Past Riddles & Answers
Q: How many times can you subtract the number 5 from 25?
A: Once (After the first calculation, you will be subtracting 5 from 20, then 5 from 15, and so on).
Q: What occurs once in every minute, twice in every moment, yet never in a thousand years?
A:The letter M.
Q: Mike purchased two cigars which, together, cost $1.10. One cigar cost one dollar more than the other. What were the individual prices of the two cigars?
A: $1.05 and 5 cents.
Q: There are six ears of corn in a hollow stump. If a perfectly healthy squirrel carries only three ears out each day, how many days will it take to empty the stump?
A: Six. Each day the squirrel will carry out the two ears on his head plus one ear of corn.
Q: The 22nd and 24th presidents of the United States had the same mother and same father, but were not brothers. How could this be possible?
A: They were the same man. Grover Cleveland (1837-1908) served two terms as president of the United States, but the terms were not consecutive. He was president from 1885 to 1889 and from 1893 to 1897.
Q: There is a word in the English language in which the first two letters signify a male, the first three signify a female, the first four signify a great man, and the whole word, a great woman. What is the word?
A: Heroine. HE, HER, HERO, HEROINE
Q: I am a man. If John's son is my son's father, what relationship am I to John?
A: You would be John's son
Q: Two cars meandered along the winding country road and came to an abrupt stop at the park's gate. Seven men got out of the two cars and proceeded along a footpath when it began to rain. Six of the men began to walk faster to get out of the rain but the seventh man wouldn't be bothered. Ironically it was the seventh man who remained dry and the other six got soaked. Since all seven men arrived at their destination together, how was this possible?
A: The six men were carrying the seventh man in a coffin
Q: Mr. and Mrs. Payload were walking home from the shopping mall with their purchases when Mr. Payload began to complain that his load was too heavy. Mrs. Payload turned to her husband and said, "I don't know what you're complaining about because if you gave me one of your parcels, I would have twice as many as you, and if I gave you just one of mine, we would have equal loads." How many parcels were each carrying?
A: Mrs. Payload was carrying seven parcels and Mr. Payload was carrying five.
Q: Captain Frank and Professor Quantum played chess. They played seven games, each won the same number of games, and there weren't any draws or stalemates. How could this have happened?
A: They weren't playing each other.
Q: A balance scale is perfectly balanced when there are three cans of beer on one side of the scale and one can of beer and a one-half pound bar of gold on the other. Since all the cans of beer are exactly the same size and weight, how much does a can of beer weigh?
A: One-quarter pound
Q: A man left home one morning. He turned right and ran straight ahead. Then he turned left. After a while, he turned left again, running faster than ever. Then he turned left once more and decided to go home. In the distance he could see two masked men waiting for him. Who were they?
A: The two masked men were the umpire and the other teams catcher.
Q: Two mothers and two daughters were fishing. They managed to catch one big fish, one small fish, and one fat fish. Since only three fish were caught how is it possible that they each took home a fish?
A: The fishing party consisted of three people. A grandmother, a mother, and a daughter.
Q: If you were given a can of cola that was 97% caffeine-free, how many cans of cola would you have to drink in order to consume the same amount of caffeine found in a regular cola?
A: 33 1/3 Cans
Q: Professor Quantum has ten bags of coins which all look alike. One of the bags is filled with fake coins. All the genuine coins weigh 10 grams each and all the fake coins weigh 20 grams each. Each of the ten bags contains 20 coins. Using a scale which measures in grams, how would Quantum be able to determine which bag contains the fake coins with only one weighing?
A: Professor Quantum numbered all of the bags from on to ten. He then took one coin from bag numbered one, two from the bag numbered two, three coins from the bag numbered three, etc., all the way to bag number ten. He then put all of these coins on the scale. From this one weighing he is able to determine which bag contains the fake coins.
Q: Which number is next in this series: 10, 4, 3, 11, 15 ....?
(a)14 (b)1 (c)17 (d)12
A: 14. When spelled out, each number in the series is longer than the previous number by one letter.
Q: The tallow obtained by burning ten candles will yield one extra candle. If you burn 1000 candles, how many extra candles could you make?
A: 111
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