Lucrezia Borgia

Lucrezia Borgia invited a prospective victim to lunch. They ate a hearty meal of roast venison, with a selection of fresh vegetables, all washed down with the finest wine imported from Bordeaux, France.

After the meal, they ate figs and freshly picked grapes.

“Just one apple left”, said Lucrezia, “I insist you have it.

“No”, said the guest, “I couldn’t”.

“Tell you what”, said Lucrezia, “we’ll share it”, and promptly sliced the apple in two with her sharpest knife. The guest and Lucrezia started to eat their respective halves when the guest’s eyes rolled towards the ceiling and he fell over, dead.

“Another victim successfully dispatched,” thought Lucrezia.

How did she do it?

She used a knife coated on just one edge with cyanide. When she sliced the apple in two, only the victim’s half was poisoned.

Posted in Brain Teasers

The Sun Bakes Them

The sun bakes them,
The hand breaks them,
The foot treads them,
The mouth tastes them.

Grapes. Grapes are grown in the sun, can be hand picked and crushed by feet (which is sort of gross) to make wine, which is tasted by your mouth when you drink it.

Posted in Riddles

I Am Pronounced As One Letter But Written As Three

I am pronounced as one letter but written as three,
There are two of me, I am single, I am double,
I can be blue, brown, black or green.
I can be read from right to left or left to right and am still the same.

What am I?

Eye.

Posted in Riddles

Fix This Roman Numeral Equation

This Roman numeral equation is wrong, but you can fix it without changing any of the elements of the equation. How is this possible?

I + XI = X

Look at it upside down. Instead of changing the equation, you can change your perspective.

This is from Dan Brown’s novel, Origin.

Posted in Brain Teasers

Take Away the Whole

What is it that after you take away the whole, some still remains?

Wholesome.

Posted in Riddles

When Set Loose I Fly Away

When set loose
I fly away,
Never so cursed
As when I go astray.

A fart.

Posted in Riddles

A Corny Question

A merchant has 21 sacks of grain: 7 full, 7 half-full and 7 empty. He wants to divide them equally among his three sons. How can he do this, without transferring any grain between sacks, so each son has the same quantity of grain and number of sacks?

We know each son must end up with 7 sacks and 3.5 sacks of grain, since (7 sacks + 7 half sacks) / 3 = 3.5 sacks each.
There are two solutions.

Solution 1
Son 1: 3 full, 1 half-full and 3 empty.
Son 2: 3 full, 1 half-full and 3 empty.
Son 3: 1 full, 5 half-full and 1 empty.

Solution 2
Son 1: 2 full, 3 half-full and 2 empty.
Son 2: 2 full, 3 half-full and 2 empty.
Son 3: 3 full, 1 half-full and 3 empty.

Posted in Brain Teasers

5 25 325 4325

Given

1 = 5
2 = 25
3 = 325
4 = 4325

What does 5 equal?

54325. Rather than being a mathematical solution, the answer is derived by prepending (putting in front of) the value on the left side of the equation with the previous answer. So for 3 you take 25, the previous answer, and put 3 in front, giving you 325. Then you put 4 in front to get 4325 and lastly, put 5 in front to get 54325.

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Three Pills From the Doctor

Your doctor gives you three pills and tells you to take one every half hour. How much time will have passed by the time you’ve taken all three pills?

One hour. You take the first pill, then wait a half hour and take the second pill, then at the hour mark you take the third and last pill.

Posted in Brain Teasers

Tends To Overlook

I am something everybody tends to overlook, no matter how careful they are. What am I?

Your nose.

Posted in Riddles