A man was killed on Sunday morning. His wife found the body and called the police. The police arrived and questioned the chef, maid, butler, and gardener. Their alibis were:
Chef – making breakfast
Maid – getting mail
Butler – setting table
Gardener – watering plants
The police immediately arrested the criminal. Who was it and how did they know?
My first is in FLOWER and in ROSE
My second is in FORK and well as HOSE
My third is in CROCUS but not in GNOME
My fourth is in RAKE never in HOME
My fifth is in HOE and also in WEEDS
My sixth is in SHEARS though not in SEEDS
My seventh is in LADYBIRD not in CREATURE
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!
Find the two palindromes described below. (A palindrome is a word or phrase that’s spelled the same backwards as forwards, such as Was it a bat I saw?)
Question asked by a person afraid of rodents:
Nipples or teats. Cows have four of them, dogs usually have eight and a human (assuming that’s who’s reading this) has two. Cows milk standing up, dogs often lie down and women usually sit when breastfeeding.
I’m a five letter word. Remove my last two letters and I’m a synonym of drag. My second and third letters form an exclamation and my first and second letters are a homophone with a number. What am I?
Towel. Tow is a synonym of drag, ow is an exclamation when you’re hurt (and far more appropriate in mixed company than the four-letter alternatives) and to is a homophone of two.