New Riddles With Answers - page 6 of 53
Its days are numbered.
A calendar marks days with numbers, so quite literally its 'days are numbered.'
If you drive on this, pedestrians and the police will be pretty upset with you.
Driving a car on the sidewalk endangers pedestrians and is illegal, drawing attention from police.
What has two hands, a round face, always runs, but stays in place?
A clock has 'hands' and a round 'face,' and its hands are always moving even though the clock itself doesn't go anywhere.
It has the biggest wall and is also used when drinking tea.
China has the Great Wall -- one of the largest walls in the world -- and 'china' is also the word for fine porcelain teacups.
What is used to yell in a text?
Typing IN ALL CAPS is the common way to convey shouting or yelling in a text message.
It's anything but amusing when this body part gets hit.
The "funny bone" (a nerve near the elbow) causes a sharp, unpleasant tingling when struck, ironic given its name.
An office supply that's shaped like a trombone.
A standard paperclip is bent into a looping shape resembling the slide of a trombone.
Beautiful girls strut and sexy men 'do their little turn' on this.
Models 'strut' down a fashion runway called a catwalk while showing off outfits.
Diamonds and stress have this to thank for their existence.
Diamonds form deep underground under intense geological pressure, and 'pressure' is also another word for stress.
I spend most of my day eating white. When I am quick enough, I get rewarded with fruit and something's blue. In a dark room with blue walls, I run from the ghosts that roam the halls. What am I?
In the video game Pac-Man, the character eats white dots in a maze, occasionally earns a fruit bonus, and flees from ghosts through dark, blue-walled corridors.
My first is nothing but a name; my second is more small; my whole is of so little fame it has no name at all.
This is a compound-word riddle: 'name' (nothing but a name) plus 'less' (smaller) combine to form 'nameless,' a word that ironically has no name of its own.
What is not a ball but yet a sphere, and holds all lands and people year after year?
The Earth is a roughly spherical planet that hosts all continents and populations, though it isn't literally a ball.
What always comes into the house through the keyhole?
A key is inserted through a keyhole to unlock and let itself (and you) into a house.
The negative hero in each story.
The villain is the antagonist, or 'negative hero,' opposing the protagonist in a story.
My teeth are sharp, my back is straight, to cut things up it is my fate.
A saw has sharp, tooth-like blades along a straight edge designed for cutting.
You'll have to consult an optometrist if you want to improve this.
An optometrist examines and prescribes corrective lenses to improve your eyesight.
You can read it both ways, I wear; one way it's a number, reversed a snare.
'Ten' spelled backward is 'net' -- a snare used to trap something -- making it readable both ways as intended.
If you blow past your destination, you'll have to throw your car into this.
If you miss your turn or exit, shifting your car into reverse lets you back up.
Spies and detectives do this to phones, and musical shoes make this sound.
Investigators 'tap' phones to eavesdrop, and tap shoes make a tapping sound when dancers perform in them.
Where can you find roads without cars, forests without trees and cities without houses?
A map depicts roads, forests, and cities symbolically on paper without any actual cars, trees, or buildings.
What did Adam and Eve lack that everyone else has?
In the Bible story, Adam and Eve were created directly by God rather than born to parents, unlike everyone born after them.
It breathes fire in fairy-tales.
Dragons are the classic fire-breathing creatures of fairy tales and folklore.
An appropriately loud response to fear, excitement, or your team scoring.
A yell is a loud vocal reaction fitting for scary moments, excitement, or celebrating a score.
Before Google, we actually had to physically look things up in this building full of knowledge.
Libraries were the traditional place people researched information before internet search engines existed.
This food is a baked dish of fruit, or meat and vegetables, typically with a top and base of pastry.
A pie is a baked dish with a pastry crust on top and bottom, filled with fruit or a savory meat-and-vegetable mixture.
My tongue hangs out as I run over fields and streets all day. I get tied up every morning and untied at night.
A shoe's lace 'tongue' hangs out during the day as it's worn around, then gets tied and untied as you put it on and take it off.
I am ten little beans you look at every day. What am I?
People have ten toes ('little beans') that they see every day, especially when barefoot.
Some are clean and some are dirty, but all are meant to get a chuckle. Most like it, some take offense from it.
Jokes range from clean to dirty and are meant to get a laugh, though some people find certain jokes offensive.
It will not die when hung, and will dry when wrung.
Laundry is hung on a line to dry, and wringing wet clothes squeezes water out without killing anything, since laundry was never alive.
It can make rain, but take away one leg and it'll give you pain.
'R' plus 'ain' spells 'rain'; remove one leg from the letter R and it becomes a 'P,' which plus 'ain' spells 'pain' -- a letter-based wordplay riddle.
It's small but larger than a bee, and agile as a flea. It hums but does not buzz, and it's not covered with fuzz. It is a small collector, of juicy flower nectar.
A hummingbird is a small, agile bird that hums (rather than buzzes) as it darts around collecting flower nectar.
A canvas full of stars.
The night sky, dotted with countless stars, resembles a vast painted canvas.
What kind of soda must you not drink?
Baking soda shares the word 'soda' but is a baking ingredient, not a beverage -- drinking it isn't advisable.
It is a popular afterlife destination where you want to send people when you're mad at them.
People commonly say "go to hell" when angry, referencing the mythic afterlife of punishment.
What can stand in place of a country but still fold away in a drawer?
A flag represents a country symbolically, yet as a piece of cloth it can be folded and stored in a drawer.
It is a form of plastic money.
A credit card is often called 'plastic money' since it's a plastic substitute for cash.
A piece of paper that determines the academic fate of kids everywhere.
A report card records grades that decide whether a student passes, fails, or advances.
The famous royal young lady who had several short men following her.
Snow White is the fairy tale princess famously followed and protected by the Seven Dwarfs.
If there are three cups of sugar and you take one away, how many do you have?
This is a math trick: if you 'take one away' from the cups, you (the one taking) now have one cup in hand.
A warrior amongst the flowers, he bears a thrusting sword. He uses it whenever he must, to defend his golden hoard.
A bee lives among flowers and uses its stinger ('thrusting sword') to defend its honey ('golden hoard').
There are four of these, but everyone's favorite seems to be spades.
There are four card suits -- hearts, diamonds, clubs, and spades -- and the ace of spades is often considered the most iconic card.
What is born on the ground but floats to the sky, to be returned back again from the clouds up high?
Water evaporates from the ground into clouds and later falls back to earth as rain, completing the water cycle.
If you rub this there is a possibility of a magical fat man coming out.
Rubbing a magic lamp is the classic way to summon a genie, often depicted as a large, jovial figure who 'comes out' of it.
Talks like this, a green wise man does. Guess my clue, you will.
Yoda, the small green Jedi Master from Star Wars, is famous for speaking with inverted sentence structure.
It is a sound of empty; speak and it'll talk back plenty. But all the more you yack, you'll get the same words back.
An echo repeats whatever sound (or words) you send into an empty space, matching you shout for shout.
They come in many varieties: Red, Black, Dead, and Caspian to name a few.
The Red Sea, Black Sea, Dead Sea, and Caspian Sea are all well-known bodies of water sharing the word 'Sea.'
A doctor might remove one from the neck of a Dracula victim.
A doctor treating a vampire bite would remove the fang marks or fang left in the victim's neck.
I am an odd number. Take away one letter and I become even. What number am I?
'Seven' is odd, but remove its 's' and you get 'even' -- the letter-based number word for an even quantity.
Everyone claims to know a way to stop these involuntary contractions, but none of them work.
Hiccups are involuntary diaphragm spasms, and countless home remedies claim to cure them without reliable success.
What do you call bread that has been browned in a small electric oven until it is crispy?
Bread browned and crisped in a toaster (a small electric oven) becomes toast.
Boxes marked as this should not be abused.
Boxes labeled 'fragile' contain breakable items and should be handled gently, not abused.
They can be long or short; they can be grown or bought; they can be painted or left bare; they can be round or square.
Fingernails can be grown long or kept short, are effectively 'bought' via manicures, can be painted or left bare, and can be filed round or square.
Found at the back of the book. What am I?
An appendix is supplementary material found at the back of many books.
What is the word that even in plain sight remains hidden?
This is a self-referential wordplay riddle: the word 'hidden,' printed right there on the page, is the answer itself -- hidden in plain sight until you notice it.
Tax rates and oil prices occasionally take these nature strolls.
A 'hike' means both a walk in nature and a sudden increase, as in a 'tax hike' or 'price hike.'
A wave of white powdery destruction that is a skier's worst nightmare.
An avalanche is a fast-moving mass of snow rushing down a mountain, one of skiers' greatest dangers.
A disposable item to keep your waste organized.
Trash bags are used once and thrown away, lining bins to keep waste contained.
These are believed to be found at the end of rainbows.
Folklore holds that a pot of gold is hidden at the end of every rainbow.
What doesn't exist, but has a name?
This is a wordplay riddle: the word 'nothing' itself has a name, even though the concept it describes doesn't exist.
I am green and ugly and come out at night with a crumpled old broom. Who am I?
The description of a green, ugly figure who comes out at night carrying an old broom is the classic image of a witch.
Of these everyone has ten, part of two wholes at the arms end. What are they?
Everyone has ten fingers, five on each hand ('two wholes'), located at the end of the arms.
What flares up and does a lot of good, and when it dies is just a piece of wood?
A lit match flares up brightly and does good by giving light or fire, but once burned out it's just a spent stick of wood.
What is often returned, but never borrowed?
You give 'thanks' in return for something, but you don't 'borrow' thanks from anyone -- it only flows one way, back to the giver.
Disgusting creatures that would survive a nuclear strike.
Cockroaches are famously believed to be highly resistant to radiation and could survive catastrophic events.
Always old, sometimes new. Never sad, sometimes blue. Never empty, sometimes full. Never pushes, always pulls.
The moon has ancient origins yet shows a 'new moon' phase, is never literally sad but can look blue, is never truly empty but waxes 'full,' and pulls the tides rather than pushing them.
Attracted by light but flies at night. It's winged and hairy but not too scary.
Moths are nocturnal, winged, fuzzy insects famously drawn to light sources.
A seasonal fashion statement named for the weather it's worn in.
A sundress is warm-weather clothing named directly for the sunny season it's worn in.
You're currently trying to solve one.
This riddle is self-referential -- the very thing you're working to solve right now is a riddle.
I am the type of room you can not enter or leave. I rise from the ground below. I could be poisonous or a delicious treat. What am I?
'Mushroom' contains the word 'room,' but it's a fungus that grows up from the ground and can be either edible or poisonous.
Small and bearded, both in the real world and in stories.
Dwarfs are traditionally depicted as small and bearded in folklore, and 'dwarf' is also a real medical term for short stature.
I'm tall in the morning and short at noon. I disappear at night but I will be back soon.
A shadow is long at sunrise, shrinks by midday, vanishes at night, and reappears the next morning.
This is a plant named after a light source.
A sunflower is named for the sun and famously turns its face to follow it across the sky.
What comes down but never goes back up?
Once rain falls from the sky to the ground, that same water never rises back up as rain.
If you happen to wake up at dawn, you'll probably find this covering the lawn.
Morning dew commonly coats the grass at dawn before the sun evaporates it.
I am an object which is used in baseball, during the day I can't be seen at all. What am I?
The word 'bat' names both a piece of baseball equipment and the nocturnal flying animal that's invisible during daylight hours.
In two years, I know I'll be twice as old as I was five years ago, said Tom. How old is Tom?
Let Tom's age be x: x + 2 = 2(x - 5), which solves to x = 12, so Tom is twelve years old.
I love spinach. Who am I?
Popeye the Sailor Man famously gains super strength from eating spinach.
What gets broken when you don't hold it?
If you fail to 'hold' (keep) a secret, it gets broken by being told.
They're actually great swimmers now, but later they will become excellent hoppers.
Tadpoles swim well in water before metamorphosing into frogs, which are excellent jumpers.
Special abilities and brightly colored underwear are all you need to be one of these.
Classic superheroes are often depicted with powers and costumes that famously include underwear worn on the outside.
I drift forever with the current and flow into your everyday life. I make living easy but I am good at killing people too. What am I?
Electric current flows continuously through daily life, powering conveniences, yet it can also be lethal if mishandled.
Snow White was friendly with seven of them.
Snow White famously lives with the Seven Dwarfs in the classic fairy tale.
Something you carry while singing.
The expression 'carry a tune' means to sing a melody well, so a tune is what you 'carry' while singing.
It is the great nemesis of the lactose intolerant.
Dairy products contain lactose, which upsets those who are lactose intolerant.
What has four legs during the day; and six or eight during the night?
A bed has four legs, but at night when a person (2 legs) or even a pet (4 legs) climbs in, there are more legs present in total.
Both old people and owls are said to be possessing this trait.
Elderly people and owls are both traditionally regarded as wise.
Olympians use this to jump high up in the air.
In pole vaulting, Olympic athletes use a long pole to launch themselves high into the air.
The thinkers usually hold this body part.
The famous pose of a person deep in thought, like Rodin's 'The Thinker,' shows a hand resting on the chin.
The Black Pearl was this type of criminal seafaring vessel.
The Black Pearl, from Pirates of the Caribbean, is a fictional pirate ship.
I do not eat food. But I do enjoy a light meal every day. What am I?
A plant doesn't eat food like animals do, but it 'feeds' on sunlight, a light meal, every day through photosynthesis.
Slithery critters with a taste for dirt.
Earthworms move by slithering through soil and consume dirt as part of their diet.
Two is one, four is two, and six is three. Don't you see? What am I?
In each pair, the second number is exactly half the first (1 is half of 2, 2 is half of 4, 3 is half of 6) -- hence the answer 'half.'
It can be grown in your yard or bought at the store and is given for love when less is more.
Flowers can be grown or purchased, and giving just one thoughtfully can mean more than giving many ('less is more').
Known to accessorize with feathers, trumpets, and harps.
Angels are traditionally depicted with feathered wings and playing trumpets or harps.
Often wandering the streets, this group of people cannot afford to be choosers.
The saying 'beggars can't be choosers' describes people who must accept whatever help they're given.
These are the bumpy parts of your digits.
Knuckles are the bumpy joints on your fingers (digits).
I occur twice in eternity. And I'm always within sight.
The word 'eternity' contains the letter T twice, and T also appears in the word 'sight.'
A man without bones whose flesh is cold. A man unthinking who is always shrinking. Who is he?
Like snow itself, a snowman has no bones, feels cold, has no mind, and steadily shrinks as it melts away.
What is in the middle of nowhere?
Counting the letters of 'nowhere,' the letter H sits exactly in the middle.
What travels from house to house and is sometimes narrow and sometimes wide but always stays outside?
A road connects one house to another, varies in width, and always remains outdoors.