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"Any" Riddles - Next 10 of 548.
Riddle:
There are two species of citizens on a foreign planet: Hamburgs and Helphands. There are 10,000 Hamburgs, and Helphands make up 50% of the population. How many Helphands are on the foreign planet?
Answer: There are 10,000 Helphands on the foreign planet. If there are only two species of citizens on the planet, and Helphands make up 50% of the population, then Hamburgs must make up the other 50% of the population, with 10,000 of them. If there are 10,000 Hamburgs, then there are also 10,000 Helphands.
Riddle:
This is a coded riddle. Crack the code and answer the riddle. What is the riddle and answer?
The cipher for this coded riddle is hidden somewhere on Riddles.com. Hint: #5000
Wklv sodfh kdv kdugob dqb oljkwv, exw d orw ri fuhdnlqj iorruv. Wkhuh duh doo nlqgv ri vwudqjh qrlvhv dqg vrph udqgrp vodpplqj grruv. Zkdw lv lw?
Wklv sodfh kdv kdugob dqb oljkwv, exw d orw ri fuhdnlqj iorruv. Wkhuh duh doo nlqgv ri vwudqjh qrlvhv dqg vrph udqgrp vodpplqj grruv. Zkdw lv lw?
Answer: The riddle "Puzzle 4 - Code Riddle - What is the riddle and answer?" is unanswered. Do you know the answer? If so, click and add your answer in the comments section.
Riddle:
A young man became famous one day when he gathered a quarter of a bushel (8 dry quarts) of a certain type of fruit, which many people call a vegetable. Evidently, this youth, whose first and last name both start with the same letter, was able to harvest these fruits (vegetables) after they had been placed into a solution of vinegar or brine while still on the vine. So, the questions which have never been answered concerning this story are #1: How many of these fruits/vegetables did he actually harvest, and #2: Where is the work of his labor now? Can you name this famous person who has the same first and last initials?
Answer: Peter Piper picked a peck of pickled peppers …
Riddle:
Jane owns and works at a small business. She has many busy days, but she often finds herself with far too much time on her hands. She sometimes grows tired of all the same worn faces that come through her door, and she often has to hold the hands of many of those which have come to her place of business. Jane doesn't get outside much; however, she often encounters ticks while working, but she has never been bitten by one. While working on her job, Jane often thinks about her grandmother and grandfather, both of which reside with Jane in her home. What is Jane's occupation, and what type of small business does she own?
Answer: Jane is a clock repairer who owns her own clock-repair shop. By the way, Jane has two beautiful grandmother and grandfather clocks in her home which keep excellent time, thanks to Jane.
Riddle:
A man is standing inside a large, brown circle. Just behind him is a smaller, white rectangle. In full view of many men, women, and even children, the man in the circle openly displays in his hand a small bag full of a white, powdery substance. Immediately, the man spots another man wearing a mask, signaling to him that he wants something the man in the circle has in his possession. The man in the brown circle, who is now standing on only one leg, proceeds to deliver a very small amount of the white powder to the masked man along with a round object. Numerous plainclothes police witness this open exchange, but neither man is arrested for the possession or the trafficking of the white powder. What is wrong with our society today!?! Ignoring crime is never the answer, as it only emboldens the criminals around us; or is the scenario described above more innocent than it appears? Just what is happening here?
Answer: The man in the brown circle is a baseball pitcher who is holding a white rosin bag used to help dry his hand before pitching. The pitcher then sees his catcher (the masked man) giving him the signal for which pitch he is to throw, and the pitcher then delivers the baseball which has a small amount of resin still on it.
Riddle:
I have a certain number of candies, X. If I divide them into groups of three, then two candies will be left. If I divide them into groups of five, then three candies will be left. And if I divide them into groups of seven, then two candies will be left. How many candies do I have?
Answer: I have 23 candies.
Riddle:
The Queen lives in a beautiful castle with her only son and a sheep-dog named Sir FooFoo. One day the Queen decides to go out for a spot of tea with some friends. She leaves her eight-year-old son in the care of her trusted servants. The 18 servants are: Harold the health instructor, Griffith the gardener, Tiffany the private tutor, Philip the photographer, Magdalina the maid, Boris the Butler, Geraldo the groundskeeper, Bernadette the barber, Sandy the sweeper, Anastasia the accountant, Constantine the carpenter, Joel the jester, Lucy the launderer, Sadie the seamstress, McKenzie the musical instructor, Lawrence the lawyer, Dorothy the dentist, Devon the doctor, and Surlamina the Secretary of State. When the Queen came home she discovered her son was missing and that he was kidnapped. The Queen came to a conclusion that it must've been one of her servants who kidnapped her son because he was too young to leave on his own and Sir FooFoo was harmless. The Queen interviewed all of her servants to see which one was responsible for the kidnapping. The alibis are as follows: Harold was lifting weights, Griffith was planting roses, Tiffany was checking homework, Philip was taking pictures of the botanical garden, Magdalina was making the beds, Boris was cleaning the banisters, Geraldo was supervising Griffith , Bernadette was trimming Sir FooFoo's hair, Sandy was sweeping in the corners, Anastasia was managing the Queen's affairs, Constantine was building a birdhouse, Joel was coming up with the jokes, Lucy was doing the laundry, Sadie was designing a dress for the Queen, McKenzie was playing the flute, Lawrence was suing the bank, Dorothy was preparing to extract the Queen's tooth when the Queen came home, Devon was examining an x-ray of the Queen's arm, and Surlamina was being a Secretary of State . Who is the kidnapper?
Answer: Surlamina is responsible for the kidnapping because there is no Secretary of State in a monarchy. It is believed that Surlamina kidnapped the Queen's son because she was not given a real job.
Riddle:
In the 1950s, two young men, surrounded by a crowd of onlookers, stood on a round piece of wood preparing to do battle. Neither man carried any weapons of any kind, as they were both planning to use their feet to defeat their opponent. Sharp spikes on the bottoms of their boots turned their feet into the tools they would use to dispatch their adversary. One kick to the body or head could cause irreparable damage; but neither man ever struck the other with their spiked boots. In fact, not one physical blow was landed during the contest, and yet, one man was eliminated and sent to a watery grave. I thought these types of barbaric spectacles designed to satisfy the visual lusts of onlooking crowds had stopped after the gladiatorial days of ancient Rome. On the other hand, perhaps this scenario is not as violent as it appears to be. Exactly what was going on here?
Answer: The two combatants were engaged in a log rolling contest during a lumberjack competition. The spiked boots aided them in keeping their footing on the slippery logs.
Riddle:
There was no mention of it in any of the newspapers, but a queen recently moved to a small farm in the state of Iowa. To assist her, a group of about 20 diligent workers was assigned to help the queen with the farm work which needed to be done, as the queen was not accustomed to performing any type of menial, manual labor. It may seem a bit strange, but in her new home, there were no cows or chickens or farm animals of any kind, and the surrounding soil was very sandy, so no crops could be grown there. This really didn’t matter though, as there was no farm machinery for the workers to use anyway. At the queen’s insistence, those diligent workers spend their days digging tunnels all over the farm; but they are not seeking treasure or anything of value. These tunnels sometimes collapse on the workers, killing a few; but the queen shows little concern and these deaths are never reported to the police or to any law enforcement agency. Who does this queen think she is? She must feel she is above the law and has no respect for the lives of those who serve her! Where is the justice for these workers? Or, perhaps, the queen shouldn’t be held responsible after all. What exactly is going on here?
Answer: The queen was an ant which was purchased and added to an ant farm owned by a child in the state of Iowa. About 20 worker ants were added to the ant farm shortly thereafter.
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.)
