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I move faster than one can blink,
And can be the base of what you eat.
I can torture body and wallet both,
while in feet, I am reused.
When living, I am the source of much food,
and soldiers lay me close to their hearts.

What am I?

Hint

For a shop I am the definition of good.

Answer

Stock

Explanation

I move faster than one can blink, - Stocks change price and owners incredibly fast.
And can be the base of what you eat. - Soup Stock
I can torture body and wallet both, - Stocks are a medieval torture device, and the stock market has ruined many
while in feet, I am reused. - Stock Footage
When living, I am the source of much food, - Livestock
and soldiers lay me close to their hearts.

For a shop I am the definition of good. - A shop's stocks is goods, by definition

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  • $\begingroup$ I can't answer it but I might have and idea, to prevent any spoiler I will only talk about this line "When living, I am the source of much food", is it because is living form is a tree ? $\endgroup$
    – AxelH
    May 4 '16 at 11:16
  • $\begingroup$ Since no one has found it yet, let me add another hint. $\endgroup$
    – Seraviel
    May 4 '16 at 13:04

14 Answers 14

Active Oldest Votes
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It is:

Stock

I move faster than one can blink,

You're stock of goods can sell off the shelves very quickly

And can be the base of what you eat.

You can stockpile food to be your main source of nutrition

I can torture body and wallet both,

Medieval Stocks were torture devices and you can lose a lot of money in the stock market.

while in feet, I am reused.

Stockings is plural

When living, I am the source of much food,

Livestock like cows and pigs are our sources of meat

and soldiers lay me close to their hearts.

The stock of a gun is placed in the crux of the shoulder which is near the heart when firing

And the hint

High stock prices are the definition of a successful publicly owned company

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  • 1
    $\begingroup$ Finally. I was starting to worry I'd made it too difficult. $\endgroup$
    – Seraviel
    May 4 '16 at 16:18
  • $\begingroup$ The hint helps a lot $\endgroup$
    – gannolloy
    May 4 '16 at 16:21
  • $\begingroup$ I thought it might be this, but I couldn't figure out the "move faster" or "soldier" parts. $\endgroup$
    – paste
    May 7 '16 at 13:54
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Are you

Energy? (E)

I move faster than one can blink,

Energy is light, and light moves fast, like really fast. E = MC^2

And can be the base of what you eat.

We eat to restore our energy.

I can torture body and wallet both,

Lack of energy is tiring. If we don't use energy to work, we won't have any money.

while in feet, I am reused.

e is reused in feet

When living, I am the source of much food,

Energy is required for plants and animals to grow.

and soldiers lay me close to their hearts.

Energy is life, and their lives are on the line, which they would hold close to their hearts.

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  • $\begingroup$ I suspect the third line may be referencing something else denoted by the same letter (maybe the first line too?), and I wonder whether the last line is merely positional wordplay. $\endgroup$
    – Gareth McCaughan ♦
    May 4 '16 at 10:15
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I think you're a

plate

I move faster than one can blink

A frisbee can be a form of a plate

And can be the base of what you eat

Who will doubt this?

I can torture body and wallet both

So true, especially if you go to the restaurant

while in feet, I am reused.

Footplate

When living, I am the source of much food,

I think of you more as a presenter than a source

and soldiers lay me close to their hearts.

Military name plate

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  • $\begingroup$ I didn't expect that one. However, like you said, it isn't a source of food. Your way of thinking is getting closer to the answer, though. $\endgroup$
    – Seraviel
    May 4 '16 at 4:38
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I think it could be:

Blood

Reasoning:

I move faster than one can blink,

Blood is pumped pretty quickly

And can be the base of what you eat.

Blood is found cooked in meat, or blood sausage

I can torture body and wallet both,

Torture causes lots of blood. A blood transfusion costs lots of money.

while in feet, I am reused.

The blood circulates and is reused.

When living, I am the source of much food,

It transports oxygen and nutrients (food) to your cells

and soldiers lay me close to their hearts.

As close as it gets, since the blood enters the heart

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  • $\begingroup$ I like, but wrong. Blood is not reused only in feet. $\endgroup$
    – Seraviel
    May 3 '16 at 21:54
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Another possibility:

Carbon

Reasoning:

I move faster than one can blink,

Carbon molecules vibrate very quickly

And can be the base of what you eat.

It's present in pretty much all food

I can torture body and wallet both,

Carbon dioxide and many other chemicals containing Carbon can be detrimental to your health or used for torture, and the gas emissions cost the economy much money.

while in feet, I am reused.

Your body's cells are Carbon-based and are re-used until they die.

When living, I am the source of much food,

Most (all?) food is Carbon-based

and soldiers lay me close to their hearts.

Carbon in the dirt, Carbon in their clothes and in their bodies, in their weapons, etc.

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  • $\begingroup$ Same as your other answer. Carbon doesn't have anything special in feet. $\endgroup$
    – Seraviel
    May 3 '16 at 22:02
  • $\begingroup$ It doesn't have to be special. It just has to fit. $\endgroup$
    – mbomb007
    May 3 '16 at 22:06
  • $\begingroup$ Indeed, it has to fit. In feet specially. If not, why specify? $\endgroup$
    – Seraviel
    May 3 '16 at 22:43
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My second try Can it be

Smoke

  1. smoke moves faster than blink

2.

Smoke is used to cook out food

3.

Fire produces smoke which is kind of torture to the body and in order to repair stuff it is hit to our wallet

4.

smoke is used to provide heat to feet in form of steam

5.

When wood we cook food which turns into smoke

6.

not sure

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  • $\begingroup$ Still not in feet. $\endgroup$
    – Seraviel
    May 4 '16 at 1:45
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Pellets

I move faster than one can blink,

gun pellets

And can be the base of what you eat.

food pellets

I can torture body and wallet both,

gun pellets can hurt and also be expensive

while in feet, I am reused.

rubber pellets used in shoes

When living, I am the source of much food,

wood pellets from a tree; the tree is a source of food

and soldiers lay me close to their hearts.

gun pellets again

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  • $\begingroup$ Nope. As a hint, this riddle has the wordplay tag for a reason. $\endgroup$
    – Seraviel
    May 4 '16 at 1:44
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What am I?

information

I move faster than one can blink,

It has

And can be the base of what you eat.

only after knowing can anything be processed, {you bite only when you know you've got to, if you forget}

I can torture body and wallet both,

banks, how to make money, how to steal money, how to kill a goof

while in feet, I am reused.

poetry

When living, I am the source of much food,

gotta know how to take that shit

and soldiers lay me close to their hearts.

brainwashing

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can it be

fish

move faster than one can blink,

fish move quite fast.

And can be the base of what you eat.

used in food

I can torture body and wallet both,

dangerous fish can torture body, expensive food fish can torture wallet.

while in feet, I am reused.

fish are used for fish feet massage. reused there.

When living, I am the source of much food,

again, used for food.

and soldiers lay me close to their hearts.

maybe something related to this

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I believe it's :

Water

I move faster than one can blink,

Water travels faster then you can blink

And can be the base of what you eat.

You basically need water for everything and it's in everything.

I can torture body and wallet both,

You can drown in water, staying to long in water can torture you. Wallet, because you need to buy water

while in feet, I am reused.

Cleaning your dirty feet with water?

When living, I am the source of much food,

You need water to cook.

and soldiers lay me close to their hearts.

Their water bottle

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Not exactly correct but here is my guess:

Tongue or mouth and lips

I move faster than one can blink,

Quite fast while moving not sure how fast, though

And can be the base of what you eat.

Anything eaten has to be put in mouth or tongue

I can torture body and wallet both,

all of them can torture body if you eat too much and definitely the wallet

while in feet, I am reused.

Not sure about this one

When living, I am the source of much food,

The gateway to body for food

and soldiers lay me close to their hearts.

Soldiers kiss their flag and/or badges on their chest

Please help if somebody finds correct explanation for missing or wrong ones. Thanks

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this is my guess

Heat

reasons:

I move faster than one can blink

heat can travel faster than one can blink

And can be the base of what you eat.

heat is the base to cook food. even though fire is used to cook but the food is cooked by the heat of fire

I can torture body and wallet both

too much heat can torture the body and you spend lot of money to get a cooler enviornment

while in feet, I am reused

this is a wild guess but by this you must be referring to Burning feet syndrome

When living, I am the source of much food

food can be cooked only when there is heat. a dead heat is of no use

and soldiers lay me close to their hearts

soldiers that are in cold environment heat is the only way of survival and hence they have to wear clothes that provide heat

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  • $\begingroup$ You can click edit to see how I formatted your answer. $\endgroup$
    – paste
    May 4 '16 at 13:07
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Is it

Light

  1. Light travels faster than blink

  2. Plants use light to make food via photosynthesis

  3. Not sure

  4. Light is covered to heat via heating pads to heat feet while in col

  5. Mentioned in point 2

  6. Not sure

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  • $\begingroup$ Nope. Good try, but it's something completely different. $\endgroup$
    – Seraviel
    May 3 '16 at 22:44
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Could it be

Lash

I move faster than one can blink,

Your lashes will go faster than your eyelid if you blink

And can be the base of what you eat.

Don't know

I can torture body and wallet both,

To lash someone, to lash out

while in feet, I am reused.

Don't know

When living, I am the source of much food,

Don't know

and soldiers lay me close to their hearts.

Don't know

Even if I didn't find many things, I have the feeling that it could be the right answer, considering the "wordplay" tag

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  • $\begingroup$ EDIT : answer changed, but few ideas for the sentences, even though I have the feeling the two I found seem to fit really well with their line $\endgroup$
    – Mayo
    May 4 '16 at 14:45

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