Riddle: Sheila baked a batch of delicious peanut butter cookies for dessert later in the day. She couldn't eat them while near her husband, though; he was severely allergic to all types of nuts. Plus, the couple's three kids–David, Amanda, and Frank–were all grounded and not allowed to eat sweets for a week. When Sheila went to get the cookies later in the day, she noticed that all of them were gone. She knew it must have been one of her kids who ate the cookies, so she interrogated them. David said that he was helping Dad to bake an apple pie in the kitchen. Amanda said that earlier in the day, she and Dad were eating peanut butter and jelly sandwiches for lunch. She didn't have time for cookies. Frank said that he was doing his homework upstairs. Sheila instantly knew who was lying, and grounded that child for another week. Who was the cookie thief?
Answer: Amanda stole the cookies. She couldn't be eating peanut butter and jelly sandwiches with Dad earlier in the day; after all, Sheila's husband is severely allergic to all types of nuts.
Riddle: Ms. Dell is a math teacher at a high school. She always gives her students summer homework. One year, her students are SO tired of summer homework, and they want her to stop giving it to them. Ms. Dell promises a riddle to the students; whoever gets it right will not get summer homework. The riddle went like this: Add me to myself, and multiply me by four. Divide me by eight, and you will have me once more. What number am I? All of her students gave different answers, but nobody received any summer homework. How is that possible?
Answer: All numbers work with Ms. Dell's riddle! ((x + x) * 4) / 8 will always equal x.
Riddle: Two mothers and two daughters went to the grocery store to buy watermelons. Strangely, they only walked out of the grocery store with three watermelons, but this was enough for each of them to have one watermelon. How is it possible?
Answer: Only three people went grocery shopping: a grandmother, a mother, and a daughter. The grandmother is also a mother (she is the mother's mother), and the mother is also a daughter (she is the grandmother's daughter).
Riddle: Lucy went onto a game show, and she was one task away from winning the grand prize: $500,000.00. She was shown four bags; one of these bags had the cash prize inside, while the other three were empty. Lucy had only one chance to choose the bag with the money. Each bag had a statement on it, but only one statement was true. A: The money is in either Bag B or Bag C. B: The money is in either Bag A or Bag D. C: The money is in this bag. D: The money is not in this bag. Which statement is true, and which bag has the money?
Answer: Statement B is true. Bag D has the money. If Bag A had the money, then statements B and D would both be true. If Bag B had the money, then statements A and D would both be true. If Bag C had the money, then statements A, C, and D would all be true. But, we only need one true statement. If Bag D had the money, then the statements on all of the bags would be false, except for that on Bag B. This matches the conditions, so the money is in Bag D.
Riddle: Simon and Bryce are two farmers. They want to see which of their chickens will lay more eggs in a month. Simon has four roosters; he claims that they can each lay 3 eggs in a day. Bryce has three hens; he claims that they can each lay 2 eggs in a day. The contest the two farmers propose happens in June. By the end of the month, which farmer will have the most eggs?
Answer: Bryce will have more eggs than Simon, simply because Simon is lying. Roosters don't lay eggs, so Simon will not have any eggs by the end of June.
Riddle: Wendy and Maverick are participating in a mathematical game show. Their scores are tied, so whoever gets the last riddle correct wins. The riddle goes like this: I am thinking of a number. It is a five-digit whole number. It can be read the same way forwards, backwards, and upside-down. The second digit is half of the third. The last digit is the product of the first and last digits. And the sum of all five digits is 10. What number am I thinking of? Wendy says, "12,421". Maverick says, "10,801". Who is correct?
Answer: Maverick is correct. The number is 10,801. This is why: Both numbers meet most of the requirements, but 12421 does not meet the second requirement because it CANNOT be read the same way upside-down as right-side-up. Many think 10801 does not meet the third requirement, but 0 CAN be half of 8 if you cut 8 in half horizontally. This way, you will get two zeros, and 10801 DOES meet the third requirement. Since only 10801 meets all the requirements, it is the correct answer, and Maverick is right!
Riddle: On a bright and sunny day, a powerful and evil wizard locked Karen on the top floor of his tower. Then, the wizard set a huge magic fire around the base of the castle, so Karen would not be able to get out. The room had a small window. Karen looked around and saw three potions on the table. The first potion would give Karen incredible human strength. The second potion would turn Karen into a vampire. The third potion would let Karen summon any animal she'd like. Which potion should Karen choose to escape?
Answer: Karen should choose the potion that allows her to turn into a vampire (the second potion). Even if she has all of the strength in the world, she wouldn't be able to do anything to the magic fire. And no animal can help Karen escape. If Karen turns into a vampire, though, she can transform into a bat and fly away through the window. And I know what you're thinking, but no–even though it's a sunny day, bats cannot die in the sun.
Riddle: Zack invented a game for him and his friend Dan to play. They would take turns saying numbers between one and 10. The next player would have to say a number that is greater than the previous one by a number between one and 10. The first player to say 50 would be the winner. Zack decides to let Dan start. How can Dan win?
Answer: If Dan wants to say 50, then he needs Zack to say a number between 40 and 49, so right before 50, Dan needs to say 39. If he wants to say 39, then Zack needs to say a number between 29 and 38, so right before 39, Dan needs to say 28. If Dan wants to say 28, Zack has to say a number between 18 and 27, so right before 28, Dan has to say 17. And if he wants to say 17, he has to let Zack say a number between 7 and 16, so right before 17, Dan has to say 6. In order to win, Dan needs to say 6, then 17, then 28, then 39, and finally 50.
Riddle: Chris wants to enter an exclusive club, but the security guard in front of the door always asks for a password. Chris decides to eavesdrop on clubgoers, and this is what he sees: A woman walks up to the security guard. The guard says "12", and the woman replies "6". The woman is granted access. A man walks up to the security guard. The guard says "6", and the man replies "3". The man is granted access. Another woman walks up to the security guard. The guard says "10", and the woman replies "5". This woman is NOT granted access. Chris thinks he's seen enough, and he walks up to the security guard. The guard says "4". What should Chris say to get into the club?
Answer: To get into the club, Chris should say "4". The task was not to divide the number by two (after all, not all numbers are divisible by two). Instead, the task was to say how many letters are in the number the security guard says. "Twelve" has 6 letters. "Six", in turn, has 3 letters. "Ten" also has 3 letters, so the second woman should have said "3", not "5". Chris should say "4" because "four" consists of 4 letters.
Riddle: Dominick is the manager of a massively successful hotel. One day, his richest guest, Kim, calls him. She says that someone stole all of her money from the vault in her room. Dominick decides to question three other hotel guests–Sally, Lawrence, and Deborah. Dominick asks each of them just one question: "What were you doing within the last hour?" Sally says, "I was chilling in a hotel room with my boyfriend, and had nothing to do with the robbery." Lawrence says, "I was having lunch in the local sushi restaurant on the top floor. " Deborah says," I was swimming in the hotel swimming pool." Who is the robber?
Answer: Sally is the robber. Dominick never mentioned the robbery, but Sally started making excuses straight away.