The Most Precious Commodity

What is the most precious commodity?
That which when needed seemingly is never enough,
Yet otherwise can be boringly plentiful.
While waking is oft dreamt of,
Whilst pining can scarcely be thought of.
For beings, is allotted in finite but indefinite quantity.
The more that’s given, the more is wasted.
Freedom is akin though this is something more simple,
Not related to virtue or sin.
Unless perhaps, without freedom, or its limit.

What is it?

Time.

(Thanks for submitting this one Duke)

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Hickory Dickory Dock

Hickory dickory dock!
The mouse ran up the clock.
The clock struck one
and down I come.
The man will never talk.

What am I?

A guillotine.

Posted in Riddles

Horse Fence

Farmer Finnegan needs to build a fence to keep his horses on his property. He only has a little over 1.5 miles of fence materials, but there’s also a mile-long straight river running through his property. What shape should he use for the fenced in area to give his horses the most space possible?

Our dear friend Finnegan should build a half-circle fence with the river as the diameter, giving the horses about 0.4 square miles to frolic and play in.

Area of semi-circle = πr2 / 2 = π × .5 miles2 / 2 = 0.3927

Posted in Brain Teasers

Secure Spy Transfer

You are a spy and need to send an item to a contact in another country without letting anyone else have access to it. All unlocked items will be opened in transit. How can you send this item securely?

Place a lock on the item and send it to your contact. They will place their own lock on the package and return it to you. You remove your lock and send it back. When they receive it, they can unlock the package and retrieve the item.

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Related Strangers

A man gets off the bus looking for an address and approaches a couple walking in the same direction for directions. The woman says they’re going that way and take him. Along the way the man asks if they’re related. The woman grins and says, “We’re not strangers. This man’s mother is my mother’s mother-in-law.” The man is confused but doesn’t say anything. When he gets back home he tells his wife about the conversation and she can’t figure it out either. They decide to ask their lawyer and he eventually works it out with pen and paper. How are the couple related?

The couple is either a man and his daughter or an uncle and his niece.

Posted in Brain Teasers

Liquid Splashes But None Seeps Through

When liquid splashes me, none seeps through,
When I’m moved a lot, liquid I spew,
When I am hit, color I change,
And colors I come in, quite a range,
What I cover is quite complex,
Yet I am very easy to flex.

What am I?

Skin

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Rhyming Anagrams

There are four pairs of words below. Rearrange one of the words in the pair to form a word that rhymes with the other word. For example, if you had the following pair of words:

FRINGE LINGER

You would rearrange FRINGE into FINGER, which rhymes with LINGER. You can rearrange the letters of either word.

1. MOPIER PERIOD
2. GHOULS SCRUFF
3. JAILED LEVIED
4. WEIGHT ARTIST

1. DOPIER
2. SLOUGH
3. VEILED
4. STRAIT

Posted in Brain Teasers

I Make Memories That Last a Lifetime

I make memories that last a lifetime,
Without me you’ll be miserable,
If you miss me you can gourge and it’s okay.
Some say I am naturally split in two.

What am I?

Sleep. It’s the time your mind organizes memories and knowledge. Sleep deprivation is miserable (as you well know if you’ve experienced it). If you miss a few nights of sleep, you can sleep more to catch up with no problems. And some believe that segmented sleep, where you sleep, wake for an hour, then go back to sleep, was the dominant form of sleep before the Industrial Revolution.

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Ground Not For Thy Daily Bread

Ground not for thy daily bread,
Leave me in my scented bed,
Ignore me not, lest I doth wither,
My name I leave you to consider.

A flower. The soil they grow in is not used for food, like wheat to make bread, but for their smell. A neglected flower will wither.

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Take It And You Will Lose

Take it and you will lose or gain more than all others.

Risk.

(found in The Copper Gauntlet by Holly Black and Cassandra Clare)

Posted in Riddles