10 Cunning Riddles That Are Harder Than They Look

People enjoy solving riddles to keep their minds sharp. Each riddle hides a small clue or detail that leads to the answer, if you know where to look. Some puzzles can take hours to solve, while a few sharp thinkers spot the trick right away.

The riddles below may look easy at first, but don’t rush, most come with a twist. Take your time and see how many you can crack.

1.

Question: What number should you move?

2.

Mary lived in a luxurious mansion. One day, she discovered that all her jewelry had mysteriously disappeared. The police arrived at the crime scene and realized that the theft had occurred very recently. They questioned four people who were in the house at the time of the incident.

The gardener said he’d been tending the flower beds in the garden all morning. His hands were covered in green and brown stains from plants and soil. The builder claimed he’d been working in the yard, repairing the fence. His hands had splinters and small scratches.

Mary’s niece stated that she had been swimming in the pool all morning. The maid said she had been cleaning the windows, so she was still wearing silicone gloves. The detective asked everyone to show their hands and immediately knew who was lying.

Question: Who is the thief?

3.

You have a 7-minute and an 11-minute hourglass.
Question: How do you measure exactly 15 minutes?

4.

The green house is on the right, and the red house is on the left.

Question: Where’s the white house?

5.

Some months have 31 days, some have 30.

Question: How many have 28?

6.

You flip a fair coin 5 times, and it lands on heads every time.

Question: What are the chances the next flip is heads?

7.

A lily pad doubles its size each day. In 48 days, it covers the entire lake.

Question: How long to cover half the lake?

8.

If an electric train is moving north at 100mph and the wind is blowing west at 10mph.

Question: Which way does the smoke blow?

9.

A woman was born in 1975 and died in 1975. She was 22 when she died.

Question: How is this possible?

10.

Question: What gets smaller every time it takes a bath?

Answers:

1.

• Move the number 2 half a line up to get: 101 — 10² = 1″

2.

• The niece, if she had really been in the pool all morning, her fingers would have been wrinkled.

3.

• Start both. When 7 runs out, flip it. When 11 runs out, flip it. When 7 runs out again, 15 mins passed.

4.

• In Washington, D.C.

5.

• All of them.

6.

• Still 50%. Past flips don’t affect future ones.

7.

• 47 days — it doubles the next day.

8.

• It doesn’t — electric trains don’t produce smoke.

9.

• She was born in the year 1975 and died in hospital room 1975.

10.

• Soap

People often make things more complicated than they are. We try to look too deep and miss the easy answer. Kids, on the other hand, see things as they are, and solve problems faster because they don’t overthink. Try these riddles and see if you can think as clearly as a child.