Logic Riddles

Pears

There are a few trees in a garden. On one of them, a pear tree, there are pears (quite logical). But after a strong wind blew, there were neither pears on the tree nor on the ground.
How come?

Apples

A basket contains 5 apples. Do you know how to divide them to 5 kids so that each one has an apple and one apple stays in the basket?

Sack

A poor farmer went to a market to sell some peas and lentils, however as he had only one sack and didn't want to mix peas and lentils, he poured in the peas at first, bound the sack up and than poured in the lentils. At the market a rich innkeeper wanted to buy the peas, but he did not want the lentils.
How would you solve this problem if you had only the sack of the innkeeper, which he wants to keep without devaluing the goods; pouring the goods anywhere else than in sacks (eg. on the ground, table etc.) is considered as devaluing. Trading sacks is not allowed.

Marine

The captain of a big ship was telling this interesting story: "Once I saw two marines standing on the opposite sides of the ship. One was looking to the west and the other one to the east. And they saw each other very well."
How can that be possible?

Ship Ladder

A ship anchored in a port has a ladder (beginning and ending with a tave), where the bottom tave touches the water. The distance between taves is 20 cm and the length of the ladder is 180 cm. The tide is rising at the speed of 15 cm each hour.
When will the water be on the third tave from the top?

Hotel Bill

Three people check into a hotel. They pay $30 to the manager and go to their room. The manager finds out that the room rate is $25 and gives $5 to the bellboy to return. On the way to the room the bellboy reasons that $5 would be difficult to share among three people so he pockets $2 and gives $1 to each person. Now each person paid $10 and got back $1. So they paid $9 each, totalling $27. The bellboy has $2, totalling $29.
Where is the remaining dollar?

Hotel

13 people came into a hotel with 12 rooms and everybody wanted his own room. The bellboy solved this problem.
He asked the thirteenth guest to wait a moment 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 twelfth guest to room number 11. Then he returned to room number 1 and took the thirteenth guest to empty room number 12.
How can everybody have his own room?

Puzzling Prattle (by Sam Loyd)

Two children, who were all tangled up in their reckoning of the days of the week, paused on their way to school to straighten matters out. "When the day after tomorrow is yesterday," said Priscilla, then 'today' will be as far from Sunday as that day was which was 'today' when the day before yesterday was tomorrow!"
On which day of the week did this puzzling prattle occur?

Twins

Two girls are born to the same mother, on the same day, at the same time, in the same year and yet they're not twins.
How can this be?

Photograph

I am looking at somebody's photo. Who is it I am looking at, if I don't have any brothers or sisters and the father of that man on the photo is the son of my father?

One-Way Street

A girl who was just learning to drive went down a one-way street in the wrong direction, but didn't break the law.
How come?

Cost of War

Here's a variation on a famous puzzle by Lewis Carroll, who wrote Alice's Adventures in Wonderland.
A group of 100 soldiers suffered the following injuries in a battle: 70 soldiers lost an eye, 75 lost an ear, 85 lost a leg, and 80 lost an arm.
What is the minimum number of soldiers who must have lost all 4?

Bavarian

Having 2 glasses, in one is 10 cl of tonic and in the other 10 cl of fernet. Pour 3 cl of tonic to the glass with fernet and after thorough mixing pour 3 cl of the mixture back to the glass with the tonic.
Is there now more tonic in the glass of fernet or more fernet in the glass of tonic?
(Ignore chemical composition!)

Just in Time

What occurs once in every minute, twice in every moment, yet never in a thousand years?

The Short Ones

• Why can't a man living in the USA be buried in Canada?
• Is it legal for a man in California to marry his widow's sister? Why?
• A man builds a house rectangular in shape. All sides have southern exposure. A big bear walks by, what color is the bear? Why? (similar to the Bear riddle in the section Einstein's Riddles)
• If there are 3 apples and you take away 2, how many do you have?
• How far can a dog run into the woods?
• One big hockey fan claimed to be able to say the score before any game. How did he do it?
• You can start a fire if you have alcohol, petrol, kerosene, paper, candle, coke, a full matchbox and a piece of cotton wool. What is the first thing you light?
• Why do Chinese men eat more rice than Japanese men do?
• What word describes a woman who does not have all her fingers on one hand?