Measure by Hourglass

It's a test that will check your IQ.

Suppose you have one 11 minute hourglass and one 13 minute hourglass.

Can you measure exactly fifteen minutes using them ?




Similar Riddles

The great emperor Akbar once ruled India. He was well known for his intelligence. But along with that, he was known for the Nine Gems in his court. One of the nine gems was Birbal, a quick witted and extremely intelligent man. The stories of his wit were widely popular.

Once a king ruling in a distant land heard of Birbal. To check his wit, he sent an invitation and called him to visit his land. Akbar allowed Birbal to go and he took off on the journey.

Upon reaching that kings kingdom, he was welcomed with flowers. He was then escorted to the palace of the king. Upon entering the palace, Birbal found that there were six people sitting in front of him adorning the same robe. They were also lookalike and it was hard to judge who the real king was.

After a couple of minutes, Birbal approached one of them and bowed in front of him greeting him.

That was the real king. How did Birbal know who was the real king ?

Asked by Neha on 10 May 2021


If nine thousand, nine hundred nine dollars is written as $9,909,
how should twelve thousand, twelve hundred twelve dollars be written?

Asked by Neha on 24 Sep 2023

There are four 3-link chains. All you have to do is join them into a big 12-link chain. For joining two closed links, one of the links must be cut and placed onto the other link for closing.

How many minimum links will you have to cut to make the big chain?

Asked by Neha on 27 Sep 2023


If an earthquake is 1 point higher on the Richter Scale than another earthquake which is actually 10 times stronger, how much stronger would an earthquake be if it was just half a point higher on the Richter scale?

Asked by Neha on 23 Jun 2024

Two men play a dice game involving roll of two standard dice. Man X says that a 12 will be rolled first. Man Y says that two consecutive 7s will be rolled first. The men keep rolling until one of them wins.

What is the probability that X will win ?

Asked by Neha on 13 Apr 2023

One day, Birbal got late for a function and Akbar was highly disappointed.
Please forgive me Jahanpanah. I arrived late because my child was crying and I had to calm him down, explained Birbal.
Does it take this long to placate a child? questioned the emperor. I feel that you have no idea about how to raise a child. I order you to act like a child and I will act like your father to show you how you should have dealt with your child. Come on! Ask me all that he asked from you.
Father, I want a cow, said Birbal.
The emperor quickly ordered one of the servants to bring a cow to the kingdom.
I want to drink its milk, now, now, now! said Birbal, imitating the voice of his child.
Akbar asked his servants to milk the cow and give to Birbal.
The servants quickly milked the cow and offered the milk to Birbal. He sipped in a little and then gave the bowl to the emperor.
As Birbal put up the next demand that was put up by his child a few hours ago, the emperor was stunned and left the room.
What did Birbal say?

Asked by Neha on 17 May 2021


John drives to his office at 20km/hr. After reaching the office, he realizes that today is a holiday. He went back at an average speed of 30km/hr. Discounting the time spent in the stoppage what was the average speed of his journey?

Asked by Neha on 21 Apr 2025

A mules travels the same distance daily.
I noticed that two of his legs travels 10km and the remaining two travels 12km.
Obviously two mules legs cannot be a 2km ahead of the other 2.

The mules is perfectly normal. So how come this be true ?

Asked by Neha on 08 May 2021

A sundial has the fewest moving parts of any timepiece. Which has the most?

Asked by Neha on 07 Jul 2025


Your job is to measure 45 minutes if you have only two cords and matches to light the cords.

1. The two cords are twisted from various materials, so their different segments can burn at different rates.
2. Each cord burns from end to end in exactly one hour.

Describe your way of measuring the 45 minutes.

Asked by Neha on 15 May 2024

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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.