Never Was, Always To Be

I never was, am always to be. No one ever saw me, nor ever will. And yet I am the confidence of all, To live and breathe on this terrestrial ball. What am I?

Tomorrow or the future.

Posted in Riddles

Cowboy Corral

Two cowboys live next door to each other and both have a corral for their cows in the back. One day they meet at the back of their homes, standing next to a wall dividing their corrals. The first cowboy gets to thinking and asks his neighbor for a cow so he can double his herd. The other cowboys replies, “That’s fine by me partner, cuz then we’ll have the same number of cows?” How many cows does each cowboy own?

We’ll use A to represent the first cowboy and B for the second cowboy.

A + 1 = 2A, so A = 1.
A + 1 = B – 1, so B = 3.

Posted in Brain Teasers

Scrambled Auctioned

What are two other words (anagrams) that can be made from the letters in “auctioned”?

1. Cautioned
2. Education

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Long and Thin

Long and thin, red within,
With a nail at the end.

What am I?

A finger.

Posted in Riddles

Losing Ten Minutes An Hour

A clock loses exactly ten minutes every hour. If the clock is set correctly at noon, what is the correct time when the clock reads 3:00pm?

3:36pm. For every 60 minutes of real time, the clock moves 50 minutes. Put another way, 60/50 = 1.2 real minutes per slow-clock minute.

In order for the clock to show 3:00pm, 180 of its slow minutes have to pass. 1.2 * 180 clock minutes = 216 real minutes or 3 hours and 36 minutes.

Posted in Brain Teasers

What One One One Represents

What do the following numerals represent?

11111121113122223222

The number of syllables in the numbers from one to twenty.

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Son of Water

You eat something you neither plant nor plow.
It is the son of water, but if water touches it, it dies.

Salt. It comes from saltwater but salt melts ice (the solid form of water).

Posted in Riddles

What Has Roots Nobody Sees?

What has roots that nobody sees,
Is taller than trees,
Up, up it goes,
Yet it never grows?

A mountain (from Tolkien)

Posted in Riddles

Soldiers Line Up Spaced With Pride

Soldiers line up, spaced with pride,
Two long rows lined side by side,
One sole unit can decide,
If the rows will unite or divide.

What am I?

A zipper.

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One Way I’m Feeling Normal

One way I’m feeling normal,
Another I’m extremely thin,
I could be a punishment,
Or the type who always wins.

I’m free from all impurity,
And you may have divined,
I have a keen edge,
But of course I am refined.

Fine.

The riddle refers to a variety of meanings of the word fine.

Feeling normal refers to when you feel fine.
Extremely thin refers to a fine thread.
A punishment refers to being charged a fee.
The one who wins refers to an athlete who is physically trained and hardened close to the limit of efficiency.
Free from impurity refers to measuring the fineness of precious metals.
A keen edge refers to a knife with a fine edge.
Refined refers to fine manners or elegance.

Posted in Riddles