Shane is a young and talented scientist who always works in his lab alone. One day, he's found unconscious in his lab. Police officers question three other scientists. Ian claimed to be Shane's lab assistant, insisting that he would never hurt his lab partner. Travis said that he was doing research on a separate project. And Patricia said that she was cleaning the lab. Who hurt Shane?
Pay close attention to the statements and think about what it means to be "alone" in the lab...
Shane always worked in his lab alone, and he never had any assistants. Therefore, Ian lied about being Shane's assistant.
Your spaceship lands on a foreign planet. A stranger in his workout clothes greets you to the entrance of the base. You go inside the base and wait for it to depressurize before removing your space suit. But before you get a chance to remove it, you get a message that someone at the base is an impostor. Who could it be–a man who covers his face because he has a sunburn, a woman with flaky patches all over her skin, or the stranger you saw earlier?
Hint: Think about the environment you're in and how it might affect the people you're considering...
The stranger you saw earlier is an impostor because a human who is not wearing a spacesuit cannot survive outside of the base in the foreign planet's atmosphere, but this stranger somehow survived without his spacesuit.
A thief was in the process of robbing the house of a wealthy widow. As he was rifling through the dresser drawers where her jewelry box was located, he came upon a bunch of diamonds. He knew the diamonds were genuine because he had seen the same type many times before, but he left them untouched in the drawer and continued searching the room. When he heard police sirens approaching, he ran from the home empty-handed, not retrieving the diamonds. Did this thief flunk out of crook college? Why didn't he grab those diamonds when he had the chance?
The thief's occupation is not what you think it is...
The diamonds he spotted in the dresser drawer were a bunch of playing cards with the suit of 13 diamonds facing up where he could see them.
A retired zookeeper owned a huge house with a very large and beautifully landscaped yard. The neighbors of the man drove past his home daily, and admired his arrangement of all the large trees and numerous healthy bushes which adorned the front yard. One day, a neighbor drove by the former zookeeper's house, and was astonished to see a living, fully-grown ostrich standing in the yard. A week later, neighbors reported seeing a live, fully-grown bear standing near the ostrich. As the next few weeks passed, the neighbors saw a tiger, a lion, a hippopotamus, and finally an elephant appear in the yard of the retired zookeeper --- all fully- grown and alive, but without any cages or bars to protect the neighborhood from them. Amazingly, not one person who lived in that area ever expressed any fear of the uncaged animals, and no one ever called the police for protection. Were these people living in the Twilight Zone? What exactly was going on here, and why weren't any of these people afraid for their lives?
Think about the profession of the homeowner...
The retired zookeeper was also a professional topiary expert. Mixing together the best of his two worlds, he sculpted zoo animals from his fully-grown, healthy, living bushes in his front yard, much to the delight of his neighbors.
Messy Marge's mother was scolding her once again for keeping such a messy bedroom -- and right after she had said she was done cleaning it. Her mother began her lecture by saying, "Messy Marge (that is what her mother called her), I just finished inspecting your room, and I was shocked by some of the things I discovered on your bedroom floor. I found 11 red balloons, 7 orange-colored stars, 9 green things which resembled clover leafs, 4 moon-shaped objects of a bluish color, and 10 little pink hearts; but the mess that really irritated me was the 26 horse shoes I found on your closet floor! Is Messy Marge destined to be the next subject on the TV show "Hoarders: Buried Alive," or is there some less horrific explanation for the contents of her room?
Think about the items mentioned and what they might have in common... they're all things you might find on a specific type of item, often associated with celebrations or special occasions.
Messy Marge is messy with her belongings, but she has also been caught eating in her room. In this case, she’s been eating bowls of Lucky Charms cereal, and spilling many of the colored marshmallows in various places in her room.
The cost of making only the maker knows, Valueless if bought, but sometimes traded. A poor man may give one as easily as a king. When one is broken pain and deceit are assured. What am I?
Think about something that is priceless, yet worthless if you try to buy it, and is often exchanged between people, regardless of their social status...
In camps about the centre I appear;
In smiling meadows seen throughout the year;
The silent angler views me in the streams,
And all must trace me in their morning dreams,
First in the mob conspicuous I stand,
Proud of the lead, and ever in command.
What am I?
A logician with some time to kill in a small town decided to get a haircut. The town had only two barbers, each with his own shop. The logician glanced into one shop and saw that it was extremely untidy. The barber needed a shave, his clothes were unkempt, and his hair was badly cut. The other shop was extremely neat. The barber was freshly shaved and spotlessly dressed, his hair neatly trimmed. Why did the logician return to the first shop for his haircut?
Each barber must have cut the other's hair. The logician picked the barber who had given his rival the better haircut.
You and a your friend are trapped in a room. There are two exists (a+b). a) One exist leads to a roaring Inferno with a thin bridge crossing to the other side, but there is a risk that it will fall. b) The other lead to lions which have been satrved for 2 months, so they will eat you and your friend on the spot. Which exist is the safest for you and your friend?
Think about the lions' situation... what happens to living things when they don't eat for a long time?
B is the safest. Taking exist A might gurantee your saftey but not your friend as it will probaby fall under your weight. On the other hand the lion have been starved for two months which probably means they are dead.
Mr. Green, Mr. Brown, and Mr. Black meet up for coffee one Monday morning. Mr. Green says, "Hey, do you realize that we're all wearing shirts of colors that don't match our names?". The man wearing the brown shirt says, "Wow, Mr. Green, you're right"! What colored shirt is each man wearing?
Think about what the man wearing the brown shirt says...
Mr. Green cannot be wearing the green shirt, because his statement that all three men are wearing shirts that don't match their names is correct. And he cannot be wearing the brown shirt, because the man wearing the brown shirt replied to his words, and let's be honest–it doesn't make sense to reply to your OWN words, right? This means Mr. Green can only be wearing the black shirt. Mr. Brown can either be wearing a green or a black shirt. The black shirt is already taken, so Mr. Brown is wearing the green shirt. And Mr. Black is wearing the brown shirt.
Twelve flags stand equidistant along the track at the stadium. The runners start at the first flag. A runner reaches the eighth flag 8 seconds after he starts. If he runs at an even speed, how many seconds does he need altogether to reach the twelfth flag?
Think about the distance covered by the runner in 8 seconds and how it relates to the total distance to the 12th flag...
Not 12 seconds. There are 7 segments from the first flag tot the eighth, and 11 from the first to the twelfth. He runs each segment in 8/7 seconds; therefore, 11 segments take 88/7= 12 4/7 seconds.
A watchmaker was telephoned urgently to make a house call to replace the broken hands on a clock. He was sik so he sent his apprentice.
The apprentice was thorough. When he finished inspecting the clock it was dark. Assuming his work was done, he attached the new hands and set the clock by his pocket watch. It was sic o'clock, so he set the big hand at the 12 and the little hand at the 6.
The apprectice returned, but soon the telephone rang. He picked up to his angry client:
"You didn't do the job right. The clock shows the wrong time."
Surprised he hurried back. He found the clock showing not much past eight. He handed is watch to the client and showed her that her clock was not even one second late. The client had to agree.
Early the nect morning, the client telephoned to say the clock has apparently gone berserk, hands were moving around the clock at will. The apprentice again rushed over, the clock showed a little past seven. After checking his watch he yelled:
"You are making fun of me! Your clock shows the right time!"
Have you figured out whats going on?
Here's a hint:
Think about the type of clock the apprentice was fixing, and how it might be different from a typical clock.
As the problem says the apprentice mixed up the hands so that the minute hand was short and the hour hand was long.
The first time the apprentice returned to the client was about 2 hours and 10 minutes after he had set the clock at six.The long had moved olny from twelve to a little past two. The little made two whole circles and an additional 10 minutes. Thus the clock showed the correct time.
The next day around 7:o5 a.m.he came a second time,13 hours and 15 minutes after he had set the clock for six. The long had, acting as the hour hand,covered 13 hours to reach 1. The short hand made 13 full circles and 5 minutes, reaching 7, So the clock showed the correct time again.
Mr. Wilson was found unconscious in his bedroom on a Saturday evening. There were just five other people in his house at the time of the murder: Mr. Wilson's wife, their chef, a butler, a housemaid, and a gardener. They all told the detective what they were doing that evening. Mrs. Wilson: I was reading a book in the living room. The chef: I was cooking breakfast. The butler: I was giving instructions to several workers in the living room. The housemaid: I was in the kitchen, washing the dishes. The gardener: I was in the greenhouse, watering plants. The detective arrested the culprit right away. Who was it, and how did the detective know?
Hint: Pay close attention to the timing and the tasks each person claimed to be doing... something doesn't quite add up!
In fact, there wasn't just one culprit–there were TWO culprits: the personal chef and the butler. The personal chef is the first culprit; the murder happened in the EVENING. He couldn't be cooking breakfast so late in the day. The butler is the second culprit; there were only 5 other people in the house, including himself, and almost none of them were in the living room, except for the wife (but she is not a WORKER). He couldn't be supervising so many workers.
There lived a man in a house and everytime he went to bed he turned on the light. One night, the man forgot to turn on the light. The next day he read the paper and killed himself.
Why?
The hint is: Think about the man's profession...
The man lived in a lighthouse. He forgot to turn on the light and a ship crashed. The next morning he read in the paper that the ship crashed and killed himself because he felt guilty.
Johnny's dad had told Johnny that if he could get an A+ on his final exam, he could get any ice cream flavor he wanted plus a pizza. When the day for the final exam came, the professor said, "There are three questions on this exam. You will have one hour to answer them all and no more. Anyone caught taking any longer or cheating will get an automatic F." When Johnny received the paper, he read the first question. As he read it, he realized the exam was no piece of cake so he worked as hard as he could. When he finally finished question one, he checked the clock. There was only 5 minutes left! At this rate, he wouldn't be able to finish in time. As Johnny looked around, he saw that there were hundreds of students and figured that he could get away with a few extra minutes, so he worked away past the hour mark. As Johnny went to turn in his paper, the professor stopped him. "Young man," the professor said sternly. "I saw you keep working long after the 1-hour mark. You were caught cheating and will get an F." Thinking quickly, Johnny replied, "Do you know who I am?" The professor stoically responded, "I neither know or care who you are. You need to learn respect and discipline." "Good." said Johnny and he ran away. When the day for the exam scores to be announced came, Johnny received an A+. How?
Think about the power of a simple question...
When the professor confirmed Johnny's anonymity (the professor didn't know who he was), Johnny quickly slipped his exam paper into the pile of exams and ran off, so the professor wouldn't know which exam paper deserved an F. Congratulations on sticking through the whole riddle.
There is a frog, dead in the middle of an island. If he swims north, the distance to the mainland is 2 meters. If he swims south, the distance to the mainland is 3 meters. If he swims east or west, the distance is 4 meters. Which way does he swim?
I have a head body and arm but no blood. I have eyes but can't see a nose but can't smell. I have a stage but haven't seen anyone perform. I have arms but can not carry anything you see things with me but you can't see what I am made of. What am I?
Think about a place where people often gather, and it's not a living thing...
I have a beginning, but no end and I end all things that begin. What am I?
Think about the concept of "beginning" and "end" in a more abstract sense, rather than a physical or literal one. The answer is not a living thing, but rather an idea or a concept that plays a crucial role in many aspects of life.
My tail is long, my coat is brown, I like the country, I like the town. I can live in a house or live in a shed, And I come out to play when you are in bed.
What am I?
Think about an animal that is commonly found in both rural and urban areas, and is known to be active at night...
I take you by night, by day take you back. None suffer to have me but do from my lack. What am I?
"Think about something that is often associated with darkness and light, and is essential for our well-being, but its absence can cause great distress..."
I wear a huge dark cloak, not unlike the one of a wizard, I am the opposite of warm, I don't walk-I float, I prefer to be sad, not happy. I appear in clouds, not in the sky, I can only be extinguished by a happy spell, I will take your soul, if you cross my path. I am a foul creature, amongst the foulest, you might call me a light extinguisher. What am I?
"Think of a phenomenon that's often associated with gloomy weather, and has a reputation for being ominous and even frightening. It's not a living thing, but it can still have a profound impact on those who encounter it."
Every famine begins with me. Each fight I'll be the first you see. Though food can never come without, what forest fire beginnings are all about. Fears begin with me it is true, and when I come I'll bring flames for you. But with the hungry I wont be found. Yet with each new life I'll be around. What am I?
I am a word of five letters. Take away my first and I am the name of what adorns the estate of many of the nobility of England. Take away my first and second, and I am the name of a place where all the world was once congregated. Take away my last, and I am the name of a beautiful mineral. Take away my two last, and I am the name of a fashionable place of resort. I am small in stature but capable of doing a great deal of mischief, as I once did in London in the year 1666. What word am I?
Hint: Think about a word that is associated with fire...
I'm never boring, always new and attractive, there is no right or wrong. I guide you to find the meaning of life and give meaning to your life. What am I?
Think about something that's constantly evolving, open to interpretation, and helps you discover your purpose...
Never resting, never still. Moving silently from hill to hill. It does not walk, run or trot, All is cool where it is not. What is it?
Think about something that can move across the landscape without making a sound, and its presence is often associated with a decrease in temperature...