How many words can a pen with half refill write?

Two boys wish to cross a river. The only way to get to the other side is by boat, but that boat can only take one boy at a time. The boat cannot return on its own, there are no ropes or similar tricks, yet both boys manage to cross using the boat.

How?

A famous swimmer can swim downstream in a lake in exactly 40 minutes with the lake current.
He can swim upstream in that lake in exactly 60 minutes against the lake current.
The length of the lake is 2 km.

How long he can cover the distance of one side at a still lake with no current?

What does the following represent?

N N N N N N N

A A A A A A A

C C C C C C C

You need to move three matchsticks to form three squares. Can you do it?

He digs out tiny caves and stores gold and silver in them. He also built bridges of silver and made crowns of gold. They are the smallest you could imagine. Sooner or later everybody needs his help, yet many people are afraid to let him help them. Who is he?

You are given a cube that is made with the help of 10x10x10 smaller cubes summing up to a total of 1000 smaller cubes. You are asked to take off one layer of the cubes.
How many remain now?

Take away the whole and some still remain. What is it?

Can you replace the X (both small and big x) with the numbers between 1 to 19 such that all the rows of 3 numbers between X (big x) sum to 23?

I am eight letters long - "12345678"
My 1234 is an atmospheric condition.
My 34567 supports a plant.
My 4567 is too appropriate.
My 45 is a friendly thank-you.
My 678 is a man's name.

What word am I?