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Sometimes it's an alternative
Sometimes it belongs to the cow

One day it's orange
Another day, it's not pure somehow

Sometimes it's the important date
Sometimes it's only in the morning

One day it needs lenses
Another day, it is worth seeing

Sometimes it wakes up
Sometimes it cries

One day he can answer this
But what is that, under your eyes?

Hint:

The two lines in each stanza are connected with a special relation. However, there is absolutely no connection among the stanzas.

Hint #2:

A difference in dialect might destroy this puzzle.

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  • $\begingroup$ There are quite a few clues, but what's the actual question? Is it "what is that, under your eyes"? $\endgroup$
    – Lawrence
    Jul 10, 2017 at 2:45

1 Answer 1

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My first answer to this riddle suggested that there was a common word hidden directly or indirectly in each line. That turned out to be wrong, but I've kept the answer below.

The question has been updated. In the light of the update, I think ...

... that the two lines of each stanza describe homophones. The hint that the dialect might break the puzzle means that pronunciation is important and that probably means that we are looking either for homophones or for rhyming pairs.

I've found a pair for each stanza, some more convincing than others. But the last pair makes me confident that what we are looking for here are homophones. Oh, and the title hints at homophones often being confused with each other.

Well, here goes:

Sometimes it's an alternative
Sometimes it belongs to the cow

other / udder. Despite the the ð/d difference, this seems to be a reasonable homophone pair.

One day it's orange
Another day, it's not pure somehow

carrot / carat. Not quite sure why carat should be "not quite pure", but it's a measure of the purity of gold.

Sometimes it's the important date
Sometimes it's only in the morning

due / dew.

One day it needs lenses
Another day, it is worth seeing

sights / sites. This seems a reasonable guess, although both words should be spelled "sights" in my opinion. (The sights, i.e. the aiming device on a rifle, are optical and therefore need lenses.)

Sometimes it wakes up
Sometimes it cries

morning / mourning. (Thanks for the gentle nudge from OP in the comments.)

One day he can answer this
But what is that, under your eyes?

knows / nose.


This is my initial answer to the riddle. It turned out to be wrong.

But what is that, under your eyes?

It is OR, which is either hidden directly in each line or hidden in something that line describes.

Sometimes it's an alternative — or
Sometimes it belongs to the cow — horn

One day it's orange
Another day, it's not pure somehow — immoral

Sometimes it's the important date
Sometimes it's only in the morning

One day it needs lenses — shortsighted
Another day, it is worth seeing — portrait

Sometimes it wakes up — thunderstorm
Sometimes it cries — newborn

One day he can answer this — word
But what is that, under your eyes?

And the title?

In computing, bit-wise OR is a binary operator that sets the bits of the result when any of the respective bits of the input is set.

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  • $\begingroup$ Thought exactly this...and the BIT part really confirms this...but it ai'nt that good right ?...@M Oehm, won't you agree ? $\endgroup$ Jul 9, 2017 at 5:21
  • $\begingroup$ It's very easy, @SwarnabjaBhaumik, especially because the answer is right there in the first line. There's nothing wrong per se with an easy one on a lazy Sunday morning, but the riddle is also a bit loose. I'm not sure about thunderstorm and portrait, but since there are so many words that have "or" in them, I just picked some that came to my mind. $\endgroup$
    – M Oehm
    Jul 9, 2017 at 5:30
  • $\begingroup$ Ya @M Oehm, I felt the same, precisely. $\endgroup$ Jul 9, 2017 at 5:38
  • $\begingroup$ Wow! This wasn't the expected answer, but absolutely awesome, +1! However, I must (sadly) say this: I put them by 2 lines per stanza, and it is indeed crucial. Moreover, I never thought of the word 'bit'! The clue relies on the word 'confusing', actually. $\endgroup$ Jul 9, 2017 at 13:09
  • $\begingroup$ Okay, so that's why it seemed so easy ... $\endgroup$
    – M Oehm
    Jul 9, 2017 at 13:13

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