Time Measurement

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.




Similar Riddles

A high school has a strange principal. On the first day, he has his students perform an odd opening day ceremony:

There are one thousand lockers and one thousand students in the school. The principal asks the first student to go to every locker and open it. Then he has the second student go to every second locker and close it. The third goes to every third locker and, if it is closed, he opens it, and if it is open, he closes it. The fourth student does this to every fourth locker, and so on. After the process is completed with the thousandth student, how many lockers are open?

Principal in the School

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I am dry when I go inside, but wet when I am pulled outside.
The longer I am inside, the stronger I get
When I am completely out, I am wet and I literally sag
Who am I?

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1 rabbit saw 9 elephants while going to the river. Every elephant saw 3 monkeys going toward the river. Each monkey had 1 parrot in each hand. How many animals are going towards the river?

Asked by Neha on 30 Aug 2025


What runs around the whole yard without moving?

Asked by Neha on 14 May 2021

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

What is more useful when it is broken?

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A man who was outside in the rain without an umbrella or hat didn’t get a single hair on his head wet. Why?

Asked by Neha on 27 Oct 2021

Akbar summoned Birbal out of anger.
He told him that he will have to face death.
He asked him to make a statement and if the statement is true he will be buried alive and if the statement is false, he will be thrown at lions.
After hearing Birbal’s statement, Akbar could do nothing but smile.
He gave him 5 gold bars and let him go.

What did Birbal say?

Asked by Neha on 17 May 2021

P is the father of Q and S is the son of R. T is the brother of P and has a daughter U. If R is the sister of P, then what is the relation between U, Q and S?

Who is Who

Asked by Neha on 16 Mar 2021


I have two sand hourglasses:
1. A 7 minute one and
2. An 11-minute one.

Using just these 2 sand hourglasses, how can I measure time as 15 minutes?

Asked by Neha on 29 May 2026

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Gamers

In 2011, people playing Foldit, an online puzzle game about protein folding, resolved the structure of an enzyme that causes an Aids-like disease in monkeys. Researchers had been working on the problem for 13 years. The gamers solved it in three weeks.