Riddle:
There is one that has a head without an eye, And there's one that has an eye without a head. You may find the answer if you try; And when all is said, Half the answer hangs upon a thread. What are they?
Answer: A pin and needle.
Riddle:
I never was, am always to be, No one ever saw me, nor ever will And yet I am the confidence of all To live and breathe on this terrestrial ball What am I?
Answer: I am Tomorrow
Riddle:
There is a barrel with no lid and some wine in it. "This barrel of wine is more than half full," said the Madam. "No it's not," says the man. "It's less than half full." Without any measuring implements and without removing any wine from the barrel, how can they easily determine who is correct?
Answer: Tilt the barrel until the wine barely touches the lip of the barrel. If the bottom of the barrel is visible then it is less than half full. If the barrel bottom is still completely coverd by the wine, then it is more than half full.
Riddle:
You are on an island in the middle of a lake. The lake is in a remote part of the country and there has never been a bridge connecting the island to the mainland. Every day a tractor and wagon gives hay rides around the island. Puzzled as to how the tractor had gotten onto the island, you ask around and find out that the tractor was not transported to the island by boat or by air. Nor was it built on the island. Explain how the tractor got there?
Answer: It was driven over in winter when the lake was frozen.
Riddle:
You are in a room that is completely bricked in on all four sides, including the ceiling and floor. You have nothing but a mirror and a wooden table in the room with you.
How do you get out?
Answer: You look in the mirror you see what you saw, you take the saw and you cut the table in half, two halfs make a whole, and you climb out the hole.
Riddle:
There was a green house. Inside the green house there was a white house Inside the white house there was a red house. Inside the red house there were lots of babies What am I?
Answer: A watermelon.
Riddle:
A man was found murdered on Sunday morning. His wife immediately called the police. The police questioned the wife and staff and got these alibis: The Wife said she was sleeping. The Cook was cooking breakfast. The Gardener was picking vegetables. The Maid was getting the mail. The Butler was cleaning the closet. The police instantly arrested the murderer. Who did it and how did they know?
Answer: It was the Maid. She said she was getting the mail. There is no mail on Sunday! (next day air and email doesn't count)
Riddle:
You have 52 playing cards, 26 red, and 26 black. You draw cards one by one. A red card pays you a dollar. A black one fines you a dollar. You can stop any time you want. Cards are not returned to the deck after being drawn. What is the optimal stopping rule in terms of maximizing your expected payoff? Also, what is the expected payoff following this optimal rule?
Answer: The solution to this problem is, in my opinion the most difficult to understand of all the puzzles. Indeed I was unable to solve it and didn't receive a complete solution until two years after originally posting it. The final solution, in the form of the spreadsheet was sent to me by Han Zheng. For this reason I have left on the page the thoughts i had before I had the final solution as they represent an easier to understand and more simplistic approach. Also the reasoning may help you arrive at the final solution by yourself or help you understand it. I would recommend reading that answer before you dive into the full answer. But an important thing to note are that as the player we can't lose this game as we can gamble till all the cards are drawn and our net position is zero. From our earlier analysis it is clear we need a dynamic quit rule. A singal value is not sufficent. We must, at each stage consider what cards are remaining, and therefor the probability of a positive or negative outcome from drawing again. For the explanation i will ask you first to consider a deck containing only 6 cards, 3 +ve & 3 -ve (note i'm no longer calling the cards black and red, it confuses me.)
Riddle:
The land was white the seed was black It'll take a good scholar to riddle me that. What am I?
Answer: An eye or an eyeball
Riddle:
What common English word will describe a person or thing as not being found in any place and yet with no changes other than a space between syllables, will correctly describe that person or thing as being actually present at this very moment?
Answer: The word is "NOWHERE". When a space is placed between the 'w' and 'h', you get the words "NOW HERE".
