Most Popular

1500 questions
25
votes
5 answers

What's the oldest recorded puzzle?

So this starts out as a pretty simple question: what's the oldest recorded puzzle? I'm aware that we could get into "what's the definition of a puzzle" here, and I don't want to get sidetracked by that, so I'm expanding the question a bit to…
A E
  • 8,802
  • 5
  • 41
  • 81
25
votes
3 answers

Write twenty-four from four numbers

Write 24 using the four numbers 1, 3, 4, 6 and basic arithmetic. Explanations: The given are numbers, not digits, so you can't group them using decimal notation. For example, you can't create the number 6431. Only one occurrence of each number is…
klm123
  • 16,216
  • 8
  • 64
  • 125
25
votes
3 answers

You need me. What am I?

I am usually roseate, But not always. I am sometimes inconsiderate; But you need me. I protect my jewel That sometimes moves Because without it; I cannot confess, To my lover; All the love I have prepared. After I confess; I part, And I…
Me myself and I
  • 663
  • 5
  • 18
25
votes
6 answers

Video-games Mondegreens

Inspired by TV Title Mondegreens, I, too, came up with a similar puzzle. It is still based on Mondegreens, obviously, but with video-games! Each of these 10 descriptions will lead you to a (weird) phrase or sequence of words wich, when (badly)…
Keelhaul
  • 12,651
  • 36
  • 91
25
votes
14 answers

Separate the milk!

You have a jug of milk and a jug of water. You must empty both jugs into a nine gallon barrel. You must be able to: Differentiate between the milk and the water Separate the milk from the water You cannot: Add any sort of divider into the…
user
  • 1,047
  • 1
  • 7
  • 19
25
votes
5 answers

A rectangular room has a floor tiled with tiles of two shapes: 1×4 and 2×2

A rectangular room has a floor tiled with tiles of two shapes: 1×4 and 2×2. The tiles completely cover the floor of the room, and no tile has been damaged, or cut in half. One day, a heavy object is dropped on the floor and one of the tiles is…
Jamal Senjaya
  • 17,864
  • 2
  • 41
  • 147
25
votes
1 answer

What is the solution to Lewis Carroll's "Froggy's Problem", and what is the "trap"?

Froggy's Problem was presented in Lewis Carroll's Symbolic Logic, with a note that it "contains a marvellous trap". Because Carroll never released Part 2 of Symbolic Logic, its solution is unknown. Achieve the strongest conclusion from these…
Mark Green
  • 603
  • 5
  • 9
25
votes
2 answers

Death cases of computer technician

Police found the body of a computer technician in front of his computer, with a belly wound. There was a possibility of the victim bleeding to death after being stabbed with a sharp object. There were no signs of damage on the windows or doors,…
nyongrand
  • 496
  • 3
  • 12
25
votes
1 answer

No Answer Should Answer

One day, the King ordered me to visit the city of NASA to find a rare herb to cure his daughter's illness. However, upon arriving at the city's gate, a guard stopped me. "Hello, why are you here?" started the guard. "I was sent by the King to find…
William Nathanael
  • 2,023
  • 10
  • 22
25
votes
1 answer

Help! Can you get my puzzle back?

Puzzling has a lot of really complicated stuff these days, so I just wanted to post a simple Boggle grid. You know that game, right? You form words by starting from one letter, then taking adjacent letters moving in any of the eight directions, but…
ffao
  • 21,733
  • 4
  • 68
  • 109
25
votes
2 answers

Where is my friend right now?

A friend of mine is travelling the world and likes to send cryptic messages about where he is, I think he enjoys challenging me. Anyway here is the latest message, can anyone here help me figure it out? My 1st is the capital and my 4th is not:…
Gareth Shepherd
  • 453
  • 4
  • 9
25
votes
5 answers

Why isn't this chess puzzle trivial?

This chess puzzle has become popular in the last few days: But doesn't the white king just need to wander to where the cross is, then move the white pawn forward, then the black bishop takes it and it is a draw in 50 moves. This question was posed…
Simd
  • 7,845
  • 2
  • 34
  • 79
25
votes
2 answers

Invisible Ink (for steganographic use): How to hide an 'invisible' message within Internet content

This simple puzzle demonstrates how you can use invisible ink to hide text in online puzzles. Your task is simply to decode the text hidden in the quoted line below: Happy​​​​‍​‌‍​‌‌​‍​‌‌​‍‌​‌‌‍​​​​‍‌‌‌‍​‌​​‍​​‍‌​​‍​‌‍‌​‌‌‍​​​ Christmas! (The…
A E
  • 8,802
  • 5
  • 41
  • 81
25
votes
3 answers

Cryptic Mastermind

And now for something completely different: Cryptic Mastermind! Given below are five sets of five cryptic clues each, all resulting in five-letter words. The black and white pegs, like in regular Mastermind, indicate the number of correct letters.…
Levieux
  • 10,528
  • 1
  • 38
  • 77
25
votes
6 answers

A Plethora of Plurals

Please find words that have the following properties: A word that becomes its plural when the letter "s" at the end is dropped. A word that becomes its plural when the first two letters are swapped. Three words that become their plurals when…
noneuclideanisms
  • 6,268
  • 20
  • 51