Logic Puzzle: Missionaries and Cannibals

This is a great logic puzzle. I keep figuring it out and then forgetting how I did it. But I've been successful several times, so I guess that's a good sign. Have fun:

Click here for the puzzle.

No comments! No riddle!

For some reason my blog won't let people comment. I'm still trying to figure out what caused this change. Until I get the problem figured out, I will not be able to post riddles.

No riddle this week

Sorry, no riddle this week. I'm too busy getting ready to be a fan girl. Expect a complete report when I get back. (For those of you who don't know, I'm keeping you in suspense.)

Riddle #49: what word?

This riddle is a bit different, but it's fun (besides, I'm running out of the lateral thinking puzzles that I prefer). Here goes:

What word contains all five vowels: a, e, i, o, u -- but only has 7 letters total?

It's not a trick question or anything. There really is such a word -- and it's one I'm pretty sure you know.

NOTE: The correct answer has been guessed. To read it, see the comments section.

Lateral Thinking Puzzlers by Paul Sloane has lots of classic riddles, clues and answers. Click here to order it.

Riddle #48 The Graffiti

A teacher found some graffiti written on the wall of her classroom. No one owned up to doing it. How did the teacher find out which student wrote the graffiti?

NOTE: The correct answer has been guessed. To read it, see the comments section.

Lateral Thinking Puzzlers by Paul Sloane has lots of classic riddles, clues and answers. Click here to order it.

Riddle #47: Shoe Shops

Here's the latest riddle:

In a small town there are four shoe shops of about the same size, each carrying pretty much the same line in shoes. Each shop is open the same hours. Each shop displays only one of each kind of shoe (not pairs) and keeps all the pairs of shoes in the back room. Yet one shop loses three times as many shoes to theft as each of the other shops. Why?

NOTE: The correct answer has been guessed. To read it, see the comments section.

Click here to return to the main blog page.

Lateral Thinking Puzzlers by Paul Sloane has lots of classic riddles, clues and answers. Click here to order it.

No riddle this week

Sorry, the riddle is on vacation this week. I was too busy last night vicariously attending the Nome finishers banquet in a chat room and frantically typing what I read. (It's hard work being a fan.) Visit this forum thread to read a transcript: http://mushing.bssd.org/forum/viewtopic.php?f=3&t=994

Riddle #46: The Bragger

Here's the next riddle. I predict that this one will be easy:

You're at a party, and you hear a man bragging about his recent trip to Africa. He was hunting rhinos, he said. He described in detail several wild animals he saw while exploring Africa, including hippos, tigers, elephants and giraffes. He talked about drinking camel's milk and picking coconuts. He also described how he finally got his rhino. "Well, that man is obviously lying," you tell your friend. How do you know?

NOTE: The correct answer has been guessed. To read it, see the comments section.
Lateral Thinking Puzzlers by Paul Sloane has lots of classic riddles, clues and answers. Click here to order it.

Riddle #45: The new addition

Here's the latest riddle. I'm thinking it may be a bit more difficult, but I may be wrong. Here goes:

A woman spends thousands of dollars to have an addition built onto her house. Yet after she addition is built, she never goes into it. Why?

NOTE: The correct answer has been guessed. To read it, see the comments section.

Lateral Thinking Puzzlers by Paul Sloane has lots of classic riddles, clues and answers. Click here to order it.

Riddle #44: The dead body

This riddle is a classic. I realized that I've never posted it. Here goes:

You come across a dead body--a man lying face-down with a backpack on his back. Immediately you know how he died. How did the man die?

NOTE: The correct answer has been guessed. To read it, see the comments section.

Lateral Thinking Puzzlers by Paul Sloane has lots of classic riddles, clues and answers. Click here to order it.

Riddle #43: Closer to Home

Yes, the riddle took a break last week, but it's back now. Here it is:

A company in a large city had 60 employees. The company was fairly centrally located, and the employees lived in all different directions: north, south, east and west. Their homes were located all over the city, and some even lived in the surrounding small towns.

The CEO decided to relocate all 60 employees to another single new corporate headquarters location. After the move, all of the employees were closer to home. How could this be?

NOTE: The correct answer has been guessed. To read it, see the comments section.

Lateral Thinking Puzzlers by Paul Sloane has lots of classic riddles, clues and answers. Click here to order it.

Riddle #42: over thirty foreign countries

Here's the next riddle:

An ordinary American citizen, with no passport, visits over thirty foreign countries in one day. He is welcomed in each country and leaves each one of his own accord.

The correct answer has been guessed. To read it, see the comments section.

Lateral Thinking Puzzlers by Paul Sloane has lots of classic riddles, clues and answers. Click here to order it.

Lateral Thinking Puzzlers by Paul Sloane has lots of classic riddles, clues and answers. Click here to order it.

Riddle #41: Two Pigs

This is something that really happened: A man had two pigs that were identical twins from the same litter. However, when he sold them, he got 100 times more for one pig than the other one. Why?

The correct answer to this riddle has been guessed. To read it, see the comments section.

Lateral Thinking Puzzlers by Paul Sloane has lots of classic riddles, clues and answers. Click here to order it.

Riddle #40: The stories

Here's another riddle from Carmen:

We are the stories that everyone creates but few remember. What are we?

The correct answer has been guessed. To read it, see the comments section.

Lateral Thinking Puzzlers by Paul Sloane has lots of classic riddles, clues and answers. Click here to order it.

Riddle #39: What am I?

This riddle was written by my daughter Carmen. It's a little different from the lateral thinking type riddles I usually post. Here it is:

When I am born, I create destruction for my parent and everyone I meet. I die when everyone I have met believes that I don't exist. What am I?

The correct answer has been guessed. To read it, see the comments section.
Lateral Thinking Puzzlers by Paul Sloane has lots of classic riddles, clues and answers. Click here to order it.

Riddle #38: The murderer

A woman was found guilty of murdering her sister's husband. The judge stated, "This is the strangest case I've ever had. The woman is guilty of murder, yet I cannot give her the death sentence, and I cannot even put her in jail. The only punishment I can give is a fine." Why?

The correct answer has been guessed. To read it, see the comments section.
Lateral Thinking Puzzlers by Paul Sloane has lots of classic riddles, clues and answers. Click here to order it.

Riddle #37: Shoe Shopping

Here's the latest riddle:

A man places a classified ad in the newspaper. As a result, he goes shoe shopping with a total stranger on a regular basis. Why?

The correct answer has been guessed. To see it, please see the comments section.

Lateral Thinking Puzzlers by Paul Sloane has lots of classic riddles, clues and answers. Click here to order it.

Riddle #36: Tail lights

Here's the latest riddle. I think this one will be easy. My kids got it right away.

A teenage boy picks up a tire wrench and breaks the tail lights in a car that doesn't belong to him. But when the police find out, they do not give him a ticket. Instead, they arrest the owner of the car. Why?

The correct answer has been guessed. To read it, see the comments.

Lateral Thinking Puzzlers by Paul Sloane has lots of classic riddles, clues and answers. Click here to order it.

Riddle #35: The cabin

Here's the latest riddle (sorry I'm late putting it up):

You are hiking in the mountains. You discover a cabin with two dead people in it. Immediately you know the cause of death. Although there is no food in the cabin, they did not die of hunger. Although it is cold in the cabin, they did not die of hypothermia or exposure. What was the cause of death?

The correct answer has been guessed. To read it, see the comments section.

Lateral Thinking Puzzlers by Paul Sloane has lots of classic riddles, clues and answers. Click here to order it.

Riddle #34: From Australia

A truckers convention hosted truckers from all over North America and also Australia. As people were mingling around and talking, one of the truckers said to the other one: "Oh, I see the Australian truckers are over there. I'm going to go and talk with them." He had not heard the Australian truckers talking, and they did not have nametags or any specific clothing that distinguished them as Australian. How did he know they were Australian?

The correct answer to the riddle has been guessed. To read it, see the comments section.

Lateral Thinking Puzzlers by Paul Sloane has lots of classic riddles, clues and answers. Click here to order it.