One absent-minded ancient philosopher forgot to wind up his only clock in the house. He had no radio, TV, telephone, internet, or any other means for telling time. So he travelled on foot to his friend's place a few miles down the straight desert road. He stayed at his friend's house for the night and when he came back home, he knew how to set his clock. How did he know?
A journalist was investigating a sacred cult in the jungles of Africa when he was caught by one of the person. He was confined in a cave till the leader arrived. The leader told him that he need to tell him a statement. If he thinks the statement is true, then the journalist head will be chopped off. If he thinks that the statement is false, his head will be smashed with a hammer.
What statement did the journalist make to survive?
On a bright sunny day, two fathers took their son fishing in the lake. Each man and son were able to catch one fish. When they returned to their camp, there were only three fishes in the basket. What happened?
PS: None of the fish were eaten, lost, or thrown back.
There is a family that live in a round house. The two parents go out for a movie and leave a babysitter to watch their son. They come back and the kid was not there. Some one kidnapped him. The maid said she was cleaning in a corner. The cook said he was making pizza. The babysitter said she was getting a board game. Who kidnapped him.
An inspection by the superintendent of St. Joseph School was scheduled on the next day. The class teacher Jenifer knew that he would be asking questions from her class and she would have to choose a pupil to answer. To offer a perfect impression over him, the teacher explained certain instructions to the students to maximise the chances of getting correct answer every time.
A bridge is about to collapse. There are four people P, Q, R and S on one of the sides. Before the bridge collapses, they want to cross it. Now since the bridge is too weak, it can only stand the weight of two people at a time. Also, it is night time and nothing is visible. They have just one torch with them.
Now P takes one minute to cross the bridge, Q takes two minutes to cross, R takes five minutes to cross and S takes ten minutes to cross.
The bridge will collapse in seventeen minutes. How will they be able to cross the bridge before it collapses?
You are presented with three boxes. One of them has a red ball inside and the other two have a black ball inside each of them. You are asked to pick up the one with red ball and you pick one. Now, one of the other boxes is opened and it is found to have a black ball.
You are presented with a chance to change your box with the one that is left closed. Will you change your box? Why or why not?
The day before the 1996 U.S. presidential election, the NYT Crossword contained the clue “Lead story in tomorrow’s newspaper,” the puzzle was built so that both electoral outcomes were correct answers, requiring 7 other clues to have dual responses.