Groups of Creatures

These are names given to groups of creatures or things, but they have been scrambled. What is the correct arrangement?

Colony of Birds
Horde of Spiders
Den of Wild Pigs
Clutter of Crows
Nest of Snakes
Park of Elks
Doylt of Ferrets
Gang of Machine Guns
Business of Swine
Volery of Artillery
Hover of Gnats
Drift of Frogs

Colony of Frogs
Horde of Gnats
Den of Snakes
Clutter of Spiders
Nest of Machine Guns
Park of Artillery
Doylt of Swine
Gang of Elks
Business of Ferrets
Volery of Birds
Hover of Crows
Drift of Wild Pigs

Posted in Brain Teasers

Mislabeled Boxes of Marbles

Three closed boxes have either white marbles, black marbles or both, and they are labeled white, black and both. However, you’re told that each of the labels are wrong. You may reach into one of the boxes and pull out only one marble. Which box should you remove a marble from to determine the contents of all three boxes?

The one labeled both. Since you know it’s labeled incorrectly, it must have all black marbles or all white marbles. After you determine what it contains, you can identify the other two boxes by the process of elimination.

Posted in Brain Teasers

Rooms One Score and Six

This house holds rooms, one score and six,
That shelter a vast mob.
It lets lions lie down with the lambs,
Yet makes both shun the slob.

None now will nestle with nicks and nates,
While reams room near the rear.
Though you and I have separate rooms
Both our bottles brim with beer.

The king and queen can never mate
(Though hands and hearts hobnob)
Because their rooms are separate
If this jail does its job.

What house is this that rules thus
Forcing faith to fend with fear?
The answer to this riddle lies
With dead and dying here.

A dictionary.

Posted in Riddles

A U2 Concert

U2 has a concert that starts in 17 minutes and they must all cross a bridge to get there. All four men begin on the same side of the bridge. You must help them across to the other side. It is night. There is one flashlight. A maximum of two people can cross at one time. Any party who crosses, either 1 or 2 people, must have the flashlight with them.

The flashlight must be walked back and forth. It cannot be thrown and other tricks like that are not needed to solve the problem. The solution is simply a matter of allocating resources in a certain order. Each band member walks at a different speed. A pair must walk together at the rate of the slower man’s pace:

Bono: 1 minute to cross
Edge: 2 minutes to cross
Adam: 5 minutes to cross
Larry: 10 minutes to cross

For example: if Bono and Larry walk across first, 10 minutes have elapsed when they get to the other side of the bridge. If Larry then returns with the flashlight, a total of 20 minutes have passed and you have failed the mission.

This is one of my favorite brain teasers and I want to give you the satisfaction of figuring it out on your own. If you’re having a hard time, here’s a hint: There is a valid answer that doesn’t require tricks like throwing the flashlight or shining it backwards or having some other means of moving the flashlight.

There’s an assumption people often make that keeps them from solving this. Two members cross the bridge each time, but neither one of the two who crossed necessarily need to return. Think about how that would be possible. If you’re still stuck, use objects to simulate their movements. Use whatever you have laying around – pens, paper, erasers – and move them back and forth. Good luck!

Posted in Brain Teasers

As Long As They’re Dead

This is a place. The first letter is after A and before Z but nowhere in between. You can bring as many people as you want, as long as they’re all dead. Where is it?

The cemetery. The letter C is after A and before Z, and it’s not found in the word “between”. The cemetery won’t take live ones. Fortunately I don’t speak from experience on that.

Posted in Riddles

Famous for the Friendly Folk

I have palms but not on hands,
I offer foods from distant lands,
When at my peak you’ll see me smoke,
I’m famous for my friendly folk,
My flowers grow and yet they lay,
There’s fire where a man will play,
I’m sure you know we’re family,
You’re welcome to come stay with me.

What am I?

Hawaii.

Posted in Riddles

Sixteen, Twenty-six, Then What?

Fill in the missing numbers in this number series.

16, 26, ?, 43, 50, ?, 61, 65, ?, 70, 71

The method to create the series is start by adding 10, then decrease the addend by 1 for each new number in the sequence. That gives us:

16 + 10 = 26
26 + 9 = 35
35 + 8 = 43
43 + 7 = 50
50 + 6 = 56
56 + 5 = 61
61 + 4 = 65
65 + 3 = 68
68 + 2 = 70
70 + 1 = 71

Posted in Brain Teasers

Word Pairs to Create a New Word

One letter can be used to replace the first letter of each word pair below to create two new English words. The new letters can then be combined to spell a word. What is that word?

MAIL ____ PINK
CART ____ SAID
GRID ____ RIMLESS
LINK ____ BOUND
ROWED ____ RIPPLE

SMART

SAIL – SINK
MART – MAID
ARID – AIMLESS
RINK – ROUND
TOWED – TIPPLE

Posted in Brain Teasers

What Do You Serve?

What do you serve that a polite recipient would immediately send back?

A ball, when you’re playing tennis, volleyball, table tennis, etc.

Posted in Riddles

My First Wears My Second

My first wears my second; my third might be
What my first would acquire if he went to the sea.
Put together my one, two, three
And the belle of New York is the girl for me.

Manhattan. A MAN wears a HAT, and a MAN might acquire a TAN if he went to sea.

Posted in Riddles