What has a ring but no finger?

You have an empty wine bottle with a cork that has been secured at the top in a normal way. There is a metal ring inside the bottle that is suspended by a string.

How can you make the metal ring drop to the bottom if you are not allowed to touch anything - not the bottle, not the cork, not the thread and not the ring?

Three men in a cafe order a meal the total cost of which is $15. They each contribute $5. The waiter takes the money to the chef who recognises the three as friends and asks the waiter to return $5 to the men.

The waiter is not only poor at mathematics but dishonest and instead of going to the trouble of splitting the $5 between the three he simply gives them $1 each and pockets the remaining $2 for himself.

Now, each of the men effectively paid $4, the total paid is therefore $12. Add the $2 in the waiters pocket and this comes to $14. Where has the other $1 gone from the original $15?

There are two beautiful yet remote islands in the South Pacific. The Islanders born on one island always tell the truth, and the Islanders from the other island always lie.
You are on one of the islands and meet three Islanders. You ask the first which island they are from in the most appropriate Polynesian tongue, and he indicates that the other two Islanders are from the same island. You ask the second Islander the same question, and he also indicates that the other two Islanders are from the same island.
Can you guess what the third Islander will answer to the same question?

There are two candles. Both will only burn exactly for an hour. How will you use these two candles to measure forty-five minutes?

A deaf and mute man goes to the train station. Tickets for the train are 50 cents each. The man goes to the ticket booth and hands the man inside just a dollar. The man in the booth hands him two tickets.

How did the man in the booth know to give him two tickets without even looking at him?

Move three sticks of the spiral below to form a square.

Out of three Friends John, Jacob and Jonny one of them is a king, one is a bureaucrat, and one is a Spy.

The king always tells the truth, the bureaucrat always lies, and the Spy can either lie or tell the truth.

John says: Jonny is a bureaucrat
Jacob says: John is a king
Jonny says: I am a Spy

Tell me, Who is the king, who is the bureaucrat, and who is the Spy?

Next Number in the Series,

5, 16, 49, 104, ?

You can take four of the five letters out of this word, but the pronunciation never changes. What is the word?