Cornelius and the Flat Tire

Cornelius got a flat tire on a miserable, rainy day. As he was changing it on the side of the road, he placed the four lug nuts in the overturned hub cap. As our dear friend was moving back to put on the spare, he accidentally bumped the hub cap. He watched helplessly as all four lug nuts rolled into a deep sewer and were whisked away. Then our friend had a brilliant solution and within minutes was driving safely away.

What was his solution?

He removed one lug nut from each of the other 3 tires and used them to secure the spare tire, then drove to a tire shop.

Posted in Brain Teasers

Same Forward, Backward and Upside Down

What word is the same written forward, backward and upside down?

NOON. The word needs to be a palindrome and made up of only these letters that look the same upside down:

H I N O S X Z

For instance, SOON doesn’t work, because even though each letter looks the same upside down, it reads NOOS.

Posted in Riddles

Reverse to Equal Ten

Which two of these rows can be reversed so the total of each row, across and down, equals 10?

A. 5 4 1
B. 6 1 3
C. 3 5 2

Rows B and C, becoming:

A. 5 4 1
B. 3 1 6
C. 2 5 3

Posted in Brain Teasers

Wily Winifred and the Case of the Odd Numbers

Mrs. Shine was having a rough day and wanted a break. So she asked her class to calculate the sum of the first 50 odd numbers. In a few moments, Winifred was at her desk with the correct answer of 2,500. Stunned, Mrs. Shine figured she must have gotten lucky, and sent precocious Winifred back to her seat with the task of finding the sum of the first 75 odd numbers. Again, Winifred returned in seconds with the correct answer (5,625).

How did Winifred find the answer so quickly?

Winifred, being the precocious child she is, realized there was a pattern when computing smaller sums of odd numbers.

First 3: 1 + 3 + 5 = 9
First 4: 1 + 3 + 5 + 7 = 16
First 5: 1 + 3 + 5 + 7 + 9 = 25

Do you see the pattern like our dear friend Winnie?

For the first n odd numbers, the sum is equal to n2. Thus the first 50 is 502, or 2,500, and the first 75 is 752, or 5,625.

Posted in Brain Teasers

Made of Ten But Two We Make

Made of ten but two we make,
When assembled others quake,
Five apart and we are weak,
Five together havoc wreak.

What are we?

A fist.

Posted in Riddles

Waiting For a Man To Die

I cannot be other than what I am
Until the man who made me dies
Power and glory will fall to me finally
Only when he last closes his eyes.

A prince.

Posted in Riddles

Up a Drainpipe Down but Not Down a Drainpipe Up

What can go up a drainpipe down but not down a drainpipe up?

An umbrella.

Posted in Riddles
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Represent The Alphabet

What word or expression does this represent?

ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTVWXYZ

Missing you (U).

Posted in Brain Teasers

A Long Bicycle Ride

Hester goes out for an afternoon bicycle ride. She rides for one hour at five miles an hour, then three hours at four miles an hour and finally two hours at seven miles an hour. How many miles did she ride in total?

31 miles.

1 hour at 5 mph = 5 miles
3 hours at 4 mph = 12 miles
2 hours at 7 mph = 14 miles

5 + 12 + 14 = 31 miles

Posted in Brain Teasers

This Is What Some People Do

This is what some people do,
For a compliment or two,
Anglers do it on a bank,
Others keep theirs in a tank.

What am I?

A fish. Some people fish for compliments, anglers are fishermen and fish live in a tank.

Posted in Riddles
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