Priscilla and Bruce Exchanging Money

Priscilla gave her brother Bruce as much money as Bruce started with. Bruce gave Priscilla as much money as Priscilla had left. Priscilla then gave Bruce as much as Bruce had left, which left Priscilla broke. Bruce had $80.00.

How much money did Priscilla and Bruce start with?

Priscilla: $50
Bruce: $30

Step 1
Priscilla gives Bruce $30
Priscilla: $20
Bruce: $60

Step 2
Bruce gives Priscilla $20
Priscilla: $40
Bruce: $40

Step 3
Priscilla gives Bruce $40
Priscilla: $0
Bruce: $80

Posted in Brain Teasers

A Smiling Guard

Two guards were on duty outside a barracks. One faced up the road to watch for anyone approaching from the North. The other looked down the road to see if anyone approached from the South. Suddenly one of them said to the other, “Why are you smiling?”

How did he know his companion was smiling?

They were facing each other. As to why his companion was smiling, the world may never know.

Posted in Brain Teasers

Not in Any State

Which letter of the alphabet is the only one that does not appear in any of the names of the 50 United States?

The letter Q.

Posted in Brain Teasers

Tree That’s Difficult To Get Along With

Which tree is the most difficult to get along with?

A crab tree.

Posted in Riddles

A Black Dog Night

A completely black dog was strolling down main street during a total blackout affecting the entire town. Not a single streetlight had been on for hours. As the dog crosses the center of the road a Buick Skylark with two broken headlights speeds towards it, but manages to swerve out of the way just in time. How could the driver see the dog to swerve in time?

It was during the day.

Posted in Brain Teasers

What Digit Does Each Letter Represent?

This is what you know:

1. Each letter represents a different digit from 1 to 9
2. The total of each row is 17.
3. (B × B) + B + F = A
4. C × F = EF (a 2-digit number, not their product)

A B C
D E F

What digit does each letter represent?

A = 7
B = 1
C = 9

D = 8
E = 4
F = 5

A + B + C = 17
D + E + F = 17
B2 + B + F = A
C × F = EF

To begin with, B has to be a 1 or 2 or else A wouldn’t be a single digit. Plug in B = 2, gives you 6 + F = A, meaning F and A can only be (1,7) or (3,9). To get 17, C would have to be 8 or 6, but those values don’t work for C × F = EF. So B must be 1.

2 + F = A means F and A can be (2,4), (3,5), (4,6), (5,7), (6,8) or (7,9). To get 17 on the top row, the only option that leaves C as a single digit is F = 5 and A = 7.

C × F = EF
9 × 5 = 45, so E = 4 and D = 8 to make the second row equal to 17.

Posted in Brain Teasers

Three Five Six To One Hundred

Without changing the order of these numbers, how can they equal 100?

3 5 6 2 54 5

= 3 * (5 – 6) + 2 * 54 – 5
= -3 + 108 – 5
= 105 – 5
= 100

Posted in Brain Teasers

Not Burned in Fire Nor Drowned in Water

What can’t be burned in a fire nor drowned in water?

Ice. It melts instead of burning in a fire and it floats in water.

Posted in Riddles

Two Faces But Show You One

I have two faces, but show you one.
I once had guests, but now have none.
I’m rarely bloody and seldom blue.
I’m often promised and sometimes new.

The moon. It has two sides, but on earth we only ever see one side. Man has been on the moon, but no one is there now. A full lunar eclipse is known as a blood moon, and the phrase “once in a blue moon” refers to something that rarely happens. Promising the moon is making an extravagant or impossible promise, and there’s a new moon once every lunar cycle.

Posted in Riddles
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A Word That Has No End

I’m a five-letter word that has no end, Commit a sin? One through three can amend, One, four and five are something alive, Two and three occur near to thee.

What am I?

Abyss. aby is an archaic word meaning to pay the penalty for. An ass, otherwise known as a donkey, is alive and “by” is another way of saying near to you.

Posted in Riddles