The Riddles
Often times we spend considerable time deciphering our customers' plans to accurately design their roof systems. We'd like to turn the tables on you by sharing a few of our favorite riddles.
CURRENT BATCH OF RIDDLES:
1. Draw a square. Divide it into four identical squares. Remove the bottom left hand square. Now divide the resulting shape into four identical shapes.
2. You've arrived! Just recently you have purchased a nice big mansion. The mansion has a huge front yard. However, the yard is completely flat and boring. You have decided it would look nice with a few trees in front and have hired a landscaper for the job. Being the excellent mathematician you are, you've decided to give the landscaper a riddle:
Plant 9 trees in the yard, so that there are 10 rows of three trees each.
Help the poor landscaper decide how to place the trees.
3. Create the number twenty four (24) using these numbers only once each: 3, 3, 7, 7. You may use only the following functions: +, -, *, /. This is not a trick question; for example, the answer does not involve a number system other than base 10 and does not allow for decimal points.
4. An Arab sheikh is old and must will his fortune to one of his two sons. He makes a proposition. His two sons will ride their camels in a race, and whichever camel crosses the finish line last will win the fortune for its owner. During the race, the two brothers wander aimlessly for days, neither willing to cross the finish line. In desperation, they ask a wise man for advice. He tells them something; then both brothers leap onto the camels and charge toward the finish line. What did the wise man say?
5. You have two hourglasses: a 7 minute one and an 11 minute one. Using the hourglasses just three times, accurately time 15 minutes.
6. If you were to put a coin into an empty bottle and then insert a cork in the bottle's opening, how could you remove the coin without taking out the cork or breaking the bottle?
7. You have a round birthday cake. With three straight slices of a knife, how can you divide the cake into 8 equal pieces?
We will replace these riddles with new ones intermittently. Answers to the current riddles will be posted when they are retired to our riddle archive. Be sure to read through the archives below for comprehensive conundrum fun.
By the way, the answer to each riddle in the archive is just below it in blue type. So scroll carefully!
RIDDLE ARCHIVE
![[: :]](http://images.yuku.com/image/gif/eb7144267eab81e7f2f2fbe31e95c2be91722e.gif ":springdance")
By the way, the answer to each riddle in the archive is just below it,
in blue type. Scroll carefully!
First Bunch of Riddles
1. Three men check into a hotel. They are charged a room rate of $30, so each man pitches in $10.00. Shortly thereafter the desk clerk realizes he has overcharged for the room - the actual rate should have been $25 dollars. He removes five $1 bills from the cash register and asks a bellboy to reimburse the gentlemen to rectify his error. On his way to the room, the bellboy attempts to figure out how he will split the $5 dollars three ways. Unable to come to a solution, he pockets two dollars and returns $1 dollar to each of the three men.
Now each man has paid nine dollars for the room for a total of $27 dollars. The bellboy has $2. Twenty seven and two equal twenty nine. Where's the other dollar?
Answer:
Well not exactly, the men didn't pay $27 for the room. In reality, they are out $28 for the room. Twenty eight and the two in the bellboy's pocket total the $30.
2. You have nine eggs that look exactly the same. However, one egg weighs slightly more than the rest. The others are identical in weight. You have a set of balance scales. Using these scales only twice, can you positively determine which is the one heavier egg?
Answer:
Put 3 eggs on either side of the scale, hold three in front of you. If the scale balances equally, the heavier egg is in the three you are holding. If one side weighs heavier, that side contains the heavier egg. So now you've narrowed it down to one group of three eggs that include the heavy egg. Put one on each side of the scale, hold one off. If the scales are equal, you have the heavy egg. If one side tips, that side contains the big boy.
3. You have two coins totaling thirty cents. One is not a quarter. What are the two coins?
Answer:
Too easy, I know. The other coin is a quarter.
4. A train leaves New York heading to Los Angeles at 8 a.m. traveling 80 mph. At 9 a.m. a train leaves Los Angeles for New York traveling 90 mph. Which train will be closest to New York when the meet?
Answer:
If the trains meet, there are both the same distance from New York. Don't tell me you started an algebraic formula on this one!
5. Their are three errers in this sentence, can you find all three?
Answer:
1. Their should be "There." 2. Errers is spelt errors. 3. There are only two errors in the sentence.
6. A man came to town on Friday, stayed two nights and then left on Friday. How can that be?
Answer:
Well Partner, Friday's his horse.
Second Bunch of Riddles:
1. What word in the English language is made up of only two letters, each used three times?
Answer:
The word is deeded.
2. You've finally gotten that dream job - cooking at the Wiffle House. Your first customer wants to place a special order - a nine minute egg cooked precisely nine minutes. No one has on a watch and the clock on the wall quit working days ago. You find two hourglasses that are able to measure (in sand) exactly seven and four minutes, respectively. Using only these two hour glasses, how do you precisely time this nine minute egg and keep the best job you've ever had?
Answer:
Start by flipping over both hourglasses at the same time you drop the egg into the water. When the four minute timer runs out, flip it over again. When the seven minute timer runs out, flip it over. The egg has been cooking seven minutes. Now, when the four minute timer runs out again (eight minutes have gone by), flip the seven minute timer back over as only one minute worth of sand is left. And when that minute has run back, you're egg will have cooked exactly nine minutes.
3. Ok, so you lost the job at the Wiffle House and have decided to advance your education and attend college. Ah but alas, you have spent all your tuition and board money and have to contact your parents for a loan. Being without a phone, you resort to sending a telegram asking your parents for the funds. However you can only afford to send three words. You are able to send your message in such a way that your parents understand how much money you need in all, as well as breaking it down into the categories for which you need it. Looking at the telegram below, how was this accomplished?
Answer:
This one is a little tricky. You substitute letters with numbers like solving a cryptogram. The place to start is with the letter M - you know it has to be a one since it is the remainder of a sum. The S has to be either an 8 or a 9 so you can get the remainder of one. It is basically trial and error from there. Here is the completed answer indicating how much is need for room and board resulting in the total amount needed:
4. How would you rearrange the letters in the words "new door" to make one word? Please note, there is only one correct answer.
Answer:
The letters of the words "new door" are rearranged like this: one word.
5. You see three houses in front of you - a gold one, a silver one and a bronze one. There is a fortune in one of them. They have statements written on their doors as follows: On the gold - "The fortune is in this house." On the silver - "The fortune is not in this house." And on the bronze - "The fortune is not in the gold house." At most, only one statement is true. Which house holds the fortune?
Answer:
If only one statement can be true, then the silver house is the only one that could possibly contain the fortune.
6. You have a room with no windows and only one door. Inside this closed room, are three light bulbs in three sockets. Each socket has it's own light switch, but these three switches are located outside of the room. The door is closed. You can turn the switches on and off as many times as you like. By going into the room only once, how do you positively determine which switch goes with which light bulb?
Answer:
Turn one switch on for a minute and then turn it off. Turn a second switch on and enter the room. The lit bulb coincides with the switch that is on, the hot bulb belongs to the first switch you turned on and then off, and the rest is history.
Third Bunch of Riddles:
1. You are on a tour of a watch and clock museum. Your guide asks the group which timepiece has the least number of moving parts. Being a bright sort, you promptly (and correctly) reply, a sundial. Ah, but you are indeed stumped by his next question. "Which timepiece has the most moving parts?"
Answer:
An hourglass.
2. There is a question that can never be answered yes. Even if someone asked you if you were a gorilla, a bold liar could still answer yes. What question can never be answered yes even by the most brazen of liars?
Answer:
Are you dead?
3. What is the eleven letter word that all stick framers spell incorrectly?
Answer:
Those cotton-pickin' stick framers - the word is "incorrectly."
4. In a run-down saloon in Lower Alabama (LA), One-Eyed Pete and his gang sat playing poker. Five of his gang were round the table where cards were being dealt by the house. A rougher, tougher looking bunch you never saw in your life. Just to be allowed to join the gang you had to skin your grandma with a rusty potato peeler.
After several games one of the men eyed the dealer narrowly and drawled, " I says you're cheatin'!' It was an unwise comment. The dealer whipped out a gun and shot the offender dead. Naturally someone sent for the sheriff. He was a giant of a man who never went anywhere without two Colt .45s hanging from his belt. He was so mean and tough that he had skinned both his grandmas in a manner too horrible to relate.
However, even though he was a stranger to fear, and the incident had been witnessed by everyone in the bar, he was unable to arrest any of the men who had taken part in the game. Why?
Answer:
You're going to hate this one. The dealer is a woman; therefore, no man was arrested.
5. You are inquiring at a hardware store about the price of an item. The clerk responds, one will cost you $3 and 20 will cost you $6. You need 2042. What are you buying and how much will it cost?
Answer:
We are in the construction business (a hint in itself). You are buying $12 worth of house numbers.
6. Most match puzzles require only some ingenuity and a little mathematical skill. Try your hand at this one:
The following diagram makes the fraction one-sixth. How can you add one match so that the result is 1?
Answer:
The square root of one equals one.
Fourth Bunch of Riddles:
1. Kelly fell asleep in his Introductory Logic class. His professor decides to make an example of Kelly, slams his hand on Kelly's desk, and wakes him abruptly. The instructor then quickly asks "which of the six words that I am about to give you properly completes the following sequence of words:
BASIC, ELF, HAITI, KILL, NO, ?
You can choose from:
QUARTER, QUICK, QUARREL, QUAINT, QUIBBLE, and QUERY
Much to the professor's embarrassment, Kelly answers the question correctly. What is the missing word that completes the sequence?
Answer:
QUARTER - because is starts and ends with two successive letters of the alphabet.
2. Make a 5 letter word from these letters:
H,I,J,K,L,M,N, or O
Answer:
Well, let's see. There is one H and two O's. H2O = water.
3. How can there be only 12 seconds in a year?
Answer:
There is a second of every month.
4. What occurs four times in every week, twice in every day but only once in a year?
Answer:
Would you believe, the letter "e"?
5. Professor Fink is always playing mind games with his students. One student seems to enjoy these games and always solves them. The Professor thinks he has a puzzle that will finally stump this student. He hands the student a note, and leaves.
It reads:
It is important that you bring the item to me that is listed after the word. Make sure to turn off the computer and lights, and clean the fish tank. Also, turn on the answering machine at 2:00, and after third period pencil in the number of papers graded by pen. Only use correction fluid when necessary, and place the folder on the chair that is at my desk. Watch the clock, and be sure to meet me at 4:00 at the bookstore.
Much to Fink's surprise, the student shows up on time with the item, just as requested. What was the item he brought with him?
Answer:
The professor stresses the importance of bring the item after the word (period). Therefore, the answer is pencil which just follows the word period.
6. What 5 letter English word's pronunciation does not change when you take away 4 letters?
Answer:
Queue is pronounced "q".
7. Which is correct to say? "The yolk of the egg is white" or "the yolk of the egg are white."
Answer:
We didn't get you here did we? The yolk of an egg is yellow!!!
Fifth Bunch of Riddles:
This is a test to gauge your mental flexibility and creativity. In the 3 years since it was developed, it has been found that few people could solve more than half in the first day. Many reported getting answers long after the test had been set aside and at unexpected moments when thier minds were relaxed. Some reported solving it over a period of several days.
Scoring:
1-6 questions = average
6-12 = somewhat intelligent
12-18 = intelligent
18+ = genius!
Example:
16 = O in a P
Answer:
16 ounces in a pound
The Test:
1. 26 = L of the A
2. 7 = D of the W
3. 1001 = AN
4. 12 = S of the Z
5. 54 = C in a D (with J)
6. 9 = P in the SS
7. 88 = P K
8. 13 = S on the A F
9. 32 = D F at which W F
10. 18 = H on a G C
11. 90 = D in a R A
12. 200 = D for P G in M
13. 8 = S on a S S
14. 3 = B M (S H T R)
15. 4 = Q in a G
16. 24 = H in a D
17. 1 = W on a U
18. 5 = D in a Z C
19. 57 = H V
20. 11 = P on a F B T
21. 1000 = W that a P is W
22. 29 = D in F in a L Y
23. 64 = S on a C B
24. 40 = D and N of the G F
25. 76 = T in the B P
26. 50 = W to L Y L
27. 99 = B of B on the W
28. 60 = S in a M
29. 1 = H on a U
30. 9 = J on the S C
31. 7 = B for S B
32. 21 = D on a D
33. 7 = W of the A W
34. 15 = M on a D M C
The Answers:
1. 26 letters of the alphabet
2. 7 days of the week
3. 1001 Arabian nights
4. 12 signs of the zodiac
5. 54 cards in a deck, with jokers
6. 9 planets in the solar system
7. 88 piano keys
8. 13 stars on the American flag
9. 32 degrees at which water freezes
10. 18 holes on a golf course
11. 90 degrees in a right angle
12. 200 dollars for passing go in Monopoly
13. 8 sides on a stop sign
14. 3 blind mice, see how they run
15. 4 quarts in a gallon
16. 24 hours in a day
17. 1 wheel on a unicycle
18. 5 digits in a zip code
19. 57 Heintz varieties
20. 11 players on a football team
21. 1000 words that a picture is worth
22. 29 days in February in a leap year
23. 64 squares on a checker board
24. 40 days and nights of the Great Flood
25. 76 trombones in the big parade
26. 50 ways to leave your lover
27. 99 bottles of beer on the wall
28. 60 seconds in a minute
29. 1 horn on a unicorn
30. 9 Justices on the Supreme Court
31. 7 brides for seven brothers
32. 21 dots on a die (singular for dice)
33. 7 wonders of the ancient world
34. 15 men on a dead man's chest
Hopefully we ![[: :]](http://www.image4u.org/ladynichola/Misc%20Smileys/gotcha.gif ":gotcha")
with a few of these!
