Brain Teasers

[OtherRedHead]

Here is the one I have had no one ever solve.  (I am not sure how I solved it.  My friends asked me this on my birthday and I spent all night asking questions to solve it, and thus, didn't study or my final the next day)




"A man goes into a restaurant in Alaska.  He orders a bird for diner.  He takes one bite of it, and then, goes outside and shoots himself in the head."  What happened?

Alrite, 20 questions time.  Is the man allergic to what he ate?

no

Does it matter what kind of bird he ate?

yes

OK.  I can think of two reasons he would want to kill himself:

1) He was upset by what he was eating (the "bird" had some significance).

2) He was poisoned by the bird and was going to die anyway. 

Either of these true?

1) Yes

2) No

Is the "bird" a woman? 

He actually shoots himself with a gun right?  Not an epi-pin or insulin or something...

[wdleehi]

Here is the one I have had no one ever solve.  (I am not sure how I solved it.  My friends asked me this on my birthday and I spent all night asking questions to solve it, and thus, didn't study or my final the next day)




"A man goes into a restaurant in Alaska.  He orders a bird for diner.  He takes one bite of it, and then, goes outside and shoots himself in the head."  What happened?

Alrite, 20 questions time.  Is the man allergic to what he ate?

no

Does it matter what kind of bird he ate?

yes

OK.  I can think of two reasons he would want to kill himself:

1) He was upset by what he was eating (the "bird" had some significance).

2) He was poisoned by the bird and was going to die anyway. 

Either of these true?

1) Yes

2) No

Is the "bird" a woman? 

He actually shoots himself with a gun right?  Not an epi-pin or insulin or something...

No.   And what kind of weird restaurants do you think they have in Alaska?   

[BigThreePeat]

Here is the one I have had no one ever solve.  (I am not sure how I solved it.  My friends asked me this on my birthday and I spent all night asking questions to solve it, and thus, didn't study or my final the next day)




"A man goes into a restaurant in Alaska.  He orders a bird for diner.  He takes one bite of it, and then, goes outside and shoots himself in the head."  What happened?

I have heard of this one before and puzzled through it much the same way you described - massive trial and error.  I won't spoil it for people who are trying to guess, but I will play friendly hint guy and say that the type of bird and the circumstances under which he had previously tried that dish are both important.  In the version I heard it was one specific bird that was identified in the initial puzzle description, but I'd guess you could swap another in there easily.

This is the "albatross" brainteaser and it's clearly the stupidest brain teaser ever.  I've never liked it, because the explanation is so random and ridiculous.

Here's the basic jist of the answer.....

....

...

He was wandering in the woods with his friends.  They got lost in the woods (or Alaska or whatever) and one of the friends caught some bird/albatross.   He ate the bird/albatross, but never saw the 3rd friend.   As soon as he got back to civilization he went to a restaurant and ordered albatross/bird.  After eating it and seeing that it tasted nothing like the bird/albatross he ate in the woods, he concluded that he had just eaten one of his friends... so he walks outside and shoots himself in the head.


Very dumb brain teaser and not worth the effort.    Sometimes the explanation is several paragraphs long and drawn out with several absurd details.   It seems like more of a joke/gag than a brainteaser.   

Here's the official teaser:  "A man goes to a restaurant, orders albatross, takes one bite, leaves the restaurant and shoots himself. Why? "

Official answer:  "This one's goofy, but it makes sense. The man was stranded on a desert island with himself, his wife and a stranger. One day, the stranger came to him telling him his wife had been killed by wild animals on the other side of the island. That evening, the stranger made dinner for the man out of an albatross that he had found. After the man was rescued, on suspicion, he went to a restaurant and ordered albatross, tasted it, realized that he had eaten his wife on the island and committed suicide."


Silllyyyy

[OtherRedHead]

I wasn't too far off on the woman thing after all....

[popeyejones]

Okay, here is one more.  Again, no tricks.  Just use your logic.

You are alone in a room. 

In the room there are two lengths of fuse (like the sort of thing used to light dynamite or a firecracker), a box of matches and a pair of scissors.    Each fuse is about five feet long, but not exactly.  You know that each fuse burns for exactly one hour.  But you also know that they burn unevenly (so that it could burn up four of the five feet in the first ten minutes but then take the next fifty minutes to burn the last foot, or in some other way, you don't know).  You also know that each fuse is different (so while they both burn unevenly, they both burn at different rates).  You don’t know the rate at which either fuse will burn, just that they each last exactly one hour.

The only way you can get out of the room is by measuring 45 minutes, exactly.  There are no watches, cell-phones, clocks, sundials, miniature stone henges or any other time telling devices available to you.  Just what you have, the two fuses, a box of matches and a pair of scissors (which can cut the fuses into any lengths you like).

How do you measure 45 minutes?

[OtherRedHead]

Ok.

So you are standing on one side of the Grand Canyon.  You must cross the Canyon.  You have unlimited access to rope.  But you cannot latch the rope to anything on either side. 

How do you cross?

[Roy Hobbs]

Ok.

So you are standing on one side of the Grand Canyon.  You must cross the Canyon.  You have unlimited access to rope.  But you cannot latch the rope to anything on either side. 

How do you cross?

Unlimited, huh?  I say fill that canyon to the brim with rope, and walk across.

[fairweatherfan]

Here is the one I have had no one ever solve.  (I am not sure how I solved it.  My friends asked me this on my birthday and I spent all night asking questions to solve it, and thus, didn't study or my final the next day)




"A man goes into a restaurant in Alaska.  He orders a bird for diner.  He takes one bite of it, and then, goes outside and shoots himself in the head."  What happened?

I have heard of this one before and puzzled through it much the same way you described - massive trial and error.  I won't spoil it for people who are trying to guess, but I will play friendly hint guy and say that the type of bird and the circumstances under which he had previously tried that dish are both important.  In the version I heard it was one specific bird that was identified in the initial puzzle description, but I'd guess you could swap another in there easily.

This is the "albatross" brainteaser and it's clearly the stupidest brain teaser ever.  I've never liked it, because the explanation is so random and ridiculous.

Here's the basic jist of the answer.....

....

...

He was wandering in the woods with his friends.  They got lost in the woods (or Alaska or whatever) and one of the friends caught some bird/albatross.   He ate the bird/albatross, but never saw the 3rd friend.   As soon as he got back to civilization he went to a restaurant and ordered albatross/bird.  After eating it and seeing that it tasted nothing like the bird/albatross he ate in the woods, he concluded that he had just eaten one of his friends... so he walks outside and shoots himself in the head.


Very dumb brain teaser and not worth the effort. 

Way to give it away - maybe some of the folks guessing at it would have enjoyed figuring it out - thanks for substituting your judgment for theirs.  And in the version I heard, it was a boat wreck where the survivors wound up on a lifeboat without food.  One man was knocked unconscious in the wreck and is out for a couple days, and when he wakes up, he can't find his wife.  Everyone claims they don't know what happened to his wife, but they have a supply of meat from an "albatross".  When they get to land he finds a restaurant that serves it, tries it out, realizes what he's suspected from the beginning and offs himself.

[Roy Hobbs]

Okay, here is one more.  Again, no tricks.  Just use your logic.

You are alone in a room. 

In the room there are two lengths of fuse (like the sort of thing used to light dynamite or a firecracker), a box of matches and a pair of scissors.    Each fuse is about five feet long, but not exactly.  You know that each fuse burns for exactly one hour.  But you also know that they burn unevenly (so that it could burn up four of the five feet in the first ten minutes but then take the next fifty minutes to burn the last foot, or in some other way, you don't know).  You also know that each fuse is different (so while they both burn unevenly, they both burn at different rates).  You don’t know the rate at which either fuse will burn, just that they each last exactly one hour.

The only way you can get out of the room is by measuring 45 minutes, exactly.  There are no watches, cell-phones, clocks, sundials, miniature stone henges or any other time telling devices available to you.  Just what you have, the two fuses, a box of matches and a pair of scissors (which can cut the fuses into any lengths you like).

How do you measure 45 minutes?

Ok...  I've looked at this one for 30 seconds, and my head already hurts.  I don't think I'm even going to try.

[BigThreePeat]

Here is the one I have had no one ever solve.  (I am not sure how I solved it.  My friends asked me this on my birthday and I spent all night asking questions to solve it, and thus, didn't study or my final the next day)




"A man goes into a restaurant in Alaska.  He orders a bird for diner.  He takes one bite of it, and then, goes outside and shoots himself in the head."  What happened?

I have heard of this one before and puzzled through it much the same way you described - massive trial and error.  I won't spoil it for people who are trying to guess, but I will play friendly hint guy and say that the type of bird and the circumstances under which he had previously tried that dish are both important.  In the version I heard it was one specific bird that was identified in the initial puzzle description, but I'd guess you could swap another in there easily.

This is the "albatross" brainteaser and it's clearly the stupidest brain teaser ever.  I've never liked it, because the explanation is so random and ridiculous.

Here's the basic jist of the answer.....

....

...

He was wandering in the woods with his friends.  They got lost in the woods (or Alaska or whatever) and one of the friends caught some bird/albatross.   He ate the bird/albatross, but never saw the 3rd friend.   As soon as he got back to civilization he went to a restaurant and ordered albatross/bird.  After eating it and seeing that it tasted nothing like the bird/albatross he ate in the woods, he concluded that he had just eaten one of his friends... so he walks outside and shoots himself in the head.


Very dumb brain teaser and not worth the effort. 

Way to give it away - maybe some of the folks guessing at it would have enjoyed figuring it out - thanks for substituting your judgment for theirs.  And in the version I heard, it was a boat wreck where the survivors wound up on a lifeboat without food.  One man was knocked unconscious in the wreck and is out for a couple days, and when he wakes up, he can't find his wife.  Everyone claims they don't know what happened to his wife, but they have a supply of meat from an "albatross".  When they get to land he finds a restaurant that serves it, tries it out, realizes what he's suspected from the beginning and offs himself.

That doesn't qualify as a brain teaser.  That's a gag created to mess with people.  Nobody ever will naturally get that brain teaser correctly, because it defies logic and explanation.   The whole thing is a joke.  

Btw... I think I figured out the Grant Canyon one, but i'm not ruining it... because it's a valid brain teaser

[wdleehi]

Here is the one I have had no one ever solve.  (I am not sure how I solved it.  My friends asked me this on my birthday and I spent all night asking questions to solve it, and thus, didn't study or my final the next day)




"A man goes into a restaurant in Alaska.  He orders a bird for diner.  He takes one bite of it, and then, goes outside and shoots himself in the head."  What happened?

I have heard of this one before and puzzled through it much the same way you described - massive trial and error.  I won't spoil it for people who are trying to guess, but I will play friendly hint guy and say that the type of bird and the circumstances under which he had previously tried that dish are both important.  In the version I heard it was one specific bird that was identified in the initial puzzle description, but I'd guess you could swap another in there easily.

This is the "albatross" brainteaser and it's clearly the stupidest brain teaser ever.  I've never liked it, because the explanation is so random and ridiculous.

Here's the basic jist of the answer.....

....

...

He was wandering in the woods with his friends.  They got lost in the woods (or Alaska or whatever) and one of the friends caught some bird/albatross.   He ate the bird/albatross, but never saw the 3rd friend.   As soon as he got back to civilization he went to a restaurant and ordered albatross/bird.  After eating it and seeing that it tasted nothing like the bird/albatross he ate in the woods, he concluded that he had just eaten one of his friends... so he walks outside and shoots himself in the head.


Very dumb brain teaser and not worth the effort. 

Way to give it away - maybe some of the folks guessing at it would have enjoyed figuring it out - thanks for substituting your judgment for theirs.  And in the version I heard, it was a boat wreck where the survivors wound up on a lifeboat without food.  One man was knocked unconscious in the wreck and is out for a couple days, and when he wakes up, he can't find his wife.  Everyone claims they don't know what happened to his wife, but they have a supply of meat from an "albatross".  When they get to land he finds a restaurant that serves it, tries it out, realizes what he's suspected from the beginning and offs himself.

That doesn't qualify as a brain teaser.  That's a gag created to mess with people.  Nobody ever will naturally get that brain teaser correctly, because it defies logic and explanation.   The whole thing is a joke.  

Btw... I think I figured out the Grant Canyon one, but i'm not ruining it... because it's a valid brain teaser

Why would you ruin it?  People were enjoying it. 



P.s.  I got it.  It was a slightly different version, but I got it. And had a blast figuring it out.

[OtherRedHead]

Ok.

So you are standing on one side of the Grand Canyon.  You must cross the Canyon.  You have unlimited access to rope.  But you cannot latch the rope to anything on either side. 

How do you cross?

Unlimited, huh?  I say fill that canyon to the brim with rope, and walk across.

TP to you sir.  Pretty easy, haha.

[fairweatherfan]

<snip>

That doesn't qualify as a brain teaser.  That's a gag created to mess with people.  Nobody ever will naturally get that brain teaser correctly, because it defies logic and explanation.   The whole thing is a joke.  

Btw... I think I figured out the Grant Canyon one, but i'm not ruining it... because it's a valid brain teaser

I got it naturally, and so did wdleehi apparently - while it starts vaguely, it's solvable and interesting to puzzle your way back through.  Just involves a lot of thinking and narrowing down through Q + A.  I agree it really can't be solved without followup questions though.

Ok, I've got one:

A man in a foreign land is arrested for a serious crime.  He is brought before a judge and sentenced to death.  The judge explains to him that the death penalty in their land is designed to not give the condemned the peace of mind of knowing when the end will come.  So, the judge explains, the execution will take place sometime during the next month.  The man will not know which day he will be executed until he is taken from his cell at noon on the day of the execution. He will be dead almost immediately after. The execution, the judge says, must be a surprise according to the law of the land.

"Wait!" says the man.  He asks to approach the bench and speaks to the judge quietly for a few minutes.  The judge thinks over what he has said and declares the death sentence to be invalid.  What did the man tell him to get him to change his mind?  

This is a logical answer, not anything like "I'm your son" or "I have your wife hostage".  Good luck!

[BigThreePeat]

Ok.

So you are standing on one side of the Grand Canyon.  You must cross the Canyon.  You have unlimited access to rope.  But you cannot latch the rope to anything on either side. 

How do you cross?

Unlimited, huh?  I say fill that canyon to the brim with rope, and walk across.

TP to you sir.  Pretty easy, haha.

Really?  Interesting.  That wasn't the solution I had in mind.   "you are standing on one side of the grand canyon... you must cross the canyon".    I thought the answer was that he was standing at the bottom of the canyon so walking across was as simple as walking across anything...    just walk to one end of the canyon to the other end of the canyon. 

Fill it to brim with rope?  lol.  Guess I was off.

[popeyejones]

Okay, here is one more.  Again, no tricks.  Just use your logic.

You are alone in a room. 

In the room there are two lengths of fuse (like the sort of thing used to light dynamite or a firecracker), a box of matches and a pair of scissors.    Each fuse is about five feet long, but not exactly.  You know that each fuse burns for exactly one hour.  But you also know that they burn unevenly (so that it could burn up four of the five feet in the first ten minutes but then take the next fifty minutes to burn the last foot, or in some other way, you don't know).  You also know that each fuse is different (so while they both burn unevenly, they both burn at different rates).  You don’t know the rate at which either fuse will burn, just that they each last exactly one hour.

The only way you can get out of the room is by measuring 45 minutes, exactly.  There are no watches, cell-phones, clocks, sundials, miniature stone henges or any other time telling devices available to you.  Just what you have, the two fuses, a box of matches and a pair of scissors (which can cut the fuses into any lengths you like).

How do you measure 45 minutes?

Okay, so maybe the rope one was too hard.  Here is a slightly easier one (and then I have to stop procrastinating!)

You are stranded on an island that is two miles long and fifty feet wide.  You hear some planes going over head and think you should set a fire on the island so they can see it and come rescue you.  This turned out to be a pretty bad idea.  The island is completely covered with old dried out trees and is quite flammable.  The fire quickly gets out of control. You are smart enough to run away from the fire.  For a while it looks like it will just burn itself out.  But just when you think you are safe, the wind picks up.  It is blowing very strongly.  The fire starts moving towards you quickly, maybe at about a foot per second.  The wind dies down and you see the fire stop moving towards you.  About a half a mile of the island is burned to a crisp.  You deduce that when there is no wind the fire does not spread, but when there is wind, the fire spreads only in the direction the wind is blowing. 

Suddenly the wind picks up again, and this time it is not stopping.  You have about a mile and a half of island that is not yet burned but if you don’t do anything, it will burn up in about two hours.  You could jump into the water, but the water is inhabited by carnivorous dingo fish that will eat you alive in seconds.  But if you just stand there and do nothing, you will be burned alive.  What do you do?