1260 Challenging Brain Teasers Page 27 of 84
Brain teasers that will make you think really hard for some of the simplest of answers.
391. What is the next number in this series?
21, 20, 18, 15, 11, ________?
392. What is represented by the wacky word?
lookbebebebeuleap
393. Can you complete this grid of letters. Each line is a valid 5 letter word with its first and last letter missing. The missing letters form a word when read downwards and the same word appears both at the start and at the end. What is the missing word?
?AGL?
?ABE?
?LUR?
?UTD?
?IDO?
394. There are two bars of iron. One bar is magnetized along its length, while the other is not magnetized. Using just the two bars, without any other items, how can you tell which bar is magnetized and which is not?
395. If a crab and a half weigh a pound and a half, but the half crab weighs half as much again as the whole crab, what do half the whole crab and the whole of the half crab weigh?
396. A man was telling me on a particular occasion, "The day before yesterday I was 35 years old and next year I will turn 38." How can this be?
397. Using the numbers 1, 9, 9 and 9, in that order, make the number 89. You may use brackets and any standard math operation such as the square root, +, -, * and /. For example, 26 = -1 + 9 + 9 + 9.
398. When you say my name, I no longer exist. What am I?
399. What is the number which is 4 times the number that is one-eighth of one-tenth of one-half of 640
400. What is represented by this wacky word?
VESTIPRIVATEGATOR
401. Which is larger, the number of seconds in a day or the number hours in 10 years?
402. What number is two-thirds of one-half of one-fourth of 240?
403. A recycling factory makes its own paper cups for canteen use. It can make one new cup from nine used ones. If it has 515 used cups how many can it possibly make in total?
404. A truck became wedged under a low bridge. It could not move forward or back without severely damaging its roof. The truck driver was perplexed until a little girl standing nearby suggested an easy solution. What was it?
405. Two clocks were correct at midnight but then one began to gain four minutes every hour. It stopped one and a half hours ago showing 4:48 pm. The clocks run for less than 24 hours. What time will the other clock be showing?
