What are some trick questions that seem to pose a hard or impossible question but have a simple answer...

[ Editor: in reply to the "gry" riddle with the answer "language" (see
language/english/spelling/gry): ]

How unspeakably tedious.  Reminds me of those wretched riddles we used
to pose in grade school:

"'Railroad crossing, look out for the cars!' Can you spell that without
any R's?" "T-H-A-T."

"Constantinople is a very long word, can you spell it?"  "I-T."

And, of course, the nursery rhymes... "There was a woman in our town, silk
an' satin was her gown, silk an' satin, gold an' velvet, guess her name,
three times I've telled it." (Ann).  And "Kits, cats, sacks and wives, how
many were going to St. Ives." (One, the narrator; the kits, cats, sacks
and wives were going the other way).

And the ones that begin "You are a captain" (elevator operator, train
conductor, etc.) At the third stop, two people get on and four get off,
etc.  What color are the captain's eyes?

Is there any name for this class of puzzles--ones that seem to pose a
difficult or impossible question, whose purpose is to misdirect you so
that you don't realize the wording has an alternate reading as a simple
question?  (There are many _adjectives_, such as boring, patronizing,
unsatisfying, obnoxious, etc...)

-- Daniel P. B. Smith <dpbsmith@world.std.com>

[ Editor: a later posting by the same contributor, "Ten, nine, eight,
seven, six... and five make eleven." ]

I'm not quite sure what to call this... not a puzzle... but my mother
would "prove" she had eleven fingers by holding out her left hand,
pointing to each finger of her left hand while saying "ten, nine, eight,
seven, six ... " then she would hold up her right hand and say "... and
five make eleven."

Later on, a friend of mine named Bob Blue showed me "another way to
prove it."  He holds up his left hand, counts off the pinky and ring
"one, two, " spreads the hand at that point, and says "hold these three,"
holds up right hand, says, "four, five, six, seven, eight -- plus the
three we held back makes eleven!"

Does anyone have a) a name for this sort of thing, b) more examples?

I dunno if the Abbott and Costello routine ("Can you give me two dimes
for a nickel?"  Abbott does so, realizes he's been had, then Costello
says angrily, "Oh, OK -- HERE's your nickel, GIMME BACK MY TWO DIMES!)
belongs in the same category...

-- Daniel P. B. Smith <dpbsmith@world.std.com>

[ Editor: no name for either class was given in the collected
postings. ]

[ Editor: further material on this puzzle, edited separately from other collected postings (batch 12); it may repeat some of the above. ]

[ Editor: problem as stated there: ]
Take two apples from five apples.  How many do you have?  (And other
trick questions of the same kind.)

Here are some examples of what I am looking for.

#1  Q.  Take two apples from five apples.  How many do you have?

#2  Q.  Do they have a Fourth of July in England?

#3  Q.  A plane full of English Tourists flies from Holland to [Editor: "to"
        missing in the original] Spain.
        It crashes in France.  Where should the survivors be buried?

-- Dark Mage <spedge@csd4.csd.uwm.edu> (1993, asking for more)

[ Editor: the parenthetical in the first line is the editor's. ]


#1  A.  You have two apples.

#2  A.  Yes, every country that uses the Gregorian calendar has a
        4th of July.

#3  A.  Survivors aren't dead.

-- Dark Mage <spedge@csd4.csd.uwm.edu>

[ Editor: no further examples were found in the collected postings. ]

[ Editor: question 16 from a list of "tricky puzzles" that Rich
Antcliff found and posted in September 1993: "What was the presidents
name in 1960?" ]

Our present president's name was William Clinton in 1960.  It was not
the name he was born with, but it was changed before 1960.  Viewed in a
different fashion, the president's name in 1960 was either Eisenhower
(the inauguration was in January) or Kennedy.

  Oops, I blew this one.  The inauguration of Kennedy was January 1961.

-- Rolf Wilson <rolf@geoserv.isgs.uiuc.edu>

[ Editor: a reply to Daniel P. B. Smith's question above, "Is there any
  name for this class of puzzles?": ]

since no native english speaker found it worthwhile to answer, perhaps
i can try:

trick questions? :)

-- Davorin Mestric <davorin.mestric@etf.hr>, June 1996

[ Editor: more trick questions, each followed by the reply collected
  with it. ]

>What 7 letter word is pronounced the same even with 4, 5, or 6
>letters removed from it??

mailbox

-- david sharp <dsharp@mindvox.phantom.com>

I just had to send a note of admiration - creative thinking like this
gives one's mind a quick twist and a breath of fresh air!

-- Ramona Bernard <r.bernard@ccd.harris.com>

>Suppose that at midnight on July 4, 1995, there's a thunderstorm in
>Houston, TX.  What are the odds that, 72 hours later, the weather will
>be sunny?

I'm surprised this old chestnut got so far.  (On my server, I've seen
two incorrect answers and no correct ones.)  Any votes on putting it
into the rec.puzzles archive if it's not already there?

ANSWER--The odds are zero, since 72 hours later, it is midnight on July
7, 1995.  (Some might argue that the odds are *very close* to zero,
since we do have one recorded instance in the Bible of the Earth's
rotation stopping to provide additional daylight during a battle.)

-- Timothy Reed <treed@ball.com>, November 1994

Wayne Hathaway <wayne@coastsider.auspex.com> wrote:
> [someone else wrote]
>> How much time between yesterday's 12pm and tomorrow's 12am?
>
>Why, 24 hours, of course.
>
>Explanation: If today is Tuesday, yesterday's 12pm is the end of
>Monday (midnight), and tomorrow's 12am is the start of Wednesday
>(also midnight).

Except 12pm isn't midnight, it's noon.  If today is Tuesday,
yesterday's 12 pm is noon on Monday, and tomorrow's 12am is the start
of Wednesday.  The correct answer is 36 hours.

-- Jonathan S. Haas <positron@Starbase.NeoSoft.COM>, May 1995

THE ANSWERS!

>  1.  If it takes 3 people to dig a hole, how many does it take to
>      dig a half a hole?
    NONE.  No such thing as a "half a hole"

>  2.  What has 4 legs and 1 foot?
    BED

>  3.  What has 4 legs and 1 arm?
    ARMadillo or a happy PIT BULL

>  4.  A man gave his son 10 cents and his daughter 15 cents.  What
>      time is it?
    QUARTER TO TWO

>  5.  What is the difference between mashed potatoes and pea soup?
    ANYONE can mash potatoes  (but who can pee soup?)

>  6.  How many flies does it take to screw in a light bulb?
    TWO  (but how did they get in there?)

>  7.  What does the Starship Enterprise and toilet paper have in
>      common?
    THEY BOTH circle URANUS in search for KLINGONS! (gross)

>  8.  Why did my sister name her pet pig...  ink?
    IT keep running out of the PEN

>  9.  Make a five letter word out of these letter: H I J K L M N O
    WATER (H to O  get it? H2O)

> 10.  What did the snail say while riding on the turtles back?
    Wheeeeeeeeeeeee! <g>

-- Indy <indy1cache@iquest.net>, August 1996

Joseph Marriott wrote:
> You have just painted a lovely painting and wish to sell it to the
> highest bidder.  You visit different countries of the world
> soliciting bids.  An art collector in Paris offers you one billion
> francs.  An art collector in Washington DC offers you one billion
> dollars.
>
> Who do you sell the painting to?

I'd have to go with the French.  They have such great food!  And
fashion!  And art!  And a different numbering system!  (One billion
English/German/French = one trillion American)

-- Kevin J. Lin <kevin@wx3.com>, November 1996

>4 men sat down to play,
>they played all night till break of day,
>they played for gold and not for fun,
>with separate scores for everyone.
>When the time came to settle accounts,
>they each had made quite fair amounts.
>Can you this paradox explain?
>How could none of them lose
>and everyone gain?

They didn't play each other.

-- Ed Murphy <ford@bayside.net>, January 1997 (verse posted by Shlomo
   Hershkop)

John Loehrlein <jloehr@iastate.edu> wrote:
>Last week I went to the beach to make sand piles (I'm amused easily).
>I made 12 small sandpiles 7 medium sandpiles and 56 large sandpiles.
>1 large sandpile = 3 medium sandpiles, and 1 medium sand pile = 2
>small sand piles.  Put all together, how many sand piles do I have?

It depends what definition of 'put' you use, but there's either 1 or
75.  Or 0, considering they're washed away now, and you didn't _have_
them to begin with, just built them.

-- Lev Polinsky <polinsky@scunix4.HARVARD.EDU>, May 1996

Charlotte Dudley wrote:
> I know these are easy but have fun anyway!

> 1.  A butcher is 5'10" tall.  What does he weigh?
Meat.

> 2.  How many animals of each sex did Moses take on the Ark?
None, that was Noah.

> 3.  If it takes 3 minutes to scramble 3 eggs, how long does it take
> to scramble 9 eggs?
Three minutes.

> 4.  Farmer John had 12 haystacks in one part of his field, and 7
> haystacks in another part of his field, and then puts them all
> together, how many haystacks are in his field?
One.

> 5.  There are 3 birds sitting on a branch and you shoot one of them
> off it.  How many birds are left on the branch?
None, the others will fly away.

> 6.  Although it's January, it's 90 degrees F outside.  How do you
> explain this?
Australia.

> 7.  Is it illegal in California for a man to marry his widow's
> sister?
The dead don't marry.

> 8.  Is it illegal in Alaska to look at a Moose from an airplane?
Don't see why it would be.  Moose do live in Alaska, don't they?  If
not, why would it have been made illegal?  How many moose get off of
airplanes?

> 9.  50 years ago it was 1900.  25 years ago it was 1875.  What year
> is it and how do you explain this?
1850 BC

> 10.  Why shouldn't you drop a penny from the top of the Empire State
> Building? (not really a puzzle)
Littering.

> 11.  It takes 12 $.01 stamps to make a dozen.  How many $.02 stamps
> does it take?
12.

> 12.  What two whole numbers when multiplied together make 13?
1 and 13.

> 13.  How much dirt is there is a hole 1 foot wide by 1 foot long by
> 1 foot deep?
None.

> 14.  Why are 1998 dollar bills worth more than 1980 dollar bills?
You have 18 more dollars.

-- Lee Shere <lnm@slip.net>, March 1998 (signed "Robert")