help with riddles

[J_Blues]

Okay, I don't actually need help -solving- a riddle... what I need is more riddles. I'm a scout leader in Kitchener Ontario and every time I go to camp the kids always pester me to give them a few new riddles, and I'm sad to say I'm out. I'll throw a couple out here to get the mental ball rolling and hope for the best... I'll post the solutions if no one knows the answer (what are the odds of that?)


If you say my name I'll no longer exist. What am I?

Forward I'm heavy, backward I'm not...What am I?

What can you hold in your left hand that you can't hold in your right hand?

If the maker doesn't want it, the buyer doesn't use it, and the user doesn't see it, what is it?

If anyone out there can think of some, please send them my way (only thing is, I need the answer too.. I'm going to camp this weekend)
thanks

[Earl Snake-Hips Tucker]

How 'bout this one:

A box without hinges, key, or lid. And inside a golden treasure is hid.

The answer: an egg.

(Won a neat little ring with that riddle, but that's another story.)

[Chronos]

I'm guessing the answers in the OP are: silence, ton, your right elbow, and a coffin. Since you probably already know all of the riddles from The Hobbit, I won't bother with those... How about:
What builds up castles, tears down mountains, blinds men, and allows men to see?
or
Born of earth, strengthened by fire, I sit on high, master of water

I'll post the answers tomorrow at the latest, if someone else doesn't beat me to them.

[Beadalin]

Here's a favorite from when I was a kid. My mom tortured me with this one for years. At least that's what it felt like.


What's high in the sky?
A knot in a tree.
I've told you, now you tell me.


When you say it, it sounds like, "and not in a tree." Not much of a riddle, really, but sometimes that's what you need.

Another one, we'll see if I remember it correctly...


Never thirsty, always drinking
Always looking, never blinking.
Who am I?
(A fish)


That's all I got. Kinda lame, but they stuck with me.

[Strider]

OK, this one was easy.

http://www.riddlenut.com

Have fun on the trip.

BTW, Eagle scout here and GOD, the stories I could tell you would make your hair turn WHITE. I never understood how I made it those years and didn't kill, break, burn, or maime myself. Ahhhh...the memories are coming back now... Bet you never knew non-dairy creamer that comes in those little packets in diners was flammable huh? Tell your troop that one and they will have a ball! To the kids I was the SPL from heaven, to the parents I was spawned from Satan. Some of the best times in my life were from Scouts.

-N

[radar ralf]

Here's a real-life paradox: the moebius strip. To demonstrate the moebius strip, cut a long strip of paper, put a half-twist in it and tape it into a loop. You now have a structure with only one side! Take a pencil and draw one continuous line without lifting the pencil from the paper and you will meet the starting point. This strip had practical uses in the days when a steam engine was used to power various farm implements by connecting them with a belt to the engine. The frugal farmers learned that by putting a twist in the belt, 'both sides' of the belt were used, making the belt last longer. This is a good way to get young people interested in the subject of topology. Even more mysterious things happen when you begin to cut the loop by making a slit in the middle and continuing the cut until complete. The first cut is a surprise and succeeding cuts offer more surprises.

I am the camp director of a small-scale summer camp here in Alaska and I have collected several 'stunts' like this over the years.

[J_Blues]

I'm guessing the answers in the OP are: silence, ton, your right elbow, and a coffin.


right you are.... kinda simple.


Since you probably already know all of the riddles from The Hobbit, I won't bother with those...


actually... sad to say, if you know them i could use a reminder... (duck and cover...)


How about:
What builds up castles, tears down mountains, blinds men, and allows men to see?
or
Born of earth, strengthened by fire, I sit on high, master of water


the first one i would have to guess... either water or sand??

and the second one... steel??
i like those.. making me think...
try this one,
a steel barrel, shaped like a hive, full of flesh, that is alive... what is it?

[Chronos]

The first one was sand (allowing to see is after it's been turned into glass. The second is ceramic roofing tiles-- Maybe it just doesn't translate well (the original was from Latin, in the book Apollonius, Prince of Tyre). Your steel barrel has me stumped, unless it's something silly like a diving bell. As for the Hobbit, I don't habe my copy handy, but here're a few:

What has roots as nobody sees
Is taller than trees
Up, up it goes
and yet never grows?

This thing all things devours
Bird, trees, leaves, flowers
Gnaws iron, bites steel
And grinds hard stones to meal
Kills king, ruins town
and tears high mountain down
(my favorite)

An eye in a blue face saw an eye in a green face
and said, "That eye is like to this eye, but in a low place, not a high place"

Alive without breath
As cold as death
Never thirsty, always drinking
Clad in mail, never clinking

No-legs on one-leg
Two-legs nearby on three-legs
Four-legs gets some.

What have I got in my pocket?

I hope these are enough to hold you for a while... Like Strider, I had a great experience with Scouts, too. Good to see the tradition continuing :)

[Geenius]

What is it that a commoner sees every day, a king sees only a few times in his life, and God never sees at all? (Answer: His equal.)

Here's a really good one for killing time on long van rides: Two men are dead in a cabin in the woods. The cabin is surrounded by snow. The snow fell before the men arrived, but there are no footprints in it. What happened? (Answer: It's the cabin of a plane that crashed; the two men are the pilot and the copilot. The fun in this one is letting your boys ask questions about the situation and puzzle out the solution from your replies. Example: "Is there a weapon?" "No"; "Could they have entered the cabin by way of the chimney?" "No, there is no chimney"; etc.)

[Robert Lin]

Here's a brain teaser:
A man meets two men at two doors. A sign above the two doors says, "One door leads to eternal paradise, while one leads to certain peril. One of these men always lies, while the other always tells the truth." What question do you ask to be certain you get to the room with eternal paradise?
answer: You ask either one, "Which door would the other say is the door that leads to eternal bliss? Either way, go trough the opposite door the man says.

[MattStL]

What goes up the chimney down, but not down the chimney up?

Ans: An umbrella

[J_Blues]

Thanks to everyone for the riddles, they should keep me going for a while. If you want, i can let you know which ones the youth (we're co-ed now) figure out?
Anyways, the steel barrel riddle is one i never... ever give the answer to, but i suppose i could make an exception for the teeming millions, but it'll cost the answers to those hobitt riddles... the one i'm guessing is fire? (everything devours... etc)
a steel barrel shaped like a hive, full of flesh that is alive....
a thimble :)
(i love hinting that one.... come on guys, you're sew close)

anyways, thanks again.. it's been a life saver (i mean that, scouts today are vicious little creatures... much as they were when i was a scout)

Drew

[AWB]

Here's a Biblical riddle:

Judges 14:14
So [Samson] said to them,
"Out of the eater came something to eat,
And out of the strong came something sweet."
But [the Philistines] could not tell the riddle in three days.

Answer: a lion's carcass with a honeybees' nest in it.

Hahahahahaha.... get it. Um, neither do I. Neither did Cecil. He talks about it in one of his books. Sadly, it's not online right now.

[phouka]

It's not a riddle, but a logic puzzle you can have them work on. In it's non-PC version, it's called the Cannibals and Missionaries.

You need six objects - three of one sort and three of another (I almost always use three Sweet-N-Low packets and three sugar packets - the pinks are the cannibals and the whites are the missionaries (hey, I said it was non-PC)).

The missionaries and cannibals are travelling through the jungle, and they come upon a river. On their bank is a boat that can carry only two people at a time. Now, if the cannibals ever out number the missionaries, they'll eat them. How do you get all six people across the river without having the missionaries eaten?

I'll supply the answer tomorrow if no one else has.

[Ozone]

Answers bellow....

1) A man lays dead in the middle of a field. He has a pack on his back, and a ring on his finger. No tracks lead in or
out of the field. How did the man die?

2) Three men are out of town together on a business trip. As it gets later in the evening, they realize they will not make it home that night, and decide to find a hotel. The men find a hotel, but there is only one room available. The hotel manager tells them it will be $30.00 for the night. Each man pitches in $10.00, and they head to their room. Moments later, the manager realizes that the room he rented the men is actually a $25.00 room. He gives the bell boy five $1.00 bills, and instructs him to return them to the three gentlemen. On his way to the room, the bell boy pockets two of the dollars. He reaches the room, and gives each man a dollar back. After each man paid $10.00, then was given $1.00 in change, it can be said that each man paid $9.00. 3 x $9.00 = $27.00, plus the two dollars the bell boy kept makes $29.00. Where's the missing dollar to make the original $30.00?

3) A farmer stands on one side of a river. He has a chicken, a fox, and a sack of grain. He has a boat big enough to carry himself, and one of the items he has with him (the chicken, the fox, or the grain). If he tries to carry more than one item at a time, the boat will sink. If he leaves the fox alone with the chicken, the fox will eat the chicken. If he leaves the chicken alone with the grain, the chicken will eat the grain. The farmer must get all three items to the other side of the river. How does he do it?

Answers:

1) The man's parachute didn't open

2) This one's a trick. There really is no missing dollar. It's all in the way the math problem is worded. One could say that each man paid $9.00. 3 x $9.00 is $27.00, minus the two dollars the bell boy took makes the $25.00 they paid for the room.

3) Take the chicken first. Come back, pick up the fox and take it across. Drop off the fox, pick up the chicken and take it back to the original side. Drop off the chicken, take the grain across, then come back for the chicken.

[Olentzero]

I got this one out of a book I read long ago called The Gold Bug Variations by a man named Ricjard Powers. Closest anyone could come to being my favorite author.

Q: There is a room with ten doors.
When one is open, nine are closed.
When nine are open, one is closed.
Name me.

A: A human. (Umbilical cord is the only aperture in the body during gestation; after birth, seven apertures in the head and two twixt one's legs.)

[Chronos]

Aw, come on, J, you could have hinted a little about the thimble... Now I feel stupid, espescially considering that I happen to have on sitting on my desk, right in sight! (although in my defense, it's made of plastic, not steel).

the Hobbit riddles, in order:
Mountain
Time
Sun on daisies
Fish
A fish on a table, a man on a stool eating the fish, and the cat gets the bones
A Ring (ok, so that one's not really a riddle, but Gollum tried to answer it as one, so it counts).
You need to go re-read The Hobbit. You'll be glad you did.

Olentzero: The correct answer to that one is actually a man, not a human. Women have three aperatures twixt the legs. And are eyes counted as aperatures?

phouka: You forgot to mention that none of the cannibals can row.

A few more:
What work is it, that the slower you do it, the sooner it's done?
What is it that is greater than God, but worse than the devil; the rich lack it, but the poor have it, and if you eat it, you will die?

[phouka]

phouka: You forgot to mention that none of the cannibals can row.


Would you believe that I have never heard that rule? Well, here's how we solve it in my family . . .

Cannibals 1 and 2 cross the river, cannibal 1 returns with the boat.

Cannibals 1 and 3 cross the river, cannibal 1 returns with the boat.

Missionaries 1 and 2 cross the river, missionary 1 and cannibal 2 return.

Missionary 1 and 3 cross the river, cannibal 3 returns with the boat.

Cannibal 3 ferries the other two cannibals across.

. . .

How do you solve it, Chronos?

[Olentzero]

Fom Chronos:

Olentzero: The correct answer to that one is actually a man, not a human. Women have three aperatures twixt the legs. And are eyes counted as aperatures?

'Course eyes are counted as apertures. Yes, I know there's a major difference between the vaginal canal and the urethra and that makes an extra aperture, but I was trying not to be sexist with my answer.

[J_Blues]

Aw, come on, J, you could have hinted a little about the thimble... Now I feel stupid, espescially considering that I happen to have on sitting on my desk, right in sight! (although in my defense, it's made of plastic, not steel).


Yer right, I'm sorry.. i could have and should have dragged that one out a little longer... tell ya what, I have one that i don't plan on giving the scouts the answer to (i usually promise the answers if they can't get it by sunday, only ever had to once though) There's a prize involved for this one (at camp, not here.. sorry gang)

one thin, one bold, one sick, one cold, the earth we span, to prey apon man. Who are we?


A few more:
What work is it, that the slower you do it, the sooner it's done?
What is it that is greater than God, but worse than the devil; the rich lack it, but the poor have it, and if you eat it, you will die?


hmmm.... those have me thinking now... and i leave for camp in a couple of hours. This sucks, it's my day off and i left my brain in the office. oh well, i'll stew over thos this weekend, thanks :)

J

[SqrlCub]

The Moebius strip was quite cool Radar Ralf. I hadn't seen that before. Thanks for that one.

HUGS!
Sqrl

[phouka]

J_Blues, if I'm not mistaken, you're talking about the Four Horsemen of Apocalypse.

One thin = Famine

One bold = War

One sick = Pestilence

One cold = Death

[J_Blues]

J_Blues, if I'm not mistaken, you're talking about the Four Horsemen of Apocalypse.

One thin = Famine

One bold = War

One sick = Pestilence

One cold = Death


No, you are not mistaken. Thats exactly it. I'm just hoping my scouts take a little longer with that one...

[Grendel69]

...here are some more of that genre.

NOTE: These are riddles in which people can ask yes/no questions to the poser (of the riddle).

A man survives a shipwreck and, upon returning to the mainland, he has a bowl of soup at a restaraunt. He immediately walks out and committs suicide. Why?

A man is dead in a room with 53 bicycles. What happened?

I have a bunch more I can't remember...
Another good mental game is to get three utensils and organize them on the ground, or a table/counter. Ask people what number is represented by this organization o utensils. The trick is that the organization of the utensils is random. It doesn't matter. What you do is to put both of your hands on the ground/table/counter next to the utensils and stick out the number of fingers that corresponds to the number. This is what they are supposed to pick up if they are observant... It's dirty, but hey....

There is also the state game. One person says a state and then other names states trying to figure out the pattern. The pattern is that prior to saying the state name one must uter "ummmmmm..." Again, it's dirty and will probably garner you some dirty looks.

[GasDr]

The guy realized he had eaten his wife/friend etc.
Took me about an hour to figure that one out with friends several years ago.

A couple other of those yes/no Q and A riddles:

A guy is going home, he meets a man with a mask and gets scared...why?
A man goes downstairs, gets his newspaper, reads the headlines, then kills himself...why?

[Chronos]

Hmm, you're right, Phouka. I think that the version where the cannibals can't row has a three-person boat.

As for my previous riddles, the first one is "roasting meat on a spit". Turn the meat quickly, it cooks slowly, and vice-versa. I'm not going to give the answer to the second, because it's too easy, but here's a hint: Any of the clues by itself is enough to answer the riddle, and the rest are just so you're sure of the answer.

[Geenius]

The guy with the mask is a fireman, and the man's house is on fire?

[Greyson3]

Chronos, would the answer to your riddle happen to be "nothing"?

The guy scared of the masked man may have been playing baseball.

The guy dead in a room of 53 bicycles was caught cheating at cards.

One I like that isn't really a riddle but nobody has ever gotten is:

"A farmer has twenty sick sheep, and one dies. How many are left?"

They always say twenty-five. Heh heh. I got some dirty looks for that one.

[FunkDaddy]

In my congition class we did a small chapter on problem-solving skills. We had the same problem, but we got the more PC version -

You can't leave the cannibals and missionaries together because the missionaries will attempt to convert the cannibals if they outnumber them. :)

FunkDaddy

[Achernar]

"What is it that is greater than God, but worse than the devil; the rich lack it, but the poor have it, and if you eat it, you will die?"

I know, Chronos! It is Nothing! If I remember correctly, that's also half of an incorrect guess for "What have I got in my pocket?"

Grendel69 mentioned the kind of puzzle wherein the guessers can ask the riddle-giver Yes-No questions. The book from which I read many of these calls them Lateral Thinking Puzzles. Here are a couple of my favorites, and since they're not any fun without a series of Yes-No questions, I'll give you their answers:

· A woman comes home to find her husband lying dead on the floor. Why does she blame the cat?

For this one, be careful how you word it so as not to give away what she blames the cat for. The answer is that her husband has been cremated, after he died some time ago, and his urn, which had been sitting in some place of reverence, had been overturned on to the floor, apparently by the cat.

· A man wakes up in the middle of the night. He's hungry, so he goes into the kitchen, makes himself a bologna sandwich, puts the dishes in the sink, and then turns off the light and goes to bed. The next morning there are dozens of dead people outside his house. How did they die?

Their ship crashed into the shore, because this man's house, a lighthouse, had its light turned off. Note that in this one, the whole sandwich thing is just a red herring. Hee hee.

· A rich man buys ten super-expensive cars. He then goes to great expense to wrap them in plastic wrap and vaseline (or whatever it takes to preserve them) and bury them in the desert. He comes back for them a year later. Why?

The borders of the country in which he bought the cars were in dispute at the time of his purchase. Being shrewd at finances, he realized that it would be cheaper to bury them in the desert, and then to get them back when that spot in the desert was in effect in another country, than it would have been to pay the hefty import tariffs.