Riddle #171

When does Christmas come before Thanksgiving?

100 men are in a room, each wearing either a white or black hat. Nobody knows the color of his own hat, although everyone can see everyone else's hat. The men are not allowed to communicate with each other at all (and thus nobody will ever be able to figure out the color of his own hat). The men need to line up against the wall such that all the men with black hats are next to each other, and all the men with white hats are next to each other. How can they do this without communicating? You can assume they came up with a shared strategy before coming into the room.

A petshop owner had a parrot with a sign on its cage that said "Parrot repeats everything it hears". Davey bought the parrot and for two weeks he spoke to it and it didn't say a word. He returned the parrot but the shopkeeper said he never lied about the parrot. How can this be?

The day before yesterday Cindy was 17. Next year she will be 20. How can this be?

A murdered is condemned to death. He has to choose between three rooms. The first is full of raging fires, the second is full of assassins with loaded guns, and the third is full of lions that haven't eaten in 3 years. Which room is safest for him?

A young peasant wanted to marry the king's daughter. The king didn't like the idea of his daughter marrying a peasant, but he wanted to appear fair in front of his subjects. The king said that he would put two pieces of paper into a hat, one reading "exile" and the other reading "marriage". Later that day, the peasant overheard the king saying that both pieces of paper would read "exile", thus ensuring that the peasant would be out of his way for good. The peasant remained undaunted and, as arranged, arrived at the king's court where a large crown gathered for the big event. The peasant then did something that assured him the hand of the king's daughter. What did he do?

One day a boss said to her employees, "I can fight and beat any man who works here." A new employee, a seven-foot-tall ex-prize fighter, stood up to take on the boss. The boss kept her word, but did not beat the man or back down. What did the boss do?

Four jolly men sat down to play, and played all night till break of day. They played for gold and not for fun, with separate scores for every one. Yet when they came to square accounts, they all had made quite fair amounts! Can you the paradox explain? If no one lost, how could all gain?

Three people check into a hotel. They pay $30 to the manager and go to their room. The manager finds out that the room rate is $25 and gives $5 to the bellboy to return. On the way to the room, the bellboy reasons that $5 would be difficult to share among three people, so he pockets $2 and gives $1 to each person. Now, each person paid $10 and got back $1. So they paid $9 each, totalling $27. The bellboy has $2, totalling $29. ) Where is the remaining dollar?

Presume that you do not know what a rhino looks like. Now the question goes like this: If one day while walking in a forest with two of your close friends, one friend shows you an elephant and tells that this is a rhino, and another friend shows you a hippopotamus and tells you that this is rhino, who would you believe and why?

During the Summer Olympics, a fellow competed in the long jump and out-jumped everybody. He didn't just win the event, he actually broke the world record held for that event. Nobody broke his record for the remainder of the Olympics, and still today his name is in the record books. However, even though he holds the world record, he never received a medal in the long jump. How did he manage to do so well, but not receive a medal?