This Is What Some People Do

This is what some people do,
For a compliment or two,
Anglers do it on a bank,
Others keep theirs in a tank.

What am I?

A fish. Some people fish for compliments, anglers are fishermen and fish live in a tank.

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Thin, Bold, Sick And Cold

One thin, one bold,
One sick, one cold.
The earth we span,
To prey upon man.

Who are we?

The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse.

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A Date With No Numbers

How can you write a date in 5 letters without using any numbers?

The most popular answer for this teaser is ‘today’. Of course this only works if you’re reading it on that particular date or if the date is not specified. Another option is to respond literally with ‘a date’. Lastly, certain dates could be squeezed into letters using Roman numerals if you abbreviate the year to 2 numerals. For example, January 20th, 2011 would be I XX XI.

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I Am What Remains

I am what remains of what
was once a living whole,
dug in deep, protruding, though,
and unobtainable.

A stump.

By Sef Daystrom

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Cut One Off And I Become Stronger

I have three letters. Cut one off and I become stronger. Cut two off and I become ten. What am I?

A fox. Removing the f leaves ox, a strong animal. Cutting off the fo leaves X, the roman numeral for 10.

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Three Feet But No Head

What has three feet but no head?

A yard stick (it’s 3 feet long).

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1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 = 100

This equation is incomplete: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 = 100

One way to make it accurate is by adding seven plus and minus signs, like so.

1 + 2 + 3 – 4 + 5 + 6 + 78 + 9 = 100

How can you do it using only 3 plus or minus signs?

123 – 45 – 67 + 89 = 100

Posted in Brain Teasers

Sleeping Killer

A man gets ready for bed at 9:45 pm. He makes himself a drink, then turns off the TV and the lights. The night was windy and there was a major storm. The next day he discovers he was the cause of seven deaths. How is this possible?

He lived in a lighthouse as lighthouse keeper. He turned off all the lights by accident, so a ship with 7 passengers couldn’t negotiate the rocky shores. One would think the light switches in a lighthouse would be more clearly marked.

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Code in the Cold

Last winter I found myself locked out of my house because I couldn’t remember the 5-digit code to open the garage door. I used the following facts to get inside.

1. The second and third digits add up to 9.
2. The first digit is equal to the second digit cubed.
3. The sum of the third and fifth digits is the smallest number with exactly five divisors.
4. The fourth digit is equal to 6 times the second-to-last digit.
5. None of the digits repeat.

What was the code?

82709

If we label each digit a, b, c, d and e, we get the following equations.
1. b + c = 9
2. a = b3
3. c + e = 16 (since 16 is the smallest number with five divisors – 1, 2, 4, 8 and 16).
4. d = 6 * d (The fourth and second-to-last digits are the same number, meaning d must be zero to satisfy the equation)
5. b must be zero, one or two (b can’t be three because that makes a=27, which isn’t a single digit). Zero and one result in duplicate digits (00907 and 11808 respectively) so the only remaining value for b is 2, giving us 82709 and warmth.

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As I went over London Bridge

As I went over London Bridge
I met my sister Jenny
I broke her neck and drank her blood
And left her standing empty

A bottle of gin.

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