Two guards were on duty outside a barracks. One faced up the road to watch for anyone approaching from the North. The other looked down the road to see if anyone approached from the South. Suddenly one of them said to the other, "Why are you smiling?"

How did he know his companion was smiling?

There are three light switches outside a room. One of the switches is connected to a light bulb inside the room.
Each of the three switches can be either 'ON' or 'OFF'.

You are allowed to set each switch the way you want it and then enter the room(note: you can enter the room only once)

Your task is to then determine which switch controls the bulb?

In front of you, there are 9 coins. They all look absolutely identical, but one of the coins is fake. However, you know that the fake coin is lighter than the rest, and in front of you is a balance scale. What is the least number of weightings you can use to find the counterfeit coin?

Two friends were stuck in a cottage. They had nothing to do and thus they started playing cards. Suddenly the power went off and Friend 1 inverted the position of 15 cards in the normal deck of 52 cards and shuffled it. Now he asked Friend 2 to divide the cards into two piles (need not be equal) with equal number of cards facing up. The room was quite dark and Friend 2 could not see the cards. He thinks for a while and then divides the cards in two piles.

On checking, the count of cards facing up is same in both the piles. How could Friend 2 have done it ?

Usually, a boxing match consists of twelve rounds. In a particular friendly match between two heavyweights, the match was finished in the ninth round itself as one of the boxers knocked out the other one.

But, in that fight, no man threw even a single punch.

How can this be possible?

I am green and found in the forest and have needles instead of leaves. What am I?
Hint 1: It can be used for Christmas decorations.
Hint 2: I have a strong, scent that is used in air fresheners.

Can you count the number of triangles in the given figure?

John is 45 years older than his son Jacob. If you find similarities between their ages, both of their ages contain prime numbers as the digits. Also, John's age is the reverse of Jacob's age.

Can you find their ages?

Can you find out which number multiplied by itself will give the output as 12345678987654321?

You can find some missing letters in the picture. By placing two particular letters in the spaces, you can form a nine lettered word beginning from one of the corners and going clockwise direction to the middle. Can you find out the letters and the word?