Hidden Gems

Find the names of 10 gems or precious stones hidden in the following story. Each one spans at least two words.

Sir Gade rode toward a castle atop a zebra at a steady gallop, a long way from home. He arrived at the gate and the keeper knelt in shame. “Thy steed must be tired.” Sir Gade replied, “I am on direct orders from the King. Let me through.” A cougar, nettled by the noise, emerged from a shrub. “You must save me!” cried the gate man. Sir Gade, eyes filled with rancor, alighted and gazed toward the sky. An item fell from his cloak as drove his sword into the cougar’s spine. “Let me pass!” cried Sir Gade. The gate keeper, stunned from his saga, tentatively opened the gate, then retrieved the fallen item.

1. topaz – “atop a zebra”
2. opal – “gallop, a long”
3. amethyst – “shame. Thy steed”
4. diamond – “replied, I am on direct”
5. garnet – “cougar, nettled”
6. ruby – “shrub. You”
7. coral – “rancor, alighted”
8. kyanite – “sky. An item”
9. spinel – “spine. Let”
10. agate – “saga, tentatively”

Sir Gade rode toward a castle atop a zebra at a steady gallop, a long way from home. He arrived at the gate and the keeper knelt in shame. “Thy steed must be tired.” Sir Gade replied, “I am on direct orders from the King. Let me through.” A cougar, nettled by the noise, emerged from a shrub. “You must save me!” cried the gate man. Sir Gade, eyes filled with rancor, alighted and gazed toward the sky. An item fell from his cloak as drove his sword into the cougar’s spine. “Let me pass!” cried Sir Gade. The gate keeper, stunned from his saga, tentatively opened the gate, then retrieved the fallen item.

Posted in Riddles

The Peace Maker Weapon

What weapon is also a peace maker?

Note: Think homonyms

A knife. It turns things into pieces.

Posted in Riddles
Tagged with

If I Didn’t Exist, You Wouldn’t Either

I’m a six-letter word. If I did not exist, you wouldn’t either. With my first letter omitted I’m an alternative. The last three letters are feminine. The first four letters make an insect.

Who am I?

Mother

other = an alternative
her = feminine
moth = an insect

Posted in Riddles

I Am Pronounced As One Letter But Written As Three

I am pronounced as one letter but written as three,
There are two of me, I am single, I am double,
I can be blue, brown, black or green.
I can be read from right to left or left to right and am still the same.

What am I?

Eye.

Posted in Riddles

What Kind of Nut Has a Hole?

What kind of a nut has a hole?

A donut (or a nut as in a nut and bolt). Here’s a fun fact. Another riddle with donut as the answer is, “What has no beginning, end or middle?”

Posted in Riddles

Eight Eights For A Thousand

How can you add 8 eights to equal 1,000?

888 + 88 + 8 + 8 + 8 = 1,000

Posted in Brain Teasers

In Times Of War He Burns Asunder

Man walks over, man walks under,
In times of war he burns asunder.

What is it?

A bridge.

Posted in Riddles

Rainbow Neighborhood

There was a neighborhood of one-story houses.
One was red and everything in the house was red.
Another was purple and everything in the house was purple.
Yet another was yellow and everything in the house was yellow.
Still another was blue and everything in the house was blue.
In the green house everything was green,
and in the gray house everything was grey.

What color were the stairs in the yellow house?

There are no stairs in any of the houses because they only have one story.

Posted in Brain Teasers

A Seemingly Simple Math Problem

What is the answer to this problem?

1 + 1 + 1 + 1 + 1
1 + 1 + 1 + 1 + 1
1 + 1 × 0 + 1 = ?

30.

There are two tricks to this one. The first is 1 × 0. But it’s mostly there as a distraction. Yes, 1 × 0 is 0, but that doesn’t affect anything else in the equation. The second, far trickier element is that the lines ending with 1 don’t have a + sign next to them. That means they should be combined with the following line.

Let’s put the equation all on one line, shall we?

1 + 1 + 1 + 1 + 11 + 1 + 1 + 1 + 11 + 1 × 0 + 1 = ?

And the answer to that equation is 30.

Posted in Brain Teasers

Five Letters Sound Like Six When Pronounced

What five-letter word sounds like six letters when pronounced?

Cello. The pronunciation of c is ‘ch’, making it sound like the word has 6 letters.

Posted in Riddles