New Riddles With Answers - page 20 of 53
How do snails travel?
Snails move by slow muscular contractions of their foot, making 'slowly' both literally and idiomatically true.
A pet shop owner had a parrot with a sign on its cage that said "Parrot repeats everything it hears." A young man bought the parrot and for two weeks he spoke to it and it didn't say a word. He returned the parrot but the shopkeeper said he never lied about the parrot. How can this be?
The shop's sign only claimed the parrot repeats everything it hears - since the bird was deaf, it never heard a word the man said, so the shopkeeper technically never lied.
A man is trapped in a room. The room has only two possible exits: two doors. Through the first door there is a room constructed from magnifying glass. The blazing hot sun instantly fries anything or anyone that enters. Through the second door there is a fire-breathing dragon. How does the man escape?
The magnifying-glass room is only lethal because it focuses sunlight; once night falls there is no sun to focus, so the man can safely walk through the first door.
There is a man in a 4 story building. He jumps out of the window and is unharmed. He used no padding, and had no harm done. How?
The riddle never says which floor he jumped from -- jumping out of a ground-floor window involves no real height at all.
Which bow can't be tied?
A pun on "bow" -- a rainbow is a colorful "bow" across the sky, but it is a natural phenomenon, not a ribbon that can be tied.
What is red and smells like blue paint?
This is an absurdist joke riddle -- red paint simply smells the same as blue paint, since color has no real effect on paint's odor.
A red house is made out of red bricks. A blue house is made out of blue bricks. What is a green house made out of?
The riddle plays on the compound word 'greenhouse' - it is actually built of glass, not colored bricks, unlike the literal red and blue houses.
When you do not know what I am, then I am something. But when you know what I am, then I am nothing. What am I?
A riddle is intriguing while unsolved, but once you know the answer it no longer feels like a mystery -- it becomes 'nothing' special.
What kind of street does a ghost like best?
A pun on "dead end" -- ghosts, being dead, would naturally prefer a street that is literally a dead end.
Which tree is the most difficult to get along with?
A pun on "crabby" -- a crab(apple) tree sounds like "crab," meaning bad-tempered.
What does an old tan broken down house wear outside?
This plays on "coat" meaning a layer of paint -- an old tan house wears a "tan coat" (of paint) on its exterior. Note: this is a fairly loose, awkwardly worded pun, but it is the source's intended answer.
What has a foot but no leg?
A ruler measures in 'feet' (the unit) but obviously has no actual leg.
What fastens two people yet touches only one?
A wedding ring symbolically binds two people together, but physically it's only ever worn on one person's finger at a time.
Which popular cheese is made backwards?
Spell 'made' backwards and you get 'Edam,' a real Dutch cheese -- a pure wordplay riddle.
What kind of room doesn't have physical walls?
An online chat room is a virtual space for conversation with no physical walls at all.
What type of house weighs the least?
This is a pun: a 'light' house weighs the least because its very name contains the word 'light.'
What starts with a P, ends with an E and has a million letters in it?
'Post office' starts with P and ends with E, and it processes vast volumes of mail -- effectively holding a 'million letters' at once, using the same double meaning of 'letter' as the envelope riddle.
I cannot hear or even see, But sense light and sounds there may be, Sometimes I end up on a hook, I can be combined with a book. What am I?
A worm has no eyes or ears yet reacts to vibration and light, is used as fishing bait on a hook, and combines with book to form bookworm.
When young, I am sweet in the sun. When middle-aged, I make you gay. When old, I am valued more than ever.
Wine starts as sweet grapes ripening in the sun, becomes intoxicating ("gay," meaning merry) once fermented, and grows more prized and valuable the longer it ages.
What has a head yet it never weeps, has a bed but never sleeps, can run but can not walk, and has a bank but not a cent to its name?
A river has a "head" (source), a "bed" (riverbed), it "runs," and it has a "bank," but none of these literally.
What do you get if you put a radio in the fridge?
A fridge makes things cold, so the radio inside would play "cool" music, a pun on temperature and style.
There is a kind of fish that can never swim. What is that?
A dead fish cannot swim because it is no longer alive -- a simple, slightly dark pun on the phrase "can never swim."
What's the red stuff between elephant's toes?
This is a classic dark-humor joke riddle implying that any 'slow pygmies' unlucky enough to be underfoot get squashed by the elephant.
What is bought by the yard but is worn by the foot?
Carpet is sold by the square yard, but people walk on it with their feet, wearing it down over time.
The shorter I am, the bigger I am. What am I?
Having a 'short temper' means someone gets angry (a big reaction) very easily -- the shorter the temper, the bigger the outburst.
What ship has no captain but two mates?
This is a pun: 'courtship' (dating) sounds like a ship, and it involves two romantic 'mates' without an actual captain.
What starts with an "e" but only has a single letter in it?
An envelope starts with the letter E, and it's designed to hold exactly one 'letter' inside -- playing on 'letter' meaning both an alphabet character and a piece of mail.
I have eight to spare and am covered with hair.
A cat is said to have nine lives, so after using one it still has eight to spare, and its body is covered in fur.
Which side of a cat has the most fur?
This is a play on words -- the 'outside' of a cat is the side facing out, which is where all its visible fur is.
What word becomes shorter when you add two letters to it?
Adding 'ER' to SHORT produces SHORTER -- a word that is textually longer but describes something even more short, a play on meaning versus letter count.
What always goes to bed with its shoes on?
A horse is fitted with horseshoes, which stay on its feet ('shoes on') even while it sleeps standing up.
What type of dress can never be worn?
This is a pun: a street 'address' is spelled like 'a dress,' but you can't wear it -- it's information, not clothing.
What fruit can you use to sip water?
This puns on the word 'straw' hidden in 'strawberry' -- a drinking straw is used to sip water. (Source key printed this as 'straw-berry'; the hyphen has been removed.)
What is the longest fruit?
"Longan" (a small tropical fruit) sounds like "long one," punning on length despite the fruit itself being small.
What fruit never ever wants to be alone?
"Pear" is a homophone of "pair," meaning two together, so it "never wants to be alone."
I am a fruit, but also a shape. If you had two of me, I would sound just the same. If you rearrange my letters, it could be a crime. Add me to a montage and I can become a different fruit. Remove my head and you can still listen; take away the end and I can still be eaten. Without a piece of the centre, I am still a word; take away all of the middle and I am just an acronym. What am I?
PEAR sounds like 'pair' when doubled, rearranges into 'rape' (a crime), loses its head to become 'ear' (used to listen), loses its tail to become 'pea' (still edible), drops a middle letter to become 'per,' and stripped to its outer letters becomes 'PR,' a common acronym.
What type of drink is usually added to cereal in the morning?
Milk is the classic drink poured over cereal for breakfast.
I'm a fruit that grows on a tree. Some of my varieties include Red Delicious and Granny Smith.
Red Delicious and Granny Smith are both well-known varieties of apple.
I am so delicious that I require a house to contain me. What am I?
This is a nod to IHOP, the "International House of Pancakes" restaurant chain.
This food is a tortilla filled with cheese and sometimes chicken before being heated or cooked.
A quesadilla is a tortilla folded around cheese, and sometimes meat like chicken, and grilled or heated until melted.
What can be grown without sun or soil and can either provide nourishment or deliver poison?
Mushrooms can grow in dark, soil-free environments, and while many are edible and nutritious, some wild varieties are highly poisonous.
What has green hair, a round red head and a long thin white beard?
A radish has leafy green tops, a round red bulb, and thin white roots, resembling hair, a head, and a beard.
What is the only chain we can eat?
This is a pun: while you can't eat a metal chain, the 'food chain' is the one chain whose very name involves eating.
If you are a man then your best friend will eat this for dinner.
A dog is proverbially "man's best friend," and dogs eat dog food for dinner.
I'm a red creature from the sea with large claws, or pincers, and I'm often boiled and served as an expensive dish at seafood restaurants.
A lobster is a red-shelled sea creature with large pincer claws, a prized and pricey main course at seafood restaurants.
This Chocolate baked good is a soft candy made from sugar, butter, and milk or cream.
Fudge is a soft, sugary candy traditionally made by cooking sugar, butter, and milk or cream together.
I'm a soft, sweet food made from a mixture of flour, shortening, eggs, sugar, and other ingredients, baked and often decorated.
Cake is a sweet baked good made from flour, shortening, eggs, and sugar, often decorated with frosting.
I am a delicious way of representing data. What am I?
A pie chart is a pun-friendly, 'delicious' way to visually represent data as wedge-shaped slices.
I'm a thick slice of beef or other high-quality meat or fish that is often cooked on a grill or fried.
A steak is specifically a thick cut of high-quality meat or fish, typically grilled or fried.
It is basically a cake made of cow.
Meatloaf is ground beef ('cow') shaped and baked in a loaf pan, resembling a savory 'cake.'
I'm a lot like a pancake, except I'm a little crisper, and I'm square, with square patterns all over.
A waffle is cooked like a pancake but comes out crisper with its signature square grid pattern.
This baked dish consists of an open-topped pastry case with a savory or sweet filling.
The clue clearly describes an open-topped pastry (properly called a "tart"), but the source's own answer key lists "fan" for this entry — likely a misaligned or erroneous line in the original worksheet. We keep the source's stated answer as instructed, though "tart" is the far better fit for the wording.
What is eaten by man, served among many, grown by many, and white as snow?
Rice is a staple food eaten worldwide, served at countless meals, cultivated by farmers everywhere, and its grains are white.
It's a symbol and a fruit, For man's folly, evil's root. But also for great inspiration, and famous application.
The apple symbolizes original sin in the Bible ('evil's root'), inspired Newton's theory of gravity, and lends its name to the tech company Apple.
If you are a sore loser, you are often called the sour variety of this fruit.
The idiom 'sour grapes' describes someone who bitterly dismisses something they failed to get, like a sore loser.
This for is a baked dish of fruit, or meat and vegetables, typically with a top and base of pastry.
This describes a pie, encased in pastry on both its top and bottom.
Many people confuse me with a vegetable, but I'm actually a fruit. I'm red when I'm ripe, and I'm sliced and served on burgers.
Botanically a fruit despite being treated as a vegetable, tomatoes turn red when ripe and are commonly sliced onto burgers.
This orange vegetable is a favorite of Bugs Bunny.
Carrots are the orange vegetable famously munched on by Bugs Bunny.
This pastry is a fruit pie in which the principal filling ingredient is apples.
By definition, an apple pie is a fruit pie whose main filling is apples.
Often cooked as fillet, this meat comes from an animal that swims underwater.
Fish fillets are a common way of preparing fish, an animal that lives and swims in water.
This orange colored fruit gets its name from its color.
The orange is one of the rare cases where the fruit gave its name to the color, not the other way around.
This food is made of grated potatoes smashed together and fried in the form of a tot.
Tater tots are made from finely grated, formed, and fried potatoes shaped into small tot-sized pieces.
Edible beach crawler served at seafood restaurants, similar to a lobster, but quite different.
Crabs are crustaceans that crawl on beaches and are served in seafood restaurants, similar to but distinct from lobster.
This food, made from pork, is often eaten alongside eggs and bacon.
Sausage is a classic pork-based breakfast food commonly served alongside eggs and bacon.
You'll see savory dishes in Hong Kong sizzling in these.
The wok is the traditional round-bottomed pan used throughout Chinese and Hong Kong cooking for stir-frying sizzling dishes.
Although I may have eyes, I cannot see. I have a round brown face with lots of acne. What am I?
Potatoes have small growth buds called "eyes" and a bumpy brown skin that can resemble a face with acne.
A close relative of ketchup that people often spread on their dog.
Mustard is a condiment related to ketchup that people often put on a hot dog, playfully called 'their dog.'
This small, rolled tortilla usually has meat or cheese filling, and was originally invented in Mexico.
Taquitos are small rolled and fried tortillas filled with meat or cheese, a dish that originated in Mexico.
This food is usually grilled and put between two buns, with cheese, tomato and pickles.
A hamburger is grilled and served between two buns with classic toppings like cheese, tomato, and pickles.
The lunch destination of choice for teenagers and hospital employees.
Both schools and hospitals commonly have cafeterias where students and staff eat lunch.
What is an astronaut's favorite snack?
It's a pun on 'spaceships' -- an astronaut's favorite snack is playfully called 'space chips.'
This breakfast food is thin, flat cake or batter, usually fried and turned in a pan. It is often enjoyed with butter and syrup.
Pancakes are thin, flat, fried batter cakes traditionally served with butter and syrup.
This dish consists of a rolled tortilla with a filling typically of beef or chicken and served with a chili sauce.
An enchilada is a rolled, filled tortilla covered in chili sauce.
I'm a long, green-skinned fruit with watery flesh, usually eaten raw in salads or pickled.
A cucumber is long and green-skinned with watery flesh, commonly eaten raw in salads or pickled.
What can provide food before it is alive, while it is alive and after it's dead?
As an egg it feeds you before it's born, as a hen it lays more eggs while alive, and as meat it feeds you after being slaughtered.
I am yellow on the outside, white inside, and very appealing. What am I?
A banana has yellow skin and white flesh inside, and "a-peel-ing" is a pun on its peel.
I am the type of room you can not enter or leave. Raise from the ground below. I could be poisonous or a delicious treat. What am I?
A mushroom hides the word 'room' inside its name, rises up from the ground overnight, and depending on the species can be either a deadly poison or a delicious treat.
As soft as silk, as white as milk, as bitter as gall, a thick green wall, and a green coat covers me all.
A walnut has a soft, milky-white inner kernel that tastes slightly bitter, wrapped in a hard shell ("green wall") inside its outer green husk before it ripens.
This food is a Thanksgiving tradition.
Roast turkey is the centerpiece dish of a traditional Thanksgiving meal.
I am a nut with a hole. What am I?
This is a playful pun -- a donut is a ring-shaped sweet treat with a hole in the middle, jokingly called a 'nut.'
I am the kind of food monkey likes, and people slip on me and fall in cartoons. What am I?
Bananas are a favorite monkey snack and a classic cartoon slipping hazard thanks to their peel.
Ketchup's slightly less popular brother.
Mustard is another classic condiment bottle, usually standing right next to ketchup but a bit less favored.
This dip for chips is a spanish style sauce, mainly consisting of peppers, diced tomatoes and spices for a spicy flavor.
A spicy sauce of tomatoes, peppers, and spices served as a dip is salsa.
What has ears but can't hear?
An 'ear of corn' is the name for its edible part, but corn obviously has no ability to hear anything.
My first is in fish but no in snail. My second is in rabbit but no in tail. My third is in up but not in down. My fourth is in tiara but not in crown. My fifth is in tree you plainly see. My whole a food for you and me.
Each clue hides one letter of FRUIT - F from fish, R from rabbit, U from up, I from tiara, and T from tree - spelling out this everyday food.
What do you call a dog that sweats so much?
This is a pun on 'hot dog,' since an overheated, sweating dog would be a 'hot' dog.
I'm a vegetable that is a long, green stalk. I'm usually eaten at thanksgiving with cheese or peanut butter.
Celery stalks are often eaten with cream cheese or peanut butter, and celery is a common Thanksgiving side dish.
What kind of apple has a short temper?
'Crab apple' contains the word 'crab,' and being 'crabby' means being short-tempered.
I'm a dish of ground meat formed into a loaf shape, mixed with egg and breadcrumbs, then baked or smoked.
Ground meat shaped into a loaf with egg and breadcrumbs, then baked, is exactly meat loaf.
I'm usually served alongside burgers. I'm crispy golden potato sticks.
French fries are crispy golden potato sticks commonly served alongside burgers.
This food is a staple grain in many pantries worldwide. You often steam or boil it and serve it in a variety of different ways. One brand touts the fact that it can be cooked in 1 minute.
Rice is a pantry staple boiled or steamed worldwide, and instant rice brands famously advertise a one-minute cook time.
What hatches without food?
Hunger is a feeling that arises precisely when you lack food -- it 'hatches' (comes into being) without any food needed to trigger it.
What starts out in a field and then crashed on a stone. It becomes much more when to the fire it's thrown?
Wheat starts as grain in a field, gets ground between millstones into flour, and becomes bread once baked in a fire or oven.
Taking this from a baby is said to be quite easy.
This plays on the idiom 'like taking candy from a baby,' meaning something very easy.
This toasted sandwich is made with bacon, lettuce and tomato.
A BLT sandwich consists of Bacon, Lettuce, and Tomato, usually toasted.
These are crisp, green, and are found near deli sandwiches.
A pickle spear is the classic crisp, green side served alongside deli sandwiches.
This crisp stick-shaped roll is often enjoyed with soup or marinara sauce.
Breadsticks are the crisp, stick-shaped bread often served alongside soup or Italian meals with marinara.
I stink up your breath and fights evil vampires. What am I?
Garlic gives you strong-smelling breath and is famously believed in folklore to ward off vampires.
High fat reward for making it through another solar cycle.
This is a roundabout way of describing birthday cake, the treat you get for completing another year, or solar cycle, of life.