Are you confident that you can solve some difficult puzzles like story puzzles? Well then, today we're going to take you through a lot of story puzzles, so get ready!
A good story consists of strong dramatic content, an intriguing setting, enticing beginnings, and stunning endings. Similarly, good story puzzles are made up of the same elements, except that a loose cord twists a story into a puzzle.
These short story puzzles are fun for kids, teens, and adults. An excellent story puzzle will test and improve your critical thinking and lateral thinking skills. It's a brain problem that can be an enjoyable way of learning for teenagers.
Whether you're a doctor, math teacher, business analyst, freelancer, social worker, or artist, our story puzzles with answers are perfect for testing your logic.
Now for the brain teasers!
Table of contents
The best story puzzles
Are you looking for the best story puzzles that are difficult and interesting at the same time? Then we're glad you've landed in the right place because this page has brought several brain teasers stories that are the latest addition to the puzzle world.
1. Two companions Terry and Garry talked about their families. Terry shared some great stories about his brave grandfather who fought for Britain in 'The First World War'. Terry said his grandfather was so brave that he was awarded a Medal of Honor for Valor with the words "For our brave soldiers in World War I" embedded in it. Garry Knows his friend is lying? How?
Answer: "World War I" was named after "World War II".
2. Jim and Sarah are in a long-distance relationship. Jim buys an engagement ring for Sarah and wants to send it to her. Unfortunately, the only way to ensure the ring is received is to seal the package. Jim has locks and Sarah has locks, but neither has keys to the other's locks. How can they make sure the ring won't be stolen?
Answer: The ring is sent several times by post. First, Jim seals the package and mails it to Sarah. Then Sarah puts one of her locks on the package and sends it back to Jim. Then Jim removes his lock and sends the package back to Sarah. Finally, Sarah opens the package and gets the ring.
3. Once when King Akbar was in his court, he asked Birbal to write something on a wall that would make one sad to read in good times and happy to read in sad times. He took just a moment and wrote something that fit the bill. What did he write?
Answer: He writes: Time will pass soon. If you read this line in happy times, you will be sad because you want the happy time to last forever. Reading it in sad times will make you feel happy as you will be optimistic about the future.
4. One evening Maria and Judith went out for a drink together after work. They ordered the same drink. Judith was very thirsty and a much heavier drinker than Maria. She drank five drinks in the time it took Maria to finish just one.
Answer: The poison was in the ice. Since Maria's ice cream had time to melt, she was poisoned, but not Judith, despite having a terrible hangover the next morning!
5. 100 men are in a room, each wearing either a white hat or a black hat. No one knows the color of their own hat, although everyone can see each other's hats. The men are not allowed to communicate with each other at all (and so nobody will ever be able to find out the color of their own hat). The men must line up against the wall so that all men in black hats are next to each other and all men in white hats are next to each other. How can they do that without communicating? You can assume they have developed a common strategy before entering the room.
Answer: One after the other, the men stand against the wall. If a man is standing against the wall and all the men already standing against the wall have hats of the same color, then he just walks up and stands at each end of the line. However, if a man stands against the wall and there are already men with black and white hats against the wall, he walks and stands between the two men with different colored hats. This maintains the condition that the line contains men with hats of one color on one side and men with hats of different colors on the other side, and when the last man leaves and stands against the wall we still have the desired result.
6. A boy was at a carnival and walked up to a booth where a man said to the boy, "If I write your exact weight on this piece of paper, you must give me $50, but if I can't, I will give you." Pay $50.” The boy looked around and didn't see a scale, so he agreed, thinking that no matter what was written, he could say more or less. In the end, the boy paid the man $50. How did the man win the bet?
Answer: The man did exactly as he said and wrote "Your exact weight" on the paper.
7. An old man lived alone in a small hut. On a certain Thursday morning, as the postman was delivering a letter, he learned that the old man had been murdered. He immediately calls the police. When the police arrive at the scene of the crime. They find two bottles of milk, the Monday newspaper, a catalogue, flyers and unopened mail. The police find the suspect. Who is the suspect and why?
Answer: You suspect that the paperboy, like the Tuesday and Wednesday papers, was missing.
8. A California farmer owns a beautiful pear tree. He delivers the fruit to a nearby grocery store. The shopkeeper calls the farmer to see how much fruit he can buy. The farmer knows that the main trunk has 24 branches. Each branch has exactly 12 branches and each branch has exactly 6 branches. Since each branch bears a fruit, how many plums can the farmer supply?
Answer: None - plums don't grow on a pear tree.
9. A man is shown a portrait painting. He looks closely and then yells, "I have no brothers or sisters, but this man's father is my father's son!" Who is the man in the portrait?
Answer: The man's son.
10. A man is found murdered on a Sunday morning. His wife calls the police, who question the woman and staff and are given the following alibis: the woman says she was asleep, the butler was cleaning the closet, the gardener was picking vegetables, the maid was getting the mail, and so on Chef prepared breakfast. The police immediately arrested the murderer. Who did it and how did the police know about it?
Answer: maid. There is no mail on Sundays.
Funny story puzzles
Story-based puzzles become ten times more entertaining and addicting when they contain a fun element. Below you will find a set of fun story riddles that are very humorous but require some serious decoding skills to answer them. Use your intelligence and crack it now!
1. Your boyfriend tells you a story about how he once tried to impress a young lady but instead got slapped in the face. He wants you to try to see the mistake: It was a hot and windless day in our bunker when suddenly one of us yelled, “Enemy!” We opened fire on them, leaving a hundred of them dead before they retired. I was checking a dead captain's goggles when the call went out that they would be back and the commander ordered us to fire on them with our mortars as I yelled, 'Cease fire! They're Americans!” Later, an American Colonel thanked me for my work after I said I saw their flag waving in the wind. What's wrong with this story?
Answer: In the beginning it was said: "It was a hot and windless day", but in the end it was said: "The flag waved back and forth". Had there been no wind, the flag would have been limp.
2. Pete called his wife and said he would be home at 8am. He came at 8:05 am. They didn't have any special plans, but the woman was still angry because he was late. Why was she so angry?
Answer: Pete should have come at 8pm but he got home at 8:05am the next day.
3. A girl says to her best friend, "I was born in 1955 and I celebrated my 17th birthday last weekend." Her best friend thinks she's lying, but she's actually right. How is that possible?
Answer: She was born in Zimmer 1955.
4. A man has dinner, goes to his bedroom, turns off the light and goes to sleep. In the morning he wakes up and looks outside. Horrified by what he sees, he throws himself from his window to his death. Why is he doing this?
Answer: The man was a lighthouse keeper. He shouldn't turn off his light. When he wakes up in the morning, he sees a huge ship that has crashed into the land, causing a great disaster. Unable to continue, he decides to take his own life.
5. There is a one-story house where everything is yellow. The walls are yellow. The doors are yellow. Even all the furniture is yellow. The house has yellow beds and yellow sofas. What color are the stairs? There are no stairs - it is a one storey house.
Answer: There are no stairs - it is a one-storey house.
6. There is a man in a 4-story building. He jumps out of the window and is unharmed. He used no padding and had done no damage. How?
Answer: He jumped from the ground floor.
7. A doctor and a bus driver are both in love with the same woman, an attractive girl named Sarah. The bus driver had to make a long bus trip that would last a week. Before leaving, he gave Sarah seven apples. Why?
Answer: An apple a day keeps the doctor away!
8. Sherry's father has five daughters - Sasa, Sese, Sisi, Soso. Guess the name of the fifth daughter.
Answer: If you think it is Susu, then you are wrong. It's sherry.
9. Simon Simpleton was born in London, England. His mother was Welsh and his father Scottish. When Simon was eight years old, his mother died. When Simon was ten years old, his father married an Irish woman and suddenly Simon had an Irish sister. When Simon was twenty-four, he graduated as a solicitor and took a job in Edinburgh, Scotland. He's sixty-six now. Why can't he be buried on the shores of Loch Lomond in his favorite village of Luss in Bonnie Scotland?
Answer: Because he is still alive!
10. Grandpa went for a walk and it started to rain. He forgot to bring an umbrella and had no hat. When he got home his clothes were soaked, but not a hair on his head was wet. How was that possible?
Answer: Grandpa is bald.
Story puzzles with answers
Our brains are capable of much bigger things than we can imagine if we know how to use them properly. So if you are a riddle monster and have practiced various brain teasers, prove yourself as a smart cookie by deciphering the given story riddles with answers.
1. There was a building with 100 floors. A little man lived at the top, on the 100th floor. On sunny days, he would take the elevator up to the 70th floor and then climb the stairs the rest of the way. On rainy days, he took the elevator straight to his apartment on the 100th floor. Why?
Answer: He's small, so he can't reach the button on the 100th floor. On rainy days, he can press the button with his umbrella.
2. Sally lives in a place where six months of the year have a mild summer and the other six months the temperature drops significantly. It has a lake with a small island in it. She wants to build a house on the island and needs to get materials there. She has no boat, plane or anything to transport her to the island. How does Sally solve this problem?
Answer: She waits to hand over the material in the colder months as the lake freezes over and she can walk across it.
3. There are two nemesis, Dhuryodhan and Bheem. One day two walk together and a god appears in their midst. The god grants three wishes to Bheem and one to Dhuryodhan. Dhuryodhan slyly replied, "Give me twice of whatever Bheem asks for." As a first wish, Bheem asked the god, "Give me a room full of money." Soon Dhuryodhan gets two rooms full of money. As a second wish, Bheem asked the god: "Give me 100 slaves". Soon Dhuryodhan will get 200 slaves. What should Bheem's third wish be?
Answer: He asks the god to beat him half to death.
4. A couple went on vacation for three weeks. They carefully locked their house and had a neighbor check it while they were gone. When they returned, the woman was dismayed to learn that she had lost all her fine jewelry due to a power outage. She had hidden the jewelry in what she thought was a very safe place. She wasn't robbed. Her jewelry was accidentally lost. Why?
Answer: The woman had hidden her best jewelry in her freezer in a bag among all the frozen food. The freezer was out due to a general power outage. A kind neighbor (who had a key to water the plants) had tried to be helpful by throwing away all the bad food and the jewelry with it.
5. In classical mythology there is the story of the Sphinx, a monster with the body of a lion and the torso of a woman. The Sphinx lay crouching on the top of a rock along the road to Thebes and stopped all passing travelers by proposing a riddle. Those who did not answer the riddle correctly were killed. The Sphinx asked the travelers this riddle: "Which animal walks on four legs in the morning, on two legs during the day and on three legs in the evening?"
Answer: This is part of the story of Oedipus, to which the Sphinx replied: "The man who in childhood crawls on his hands and knees, in manhood walks upright, and in old age with the help of a staff." Morning, day and night are representative for the life stages. The Sphinx was so ashamed of the solution to her riddle that she threw herself off the rock and died.
6. A woman was found dead on the first floor of a 5-story building. There is a suicide note stating that she committed suicide by jumping out of a window on one of the floors of the building. When the detective arrived, he went to the first floor, opened the window and threw a coin on the floor. He repeats this on all floors of the building. He comes down and tells the police that the woman was murdered. How does the detective know?
Answer: The windows were all closed. He opened the windows to flip the coin.
7. A man was shot in his car. There were no traces of powder on his clothing, suggesting the shooter was outside the car. However, all the windows were up and the doors were locked. After a close inspection, the only bullet holes found on the man's body were discovered. How was he murdered?
Answer: It was a convertible.
8. A girl is at her mother's funeral. She meets a nice guy who she didn't know was at the funeral too and they hit it off. She was busy with the funeral and didn't have time to ask his number before he left. She tried very hard to track him down, but no one knew who he was or how to contact him. A few days later her sister dies and the police suspect a murder. Who killed her sister?
Answer: She killed her sister. She hoped that the man she met at her mother's funeral would show up again when someone else in her family died.
9. A guy came around the corner of a square lot and found a coin lying on the ground but didn't pick it up. He walked on and came across a penny, but again didn't pick it up. He walked on and found another penny. He picked it up. He continued his walk and discovered that even walking backwards there were no more pennies, why?
Answer: He walked around a SQUARE lot! It was like a circle.
10. There was a competition where participants had to hold something. At the end of the event, the winner was a person who had no hands or feet. What did the participants have to hold?
Answer: your breath.
Short story puzzle
The key to getting higher scores on puzzles and riddles is to only start with the easy ones. Try these short story riddles with answers, take your time, look for hidden clues but make sure you don't cheat with the correct option which is detailed below.
1. An owl son and an owl father were flying and were hit by a car. The son and father went to the owl house. They went to different rooms. The doctor said, "I can't work on this owl boy, he's my son." Who was the owl doctor?
Answer: The mother of the owl.
2. You go to an old horror house. It has neither electricity nor water. Once inside you will see three doors. There is a number on every door. Behind every door is a way for you to die. Behind door number one you die by being eaten by a lion. Behind door number two you die by being murdered. Behind door number three you die in the electric chair. You can't turn back, so you have to go through a door. Which door are you going through?
Answer: Door number three - the house has no electricity, which means that it has no electricity. Therefore, the electric chair does not work.
3. Stan met a stranger he had never met before. Stan just heard about him and no descriptions of his appearance were ever mentioned. He wasn't famous. Still, Stan immediately understood who the guy was. How was that possible?
Answer: He was a twin brother of one of Stan's friends.
4. Jim and Tom decided to play tennis against each other. They bet $1 on every game they played. Jim won three bets and Tom won $5. How many games have they played?
Answer: Eleven games.
5. A trader can put 8 big boxes or 10 small boxes in one box for shipment. He sent a total of 96 boxes in one shipment. If there are more large boxes than small boxes, how many boxes did he send?
Answer: 11 boxes in total.
6. Melanie lived with her siblings in a small town. One afternoon Melanie was found dead in the living room. When police interrogated her siblings, both had been in the pool since morning and hadn't killed her. But the police arrest Melanie's siblings for her murder. Why?
Answer: The police checked her hands and found that her hands were not wrinkled. If they had been in the pool for a long time, their hands would have wrinkled.
7. A man was shot in his car. There is no gunpowder residue on his clothing, no bullet holes in the car's windows, and the doors and windows are all locked. How was he shot?
Answer: The car was a convertible - the killer opened the top and then put it back on.
8. A man is stranded on a desert island. One day a west wind blows and lightning causes a fire in the forest. Cliffs surround the island so the man cannot escape. What does he do?
Answer: He starts a fire in the east of the island and hides there once it burns out.
9. A famous chemist was found murdered. Police knew that two people were involved in the murder. They found a note from the chemist that read "26-3-58/28-27-57-16". After the police read the note, they immediately arrested the killers. How?
Answer: The numbers correspond to the atomic numbers in the periodic table of the elements: "Fe-Li-Ce/Ni-Co-La-S". Therefore, the suspects' names were Felice and Nicolas.
10. Once upon a time there were seven dwarfs who were all brothers. They were all born two years apart. The youngest dwarf is seven years old. How old is his eldest brother?
Answer: 19 years old - if you thought the eldest was 21, you probably didn't count the seven-year-old dwarf among the seven brothers.
Long story puzzles
When it comes to brain teasers, riddles, and riddles, long story puzzles with answers can really annoy you because of a lot of drama and loopholes. But you can never go wrong with these long riddles as they are super interesting and will keep you engaged for longer without feeling bored or tired.
1. Before his death, a father left his two sons a will that told of a gold panning stream that had long and hard supported his father's family. The will stated that the two sons were allowed one, only one trip to the creek to pan for gold, but for as long as they wished, and that whoever carried the gold got it back. On the way to the creek, the two sons lost a large part of their supplies, which shortened their stay to two months. All they had now was some food, a mule, and cooking utensils. During their stay, they managed to wash and melt a gold bar that was 5 inches in diameter and 5 inches high. Back in their hometown, the two sons fought long and bitterly in court over who should get the bullion. Well, the judge was a wise man. Who got the gold bar?
Answer: The mule. A bar of gold five inches in diameter and five inches high would have weighed far too much for any of the sons to carry, only the mule could.
2. A Japanese ship left port and headed for the open sea. The captain went to oil some parts of the ship and took off his ring so that it would not be damaged. He left it on the table by his bunk. When he came back it was gone. He had suspected three crew members might be guilty and asked them what they had done in the ten minutes he was gone. The cook said, "I was in the kitchen preparing dinner for tonight." The engineer said, "I was working in the engine room, making sure everything was running smoothly." The sailor said, "I was on the mast and corrected the flag because someone had accidentally put it upside down.” The captain knew immediately who it was. How?
Answer: It was definitely the sailor. It was a Japanese ship and a Japanese flag is white with a single red dot in the middle. It cannot be hung upside down.
3. John was home alone and heard that something had fallen in his wife's room. He entered and saw that her favorite statuette was broken. At that moment someone ran out of the room. John tried to catch up with the stranger. But on the street, the lenses of his glasses fogged up because of the cold weather. He couldn't see anything and gave the stranger the opportunity to disappear. John told this story to a police officer, but he refused to investigate the case. The policeman asked him to stop lying and admit that he broke the statuette. Was John's story actually fake?
Answer: Yes, it was. John ran into the street while chasing a stranger. But glasses don't fog up when you come from a warm room into the cold. He was just afraid to confess to his wife that he broke her favorite statuette.
4. A king wants his daughter to marry the brightest of three extremely intelligent young princes, so the king's sages devise an intelligence test. The princes are gathered in a room and sit facing each other. You will be shown two black hats and three white hats. They are blindfolded and a hat is placed on each of their heads. Hidden the remaining hats in another room. The king tells the three princes that the first prince to deduce the color of his hat without taking it off or looking at it will marry his daughter. A wrong estimate will mean death. The blindfolds are removed. You are one of the princes. You see two white hats on the other prince's heads. After some time, you realize that the other princes are confused about the color of their hat or afraid to guess it. After some thought you tell the king the color of your hat. What is it?
Answer: You assume that your hat is white and you are right. The king would not choose two white hats and one black hat. This would mean that two princes would see a black hat and a white hat. You would be at a disadvantage if you were the only prince wearing a black hat. If you were wearing the black hat, it wouldn't be long before one of the other princes deduced he was wearing a white hat. If an intelligent prince saw a white hat and a black hat, he would eventually realize that the king would never choose two black hats and one white. Any prince seeing two black hats would immediately know he was wearing a white hat. If a prince can see a black hat, he can tell he's wearing white. Therefore, the only fair test is that all three princes wear white hats.
5. A fancy restaurant in New York made a promotional offer. A married couple was able to eat at the restaurant for half price on their wedding anniversary. To prevent fraud, the couple will need proof of the wedding date. On a Thursday night, a couple claimed it was their wedding anniversary but brought no evidence. The restaurant manager was called to speak to the couple. When the manager asked about the wedding day, the woman replied with this: "Oh, it was a beautiful Sunday afternoon, the birds were singing and the flowers were in bloom." After almost 10 minutes of chatter, she comes to tell him that today was their 28th wedding anniversary. "How nice," said the manager, "however, you are not entitled to the discount. Today is not your anniversary, you are a liar". How did the manager know it wasn't their anniversary?
Answer: The calendar repeats itself every 28 years. So if they got married on a Sunday 28 years ago, the day they went to the restaurant would also have to be a Sunday. Since it was a Thursday, the manager knew they were lying and abruptly threw them out of his restaurant.
6. King Nupe of the kingdom of Catan adores his two daughters so much that he decides that the kingdom would be better off with more girls than boys and issues the following decree: All couples of childbearing age must bear children until they have children a daughter! But to avoid overpopulation, he issues an additional decree: all childbearing couples stop having children as soon as they have a daughter! His subjects immediately begin to follow his commands. What is the expected ratio of girls to boys in Catan after many years?
Answer: Don't think about it. Every baby born is equally likely to be a boy as a girl. Therefore, the ratio of girls to boys must be 1:1. It's that simple - honestly. You might be tempted to solve this problem in a more complicated way. Suppose there are N couples of childbearing age. Half of them will only have 1 child: a girl. Half of the other half (or N/4) of them will have two children: a boy and a girl. Half of the remaining quarter (or N/8) will have three children: two boys and one girl. Etc…
7. A farmer went to a market and bought a wolf, a goat, and a cabbage. On the way home, the farmer came to a river bank and rented a boat. But when the farmer crossed the river by boat, the farmer could only carry himself and one of his purchases: the wolf, the goat, or the cabbage. If left unattended together, the wolf will eat the goat or the goat will eat the cabbage. The challenge for the farmer was to carry himself and his purchases to the other bank of the river while leaving each purchase intact. how did he do that?
Answer: The farmer makes seven trips across - here are his steps: Take the goat across. Return. Take charge of the wolf or cabbage. Return with the goat. Take the cabbage or wolf across. To return. take goat over.
8. 4 friends were walking home when they decided to take a shortcut through the woods. It starts to rain and they can't find their way out of the forest because it's getting dark outside. So they find a cabin and decide to stay in it until morning. The cabin has no light and no windows, so it is pitch black. Frightened, the 4 friends huddle together in the middle and decide to do the whole thing: 1 person stays awake to keep watch while everyone is sleeping and they would shut down every hour. But this plan didn't work as everyone was too scared to sleep. So they decided to play a game until sunrise. Each of the friends went to one of the four corners of the hut and played a game. One person ran out of their corner along the side of the booth and tagged the next person on their back and took their place. That person would then do the same as the last person and they would continue like this until morning. They played the game over and over again until one of the friends realized something was wrong and screamed. What did this person realize?
Answer: Once the 3rd person was tagged, they would run to a corner where no one is standing because person 1 is in corner 2, person 2 is in corner 3, person 3 is in corner 4. Since they can't find a person there, they screamed .
9. A man was found dead in his study. He was slumped over his desk and had a gun in his hand. There was a cassette player on his desk. When the police officers entered the room and pressed the tape recorder's play button, they heard: “I can't go on. I have nothing to live for.” Then there was the sound of a gunshot. How did the detective know immediately that the man had been murdered and that it wasn't a suicide?
Answer: The suicide tape was rewound by the killer.
10. The great Emperor Akbar once ruled India. He was known for his intelligence. But at the same time he was known at his court for the Nine Gems. One of the Nine Gems was Birbal, a quick-witted and extremely intelligent man. The stories of his joke were widely shared. Once upon a time a king ruling in a distant land heard of Birbal. To test his wits, he sent an invitation calling him to visit his country. Akbar allowed Birbal to go and he set out on the journey. When he reached that king's kingdom, he was greeted with flowers. He was then escorted to the king's palace. Upon entering the palace, Birbal found that six people were seated in front of him, adorning the same robe. They also looked alike and it was difficult to judge who the real king was. After a few minutes, Birbal approached one of them and bowed to greet him. That was the real king. How did Birbal know who the real king was?
Answer: When the king asked Birbal, he replied: "Your Majesty, all the other people have been looking at you carefully to imitate you appropriately. All the while, you sat quietly with your composed demeanor. This is because you didn't have to seek support, but citizens always seek the support of their kings. This greatly impressed the king. He was showered with gifts and jewels. When Birbal returned to his kingdom, he made Akbar proud.
Hard story puzzles
If you really want to test your talents, we've included the world's hardest long riddle. So if you think you are a master of long puzzles and hard story puzzles, try to solve this one to get puzzle title - Master.
1. There is a story that a man and no man saw a bird and did not see a bird and did not see a bird sitting on a branch and not a branch and hit it and did not hit it with a stone and not with a stone. How is that possible?
Answer: A eunuch who could not see well saw a bat sitting on a reed and threw a pumice stone at it, which missed.
2. There is a basket full of hats. Three are white and two are black. Three men, Tom, Tim and Jim, each take a hat from the basket and put it on without seeing the hat they have chosen or the hats the other men have chosen. The men line up so Tom can see Tim's and Jim's hats, Tim can see Jim's hat, and Jim can't see anyone's hat. Tom is asked what color his hat is and he says he doesn't know. Tim is asked the same question and he doesn't know it either. Eventually Jim gets asked the question and he knows it. What color is his hat?
Answer: The hat is white. If Tom doesn't know the color of his hat, the other two men's hats can't both be black, otherwise he would know his hat is white. If Tim doesn't know his hat color either, that means Jim's hat can't be black, otherwise Tim would have to know his hat was white based on Tom's answer.
3. Andy is put in a cell with a dirt floor and only one window. The window is too high for him to reach. The only thing in the cell is a shovel. He will have no food or water and has only two days to escape or he will die. Andy can't dig a tunnel because it would take him a lot longer than two days. How will Andy escape from the cell?
Answer: Andy has to use the shovel to create a pile of dirt under the window so he can climb on it and escape from the cell.
4. According to an old legend, there once lived a father and his three dear sons. One day dad hit a serious accident, death approached to get dad. Eldest son begs to the death so his father can live a few more years. Death was kind and agreed. After 2 years of death he returns to take the father with him, now the second son is asking for a little more time. Death agreed. After a year, death returned again to take the father. Now the youngest son asks to let his father live until the wick of the candle on his hand burns out. Death agreed. Well, as the youngest son thought, death never returned. From where?
Answer: The youngest son walked over and blew out the candle after death left because the son said "until the wick burns out," not "until the candle burns out."
5. One day a really rich old man with two sons died. In his will he said that he would give his entire fortune to one of his sons. He gave each of his sons a horse and said they would enter a horse race from Los Angeles to Sacramento, but the son whose horse came second would get the money. So one day they started racing. After a full day they had ridden only a mile. At night they decided to stop at a hotel. While checking in, they shared their problem with the wise old clerk who made a suggestion. The next day the two brothers rode as fast as they could. What did the clerk suggest?
Answer: The clerk told them to swap horses. The father said that whoever's horse crossed the finish line second would get the money. He didn't say that the horse's owner had to sit on it.
6. Jesse's two grandmothers want to see him every weekend, but they live on opposite sides of town. As a compromise, he tells them that every Sunday at a random time of the day he will walk to the subway station closest to his apartment and board the next train that arrives. If it's the train going north, he'll visit his grandma Erica downtown, and if it's the train going south, he'll visit his grandma Cara downtown. His two grandmothers agree with this plan, knowing that both northbound and southbound trains run every 20 minutes. But after a few months, Grandma Cara complains that she only sees him on one Sunday out of five. Jesse promises that he actually goes to the train station at a random time every day. How can that be?
Answer: Although both trains arrive exactly every 20 minutes, timing still matters: Suppose the northbound train arrives on the hour, 20th and 40th, i.e. at 9:00, 9:20, 9 :40, 10:00 etc., but the southbound train arrives on the 4, 24 and 44, so 9:04, 9:24, 9:44, 10:04 etc. This means that in each hour only 12 minutes is when the southbound train will be the next train to arrive. That is, if Jesse arrives between 9:00 and 9:04, between 9:20 and 9:24, or between 9:40 and 9:44, he will board the southbound train. Otherwise, he'll board the northbound train. Since Jesse arrives at a random point each day (or equivalently, one random point each hour), his chance of boarding the southbound train is 12 in 60, or one-fifth. And this is the answer: both northbound and southbound trains arrive at the station every 20 minutes, but the southbound train always arrives 4 minutes after the northbound train. But Grandma Cara can be lucky. If the southbound train arrived just 1 minute after the northbound train, Jesse would only be visiting 2-3 times a year!
7. Mrs. Jones was very proud of her apple tree. One fall, after picking her apples, she called her 3 sons together. "Here are 150 apples," she said. I want you to take them to market tomorrow and sell them for me. She gave Paul 15 apples, Nick 50 and Ben 85. "Your job," Mrs. Jones added, "is to sell the apples so that each of you brings home an equal amount of money." How do you do that?
Answer: The first buyer buys 12 dozen apples at $1 per dozen. Paul sells him a dozen and has three apples left; Nick sells him four dozen and has two apples left, and Ben sells him seven dozen and has one apple left. Then a second buyer comes along and buys all of their remaining apples for $3 each. The 3 brothers go home with $10 each.
8. Martha visits her friend Elisa, but finds her dead in her house. The police question Marta why she thinks Elisa is dead and how she found out and she says she knocked on the door and window and when she saw a light come on she breathed on the ice glass to look inside. The police arrest Marta for murder. Why?
Answer: Both sides of the glass would have been frozen, so she couldn't have looked in at all.
9. Portia's father comes up with a riddle for her suitors to solve in order to win her hand in marriage. He arranges three caskets, one gold, one silver, and one lead, and asks them to choose the coffin they like. On the golden coffin it says: "Whoever chooses me will win what many people desire." Silver: "Whoever chooses me shall get what he deserves." Leaden: "Whoever chooses me must give and risk everything what he has."
Answer: The gold box contains a skull and a note warning against judging a book by its cover, and the silver box represents the pursuit of elusive goals. But the leaden coffin contains a note that reads, "Ye who choose not by sight, choose so fair and choose so true."
10. You are a junior detective investigating a case. Boys in an apartment complain that every day they have an egg rolling contest with only raw eggs, and every day a certain boy wins. The boys want you to find out how. You are watching the boy spinning an egg when it suddenly falls to the ground. The apartment clerk casually hands him a broom to clean, as if it happens every day. You now know why the boy always wins the daily competition. How?
Answer: The clerk gave the boy a broom, so the egg the boy turned must have been hard-boiled. If the egg was raw, the clerk would have given the boy a mop.
Crimean Tailor
Everyone has that innate curiosity that kicks in when we listen to a detective story. Get your hands on these detective riddles now if you want to test your detective skills and put your wits to the test.
1. A man is found dead on a Saturday morning. He was killed while his wife slept. The woman tells the police everything she knows. She tells them that the cook made breakfast, the maid cleaned and the butler got the mail. The police immediately arrested the person responsible. Who is responsible and why?
Answer: The woman is responsible. The reason is simple - she was supposed to be sleeping, but she knew everything that had happened!
2. A woman named Maria was at her mother's funeral. She met a nice young man she had never met before and after the service they spent some time together. Then she was busy and didn't get his name or phone number before he left. She tried to find him, but no one knew who he was or how to contact him. A few weeks later, Maria's older sister dies and the police suspect a murder. Who killed the sister?
Answer: Maria - she was hoping the man would show up at her sister's funeral, just like her mother's funeral.
3. A dead female body lies on the floor of a multi-story building. It looks like she committed suicide by jumping from one of the floors. When the detective arrives, he goes to the first floor of the building, opens the closed window and throws a coin on the floor. He goes to the second floor and does exactly the same thing. He continues doing this until he reaches the top floor of the building. When he comes back down he says it was a murder and not a suicide. How does he know?
Answer: She cannot have jumped from any of the floors, because when the detective went to each floor, all the windows were closed.
4. 4 friends regularly went to the sauna together. They always brought something with them. Jack, a musician, took an iPod to listen to music. Steve, a banker, took a thermos to drink from. Patrick and Michael were lawyers and took documents to read. One day Patrick was found dead. He was killed by a sharp object. Police officers came immediately and conducted an investigation. They found nothing. How could that happen?
Answer: Patrick was killed by Steve, who brought a shard of ice in his thermos. When police arrived, the murder weapon had melted away.
5. A murder squad enters a crime scene where the body of a fat old man lies on the ground with blood pouring from his head. The victim is holding a gun and a tape recorder is lying next to him. One of the detectives picks up the recorder and plays it, "I'm tired of this life, so I've decided to free myself from the pains of the world." The message is followed by a gunshot. The teams begin an investigation into a murder case. Why?
Answer: If the man had killed himself, he would not have been able to rewind the tape. So it's clear that someone else killed him.
6. A woman is sitting in her hotel room and hears a knock on the door. She opens the door and sees a man she has never met before. He says, "I'm sorry, I made a mistake, I thought this was my room." Then he walks down the corridor and into the elevator. The woman goes back to her room and calls security. What made the woman so suspicious of the man?
Answer: If he really believed it was his hotel room, he would have tried to open the door - and not first knocked.
7. Bianca called the police to report that her vintage ring was stolen. When police arrived at the scene, they found the window was broken. It was a total mess in the house and there were dirty footprints on the carpet. But there were no other signs of a break-in. The police arrested Bianca for fraud, why?
Answer: The police found the broken glass of the broken window in front of Bianca's house. That meant the glass was broken from the inside, so Bianca most likely staged the break-in.
8. 2 pills, one safe and one poisoned, were given to a group of people with some water. All of them died. how did they die
Answer: The water was poisoned.
9. A serial killer invited a potential victim to his home. They ate together and after dinner. She offered her an apple. When she refused, she insisted they share the apple. So she took the apple and cut it in half. Both began to eat the apple. As soon as her guest ate the apple, she died. If both had the same apple, how come one died and one survived?
Answer: She used a knife coated with cyanide poison on only one edge. When she cut the apple in half, only half of the victim was poisoned.
10. A woman calls the police to say that her grandmother's ring was stolen. When they visit her house, they see broken glass on the lawn and dirty footprints. They arrest the woman. Why?
Answer: If someone broke into the house, they would have left broken glass in the house - the window was broken from the inside.
Good story puzzles
Story puzzles are designed to guide listeners or readers to solve a problem with limited data. Here are some good story puzzles for you to solve and while away the time in the best possible way. Just look!
1. A wealthy family lived in a large round house. They had a maid, a butler and a gardener. The parents were going to a party so they put the younger kids to bed and kissed them goodnight and said goodbye and kissed the older kids goodnight. When the parents got home, all the children were gone - they had been kidnapped. The authorities ask the butler, the maid and the gardener what they were doing at the time of the kidnapping. The butler says he organized the library, the maid says she dusted the corners, and the gardener says he watered the plants. Who is lying and actually kidnapped the children?
Answer: The maid - she said she would dust the corners but the family lives in a round house so there are no corners.
2. The captain of a ship told an interesting story. “I have traveled the oceans far and wide. At one point two of my sailors were standing on opposite sides of the ship. One faced west and the other east. And at the same time they could see each other clearly.” Can you tell me how that was possible?
Answer: The sailors stood with their backs to the sides of the ship, facing each other.
3. Jack and Joe were on vacation and were driving down a deserted country road from Kaysville to Lynnsville. They came to a multiple fork in the road. The signpost had fallen and they had to choose one of five different directions. Since they left their card at the last gas station and no one was around to ask them, how did Jack and Joe find their way to Lynnsville?
Answer: You must position the signpost so that the arm that says Kaysville is pointing toward Kaysville, the city you just came from. When one arm is pointing in the right direction, the other arms are also pointing in the right direction.
4. An old man dies, leaving two sons. In his will, he commands his sons to race their horses, and whoever has the slower horse will get his inheritance. The two sons race, but as they both restrain their horses, they go to a wise man and ask him what they should do. The brothers race again, this time at full speed. What did the wise man tell you?
Answer: Change horses.
5. A man crossed the border every day on a motorcycle with two sandbags. Police suspected he was smuggling illegal goods into the country. However, when checking the bags, the detective could not find anything. Nevertheless, the man was arrested. Why?
Answer: The man smuggled stolen motorcycles every day.
6. An adventurer finds a treasure chest guarded by a pirate who offers him a red key, a blue key, and a gold key. Only one of them can open the treasure chest and he has only one chance to choose the right key. Behind the pirate he sees a cipher that reads "TGK HOE ELY DEN". Which key does he choose?
Answer: The golden key - rearrange the letters in the cipher and it says "the golden key".
7. There is a small town on the east coast that has 2 barber shops, each with a single barber, on opposite sides of town. The barbershop in the good part of town is immaculate. The floors and windows are washed and the air is fresh. The hairdresser is very friendly, always smiling, has shiny shoes, a nice haircut and a clean shirt. The barber shop in the bad part of town is a mess. The entire barbershop is covered in a layer of dirt, the air smells of garbage. The barber always has a frown on his face. His skin is oily, his hair disheveled, and there are always stains on his shirt. A man comes into town and hears about both barber shops and the man decides to go to the dirty barber shop in the bad part of town. Why is he doing this?
Answer: The clean barber must have his hair cut by the dirty barber and the dirty barber by the clean barber. So it is obvious that the dirty barber gives a better haircut.
8. You are faced with two doors. There is a guard next to each door. You know this: One road leads to paradise, the other to death. You cannot tell the two doors apart. They also know that one of the two guardians always tells the truth and the other always lies. You have permission to ask a guardian a question to find out which door leads to paradise. What one question would you ask to ensure you enter the door to paradise?
Answer: Ask: "Which door would the other guardian say leads to paradise?"
9. The owner of a popular clothing store develops his own method of pricing items. A vest costs $8, socks $10, a tie $6, and a blouse $12. How much would a pair of underwear cost by the owner's method?
Answer: $18 - the method charges $2 for each letter needed to spell the garment.
10. Dee Septor, the famous magician, claimed to be able to throw a ping-pong ball so that it travels a short distance, comes to a stop, and then turns around. He added that he would not bounce the ball off an object or tie anything to it. How could he pull off this trick?
Answer: He would throw the ball straight up in the air.
Story puzzles for adults
Puzzles are both entertaining and practical for people of all ages. They can help with everything from improving a child's vocabulary to preventing dementia in the elderly. Therefore, if you are an adult, don't shy away from pre-set adult story puzzles to keep your mind sane and functioning.
1. A man is found unconscious outside a shop at 2am. His head is bleeding and there is a brick next to him. When the police arrive, they carry the man to jail. Why did you arrest him?
Answer: The man tried to rob the store. He threw a brick at the store's bulletproof window, which rebounded and hit him.
2. A serial killer kidnapped five different people and dumped them each with two pills in their hands and a glass of water. He told them to take a pill each, but warned that one was poisonous and the other harmless. Whatever pill the victim didn't take, the serial killer would take. Every victim somehow chose the poison pill and died. How did the serial killer get them all to take the poison pill?
Answer: None of the pills were poisonous. The poison was in the water that all the victims used to swallow their pill.
3. Two world famous prisoners, "Colditz" and "Pascal" are locked in a cell. They plan to escape from the cell. They noticed an open window 40 feet off the ground. Both have tried very hard but can never achieve it. Then they both decided to escape through a tunnel and they started digging. After only 5 days of digging, Colditz and Pascal come out with a much simpler plan than tunneling and they escape. What was the plan?
Answer: You use the rocks and dirt from the tunnel to stand on.
4. Once upon a time in West Lake Village, a servant lived with his master. After about 30 years of service, his master became ill and was dying. One day the Lord called his servant and asked him what he wanted. It could be any wish, but only one. Master gave him one day to think about it. The servant became very happy and went to his mother to discuss the wish. His mother was blind and she asked her son to wish for her sight to return. Then the servant went to his wife. She was very excited and asked for a son as they were childless for many years. After that, the servant went to his father who wanted to become rich, so he asked his son to wish for a lot of money. The next day he went to his master and made a wish through which all three (mother, father, wife) got what they wanted. You must say what the servant asked the master.
Answer: The servant said, "My mother would like to see her grandson swinging on a golden swing."
5. A drunk man comes home to find his wife in bed with another man. He goes and gets his gun from the closet! What was opened first?
Answer: A bottle.
6. A German spy was in Canada trying to steal inside information on how to set up new maple syrup factories in Germany. He was introduced to the manager of the largest factory in Canada. However, the manager was suspicious and decided to test him with a question before trusting him. So he asked what would you be sure to find in the middle of Toronto? The spy thought quickly and came up with an answer for the manager. What did he say?
Answer: An "o" of course. (as in Toronto).
7. Andrew's doctor gives him three pills and tells him to take one every half hour. How long will it be before Andrew takes all three pills?
Answer: One hour. Andrew will take one immediately, then half an hour later one and half an hour later the last one.
8. Adam and his wife lived in the country. On a certain day, Adam's wife fell ill and he called the local doctor. When the doctor answered, he said, "Doctor, my wife is ill. She could have appendicitis.” “It can't be! I removed her appendix myself two years ago,” the doctor explained. Upon diagnosis, Adam's wife was found to have appendicitis. How can this be possible?
Answer: This is possible because Adam remarried.
9. A window cleaner is cleaning a window on the 25th floor of a high-rise building when he suddenly slips and falls. He has no safety equipment and nothing to cushion his fall, and yet he is unharmed. How can that be?
Answer: He was inside cleaning windows.
10. A man must carry a fox, a chicken, and a sack of corn across a river. He has a rowboat and it can only carry him and one other thing. If the fox and chicken are left together, the fox will eat the chicken. If the chicken and corn are left together, the chicken will eat the corn. How does he do that?
Answer: Man carries the chicken to the other side, man carries the fox to the other side and returns with the chicken, man leaves the chicken on the original side and carries the corn to the other side, man carries this chicken on the other side.
Story puzzles for kids
It's no secret that laughter and happiness are good for the soul, and these tricky riddles will keep kids entertained and enlightened as they try to solve them. We've selected some of the greatest extra long story puzzles for kids and dare we say a bit confusing for the ultimate brain teaser that will keep kids busy for hours.
1. I'm beautiful, up in heaven. I'm magic, but I can't fly. I bring happiness to people and wealth to some people. The boy on my end does what he wants. What am I?
Answer: A rainbow.
2. To tease Birbal, Akbar gave him a gold coin and asked him to give him something to eat, something to drink, something to feed the cows, something to plant in the garden and most importantly that you only have to buy one thing. What does Birbal need to buy to silence Akbar?
Answer: Watermelon - something to eat - watermelon, something to drink - watermelon juice, something to feed the cows - watermelon rinds, something to plant in the garden - the seeds of the watermelon.
3. A pet store owner had a parrot with a sign on its cage that said the parrot repeats everything it hears. Davey bought the parrot and spoke to him for two weeks and he didn't say a word. He returned the parrot, but the shopkeeper said he never lied about the parrot. How can that be?
Answer: The parrot was deaf.
4. A famous killer told police he was planning to kill someone in the one place you can't see the Eiffel Tower in Paris. How did the police catch the killer?
Answer: The police caught him in the Eiffel Tower.
5. On the first day of school, the history teacher is found dead in his classroom. There were four suspects, but all had alibis — the gardener said he mowed the lawn, the soccer coach said she did practice sessions with the first graders, the math teacher said she took mid-year exams, and the principal said she was meeting with two parents . The math teacher is immediately arrested. Why?
Answer: It was the first day of school - so there can't have been any mid-year exams.
6. Sam and Angela went on a camping trip. As they prepared dinner, they found that neither of them had brought a watch or wristwatch. Dinner must be cooked for 45 minutes. All Sam was able to dig up were a few mosquito coils, each burning for an hour. They didn't have a method to measure the coils in any way. Angela found a way to time 45 minutes with the two coils (while repelling mosquitoes). How did she cope with this task?
Answer: Angela first lit a mosquito coil on both ends and then the other only on one side. The coil, which had been lit at both ends, finished burning after half an hour. At this point, the second mosquito spiral still had half an hour to burn. Angela lit the second coil at the other end, which burned to the end fifteen minutes later. (total 45 minutes).
7. You enter a room and see a bed. On the bed are two dogs, five cats, a giraffe, six cows and a goose. Three doves also fly over the bed. How many legs are on the floor?
Answer: Six - the four legs of the bed plus your two legs.
8. If you paint a brown house white, it becomes a white house. If the traffic light changes from red to green, then the traffic light is green. So if you throw a white shirt into the Red Sea, what becomes of it?
Answer: Wet - the shirt doesn't change color because the Red Sea isn't actually red.
9. A thief enters a store, threatens the clerk and forces her to open the safe. The clerk says, "The code for the safe is different every day, and if you hurt me, you'll never get the code." But the thief manages to guess the code himself. how did he do that?
Answer: The shop assistant already gave him the code - she said it was "different" every day.
10. A murderer is sentenced to death. He has to choose between three rooms. The first is full of raging fires; the second, assassins with loaded guns; and the third, lions who have not eaten in years. Which room is the safest?
Answer: The poor lions died of hunger.
Final Thoughts on Story Puzzles
Story puzzles are brain boosters that power our mindsthink in new waysbeyond the horizon. Not only does it set us apart from the herd, it also challenges us to adopt a different approach.
So, if you want to become an expert at solving puzzles, you must have the following skills; to think differently and always try to gain deeper knowledge, even if it is just a little bit.
No one can be perfect at solving story puzzles with answers, but if you try with patience you can get pretty close. The more you practice, the better and faster you'll get the hang of it.
So now that you've worked through a series of story riddles and answers, it's time to sit down one on one with your friends and figure them out. Also, mention in the comment which of all the story puzzles took you the longest to solve. Enjoy!
FAQs
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