Best hard riddles

logicstorytricky

Frank and some of the boys were exchanging old war stories. James offered one about how his grandfather (Captain Smith) led a battalion against a German division during World War I. Through brilliant maneuvers he defeated them and captured valuable territory. Within a few months after the battle he was presented with a sword bearing the inscription: "To Captain Smith for Bravery, Daring and Leadership, World War One, from the Men of Battalion 8." Frank looked at James and said, "You really don't expect anyone to believe that yarn, do you?" What is wrong with the story?
It wasn't called World War One until much later. It was called the Great War at first, because they did not know during that war and immediately afterward that there would be a second World War (WW II).
73.20 %
102 votes
logiccleverclean

Four people come to an old bridge in the middle of the night. The bridge is rickety and can only support 2 people at a time. The people have one flashlight, which needs to be held by any group crossing the bridge because of how dark it is. Each person can cross the bridge at a different rate: one person takes 1 minute, one person takes 2 minutes, one takes 5 minutes, and the one person takes 10 minutes. If two people are crossing the bridge together, it will take both of them the time that it takes the slower person to cross. Unfortunately, there are only 17 minutes worth of batteries left in the flashlight. How can the four travellers cross the bridge before time runs out?
The two keys here are: You want the two slowest people to cross together to consolidate their slow crossing times. You want to make sure the faster people are set up in order to bring the flashlight back quickly after the slow people cross. So the order is: 1-minute and 2-minute cross (2 minute elapsed) 1-minute comes back (3 minutes elapsed) 5-minute and 10-minute cross (13 minutes elapsed) 2-minute comes back (15 minutes elapsed) 1-minute and 2-minute cross (17 minutes elapsed)
73.12 %
80 votes