Riddles

Riddles

  1. Why is it very common to have a 9 minute snooze interval on alarm clocks, why not 10 instead?

    By setting the snooze time to 9 minutes, the alarm clock only needs to watch the last digit of the time. So, if you hit snooze at 6.45, the alarm goes off again when the last digit equals 4. They couldn't make it 10 minutes, otherwise the alarm would go off right away, or it would take more circuitry.


  2. What is it? The Pope has it but he does not use it. Your father has it but your mother uses it. Nuns do not need it. Arnold Schwarzenegger has a big one, Michael J. Fox’s is quite small. What is it?

    A surname.


  3. Three people picked 65 apples altogether. At the first tree they each picked the same number of apples. At the second tree they each picked 3 times as many as they picked at the first tree. When they finished at the third tree, the group had 5 times as many apples as they had when they started at that tree. At the fourth tree the group picked just 5 apples. How many apples did each person pick at the first tree?

    One Apple


  4. My daughter has many sisters. She has as many sisters as she has brothers. Each of her brothers has twice as many sisters as brothers. How many sons and daughters do I have?

    Four daughters and three sons.


  5. You have two buckets - one holds exactly 5 gallons and the other 3 gallons. How can you measure 4 gallons of water into the 5 gallon bucket? (Assume you have an unlimited supply of water and that there are no measurement markings of any kind on the buckets.)

    1. Fill the 3-gallon bucket.
    2. Pour the 3 gallons of water into the 5-gallon bucket.
    3. Fill the 3-gallon bucket again.
    4. Fill up the 5-gallon bucket with the 3-gallon bucket, leaving you with 1 gallon left in the 3-gallon bucket.
    5. Empty out the 5-gallon bucket.
    6. Pour the remaining 1 gallon of water from the 3-gallon bucket into the 5-gallon bucket.
    7. Fill the 3-gallon bucket.
    8. Pour the 3 gallons of water from the 3-gallon bucket into the 5-gallon bucket leaving you with 4 gallons of water in the 5-gallon bucket.


  6. Sherlock Holmes and the Broken Window One snowy night, Sherlock Holmes was in his house sitting by a fire. All of a sudden a snowball came crashing through his window, breaking it. Holmes got up and looked out the window just in time to see three neighborhood kids who were brothers run around a corner. Their names were John Crimson, Mark Crimson and Paul Crimson. The next day Holmes got a note on his door that read "? Crimson. He broke your window." Which of the three Crimson brothers should Sherlock Holmes question about the incident?

    Mark Crimson: "?" = question MARK, so the note on the door reads "Question Mark Crimson. He broke your window."


  7. You have four chains. Each chain has three links in it. Although it is difficult to cut the links, you wish to make a single loop with all 12 links. What is the fewest number of cuts you must make to accomplish this task?

    3 cuts. Cut each link in one chain. Separate them, and use the links to join the ends of the 3 intact chains.


  8. 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, 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 have equal weight, the third coin is the counterfeit.


  9. Three travelers register at a hotel and are told that their rooms will cost $10 each so they pay $30. Later the clerk realizes that he made a mistake and should have only charged them $25. He gives a bellboy $5 to return to them but the bellboy is dishonest and gives them each only $1, keeping $2 for himself. So the men actually spent $27 and the bellboy kept $2 - what happened to the other dollar of the original $30?

    Nothing. The 3 travelers paid a total of $27, making $25 for the hotel and $2 for the clerk. There is no missing $1.


  10. You have a fox, a chicken and a sack of grain. You must cross a river with only one of them at a time. If you leave the fox with the chicken he will eat it; if you leave the chicken with the grain he will eat it. How can you get all three across safely?

    Take the chicken over first. Go back and bring the grain next, but instead of leaving the chicken with the grain, come back with the chicken. Leave the chicken on the first side and take the fox with you. Leave it on the other side with the grain. Finally, go back over and get the chicken and bring it over.


 
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