Thief and his Penalty

A thief is convicted in Mexico. He gets the death penalty. The judge allows him to say the last sentence to determine how the penalty will be carried out. If the thief lies, he will be hanged, if he speaks the truth he will be beheaded. The thief tells the last sentence and to everybody's surprise some minutes later he is set free because the judge cannot determine his penalty. What did the thief say?




Similar Logic Riddles

Henry has been caught stealing cattle and is brought into town for justice. The judge is his ex-wife Gretchen, who wants to show him some sympathy, but the law calls for two shots to be taken at Henry from close range. To make things a little better for Henry, Gretchen tells him she will place two bullets into a six-chambered revolver in successive order. She will spin the chamber, close it, and take one shot. If Henry is still alive, she will then either take another shot, or spin the chamber again before shooting.

Henry is a bit incredulous that his ex-wife would carry out the punishment, and a bit sad that she was always such a rule follower. He steels himself as Gretchen loads the chambers, spins the revolver, and pulls the trigger. Whew! It was blank. Then Gretchen asks, 'Do you want me to pull the trigger again, or should I spin the chamber a second time before pulling the trigger?'

What should Henry choose?

Asked by Neha on 16 Mar 2026


A number with an interesting property:

When I divide it by 2, the remainder is 1.
When I divide it by 3, the remainder is 2.
When I divide it by 4, the remainder is 3.
When I divide it by 5, the remainder is 4.
When I divide it by 6, the remainder is 5.
When I divide it by 7, the remainder is 6.
When I divide it by 8, the remainder is 7.
When I divide it by 9, the remainder is 8.
When I divide it by 10, the remainder is 9.

It's not a small number, but it's not really big, either.
When I looked for a smaller number with this property I couldn't find one.

Can you find it?

Asked by Neha on 21 Nov 2024

Eight Chelsea player makes the following statements :

1. Seven of us are lying here.
2. Six of us are lying here.
3. Five of us are lying here.
4. Five of us are lying here.
5. Four of us are lying here.
6. Three of us are lying here.
7. My name is Torres.
8. My name is Lampard.

The last two are Lampard and Torres or maybe Torres and Lampard.
So can you deduce which of the last two is Lampard or Torres?

Asked by Neha on 14 Oct 2024


Imagine a box with two cogwheels, one big with 24 teeth and one small with 8 teeth. The big one is firmly attached to the center of the box which means it does not turn or move while the small one rotates around the big one.

How many times do you think that the smaller wheel will turn compared to the box when it turns once around the big one?

Magical Wheels

Asked by Neha on 22 Sep 2024

10 people came into a hotel with 9 rooms and each guest wanted his own room. The bellboy solved this problem.
He asked the tenth guest to wait for a little with the first guest in room number 1. So in the first room, there were two people. The bellboy took the third guest to room number 2, the fourth to number 3, ..., and the ninth guest to room number 8. Then he returned to room number 1 and took the tenth guest to room number 9, still vacant.
How can everybody have his own room?

Asked by Neha on 21 Aug 2023

A man has to get a fox, a chicken, and a sack of corn across a river.

He has a rowboat, and it can only carry him and one other thing.
If the fox and the chicken are left together, the fox will eat the chicken.
If the chicken and the corn are left together, the chicken will eat the corn.

How does the man do it?

Asked by Neha on 04 May 2021


While sitting in the Car, John suddenly finds that one of the wheels was missing. John noticed that a killer is approaching towards him. John cannot get out of the car.

How will John escape?

Asked by Neha on 14 Jan 2021

John bought 150 chocolates but he misplaced some of them. His Father asked him how many chocolates were misplaced.
He gave the following answer to him:
If you count in pairs, one remains
If you count in threes, two remain
If you count in fours, three remain
If you count in fives, four remain
If you count in sixes, five remain
If you count in sevens, no chocolate remains.

Can you analyze the statements and tell us how many chocolates were lost?

Asked by Neha on 22 Dec 2024

Can you discover the missing number in this series?

37, 10, 82
29, 11, 47
96, 15, 87
42, ?, 15

Asked by Neha on 14 Nov 2024


What is the probability of choosing the correct answer at random from the options below?

a) 1/4
b) 1/2
c) 1
d) 1/4

Asked by Neha on 18 Apr 2026

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Amazing Facts

Out of the Box

The phrase “thinking outside the box” was popularised from the solution to a topographical puzzle involving 9 dots in a box shape.