The Correct Name

Donald and Regan are married with four children, named Michael, Farley, Solomon and Larry. They just had a baby girl and are picking the name. It’s down to Olivia, Tiffany and Jasmine. Donald’s brother, a piano teacher, tells them only one of the names would be correct. Which name is it?

Tiffany. The rest of the family’s names start with solfège syllables: Do, Re, Mi, Fa, Sol, La. The last syllable is Ti, for Tiffany.

Posted in Brain Teasers

Which Coin is Counterfeit?

You are given eight coins and told that one of them is counterfeit. The counterfeit one is slightly heavier than the other seven. Otherwise, the coins look identical. Using a simple balance scale, how can you determine which coin is counterfeit using the scale only twice?

First weigh three coins against three others. If the weights are equal, weigh the remaining two against each other. The heavier one is the counterfeit. If one of the groups of three is heavier, weigh two of those coins against each other. If one is heavier, it’s the counterfeit. If they’re equal weight, the third coin is the counterfeit.

Posted in Brain Teasers

Only Hides in the Unwound

What can be seen but never found that only hides in the unwound?

Relaxation. You can see when someone is relaxing, but no one can remain completely relaxed forever. You can relax more easily as you learn to unwind.

Posted in Riddles

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

Guess the Three Words

Think of the six-letter name of a European capital city whose starting letter falls in the last half dozen letters of the alphabet and whose last letter is a vowel.

Now think of a three-letter words that means “permit”.

Last, combine all nine letters from the two words above. Rearrange the letters to form a word that you might call someone you like.

1. Vienna
2. let
3. Valentine (Vienna + let)

Posted in Brain Teasers

From Cold To Warm In Four Steps

How do you get from cold to warm in four steps, changing only one letter at a time to form a new word at each step?

cold
cord
word
worm
warm

An alternative is:
cold
cord
word
ward
warm

Yet another option, thanks to Beth:
cold
cord
card
ward
warm

Posted in Brain Teasers

A Group of Three

I give you a group of three. One is sitting down, and will never get up. The second eats as much as is given to him, yet is always hungry. The third goes away and never returns.

Stove, fire, smoke.

Posted in Riddles

I Am Pronounced As One Letter But Written As Three

I am pronounced as one letter but written as three,
There are two of me, I am single, I am double,
I can be blue, brown, black or green.
I can be read from right to left or left to right and am still the same.

What am I?

Eye.

Posted in Riddles

Progressive Countdown

If you’re given a number, subtract 1, then 2 from the result, then 3 from that result and so on until you reach 0 or a negative number.

For example, if you’re given 15:

15 – 1 = 14
14 – 2 = 12
12 – 3 = 9
9 – 4 = 5
5 – 5 = 0

Which of these numbers will finish exactly at zero?

102 103 104 105 106

105

105 – 1 = 104
104 – 2 = 102
102 – 3 = 99
99 – 4 = 95
95 – 5 = 90
90 – 6 = 84
84 – 7 = 77
77 – 8 = 69
69 – 9 = 60
60 – 10 = 50
50 – 11 = 39
39 – 12 = 27
27 – 13 = 14
14 – 14 = 0

Posted in Brain Teasers

Only Found In The Past

You will only ever find me in the past. I am created in the present but the future can never taint me. What am I?

History

Posted in Riddles
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