The Sheep’s Will

A farmer dies leaving a will dividing his flock of nineteen sheep with the following ratios:

Half to his oldest son, a quarter to the middle son and one fifth to his youngest son.

Without cutting any sheep up, how did the executor of the will fulfill the farmer’s wishes?

The executor went to the neighbouring farm and asked to borrow a sheep for a few minutes. Then he returned to the sons and said, “Half of the (now) twenty sheep is 10. A quarter of the twenty sheep is 5. A fifth of the twenty sheep is 4. 10 + 5 + 4 = 19. Then the executor took the borrowed 20th sheep back to the neighbour.

Thanks to Annette for sending this in.

Posted in Brain Teasers

Today Before Yesterday

I am a rare case where today comes before yesterday. What am I?

A dictionary

Posted in Riddles

Loud Noise When Changing Its Jacket

What makes a loud noise when changing its jacket, becomes larger but weighs less?

Popcorn.

Posted in Riddles

Goes With a Car

What goes with a car, comes with a car, is of no use to a car, but the car can’t move without it?

Noise. The engine is usually the main culprit, but even electric cars make some noise from the tires on the road.

Posted in Riddles

How Many Fs?

Read this sentence.

   Finished files are the re-
   sult of years of scientif-
   ic study combined with
   the experience of years.

How many times does the letter F appear?

Six times. Most people skip the word ‘of’ and only count three.

Posted in Brain Teasers

I Am Whole But Incomplete

I am whole but incomplete. I have no eyes, yet I see. You can see, and see right through me. My largest part is one fourth of what I once was.

What am I?

A skeleton.

Posted in Riddles

JAJWUTH

JAJWUTH
TFAPOW
JFDABHC

What are the next five letters in this sequence?
Hint: Think back to childhood rhymes.

AJCTA. These are the first letters from the nursery rhyme, “Jack and Jill Went Up The Hill”. AJCTA represents, “and Jill came tumbling after”.

Posted in Brain Teasers

Green House And Lots of Babies

There was a green house. Inside the green house there was a white house. Inside the white house there was a red house. Inside the red house there were lots of babies. What is it?

A watermelon.

Posted in Riddles

Word Party

You watch a group of words going to a party. A word either enters through one of two doors or is turned away by the guards. ‘HIM’ goes through door number one and ‘BUG’ goes through door number two. ‘HER’ is turned away. ‘MINT’ and ‘WEAVE’ go in through door one, ‘DOOR’ and ‘CORD’ take door two and ‘THIS’ and ‘That’ aren’t allowed in.

What determines whether a word can enter and which door they must use?

Door number one is for words composed entirely of capital letters written using only straight lines, such as A, E, F, H, and I. The entire set of letters allowed through door number one are AEFHIKLMNTVWXYZ. Door number two, as might be expected, is for words with capital letters that have a curve, including BCDGJOPQRSU. Any words composed of both straight and curved letters (or lowercase letters) are not allowed in. The word ‘THAT’ would have been sent through door number one, if the letters had been capitalized.

Posted in Brain Teasers

Lennie’s List of Names

Lennie was cleaning up some old papers in his office and found a list with the following names:

Washington
Jefferson
Lincoln
Hamilton
Jackson
Grant

The last name on the list was mostly worn away and he couldn’t make it out. What was the last name and why?

Franklin. It’s a list of the men on U.S. currency, $1, $2, $5, $10, $20 and $50. The $100 bill has Franklin. And an interesting tidbit is that Hamilton, along with Franklin, are the only two men in the list who did not serve as president.

Posted in Riddles