Riddles and Brain Teasers

Three Cuts to Turn a Round Cake Into Eight Equal Slices

How can you cut a round cake three times to make eight equal slices?

Cut #1 – Down the center of the cake (vertically) leaving two equal halves.
Cut #2 – Across the center of the cake (horizontally) leaving four equal slices.
Cut #3 – Through the middle edge of the cake slicing all four of the pieces in equal halves, leaving eight equal slices (four equal tops and four equal bottoms).

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Mental Calculations

Perform this calculation in your head, mentally adding the numbers as quickly as you can. Start with 1000 and add 40. Now add 1000. Add 30 to that, then add another 1000. Now add 20 to that result. Add another 1000 and finally, add 10 to that. What is the total?

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4,100. If you got 5,000 you’re not alone. 96% of test subjects get the wrong answer.

Posted in Brain Teasers

Two Plus Two Equals Four

Each letter represents a different digit. Any digit can be used, but zero can never start a word. Given W = 2 and R = 6, what do the rest of the letters represent?

  TWO
+ TWO
------
 FOUR

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F = 1
O = 8
R = 6
T = 9
U = 5
W = 2

  928
+ 928
-----
 1856

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I Always Tell the Truth

You see me quite often,
But don’t really care.
If you pass by me,
You’ll often stop and stare.

I can’t speak or see,
But don’t think me uncouth,
Because no matter what,
I always tell the truth.

What am I?

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A mirror.

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Tagged with What am I?

If You Look You Cannot See Me

If you look you cannot see me. If you see me you cannot see anything else. I can make anything you want happen, but later everything goes back to normal.

What am I?

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Your imagination.

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Reflecting on Time

When a clock’s reflection is 2:30, what is the correct time?

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9:30

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What Begins and Has No End?

What begins and has no end? What is the ending of all that begins?

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Death or decay.

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Blame the Couple

A married couple is traveling by bus on dangerous mountain roads. Midway through their journey the bus stops for snacks and a restroom break. The couple is enjoying the postcards in the store when the bus driver curtly tells them it’s past time to leave. Fifteen minutes after, the bus is hit by a mud slide and two people are killed. The couple blames themselves for the deaths. Why?

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They blame themselves because they caused the bus to be late. If they had been on time, the bus would have already passed the location of the mud slide.

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A Mouth On My Head And Eat Everything

I have a mouth on my head and eat everything.

What am I?

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A backpack.

Posted in Riddles

A Date With No Numbers

How can you write a date in 5 letters without using any numbers?

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The most popular answer for this teaser is ‘today’. Of course this only works if you’re reading it on that particular date or if the date is not specified. Another option is to respond literally with ‘a date’. Lastly, certain dates could be squeezed into letters using Roman numerals if you abbreviate the year to 2 numerals. For example, January 20th, 2011 would be I XX XI.

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