Riddles and Conundrums

1.

Woman is my end, was my beginning, and you will find her in my midst.

Solution

2

I am an uncle, but it is not nice
To be saluted as an uncle twice.

Why not?

Solution

3.

If a tailor and a goose are on the top of the Monument, which is the quickest way for the tailor to get down?

Solution

4.

My first is almost all, so is my second, and also my whole?

Solution

5

Those who have me do not desire me,
And yet they never wish to lose me,
Those who gain me have me no longer.

Solution

6.

Why may a barrister’s fees be said to be cheap?

Solution

7

Two brothers are we, great burdens we bear,
By which we are heavily prest:
We are full all the day to endure wear and tear,
But empty when able to rest.

Solution

8.

Peter Portman was so proud of his small feet that a wag started the following riddle: “Why are Portman’s feet larger than any others in his club?”

Solution

9

There is a word of letters four,
Take two away, and four remain;
Take three away, and five before
Your eyes you see as plain as plain.

Solution

10

To one syllable adjusted,
Running on the ground,
I have two, no longer trusted,
If you turn me round.

Solution

11.

Why is a raven like a writing desk?

Solution

12.

What do they do with peaches in California?

Solution

13.

What is the utmost effort ever made by a piebald horse at a high jump?

Solution

14

“In my first my second sat,
Then my third and fourth I ate.”

Under my first my second stood,
That’s your riddle: mine’s as good!

Solution

15.

What are the differences between a gardener, a billiard-marker, a precise man, and a verger?

Solution

16.

Which can see most, a man with two eyes, or a man with one?

Solution

17.

When you do not know the time, and “ask a policeman” what o’clock it is, why are you like the Viceroy of India?

Solution

18.

What is the question to which “yes” is the only possible reply?

Solution

19.

What is that which will go up a pipe down, but will not go down a pipe up; or will go down a pipe down, but not up a pipe up, and yet when it has gone up a pipe or down a pipe, will go up or down?

Solution

20.

Why was London for many years a wonderful place for carrying sound?

Solution

21.

Why is a motor-car like swimming fish?

Solution

22.

Who can decipher this?

1/6d. me a bloater.

Solution

23.

Why is a moth flying round a candle like a garden-gate?

Solution

24

To half a dozen add half a score,
And you will plainly see
Just twenty, neither less nor more—
Now say, how can this be?

Solution

25.

If I caught a newt why would it be a small one?

Solution

26.

How can a lawyer’s fee be paid with only a threepenny piece?

Solution

27.

When does the cannon ball?

Solution

28.

Why should children go to bed soon after tea?

Solution

29.

Which may weigh the most, Scotsmen or Irishmen?

Solution

30.

Why cannot we have our hair cut?

Solution

31.

Divide a hundred and fifty by half of ten, add two-thirds of ten, and so you will find a town.

Solution

32.

The following riddle is from the pen and fertile brain of Archbishop Whately, who, it is said, offered in vain £50 for its solution:—

When from the Ark’s capacious round
Mankind came forth in pairs,
Who was it that first heard the sound
Of steps upon the stairs?

Solution

33.

If Moses was the son of Pharaoh’s daughter, who was the daughter of Pharaoh’s son?

Solution

34.

I am a word of three syllables, and in all my fulness I represent woman. Rob me of five letters and I am a man. Take away but four, I am woman again. Remove only three, and I resume my manhood. What am I?

Solution

35.

A cyclist on a night journey punctures his tyre, and finds that he has forgotten his outfit for repairs. After wheeling the disabled machine uphill for about two miles he registers a vow. What is it?

Solution

36

Some more than the mere whole my whole contains;
Remove that whole, and some of it remains!

Solution

37.

Why were Younghusband’s pack-horses in Thibet like up-to-date motor cars?

Solution

38

The public credit and the public shame
Differ in everything except in name.

Solution

39.

Why is a telescope like a miser?

Solution

40.

If I were in the sun, and you were out of it, what would it be?

Solution

41

I’m a word of four letters akin to the snow,
Just half of my first my third letter will show.
One fifth of my fourth my first you may call,
Of my second ’tis best to say nothing at all.

Solution

42.

What is the chief and most natural thing for politicians to desire to do when for the time they are out in the cold, awaiting a change of Government?

Solution

43.

I am long lasting, beginning at my end, ending with no beginning, and my end and my beginning between them will bring you to an end.

Solution

44

With both feet crossed sit steady on a stool,
Then uncross one, and try to find a fool.

Solution

A Rabbit Run

45. How far can a rabbit run into a square wood, with sides that each measure a mile, if it keeps on a straight course and does not break cover?

Solution

46

Often talked of, never seen,
Ever coming, never been,
Daily looked for, never here,
Still approaching in the rear.
Thousands for my presence wait,
But, by the decree of Fate,
Though expected to appear
They will never see me here.

Solution

47.

I received my first because I was rash enough to say my second to my third, when seeking re-election at my whole.

Solution

48

How is it, in this charming weather,
You and I can’t lunch together?

Solution

49

With a head, and without a head,
With a tail, and without a tail,
With a head without a tail,
With a tail without a head,
With a head and tail,
Without a head and tail.

Solution

50.

“Ask me another,” she said, when he pressed her to name the happy day. “I will,” he replied. “Why is the letter ‘d’ like the answer which I seek from you?”

Solution

51. Swift’s Riddle

Two thirds of an ass, and a hole in the ground,
Will dress you a dinner worth many a pound.

Solution

Tom Hood’s Riddle

52. Here is a riddle for which Tom Hood was responsible. Can you solve it?

Twice to thine,
Once to mine,
With Congou make a gift divine.

Solution

53.

Hold up your hand and you will see what you never have seen, never can see, and never will see. What is this?

Solution

54.

Can you tell the difference between the Emperor of Russia and an ill-shod beggar?

Solution

55.

Why did Eden Philpotts?

Solution

56.

We have heard much of man’s imagined connection with the monkey, through some missing link. What evidence can we gather from early records of, at any rate, some verbal kinship with the patient ass?

Solution

57.

My first is gold, my second is silver, my third is copper, and my whole is tin.

Solution

58.

What is highest when its head is off?

Solution

59.

What word is there of six letters which can be so read that it claims to be spelt with only one?

Solution

60.

If a good oyster is a native, what is a bad one?

Solution

61.

Why is John Bright?

Solution

62.

If I walk into a room full of people, and place a new penny upon the table in full view of the company, what does the coin do?

Solution

63.

Jones, who had made it, and put it into his waistcoat pocket, lost it. Brown picked it up, and lighted his cigar with it. Then they both went to the train in it, and ran all the way.

Solution

64.

Why cannot a deaf and dumb man tickle nine people?

Solution

65.

When did “London” begin with an l and end with an e?

Solution

66.

I sent my second to my first, but many a whole passed before he came back to me.

Solution

67.

Which weighs most, the new moon or the full moon?

Solution

68.

Here is a puzzle which is unique and most remarkable, and which seems to be impossible, though it is absolutely sound:—

There is an English word of more than two letters, of which “la” is the middle, is the beginning, and is the end, though there is but one “a” and one “l” in the word. What is it?

Solution

69.

Why is a bee like a rook?

Solution

70. A Dark Rebus

O
B e D

Solution

71. A Monkey Puzzler

If a monkey is placed before a cross, why does it at once get to the top?

Solution

72. A Riddle by Cowper

I am just two and two, warm and cold,
And the parent of numbers untold;
Lawful, unlawful, duty, fault,
Often costly, worthless bought.
A priceless boon, a matter of course,
Willingly yielded, taken by force.

The answer has been defined as “two heads and an application.”

Solution

How’s That, Umpire?

73. How can the Latin exhortation “Macte!” which may be roughly rendered “Go on and prosper!” be applied at cricket to a batsman at a critical moment?

Solution

By Tape Measurement

74. Are you good at topography? If so, can you discover and locate, from this description of its surroundings, a town within 30 miles of London?

Half an inch before the trees, and half a foot and half a yard after them, lead us to an English town.

Solution

75.

We know how, by the addition of a single letter, our cares can be softened into a caress; but in the following enigma a still more contradictory result follows, without the addition or alteration of a letter, by a mere separation of syllables:—

None can locate the subject of my riddle,
For all the world would seek its place in vain;
Cut it asunder almost in the middle,
And in our very midst its place is plain.

An aching void, an absolute negation,
Into the opposite extreme it breaks;
With just a gap to mark their new relation
Each letter still the same position takes.

Solution

76. Multum in Parvo

What two letters describe in nine letters the position of one who has been left alone in his extremity?

Solution

77. A Change of Sex

“Oh! would I were a man,” cried a schoolmistress, “that I might always teach boys.”

We boys overheard her, and placed her with us. What did we thus turn her into?

Solution

78. A Striking Match Puzzle

How can you make a Maltese cross with less than twelve unbent and unbroken matches?

Solution

79

Have we any reason to suppose that in very early times there were less vowels than we have now?

Solution

80. A French Riddle

As Susette was sitting in the cool shadow of an olive grove at Mentone, Henri came up and said to her, with his best bow, “Je sais que vous n’avez pas mon premier, mais que vous êtes mon second, et je vous donnerai mon tout!” What did he hold out to her?

Solution

81

On a church close to an old ruined priory, near Lewes, there is a weathercock in the shape of a fish, probably an emblem of the faith. What moral lesson does this relic of early days convey to us?

Solution

82

Take five from half of ten,
Set fifty in the middle,
Add twice five hundred then
To finish up the riddle,
And make it with your pen
As fit as any fiddle.

Solution

83. A Paradox

“For the want of water we drank water, and if we had had water we should have drank wine.”

Who can have said this, and what did they mean?

Solution

84. What Is It?

The poor have two, the rich have none,
Millions have many, you have one.

Solution

85

A thousand and one,
And a sixth part of twenty;
Some may have none,
But others have plenty!

Solution

86. Great Scott!

“Charge, Chester, charge! on, Stanley, on!”
Were the last words of Marmion.
Now, had I been in Stanley’s place
When Marmion urged him to the chase,
You would have thought, unless you knew,
That Scottish fray was Irish stew!

Shade of Sir Walter! What does all this mean?

Solution

87

I may be half of ten,
I may be nearly nine;
If eight contains me then
Two-thirds of six are mine.
A third of one, a fourth of four,
I am an eighth of many more.

Solution

88. Quite a Beatitude

Let her be, or beat her,
Give her little ease;
Then in safety seat her
All among the bees.

Solution

89

Sharpen your wits till they are keen,
Then see if you can guess
What word it is that I have seen,
And spell it with an s!

Solution

90. Rather Personal

Take part of a foot,
And with judgment transpose.
You will find that you have it
Just under your nose.

Solution