Best long hard riddles

logicmathcleanclever

Using only and all the numbers 3, 3, 7, 7, along with the arithmetic operations +,-,*, and /, can you come up with a calculation that gives the number 24? No decimal points allowed. [For example, to get the number 14, we could do 3 * (7 - (7 / 3))]
7 * ((3 / 7) + 3) = 24
74.05 %
60 votes
logicsimpleclean

Two convicts are locked in a cell. There is an unbarred window high up in the cell. No matter if they stand on the bed or one on top of the other they can't reach the window to escape. They then decide to tunnel out. However, they give up with the tunnelling because it will take too long. Finally one of the convicts figures out how to escape from the cell. What is his plan?
His plan is to dig the tunnel and pile up the dirt to climb up to the window to escape.
73.90 %
78 votes
trickywho am I

I am first in Earth, second in Heaven, I appear two times in a week. You can only see me once in a year, although I'm in the middle of sea. Who am I?
Answer is E The asnwer is E. As In spelling of Earth E comes first, in Heaven it comes second, in week it comes twice, in a year it comes once and finally in spelling of sea E stands in middle of the spelling.
73.86 %
1372 votes
logicstoryclean

One day, Emperor Akbar posed a question to Birbal. He asked him what Birbal would choose if he offered either justice or a gold coin. "The gold coin," said Birbal without hesitation. On hearing this, Akbar was taken aback. "You would prefer a gold coin to justice?" he asked, not believing his own ears. "Yes," said Birbal. The other courtiers were amazed by Birbal's display of idiocy. They were full of glee that Birbal had finally managed himself to do what these courtiers had not been able to do for a long time - discredit Birbal in the emperor's eyes! "I would have been disappointed if this was the choice made even by my lowliest of servants," continued the emperor. "But coming from you it's not only disappointing, but shocking and sad. I did not know you were so debased!" How did Birbal justify his answer to the enraged and hurt Emperor?
"One asks for what one does not have, Your Majesty." said Birbal, smiling gently and in quiet tones. "Under Your Majesty´s rule, justice is available to everybody. But I am a spendthrift and always short of money and therefore I said I would choose the gold coin." The answer immensely pleased the emperor and respect for Birbal was once again restored in the emperor's eyes.
73.59 %
121 votes
logicsimplecleanstory

A king has 100 identical servants, each with a different rank between 1 and 100. At the end of each day, each servant comes into the king's quarters, one-by-one, in a random order, and announces his rank to let the king know that he is done working for the day. For example, servant 14 comes in and says "Servant 14, reporting in." One day, the king's aide comes in and tells the king that one of the servants is missing, though he isn't sure which one. Before the other servants begin reporting in for the night, the king asks for a piece of paper to write on to help him figure out which servant is missing. Unfortunately, all that's available is a very small piece that can only hold one number at a time. The king is free to erase what he writes and write something new as many times as he likes, but he can only have one number written down at a time. The king's memory is bad and he won't be able to remember all the exact numbers as the servants report in, so he must use the paper to help him. How can he use the paper such that once the final servant has reported in, he'll know exactly which servant is missing?
When the first servant comes in, the king should write down his number. For each other servant that reports in, the king should add that servant's number to the current number written on the paper, and then write this new number on the paper. Once the final servant has reported in, the number on the paper should equal (1 + 2 + 3 + ... + 99 + 100) - MissingServantsNumber Since (1 + 2 + 3 + ... + 99 + 100) = 5050, we can rephrase this to say that the number on the paper should equal 5050 - MissingServantsNumber So to figure out the missing servant's number, the king simply needs to subtract the number written on his paper from 5050: MissingServantsNumber = 5050 - NumberWrittenOnThePaper
73.58 %
77 votes
logicstorycleansimple

A wise man lived on a hill above a small town. The townspeople often approached him to solve their difficult problems and riddles. One day, two lads decided to fool him. They took a dove and set off up the hill. Standing before him, one of the lads said "Tell me, wise man, is the dove I hold behind my back dead or alive?" The man smiled and said "I cannot answer your question correctly". Even though the wise man knew the condition of the dove, why wouldn't he state whether it was dead or alive?
The man told the two lads, "If I say the dove is alive, you will the bird and show me that it is dead. If I say that it is dead, you will release the dove and it will fly away. So you see I cannot answer your question. Search: Schrödinger's cat
73.27 %
128 votes
cleanlogicmathsimple

Create a number using only the digits 4,4,3,3,2,2,1 and 1. So I can only be eight digits. You have to make sure the ones are separated by one digit, the twos are separated by two digits the threes are separated with three digits and the fours are separated by four digits.
41312432.
73.23 %
115 votes
logiccleansimple

Six jugs are in a row. The first three are filled with coke, and the last three are empty. By moving only one glass, can you arrange them so that the full and the empty glasses alternate?
Move and then pour all coke from second glass to fifth glass.
73.22 %
67 votes
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