Classic Conundrums

No matter how hungry they get, tigers never hunt in the midday sun on the African savannah. Why not?
There are no tigers in Africa. Outside of zoos, they are only found in Asia.

Two nurses were going for lunch. One nurse is the mother of the other nurse's daughter. How could this be possible?
They were husband and wife.

If Susie Smart's peacock laid an egg in Walter Welton's back yard in Philadelphia in 1932 during the Great Depression, who would be the rightful owner of the egg?
Peacocks cannot lay eggs. This ability belongs to the peahen.

What word do all the online dictionaries always spell incorrectly?
INCORRECTLY

How many times can you subtract the number 17 from the number 102?
Only once. After the first subtraction the number will be smaller.

The year 1964 was a very special year for the Harris family. It was a leap year, and on February 29 Dora was born at 7:10 pm and Flora at 7:30 pm. The children have the same parents but they aren't twins. How is this possible?
Dora and Flora are part of a triplet. Nora, the third child, was also born February 29, 1964.

A chemical reaction takes 85 minutes in a red test tube. The same chemical reaction takes one hour and twenty-five minutes in a blue test tube. Can you explain this?
The color of the test tube doesn't matter. The reactions both took the same amount of time: 85 minutes equals 1 hour 25 minutes.

Wanda White, Betty Brown and Greta Green are wearing their new sweaters. "Look, the colors of our sweaters match our names, except none of us is wearing a sweater that matches our last name," commented the girl wearing the white sweater. "Wow, you're absolutely right," agreed Betty. What color of sweat...er was each girl wearing?
The first person speaking was wearing white, so it could not be Wanda White. The second person speaking was Betty Brown. This means the first person speaking must be Greta Green. Betty Brown must then be wearing green. And Wanda White would be wearing brown.
GRETA GREEN = WHITE SWEATER
BETTY BROWN = GREEN SWEATER
WANDA WHITE = BROWN SWEATER

Sally has arranged three playing cards in a row:
-a diamond is to the right of a club, but not necessarily adjacent to it
-a queen is to the right of a king
-a heart is on the right of a jack
-a diamond is on the right of a heart.
What are the three cards?
Jack of Clubs, King of Hearts, and Queen of Diamonds.

Which one does not belong and why?
FRENCH
NUN
MALAYALAM
TOO HOT TO HOOT
RACE CAR
PUFF UP
French.
It is the only word or phrase that is not a palindrome (i.e. spelled the same forward and backward).

"How did you do on your math test?" Timmy's mother asked. "I was successful," he replied. His mother looked at his test and remarked, "But the grade is an F." How could Timmy have been successful in his math test yet have received an F?
He tried to fail and he succeeded.

George is the same relation to John as John is to Bill, and George is the same relation to Bill as John is to Bill's son. So what relation is George to Bill?
Grandfather,
George
John (George's son)
Bill (George's grandson)
Bill's son (George's great-grandson)

For Mother's Day, Sally gave her mother a box of chocolates and so did Susie. Both boxes of chocolates were the same, since they were their mother's favorite. In each box half the chocolates had soft centers and half had nut centers. Their mother took one chocolate from each box. What is the likelihood that both chocolates she picked had soft centers?
There is a one in four chance that both have soft centers. There are four ways to take the chocolates:
SOFT SOFT
SOFT NUT
NUT SOFT
NUT NUT

How many legs does a cow have if you call its tail a leg?
Four. Just because you call the cow's tail a leg, that doesn't make it one.

Cecile and Celine left Cambridge and were cycling through a forest when they came to a fork in the bike path. They wanted to go to the mountains, but the signpost had been knocked down. How can they tell which way to go?
They can put the signpost back up so the arrow pointing to Cambridge points in the direction from which they came. The other two arrows will now be pointed in the correct direction.

Susie Summers owns a cottage in Vermont which has an A-shaped roof. One side of the roof faces north and the other side faces south. The prevailing winds from the north are usually quite strong. The strange thing is that the stronger the north wind blows, the stronger the resulting updraft on the south side of the roof. Therefore, if a rooster was to lay an egg on the peak of the roof during a strong northerthly wind, on which side should the egg fall most of the time?
Roosters don't lay eggs.

Which word logically comes next in the list below?
SHINE
LIGHT
STONE
STRUCK
BEAM

BRIGHT HEAVY STABLE SILVER IVORY LESS
LESS. All the words can be made into compound words preceded by "moon".

Carl and Carla were lost in the woods when they stumbled upon a cabin. In the cabin were the following: a newspaper, a fireplace, some kindling, and a kerosene lamp. The temperature was below freezing, and Carl and Carla needed to warm up fast. What should they light first?
A match.

Two fathers and two sons enter a movie theatre and pay ten dollars each. The ticket seller takes $30. What happened to the rest of the money?
There was no other money. Only three people entered the movie theater (a son, his father, and his grandfather) so only $30 was spent.

After the new Canon Law took effect on November 27th, 1983, would a Roman Catholic man be allowed to marry his widow's sister?
That would not be an option for this man because he would be dead.

Before Mount Everest was discovered, what was the highest mountain on earth?
Mount Everest.

Clive was wrapping gifts, one for each of his ten grandchildren. After carefully wrapping each gift, Clive realized he couldn't remember which gift was for whom. Not wanting to make more work for himself, he simply stuck ten labels on the gifts at random. What is the likelihood of exactly nine out of ten of his grandchildren receiving the correct gift?
It would be impossible. If nine out of ten grandchildren have the correct gift, all ten grandchildren must have the correct gift.

If you were to step into a sealed room filled with 100% methane gas and strike a match, what would happen?
Nothing. A match cannot spark without oxygen.

There have been many amendments to the U.S. Constitution during the last 100 years. One of the most controversial items outlines the transfer of power should a head of state die while in office. If the Vice-President of the United States and the Speaker of the House of Representatives should die while in office, who then becomes President?
The President is still the President.

It was a beautiful, sunny day, and two friends were loading their boat for a day of fishing on Trout Lake. Buck boasted to Joe, "I bet you $100 I can walk across the surface of the lake without the aid of any equipment. "I'll take you up on that bet," replied Joe. After sux months of preparation, Buck was ready. To Joe's chagrin, Buck did exactly what he boasted he could do. How could he manage this feat without the aid of any special equipment?
It was winter and the lake had frozen over.

What orchestral device is not blown, bowed, plucked or struck?
The conductor's baton.

From statistical records, what is the most dangerous job in the United States?
President. Four presidents out of 44 have been assassinated. Abraham Lincoln, James Garfield, William McKinley and John F. Kennedy.

Many people consider it amazing that things are always in the last place you look for them. What is wrong with this?
One should not be amazed. Once you find something, you don't look elsewhere!

During the war, several British naval spies posing as Canadian lobstermen were posted off the coast of Nova Scotia. Their mission was to be on the lookout for strange activities. They took great care to act like the locals, and even perfected their Nova Scotian accent. They had a number of fake red lob...sters made, and every night, the spies loaded the lobsters into traps and threw them overboard. At daybreak, they would hoist the traps aboard their boat, pretending to work while surveying the coastline. The locals spotted them as fraudulent lobstermen from quite a distance. How?
All real lobster fishermen would know that live lobsters are not red. They only turn red when they are cooked.

What do these words have in common?
FED
MOON
CAB
FEED
HIGH
The words are made up of 3 consecutive letters of the alphabet (though not in consecutive order).

In our calendar some months have 30 days and some months have 31 days. How many months have 28 days?
All of them.

Heather was riding on Wednesday. Her horse stumbled on the last hurdle and Heather fell and was knocked unconcious. Her coach took her to the hospital. She was kept in just one night and released Friday morning. How can this be?
Heather's horse is named Wednesday. It was Thursday when she fell off the horse.

Summer begins on June 21st and ends on September 22nd. What occurs once in June, once in July, and twice in August, but never in September?
The letter U.

At 7:00 am a train moving 50 mph leaves Boston heading for New York. At 8:00 am a train running at 55 mph leaves New York heading for Boston. Which train will be closer to New York when they meet?
Neither. When they MEET, they will be in the SAME SPOT.

In his closet, Professor Peacock has a box of socks containing 24 polka dot socks and 24 striped socks. Peacock wants to be certain his socks match, but cannot see the patterns since his closet is completely dark. What is the smallest number of socks that Peacock needs to remove from the box in order to be certain of having two socks of the same pattern?
Three. Since there are only two patterns, the third sock has to match one of the first two.

Which one of the following words does not belong with the others and why?
FATHER
AUNT
SISTER
COUSIN
MOTHER
UNCLE
Cousin. All the other words refer to a specific gender.

Joanne's mother had four children, not to mention a rather odd interest in names related to money. The oldest child was named Quarter. The second child was called Dimeond. The third child was named Nickelas. What was the fourth child and only girl likely named?
Joanne.

Two very popular and common objects carry out the same function yet one of them has thousands of moving parts and the other hasn't any. What are the two objects?
An hourglass and a sundial.

A woman from New York married ten different men from that city yet she did not break any laws. None of the men died, and she never divorced. How was this possible?