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

A Blood Red Shroud

The thunder comes before the lightning,
And the lightning comes before the cloud,
The rain dries all the land it touches,
Wrapping the earth in a blood red shroud.

What am I?

A volcano.

Posted in Riddles

The Train and the Tunnel

A train is a half mile long and is about to enter a 10 mile tunnel. If the train is traveling at 35mph, how long will it take for the entire train to make it through the tunnel, from the front of the train entering to the end of the train leaving the tunnel?

18 minutes.

Length of the train: 0.5 miles
Length of the tunnel: 10 miles
Total distance: 0.5 + 10 = 10.5 miles

Time = 10.5 miles / 35 mph = 0.3 hours = 18 minutes

Posted in Brain Teasers

Mountain Covered With Snow

Why doesn’t a mountain covered with snow catch cold?

Because it has a snowcap. ;) I know, it was more joke than riddle, but I found it amusing.

Posted in Riddles

The Snooze Button

Why is it very common to have a 9 minute snooze interval on alarm clocks, why not 10 instead?

By setting the snooze time to 9 minutes, the alarm clock only needs to watch the last digit of the time. So, if you hit snooze at 6.45, the alarm goes off again when the last digit equals 4. They couldn’t make it 10 minutes, otherwise the alarm would go off right away, or it would take more circuitry.

Posted in Brain Teasers

Two Plus Two Equals Four

Each letter represents a different digit. Any digit can be used, but zero can never start a word. Given W = 2 and R = 6, what do the rest of the letters represent?

  TWO
+ TWO
------
 FOUR

F = 1
O = 8
R = 6
T = 9
U = 5
W = 2

  928
+ 928
-----
 1856
Posted in Brain Teasers

I Always Tell the Truth

You see me quite often,
But don’t really care.
If you pass by me,
You’ll often stop and stare.

I can’t speak or see,
But don’t think me uncouth,
Because no matter what,
I always tell the truth.

What am I?

A mirror.

Posted in Riddles
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Seven Letters and Something You Eat

I have seven letters and am something you eat. My only anagram can help your pain. If you remove my first 2 letters I wear things down. Removing my first 3 letters is an adjective and removing my first 4 letters leaves a measure of time.

What am I?

Sausage. You eat sausage, assuage is the only single-word anagram and provides relief from pain. Usage wears things down, sage is an adjective and age is a measure of time.

Posted in Riddles

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

Sometimes I’m a Sphere

Sometimes I’m a sphere,
Sometimes I’m a banana,
And sometimes I’m not there at all.

What am I?

The moon. A full moon is a sphere, a crescent moon looks like a banana, and sometimes the moon is not visible at all.

Posted in Riddles
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