Surf, School, Room

What word can be added before or after these words to make a new word or phrase?

Surf, School, Room

Board. Surf board, school board (or maybe boarding school), board room.

Posted in Riddles

Always Runs, Never Walks

What always runs but never walks, often murmurs, never talks, has a bed but never sleeps, has a mouth but never eats?

A river.

Posted in Riddles

I Met An Old Man On London Bridge

I met an old man on London bridge,
As the sun set on the ridge,
He tipped his hat and drew his name,
And cheated at the guessing game.

What was the man’s name?

Andrew. In the third line, “and drew his name”. It works better when you say it since the spelling is a bit off when written.

Posted in Riddles

Thin, Bold, Sick And Cold

One thin, one bold,
One sick, one cold.
The earth we span,
To prey upon man.

Who are we?

The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse.

Posted in Riddles

What is the Chance That You’ll Be Correct?

If you choose an answer to this question at random, what is the chance that you will be correct?

a) 25%
b) 50%
c) 60%
d) 25%

This is becomes a self-referential paradox. Both A and D would be correct if there were four unique answers, but since A and D are the same answer, the chance that you would choose a correct answer is 50%, which makes B correct. But if there’s only one correct answer, the odds of choosing the correct one at random goes back to 25%. And around and round you go.

There’s a lot of discussion at Richard Wiseman’s blog and more at Lifehacker, where I first saw this.

Posted in Brain Teasers

An Extraordinary Event

On the sixth of May in the year 1978 at exactly thirty-four minutes past noon, a most extraordinary event occurred. This singular occasion will probably never be witnessed by anyone who was alive at that time. What happened?

The time and date was 12:34 5/6/78, counting from one to eight. The next time this event will occur is 12:34 6 May 2078. Unless someone alive in 1978 lives to be over a hundred, they won’t be alive when it happens again.

Posted in Brain Teasers

Four Chains in One Loop

You have four chains. Each chain has three links in it. Although it is difficult to cut the links, you wish to make a single loop with all 12 links. What is the fewest number of cuts you must make to accomplish this task?

Three cuts. Cut each link in one chain. Separate them, and use the links to join the ends of the three intact chains.

Posted in Brain Teasers

The Start Of What You Might Conceive

I’m the start of whatever you might conceive.
Next I describe a Thanksgiving meal.
Last I transform to a state we all leave.

What am I?

begin, binge, being. Everything has a beginning, Thanksgiving dinner is known for being a meal of excessive consumption and the mortal state of being (or the state of a human being) is one which, for all our efforts to extend, will eventually end.

Posted in Riddles

$63 Exactly

A man owed his friend $63 and repaid him the exact amount in cash without using coins or $1 bills (no online transfers, checks, credit cards or any other tricks) and without requiring change. How did he do it?

A $50 bill, a $5 bill and four $2 bills.

Posted in Brain Teasers

Kings And Queens May Cling To Power

Kings and queens may cling to power
and the jester’s got his call
But, as you may all discover,
the common one outranks them all

An ace (in a deck of cards).

Posted in Riddles