The Old Gray Surgeon

A man and his son had a terrible car accident and were rushed to the hospital. The man died on the way, but the son was still barely alive. When they arrived, an old gray surgeon was called in to operate. Upon seeing the young boy, the surgeon said, “I can’t operate – this is my son.”

How is this possible?

The surgeon was the boy’s mother.

Posted in Brain Teasers

13579U

What does this represent?

13579U

The odds are against you. All of the odd single-digit numbers are lined up next to the letter u, representing the word you.

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3661 Seconds Past Midnight

What is special about 3,661 seconds past midnight on January 1, 2001?

At the 3,661st second, the time and date can be written 01:01:01 01/01/01.

That is one cool date :)

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ABCD equals DCBA

What 4-digit number abcd satisfies this equation?

4 × abcd = dcba

2178

4 × 2178 = 8712

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Feared By Most But Experienced By All

I am a five-letter word and am feared by most but experienced by all. If you remove my first and last letters I bring life. If you add an ‘r’ between the third and fourth letters I am almost nothing and if you remove the first letter from this new word, I am your home.

What am I?

Death (eat, dearth, earth). No one can escape death, but many fear it. Removing the first and last letters leaves eat, and we must eat to stay alive. Adding the ‘r’ turns death into dearth, which is scarcity and removing the first letter of dearth leaves earth, where you live, assuming this riddle hasn’t reached extraterrestrials.

Posted in Riddles

Do Not Begrudge This

Do not begrude this,
For it is the fate of every man.
Yet it is feared,
And shunned in many lands.
Causes problems, and sometimes gaps,
Can hobble the strongest, and make memory laps.
What is this danger we all face?
For being a part – of the human race.

Growing old.

Posted in Riddles

Right Behind You Creeps on the Ground

It’s right behind you,
And creeps on the ground,
It follows you home,
But does not make a sound.
Careful when you turn around.

What is it?

Your shadow.

Posted in Riddles

A Third As Old

Barry is 67 years old. His daughter is 43. When was she 1/3 as old as him?

31 years ago.

Here’s one way to solve it.

Let x = how many years ago

We get this equation: 67 – x = 3 × (43 – x)

Solving for x gives us 31.

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Spell Eighty

How can you spell eighty with only two letters?

A-T (pronounced eighty).

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Betcha Find a Chocolate

Laura saw that there were three pieces of candy left in a bowl on the kitchen table. She knew they were either chocolates or caramels but didn’t know how many there were of each. What is the probability that there is a piece of chocolate candy in the bowl?

7/8.

The possible combinations are:
1. Chocolate Chocolate Chocolate
2. Caramel Caramel Caramel
3. Chocolate Chocolate Caramel
4. Caramel Caramel Chocolate
5. Chocolate Caramel Caramel
6. Caramel Chocolate Chocolate
7. Chocolate Caramel Chocolate
8. Caramel Chocolate Caramel

Number 2 is the only one that doesn’t have chocolate, thus Laura’s love of chocolate will more than likely be satiated.

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