The Odd One Out

Which is the odd one out and why?

A. Cassius
B. Cassia
C. Casca

B. Cassia is a tropical tree; Cassius and Casca were conspirators against Julius Caesar.

Posted in Brain Teasers

A Date With No Numbers

How can you write a date in 5 letters without using any numbers?

The most popular answer for this teaser is ‘today’. Of course this only works if you’re reading it on that particular date or if the date is not specified. Another option is to respond literally with ‘a date’. Lastly, certain dates could be squeezed into letters using Roman numerals if you abbreviate the year to 2 numerals. For example, January 20th, 2011 would be I XX XI.

Posted in Brain Teasers

Sum of 22

Fill in numbers such that the sum of each 3-character row is 22 while the sum of all five numbers is 30.

a
bcd
e

The problem works out to a set of three equations:
b + c + d = 22
a + c + e = 22
a + b + c + d + e = 30

Solving for c = 14, leaving d = 8 – b and e = 8 – a. In other words, c must be 14, but the other two numbers just have to add up to 8. The requirement that they be unique rules out 4 + 4, so you’re left to choose from the following combations for b + d and a + e:
0 + 8
1 + 7
2 + 6
3 + 5

Posted in Brain Teasers

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

Once a Minute, Twice in a Moment

What comes once in a minute, twice in a moment but not once in a thousand years?

The letter “m”.

Posted in Riddles

One Hundred With Six Identical Digits

How can you express the number 100 using the same digit six times?

99 + 99/99 = 100

Posted in Brain Teasers

Turd Station

At Coney Island (the amusement park in Ohio) over Memorial Day weekend I saw a changing station in the men’s bathroom. A clever fellow had scraped off some letters to make the changing station read, “Turd Station”. What was the original name of the changing station?

sTURDy Station2, by Rubbermaid.

Here’s a picture of one without the letters scratched out.

rubbermaid-changing-station

Posted in Brain Teasers

A Ton of Fun

Use each clue to identify a famous person who last name ends in the letters T-O-N, like George Washington.

1. Friends star
2. Cotton Club bandleader
3. Batman and Beetlejuice lead
4. Blonde, buxom country music legend

Halfway there!

5. Steamboat developer
6. Author of The Age of Innocence
7. Found of a Kmart rival and a Club
8. She lead a news website called The (her last name) Post

1. Jennifer Aniston
2. Duke Ellington
3. Michael Keaton
4. Dolly Parton

Did you do well so far?

5. Robert Fulton
6. Edith Wharton
7. Sam Walton
8. Arianna Huffington

Posted in Brain Teasers

CASE Rebus

CA   SE
CASE

Open and closed case.

Posted in Riddles
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If This Site Had a Phone Number

If this site had a phone number, I would want it to be 743-3537. Why?

Because the numbers on a phone would spell the word RIDDLES.

Posted in Brain Teasers