# All Questions

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20k views

### My prefix is food, my suffix is rude

I thought of this riddle myself. Feedback is appreciated. My prefix is food. My suffix is rude. My infix comes in rounds. I keep you off the ground. What am I?
8k views

### Interview Question or Pathbreaking puzzle

I thought this changes the way series of numbers are looked at 1 1 1 2 1 1 2 1 1 Write down the next three lines
73k views

### Twelve balls and a scale

You are given twelve identical-looking balls and a two-sided scale. One of the balls is of a different weight, although you don't know whether it's lighter or heavier. How can you use just three ...
896k views

### Two doors with two guards - one lies, one tells the truth

You are a prisoner in a room with 2 doors and 2 guards. One of the doors will guide you to freedom and behind the other is a hangman --you don't know which is which. One of the guards always tells ...
2k views

### Introducing Gladys, an intrepid globetrotter

Gladys has always led an active life full of adventure. As a retiree, she has a lot of free time on her hands and loves to spend it on her two favourite pastimes – travelling and crossword ...
6k views

### Cryptic Clue Guide

This post is not a puzzle. There is nothing puzzly hidden inside it or the self-answer, posted at the same time. What exactly is a cryptic crossword clue, and how do I write one?
7k views

### A general solution to the decanting problem? (aka jug-pouring, water-pouring)

Take a look at these two questions: - A Set of Water Jug Challenges - Pouring problem Now I'm asking for a generalised solution to that problem. I define the problem as follows: You are required ...
4k views

### Word Riddle - you love me or you hate me

With two I’m affirmative With three I’m respectful With four I’m more respectful With all five I’m either loved or hated But when I’m loved, I kill; and when I’m hated, I may save lives.
72k views

### In the 100 blue eyes problem - why is the oracle necessary?

The riddle Randall Munroe (of xkcd fame) has, a bit hidden on his site, a logic puzzle: A group of people with assorted eye colors live on an island. They are all perfect logicians -- if a ...
3k views

### Determine the algorithm

So I was given this puzzle quite some time ago and just thought it would make a nice addition to this site: Your task is to determine the method how the result is determined from the given number. A ...
5k views

### Burning ropes as timers

You have 2 identical ropes which burn at a specific rate, and an unlimited supply of matches. When you light one end of a rope, the fire will take exactly 1 hour to travel to the other end of the rope....
4k views

### Which switch goes to which bulb?

You are in a room with three switches, labeled $A$, $B$, and $C$. Initially, each switch is in an off state. In an adjoining room, there are three incandescent light bulbs. Your task is to ...
9k views

### Coin weighing problem

You are given ten stacks of golden coins, each stack consisting of ten coins and a digital scale with arbitrary precision. You know that all stacks of coins are made from gold, weighing 10 grams per ...
2k views

43k views

### A camel transporting bananas

A somewhat well-known puzzle is described as such: You have a pile of 3,000 bananas. You wish to transport them to a place 1,000 miles away on the back of a camel; however, the camel can only carry ...
16k views

### Learning to Solve a River Crossing Puzzle

I have seen many variations of the following puzzle: Once upon a time, a farmer went to the market and purchased a fox, a goose, and a bag of beans. On his way home, the farmer came to the bank of ...
4k views

### The hangman game backward

So, @JLee has posted a hangman game (Hangman- No misses left) on SE. I would like to create one too, but let's do it backward - guess what was the question, with only 1 letter missing: fill in an "a"...
2k views

### Four is Cosmic!

This is a little puzzle I heard a while back from one of my mathematically inclined friends- I get the sense that it's bounced around a little, so forgive me if you've heard it. There is a sort of ...
32k views

### Is it possible to use one sequence of moves to solve the Rubik's cube from any position?

Is there a sequence of moves that can be repeated over and over again which can solve any legal position the Rubik's Cube? If so what is it, and if there's more than one, what's the shortest? If not, ...
2k views

### Cards in the darkness

A man is sitting in a dark room. In front of him is a pile of 100 cards. He knows that there are 90 cards faced up and 10 cards faced down. Is it possible for the man to form two piles from these ...
817 views

### (1 of 11: Numberlink) What is Pyramid Cult's Favorite Activity?

Dear PSE users and moderators, I’m new here in PSE, but I really need your help. There was this person who gave me a black envelope consisting 10+1 pages of puzzles, and also a scribble saying: “Find ...
8k views

### N balls and a scale

The question of twelve balls and a scale is probably the best-known example of the "find the ball of a different weight" problem. But does it generalize? Is there a general way to find a weighing ...
3k views

### The Monty Hall problem

I'm amazed that, although well known, this problem hasn't been posted yet. Monty Hall You are on a game show. The host of the show shows you three doors. He tells you that behind one of them, is a ...
3k views

### Alphabet splitting extraordinaire!

Here are three ways of splitting the letters of the English alphabet into two groups: 1) ABDOPQR; CEFGHIJKLMNSTUVWXYZ 2) BCDGJOPQRSU; AEFHIKLMNTVWXYZ 3) DFHIJLNOPRTUVXYZ; ABCEGKMQSW In each case, ...
3k views

### A Set of Water Jug Challenges

You've probably heard about challenges with water jugs, so why not try a few? Use 3- and 5- liter jugs to get 4 liters. Use 5- and 7- liter jugs to get 4 liters. This one's different. How many ...
3k views

### I am an expression of a deer mint - Clue One

You wake up one morning, and immediately look over at the letter on your bedside table. It reads: Dear [redacted]: You have been chosen to assemble the most powerful thing in the world - the [...
24k views

### 100 Prisoners' Names in Boxes

Names in Boxes The names of 100 prisoners are placed in 100 wooden boxes, one name to a box, and the boxes are lined up on a table in a room. One by one, the prisoners are led into the room;...
6k views

### Guide to Codes and Ciphers

Note: This is a Guide not a Puzzle ciphers are quite common now on puzzling, and at first can seem quite confusing. But ciphers are bigger than this site, used worldwide by companies and secret ...
18k views

### Paying the Troll toll

You are on your way to visit your Grandma, who lives at the end of the valley. It's her birthday, and you want to give her the cakes you've made. Between your house and her house, you have to cross 7 ...
24k views

### A five card trick - How does it work?

At a party last night, my friends Alice and Bob did a magic trick. Any ideas how it worked? Alice shuffled a pack of cards, and asked me to take five. I looked at them. She put the rest of the pack ...
256k views

### 6, the magic number

Here's a fun (albeit difficult) one: Make these equations true using arithmetic operations: ...
5k views

### Pirates and gold coins

A group of N pirates has come by a chest containing 200 gold coins. Their rules require that the coins be distributed by the following approach. The pirates are ranked from fiercest to meekest and ...
18k views

### Why is a single-corner twist not a valid position on a Rubik's cube?

For those of you familiar with the solution to the Rubik's cube, you will know that a single-corner twist is not a valid position. It can neither be attained by scrambling, nor can it be solved if it ...
4k views

### Techniques to Solve this Sudoku Puzzle

I have a sudoku puzzle seen below that I am trying to solve. I know I can punch this into some sudoku solver and get the answer but I am looking for techniques I can use to solve this. Any advice?
5k views

### Dinosaur egg drop

Archeologists discover two dinosaur eggs, and you are given the chance to test the durability of these eggs (bad move on their part). Suppose that these eggs will absorb a specific amount of force ...