brain Teasers