Stocking the Shelves

Alfred and Bill are clerks at the local grocery store. Alfred can stock a shelf in 20 minutes, but Bill is new and takes 30 minutes. How long would it take for them to stock a shelf together?

Working together they can stock a shelf at a rate of 1/20 + 1/30 (or 5/60) per minute. They’ll finish in 12 minutes

Posted in Brain Teasers

Seen in the Water

I am seen in the water
If seen in the sky,
I am in the rainbow,
A jay’s feather,
And lapis lazuli.

Blue.

Posted in Riddles

Hard Boiled Kiwi Bird Eggs

If you can hard boil a Kiwi bird egg in 20 minutes, how long would it take to hard boil four Kiwi bird eggs?
Note: Kiwi birds are about the size of a chicken, but they lay eggs that are close to the size of an Ostrich egg. So one would assume they must take a long time to hard boil.

20 minutes. You can boil them all at once in a large pot.

Posted in Brain Teasers

Celebrity Rhymes

The names below rhyme with the first and last names of famous celebrities.

For example, Forge Yearns would be George Burns.

What are the following celebrity names?

1. Bobbin Pilgrims
2. Semi Drawer
3. Grieve Slobs
4. Rally Hairy

1. Robin Williams (he will be missed)
2. Demi Moore
3. Steve Jobs
4. Halle Berry

Posted in Brain Teasers

The Hand of the Princess

A wise king devised a contest to see who would receive the Princess’ hand in marriage. The Princess was put in a 50 x 50 foot carpeted room. Each of her four suitors were put in one corner of the room with a small box to stand on. The first one to touch the Princess’ hand would be the winner and become the new King.

The rules were the contestants could not walk over the carpet, cross the plane of the carpet, or hang from anything; nor could they use anything but their body and wits (i.e. no magic, telepathy, nor any items such as ladders, block and tackles etc). One suitor figured out a way and married the Princess and became the new King. What did he do?

Asked the princess to touch his hand.

Posted in Brain Teasers

I See Much But Change Little

I see much but change little,
I am firm, irresolute,
Powerful but gentle,
I can rip apart mountains,
Yet be moved by gentle stirrings,
I am valued and wasted,
I am life itself,
And I give life to others.

What am I?

A tree. A tall one can see long distances but don’t change much. They are strong and powerful, and the roots of a tree can slowly tear apart a mountain. The gentle stirrings of the wind can blow their branches and leaves. Trees are valuable as they provide wood and paper, but they are also wasted. And lastly, trees, like all plants, provide us with life-giving oxygen.

Posted in Riddles

Traveling Colorful Balls

Kevin, Charles, Larry and Alex are in a room that’s about 110 feet long. In front of them are 5 balls which are exactly 100 ft from the exit. The balls are yellow, purple, green, red and blue, respectively. Each man must carry a ball to the exit. After traveling 20 ft a ball will change color twice. The sequence of color changes is always the same: yellow, purple, green, red, and blue.

At 80 ft Kevin’s ball is red.
At 40 ft Larry’s ball is purple.
At 60 ft Charles’ ball is blue
At 100 ft Alex’s ball is purple.

What color ball was left behind?

The remaining ball was blue. Here’s a table of each ball and the color it changes to at 20, 40, 60, 80 and 100 ft. Kevin’s started out yellow, Larry’s was green, Charles’ was red and Alex began with a purple ball, leaving blue as the one nobody picked.

 20 ft40 ft60 ft80 ft100 ft
YellowGreenBluePurpleRedYellow
PurpleRedYellowGreenBluePurple
GreenBluePurpleRedYellowGreen
RedYellowGreenBluePurpleRed
BluePurpleRedYellowGreenBlue
Posted in Brain Teasers

Cat-Related Phrases

What are these words or phrases, which contain the word cat?

A dreadful event (11 letters)
A robber who climbs walls (10 letters, 2 words)
A systematic list (7 letters)

Catastrophe
Cat Burglar
Catalog

Posted in Brain Teasers

Ten Plus Ten Equals Ten

When can ten plus ten equal ten, yet ten minus ten equal twenty?

When putting gloves on then removing them.

Posted in Brain Teasers

Wake Up With No Electricity

I can wake you in the morning but I require no electricity or winding.
I can also provide you with a meal, but only once.

What am I?

A rooster. If you did use electricity on your rooster, you would no longer be woken up, but it could provide a finger lickin’ last meal.

Posted in Riddles
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