A Big Family Photo

A family photo has the following:
1 grandfather, 1 grandmother
2 fathers, 2 mothers
6 children, 4 grandchildren
2 brothers, 2 sisters
3 sons, 3 daughters
1 father-in-law, 1 mother-in-law
1 daughter-in-law

It could show 29 different people, but what is the smallest number of people if could have?

Eight. 4 children, their mother and father and one set of grandparents.

Posted in Brain Teasers

A Promise to the President

Ronald has a rare opportunity to meet the President of the United States. During his visit the president gives him a gift but tells Ronald he is never to sell it unless he sees the president again. Ronald consents, but the president dies later that year. Years later a man offers to buy the President’s gift for $1000. Ronald agrees and exchanges the gift for 20 crisp $50 bills. Did he keep his promise?

Yes. The president was Ulysses S. Grant, who died in 1885 and whose face has been on the $50 bill since 1913. He saw the president on the bills before he made the exchange.

Posted in Brain Teasers

The Old Gray Surgeon

A man and his son had a terrible car accident and were rushed to the hospital. The man died on the way, but the son was still barely alive. When they arrived, an old gray surgeon was called in to operate. Upon seeing the young boy, the surgeon said, “I can’t operate – this is my son.”

How is this possible?

The surgeon was the boy’s mother.

Posted in Brain Teasers

Lying On Certain Days of the Week

Angel lies on Mondays, Tuesdays and Wednesdays but tells the truth the rest of the week.

Brenda lies on Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays, but tells the truth every other day.

Angel says, “Yesterday I was lying.”

Brenda replies, “So was I.”

What day was it?

Thursday.

Putting the information in a table makes it easier to solve. We’ll use A for Angie, B for Brenda, T for truth and F (false) for lying.

 SMTWThFS
ATFFFTTT
BTTTTFFF

To begin with, there aren’t any days where both of them told the truth and lied the day before, so we know one of them must be lying.

So we have two options, either Angel is lying or Brenda is.

Option 1. Angel is lying.

In order for this to be the case, she needs to be lying today and telling the truth yesterday, so we need two days in a row with T F. And if Brenda is telling the truth, she would need two days with F T. That means we’re looking for two days that have

Angie:  T F
Brenda: F T

Option 2. Brenda is lying.

This is just the reverse of the above, so we need to find:

Angie:  F T
Brenda: T F

The only day that matches either of the two options is Thursday, and it’s option 2. Brenda is the liar.

Posted in Brain Teasers

Humans and Animals

I am important to both human beings and animals. Both search for me but it is hard to find me. I travel to benefit them. What am I?

A scent or smell. A scent is important to both humans and animals and both search for scents (for different reasons). A scent travels through the air to benefit humans and animals, again, for different reasons.

Special thanks to Vavessa for the answer to this one.

Posted in Riddles

Short Black Dress

In the day I stand tall in a white petticoat. By evening I’m in my short black dress. What am I?

The wick of a candle.

Posted in Riddles

Soft and Transparent

I am soft and transparent.
I am so small that I can sit on your finger.
I have no light but I help you to see the beautiful world.

What am I?

A contact lens.

Posted in Riddles
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Plum Taking

A man without eyes saw plums on a tree.
He neither took them nor left them, how can this be?

The man had only one eye and took one plum. (note singular versus plural)

Posted in Brain Teasers

250 Lbs Across the River

Two boys weighing 50 pounds each and their older brother weighing 100 pounds wish to cross a river. Their boat will only hold 100 pounds. How can they all cross the river in the boat?

Two 50lb boys cross, one comes back.
100lb boy crosses, other 50lb boy returns
Both 50lb boys cross.

Posted in Brain Teasers

Wait 27 Days Or See It Every Day?

You could wait 27 days or you could see it everyday. What is it?

The moon. Even though the true moon cycle is about 29.5 days, it takes 27 days, 7 hours, and 43 minutes for our Moon to complete one full orbit around Earth. Thus you can see the full moon every 27 days or you can moon yourself every day in the mirror. Not that you’d want to. Does anyone moon themselves? Can’t say as I’ve ever had the “pleasure”.

Posted in Riddles