During the lunch hour at school, a group of five boys from Miss Jones home room visited a nearby lunch wagon. one of the five boys took a candy bar without paying for it. When the boys were questioned by the school principal, they made the following statements in respective order:
1. Rex: "Neither Earl nor I did it."

2. Jack: "It was Rex or Abe."

3. Abe: "Both Rex and Jack are lying."

4. Dan: "Abe's statement is not true; one of them is lying and the other is speaking the truth."

5. Earl: "What Dan said is wrong."

When Miss Jones was consulted, she said, "Three of these boys are always truthful, but everything that two of them say will be a lie." Assuming that Miss Jones is correct, can you determine who took the candy bar?

Puzzle 2

A woman had two sons who were born on the same hour of the same day of the same year. But they were not twins, and they were not adopted. How could this be so?

Puzzle 3

A farmer is standing on one side of the river and with him are a wolf, a goat and a box with cabbages. In the river there is a small boat. The farmer wants to cross the river with all the three items who are with him. There are no bridges and in the boat there is only room for the farmer and one item. But if he leaves the goat with the cabbages alone on one side of the river the goat will eat the cabbages. If he leaves the wolf and the goat on one side the wolf will eat the goat. Only the farmer can seperate the wolf from the goat and the goat from the cabbage.

How can the farmer cross the river with all three items, without one eating the other ?

Puzzle 4

You are lost in a forest. The forest is between two villages. In village A live only liars, they always lie. In village B people always tell the truth. You want to go to village B. Then you see a man from village A or B. You can ask him only one question.
Which question will you ask him to know for sure where village B is ?

Puzzle 5

A butcher goes to the market with $100 cash. He has to buy exactly 100 animals. There are cows, geese and chicken for sale. A cow costs $15, a goose is $1 and a chicken costs $0.25. He has to buy at least one of each animal and has to spend all his money.

Puzzle 6

One day Kerry celebrated her birthday. Two days later her older twin brother, Terry, celebrated his birthday. How come?

Puzzle 7

A mother is four times as old as her daughter. In 20 years she will be twice as old as her daughter.

Puzzle 8

Achmed and Ali are camel-drivers and on one day they decided to quit their job. They wanted to become shepherds. So they went to the market and sold all their camels. The amount of money(dinars) they received for each camel is the same as the total of camels they owned. For that money they bought as many sheep as possible at 10 dinars a sheep. For the money that was left they bought a goat.
On their way home they got in a fight and decided to split up. When they divided the sheep there was one sheep left. So Ali said to Achmed "I take the last sheep and you can get the goat". "That's not fair" said Achmed, "a goat costs lesser than a sheep". "Ok", Ali said "then I will give you one of my dogs and then we are even". And Achmed agreed.

What costs a dog?

Puzzle 9

A man died and went to Heaven. There were thousands of other people there. They were all naked and all looked as they did at the age of 21. He looked around to see if there was anyone he recognised. He saw a couple and he knew immediately that they were Adam and Eve. How did he know?

Puzzle 10

A blind beggar had a brother who died. What relation was the blind beggar to the brother who died? (Brother is not the answer).

Puzzle 11

U2 has a concert that starts in 17 minutes and they must all cross a bridge to get there. All four men begin on the same side of the bridge. You must help them across to the other side. It is night. There is one flashlight. A maximum of two people can cross at one time. Any party who crosses, either 1 or 2 people, must have the flashlight with them. The flashlight must be walked back and forth, it cannot be thrown, etc. Each band member walks at a different speed. A pair must walk together at the rate of the slower man's pace:
Bono:- 1 minute to cross
Edge:- 2 minutes to cross
Adam:- 5 minutes to cross
Larry:- 10 minutes to cross
For example: if Bono and Larry walk across first, 10 minutes have elapsed when they get to the other side of the bridge. If Larry then returns with the flashlight, a total of 20 minutes have passed and you have failed the mission.

Can you get them across in 17 minutes?

Puzzle 12

A man lives on the tenth floor of a building. Every day he takes the elevator to go down to the ground floor to go to work or to go shopping. When he returns he takes the elevator to the seventh floor and walks up the stairs to reach his apartment on the tenth floor. He hates walking so why does he do it? This is probably the best known and most celebrated of all lateral thinking puzzles. It is a true classic. Although there are many possible solutions which fit the initial conditions, only the canonical answer is truly satisfying

Puzzle 13

Not far from Madrid, there is a large wooden barn. The barn is completely empty except for a dead man hanging from the middle of the central rafter. The rope around his neck is ten feet long and his feet are three feet off the ground. The nearest wall is 20 feet away from the man. It is not possible to climb up the walls or along the rafters. The man hanged himself. How did he do it?

Puzzle 14

Anthony and Cleopatra are lying dead on the floor of a villa in Egypt. Nearby is a broken bowl. There is no mark on either of their bodies and they were not poisoned. How did they die?

Puzzle 15

A man rode into town on Friday. He stayed for three nights and then left on Friday. How come? A silly one - but it is surprisingly popular.

Puzzle 16

Three grainsilos have the following capacity:

A 8000 kilos
B 5000 kilos
C 3000 kilos

A is full, B and C are empty.

Can you without weighing put 4000 kilos in silo A and 4000 kilos in silo B?

Puzzle 17

A clock strikes '6' in 5 seconds.

How long does it take to strike '12'?

Solutions