Dead and Bound

Dead and bound,
what once was free.
What made no sound,
Now sings with glee.

What is it?

Any wooden, stringed instrument (guitar, violin, cello, ukulele, etc)

Posted in Riddles

Always Old, Sometimes New

Always old, sometimes new.
Never sad, sometimes blue.
Never empty, sometimes full.
Never pushes, always pulls.

What am I?

The moon. The moon has been around for quite some time, but there’s a “new” moon every month or so. A Blue moon is a rare event. The moon is a body of rock, so it’s never empty, but we do see what we call a full moon some nights. And the moon’s gravity “pulls” on the ocean to create low and high tides, but it doesn’t push anyone around because it’s a friendly fellah.

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Kings And Queens May Cling To Power

Kings and queens may cling to power
and the jester’s got his call
But, as you may all discover,
the common one outranks them all

An ace (in a deck of cards).

Posted in Riddles

24 from 9, 6, 11 and 3

How do you get 24 from 9, 6, 11 and 3 using addition, subtraction, multiplication or division?

There are multiple solutions.

(6 – 3) × 11 – 9

(11 – 6) × 3 + 9

(9 – 6) × (11 – 3)

Posted in Brain Teasers

A Big Pizza Pie

To get the most pizza, should you order two 12″ pizzas or one 18″ pie?

One 18″, with ~255 sumptuous square inches. Two 12″ pizzas would only give you ~226 square inches.

Note: The area of a circle is = πr2.

Posted in Brain Teasers

Two Two Four Sequence

What number comes next?

2, 2, 4, 12, 48, ___

240. To get the number, multiply the previous number in the series by its position. 48 is in the 5th position, so 48 × 5 = 240

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Rotating Coins Around Coins

You have two coins of equal size on a table, situated end to end vertically. If you roll the top coin around the bottom coin until it returns to its original position, how many times will it have rotated?

Twice. See this video for more details.

Posted in Brain Teasers

Four Walls and a Bird

A man walks out of a house that has four walls all facing north. A bird walks past him. What kind is it?

A penguin. If all four walls face north the house must be at the southernmost point of the earth. Really, any native antarctic bird would work.

This brain teaser is quite similar to the guy whose house walls face south and sees a bear, then you’re asked the color of the bear. The bear would be white (a polar bear) as they’re the only bears indigenous to the north pole. A lawyer would claim it’s all circumstantial evidence and the bear could be an imported brown bear. The lawyer makes a valid point.

Posted in Brain Teasers

Feared By Most But Experienced By All

I am a five-letter word and am feared by most but experienced by all. If you remove my first and last letters I bring life. If you add an ‘r’ between the third and fourth letters I am almost nothing and if you remove the first letter from this new word, I am your home.

What am I?

Death (eat, dearth, earth). No one can escape death, but many fear it. Removing the first and last letters leaves eat, and we must eat to stay alive. Adding the ‘r’ turns death into dearth, which is scarcity and removing the first letter of dearth leaves earth, where you live, assuming this riddle hasn’t reached extraterrestrials.

Posted in Riddles

I Climb Higher When Hot

I climb higher when hot,
But beware my rage,
I’ll kill with a breath,
If I can escape my cage.

Mercury. It rises when encased in a thermometer when it’s hot and mercury poisoning results from inhaling mercury.

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