Linear Thinking Riddle

There are four people in a house. A fireman, an athlete, an old woman, and a drunk guy. The house catches fire and before the fact is known, it is too late. All they know is that the entire house is in flames and it will collapse exactly after twelve minutes. Now they can move out of the house but for that, they will have to pass the hallway which is entirely blazing with flames. Thus to move, one must carry a fire extinguisher to keep the flames away. Seeking the burnt wooden floor, only two people can run through that hallway at one time. But for others to go, one must return back with the fire extinguisher. The fireman is trained for such tasks and can run through the hallway in a minute. The athlete can make it in a couple of minutes. The old woman can run slowly and will cover the hallway in four minutes. The drunk guy will take five minutes to run through it. If all of them can make it through the hallway in twelve minutes, all of them will be saved. When two move together, they will run at the speed of the slower ones.

How will all four of them manage to run to safety?




Similar Riddles

Two fathers and two sons went fishing one day. They were there the whole day and only caught 3 fish. One father said, that is enough for all of us, we will have one each. How can this be possible?

Asked by Neha on 17 May 2021


Divide 110 into two parts so that one will be 150 per cent of the other. What are the 2 numbers?

Asked by Neha on 27 Oct 2024

Twice ten are six of us,

Six are but three of us,

Nine are but four of us;

What can we possibly be?

Would you know more of us?

Twelve are but six of us,

Five are but four, do you see?

What are we?

Asked by Neha on 26 Dec 2020


Suppose we lay down two cups in front of you. One of the cups is filled with tea and the other one with coffee. Now we ask you to take a spoonful of tea and mix it with the coffee. At this moment, the coffee cup has a mixture of tea and coffee. You have to take that mixture (spoonful) and add it back to the tea.

Can you now tell if the cup of coffee has more tea or the cup of tea has more coffee?

Asked by Neha on 30 Mar 2024

Your last good ping-pong ball fell into a narrow metal pipe embedded one foot deep in concrete.
How can you get it out undamaged, if all the tools you have are your tennis paddle, shoe laces, and plastic water bottle, which does not fit into the pipe?

Asked by Neha on 10 Nov 2024

I go up and I go down.
I go up towards the beautiful sky and down toward the green ground.
I am present tense.
I am past tense too
Children love me.

Who Am I?

Asked by Neha on 16 Jan 2025


Solve this riddle by finding the odd one out from the rest.

Odd One Out in the Shapes Riddle

Asked by Neha on 18 Apr 2021

John was working on a Chemical Mixture whose weight comprise 90% liquid and 10% solid. The total weight of the mixture is 20 pounds. After a while, John noticed that some of the liquid evaporated and now the liquid comprises just 50% of the weight.

What is the weight of the chemical mixture now?

Asked by Neha on 12 Feb 2024

Which digit occurred maximum times between the number 1 and 1000?

Asked by Neha on 13 Oct 2025


Can you find the dog hidden in a group of pandas?

Dog amongst Pandas

Asked by Neha on 16 Feb 2025

Hot Articles

Amazing Facts

Challenging

There is a cryptic organization called Cicada 3301 that posts challenging puzzles online, possibly to recruit codebreakers and linguists.