A Walk In The Desert Riddle
Four men walk into the desert. Suddenly all four are simultaneously knocked out. They awake buried to their heads in the sand unable to look anywhere but straight ahead. They are positioned so that each man sees another's head before him. However between the first and second man there is a separating wall.
So the first man sees only desert. The second man sees only wall. The third man sees another's head and a wall. The fourth man sees two heads and a wall. On top of each mans head is a hat. The underside of each cap is black, but the outside of each cap is either blue or white. Before any of the men can speak, their captors tell them if they speak, they die. However, if any of them can guess the color of their cap on the first try they go free. The captors tell them that there are two blue caps and two white caps.
Being an omniscient observer of the situation, we know that the order of the caps are: blue, white, blue, white. So knowing the perspective of each man in the sand, and that they can only see the color of caps/wall/desert in front of them, which of the four men knows for certain the color of his own cap. More importantly: why?
So the first man sees only desert. The second man sees only wall. The third man sees another's head and a wall. The fourth man sees two heads and a wall. On top of each mans head is a hat. The underside of each cap is black, but the outside of each cap is either blue or white. Before any of the men can speak, their captors tell them if they speak, they die. However, if any of them can guess the color of their cap on the first try they go free. The captors tell them that there are two blue caps and two white caps.
Being an omniscient observer of the situation, we know that the order of the caps are: blue, white, blue, white. So knowing the perspective of each man in the sand, and that they can only see the color of caps/wall/desert in front of them, which of the four men knows for certain the color of his own cap. More importantly: why?
Hint:
The third man. This is because he knows there are only two of each color cap. If the man behind him (the fourth man) saw two caps that were the same color in front of him, he would know that his own must be the opposite. However, because the caps alternate in color. The fourth man has only a 50% chance of getting his hat color correct, so therefore he stays quiet. The third man realizes that the fourth man is quiet because he must not see two caps of the same color in front of him, otherwise the fourth man would say the opposite of the caps in front of him. Therefore, the third man presumes his own cap must be the opposite of the mans in front of him, and his presumption is correct. Under this same logic, after the third man speaks his color hat, the second man, even though he sees only wall, would be the next to go free, because he knows his cap must be the opposite of whichever color the third mans cap was. Did you answer this riddle correctly?
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YES NO
Driving Men Mad Riddle
Hint:
The Home All Of Us Have Seen
On a road of black lies a house
The block quiet as a mouse
All but one of the others
Never knew children and mothers
That one long has been foreclosen
And this one life has chosen
The home painted blue and green
It's a home all of us have seen
Few who live there beyond it motion
And tell me if you have a notion
What it is with roof of dome
Tell me now what is this home?
The block quiet as a mouse
All but one of the others
Never knew children and mothers
That one long has been foreclosen
And this one life has chosen
The home painted blue and green
It's a home all of us have seen
Few who live there beyond it motion
And tell me if you have a notion
What it is with roof of dome
Tell me now what is this home?
Hint: The foreclosed is the closest.
The Liar's Village Riddle
A man is traveling to a town and comes to a fork in the road. If he goes left, he goes to the liars' village. If he goes right, he then goes to the village of truths - which is where he wants to go. However, he does not know which way is which.
He doesn't have time to go both routes, so he approaches a stranger who is standing in the middle of the fork. The stranger says he may only ask 3 questions and he will answer them.
The man asks, "Are you from the village of truths?" The stranger says, "Yes!" However, the man is still facing a dilemma: If the stranger was from the village of truths he can only tell the truth, but if he was from the village of liars, he would say he was from the village of truth.
So then he asks the stranger, "Are you telling the truth?" The stranger says, "Yes!" But sadly this leaves the man in the same position as before.
How does he know if the man is telling the truth?
He doesn't have time to go both routes, so he approaches a stranger who is standing in the middle of the fork. The stranger says he may only ask 3 questions and he will answer them.
The man asks, "Are you from the village of truths?" The stranger says, "Yes!" However, the man is still facing a dilemma: If the stranger was from the village of truths he can only tell the truth, but if he was from the village of liars, he would say he was from the village of truth.
So then he asks the stranger, "Are you telling the truth?" The stranger says, "Yes!" But sadly this leaves the man in the same position as before.
How does he know if the man is telling the truth?
Hint:
The man asks the stranger the path back to his own village. If the stranger was from village of truths, he takes him there. If he was from the village of liars, he will still take him to the village of truths as he would be compelled to lie. Did you answer this riddle correctly?
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YES NO
Red Water Riddle
Hint:
Smells Like Paint Riddle
Hint:
Week Long Vacation Riddle
Hint:
Power Outage Riddle
Julie is going on an extended trip for three weeks. She lives in a remote area where there are frequent electrical power outages which can last up to three or four days. Julie has quite a bit of food in her freezer which would go bad if it thawed and then re-froze. She does have digital clock and a VCR which would flash 12:00 if the power went out. Unfortunately the clock and VCR flash even if the power only goes out for a few seconds. What can Julie do so that when she returns home she will be able to determine whether the power was out long enough to thaw her food? Asking a neighbor whether the power was out, isn't a reliable option because the nearest house is half a mile away, and one house may have power, while another house may have no power. She won't be able to have a neighbor check on her house every day, and has no one to house sit.
Hint:
One thing Julie could do is freeze a tray of ice-cubes, and turn the tray of ice upside down in her freezer. When she comes home, she should check the tray. If the ice cubes are still in the tray, the food is safe to eat. If the trays are empty, it's time to clean out the freezer. She will have to make a judgment call if the ice-cubes are only slightly thawed. Did you answer this riddle correctly?
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YES NO
Red All Over Riddle
Hint:
Some Sirius Girlfriends
Hint:
Basket Full Of Hats
There is a basket full of hats. 3 of them are white and 2 of them are black. There are 3 men Tom, Tim, and Jim. They each take a hat out of the basket and put it on their heads without seeing the hat they selected or the hats the other men selected. The men arrange themselves so Tom can see Tim and Jim's hats, Tim can see Jim's hat, and Jim can't see anyone's hat.
Tom is asked what color his hat is and he says he doesn't know.
Tim is asked the same question, and he also doesn't know.
Finally, Jim is asked the question, and he does know.
What color is his hat?
Tom is asked what color his hat is and he says he doesn't know.
Tim is asked the same question, and he also doesn't know.
Finally, Jim is asked the question, and he does know.
What color is his hat?
Hint:
The hat is white. If Tom doesn't know his hat color then the other two men's hats cannot be both black otherwise he would know his is white. When Tim doesn't know his hat color either, that means Jim's hat could not be black otherwise Tim would have to know his hat was white to fulfill the information discovered through Tom's answer. Did you answer this riddle correctly?
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YES NO
Driving Ducks Riddle
Hint:
Longing Flames At Home
If you travel overseas
Then you need to buy a case
If you want log flames at home
Then you need a _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
Then you need to buy a case
If you want log flames at home
Then you need a _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
Hint:
An Absentminded Philosopher Riddle
An absentminded philosopher forgot to wind up the only clock in his house. He had no radio, television, telephone, internet, or any other means of ascertaining the time. He therefore decided to travel by foot to his friend's house, a few miles down a straight desert road. He stayed there for the night and when he came back home the following morning, he was able to set his clock to the correct time. Assuming the philosopher always walks at the same speed, how did he know the exact time upon his return? Note: this is not a trick question. The Philosopher did not bring anything to his friend's house, nor did he bring anything back with him on his trip home.
Hint: We can assume that the journey to his friend's and back took exactly the same amount of time.
He Philosopher winds the grandfather clock to a random time right before leaving, 9:00 for example. Although this is not the right time, the clock can now be used to measure elapsed time. As soon as he arrives at his friend's house, the Philosopher looks at the time on his friend's clock. Let's say the time is 7:15. He stays overnight and then, before leaving in the morning, he looks at the clock one more time. Let's say the time is now 10:15 (15 hours later). When the Philosopher arrives home, he looks at his grandfather clock. Let's say his clock reads 12:40. By subtracting the time he set it to when he left (9:00) from the current time (12:40) he knows that he has been gone for 15 hours and 40 minutes. He knows that he spent 15 hours at his friends house, so that means he spent 40 minutes walking. Since he walked at the same speed both ways, it took him 20 minutes to walk from his friend's home back to his place. So the correct time to set the clock to in this example would therefore be 10:15 (the time he left his friend's house) + 20 minutes (the time it took him to walk home) = 10:35. Did you answer this riddle correctly?
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YES NO
Cant Get A Long Goat
Hint:
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