A Daily Puzzle / Brain Teaser

July 18, 2009

2009-07-18T06:17:00.001-05:00

A woman who lived in Germany during world war two wanted to cross the German/Swiss border in order to escape nazi pursuers. The bridge which she is to cross is a half mile across, over a large canyon. Every three minutes a guard comes out of his bunker and checks if anyone is on the bridge. If a person is caught trying to escape German side to the Swiss side they are shot. If caught crossing the other direction without papers they are sent back. She knows that it takes at least five minutes to cross the bridge, in which time the guard will see her crossing and shoot her. How does she get across?
Solution

July 17, 2009

2009-07-16T19:44:00.000-05:00

I'm as small as an ant, as big as a whale. I'll
approach like a breeze, but can come like a gale.
By some I get hit, but all have shown fear. I'll
dance to the music, though I can't hear. Of names
I have many, of names I have one. I'm as slow as
a snail, but from me you can't run. What am I?
Solution

Daily Brain Teaser / Puzzle For 07/16/2009

2009-07-15T19:49:00.000-05:00

Using all of the digits from I to 9 once each, create three 3-digit numbers that are in a ratio of 1:2:3. There are four solutions.
Solution

Daily Brain Teaser / Puzzle For 07/15/2009

2009-07-14T20:00:00.000-05:00

I dig out tiny caves, and store gold and silver in them.
I also build bridges of silver and make crowns of gold.
They are the smallest you could imagine.
Sooner or later everybody needs my help, yet many people are afraid to let me help them. Who am I?
Solution

Daily Brain Teaser / Puzzle For 07/14/2009

2009-07-13T20:11:00.001-05:00

I am a word of 11 letters.
My 4, 9, 5 is worn on the head.
My 10, 9, 1, 11 is a narrow road.
My 11, 2, 3, 4, 5 is a number.
My 8, 6, 7 is a spirit.
My whole is an excellent songster.
What am I?
Solution

Daily Brain Teaser / Puzzle For 07/13/2009

2009-07-12T21:48:00.000-05:00

A man walks into a his bathroom and shoots himself right between the eyes using a real gun with real bullets. He walks out alive, with no blood anywhere. And no, he didn't miss and he wasn't Superman or any other caped crusader. How did he do this?
Solution

Daily Brain Teaser / Puzzle For 07/11/2009

2009-07-10T21:17:00.000-05:00

On a faraway island there was a kingdom in which the inhabitants had either blue eyes or brown eyes. It was a small island, so that with every passing day, everyone on the island saw everyone else. However, there were no mirrors or anything else that reflected, so no one knew the color of his or her own eyes. One day the king decreed the following: 1) At least one of you has blue eyes, and 2) if you wake up in the morning and realize you have blue eyes, you must leave the island at once, without letting anyone see you.
Well, it turns out that there were precisely ten people on the island with blue eyes. Given that everyone on the island was capable of perfect logical reasoning and that everybody on the island knew about the logical abilities of their fellow islanders, what do you suppose happened to them following the king's decree?
Solution

Daily Brain Teaser / Puzzle For 07/10/2009

2009-07-09T20:11:00.000-05:00

After teaching his class all about roman numerals (X = 10, IX=9 and so on) the teacher asked his class to draw a single continuous line and turn IX into 6. The only stipulation the teacher made was that the pen could not be lifted from the paper until the line was complete.
Solution

Daily Brain Teaser / Puzzle For 07/09/2009

2009-07-08T17:00:00.000-05:00

"How old are your daughters?" Fred asked a friend one day.
"The product of their ages is 36," replied his friend.
"You are not giving me enough information," protested Fred.
"The sum of their ages is the age of your oldest son."
"I still need more information."
"All right, then. I can tell you that the oldest daughter, who is at least a year older than the other two, is a very fine pianist."
"Ah! Now I know how old your daughters are."
What are the ages of Fred's friend's daughters?
Solution

Daily Brain Teaser / Puzzle For 07/08/2009

2009-07-07T19:48:00.000-05:00

Carl Jones introduced Roger Smith to his friend as his ‘Uncle Roger'. Roger Smith introduced Carl Jones to his friend as his ‘Uncle Carl'.
"If you are uncles to each other," queried one of the friends, "you must also be nephews to each other."
"That's correct," replied Carl.
Since there has been no breach of marriage law, how can you explain such a relationship?
Solution

Daily Brain Teaser / Puzzle For 07/07/2009

2009-07-06T19:35:00.000-05:00

Complete the following mathematical pattern: 1, 4 , 27, 256, ___ ?
Solution

Daily Brain Teaser / Puzzle For 07/06/2009

2009-07-05T14:20:00.000-05:00

A house with two occupants, sometimes one, rarely three.
Break the walls, eat the boarders, then throw away me.
What am I?
Solution

Daily Brain Teaser / Puzzle For 07/03/2009

2009-07-02T20:21:00.000-05:00

A plane was returning from the Olympic Games with five
athletes who placed first through fifth in an event. They
made the following statements:
A: "I was not the last"
B: "C was the third"
C: "A was behind E"
D: "E was second"
E: "D was not the first."
On account of modesty or for some other reason, the gold
and silver medallists lied. The three worst athletes told
the truth.
What order did they all place in?
Solution

Daily Brain Teaser / Puzzle For 07/02/2009

2009-07-01T21:56:00.000-05:00

Brad Doe works for a packaging company. One day, he received four separate orders and accidentally mixed up the addresses, so he applied the address labels at random. What is the probability that exactly three packages were correctly labeled?
Solution

Daily Brain Teaser / Puzzle For 07/01/2009

2009-06-30T19:59:00.001-05:00

1. A murderer is condemned to death. He has to choose between
three rooms. The first is full of raging fires, the second is full of assassins with loaded guns, and the third is full of lions that haven't eaten in 3 years. Which room is safest for him?

2. When can you add two to eleven and get one as the correct answer?
Solution

Daily Brain Teaser / Puzzle For 06/30/2009

2009-06-29T20:45:00.002-05:00

In the Smith family, each daughter has the same number of brothers as she has sisters. Each son has twice as many sisters as he has brothers. How many sons and daughters are in the family?
Solution

Daily Brain Teaser / Puzzle For 06/28/2009

2009-06-27T21:07:00.000-05:00

Mr. and Mrs. Jones were walking home from the shopping mall with their purchases when Mr. Jones began to complain that his load was too heavy. Mrs. Jones 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?
Solution

Daily Brain Teaser / Puzzle For 06/26/2009

2009-06-26T06:05:00.000-05:00

A horse is tied to a five meter rope in front of an old saloon. Six meters behind the horse is a bale of hay. Without breaking his rope, the horse is able to eat the hay whenever he chooses. How is this possible?
Solution

Daily Brain Teaser / Puzzle For 06/25/2009

2009-06-24T21:22:00.000-05:00

Two easy one's today!1. Double my number, I'm less than a score, half of my number is less than four. Add one to my double when bakers are near, days of the week are still greater, I fear. What am I?

2. Continue this pattern: 1, 2, 3, 5, ?, ?
Solution

Daily Brain Teaser / Puzzle For 06/24/2009

2009-06-23T20:47:00.000-05:00

Mr. Whimpy was terrified of the dark. When he went to bed, he would flip off the light switch on the far wall, then tear across the room to bed, 10 feet away. However, the other day, he flipped the switch, walked slowly to his bed, and climbed in before the room went dark. He only used his finger to switch off the light. How did he manage this brave feat?
Solution

Daily Brain Teaser / Puzzle For 06/23/2009

2009-06-22T19:54:00.002-05:00

Complete the eight words using each letter of the alphabet
only once.
_ A _ E R I _ _
_ U _ _ _ E
_ I _ _ E
_ _ L _ E R
_ I _ _
_ _ A P
B R _ _ _ N
_ O L _ _ A _
Solution

Daily Brain Teaser / Puzzle For 06/22/2009

2009-06-21T17:38:00.000-05:00

Brad stared through the dirty soot-smeared window on the 22nd floor of the office tower. Overcome with depression he slid the window open and jumped through it. It was a sheer drop outside the building to the ground. Miraculously after he landed he was completely unhurt.
Since there was nothing to cushion his fall or slow his descent, how could he have survived the fall?
Solution

Daily Brain Teaser / Puzzle For 06/19/2009

2009-06-18T19:09:00.000-05:00

I can be any colour you can imagine.
You see me in everyday life.
I have been around for many, many years, look around... you can probably see some of me right now.
What am I?
Solution

Daily Brain Teaser / Puzzle For 06/18/2009

2009-06-17T19:46:00.001-05:00

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?
Solution

Daily Brain Teaser / Puzzle For 06/17/2009

2009-06-16T19:50:00.000-05:00

A worm is at the bottom of a forty foot hole. It can crawl upwards at the rate of four feet in one day, but at night, it slips back three feet. At this rate, how long will it take the worm to crawl out of the hole?
Solution