Long Riddles

Long riddles with answers test your problem solving skills. These lengthy puzzles test your ability to piece together information and find the answer.

Car License Plates

Detective Ixolite was investigating a murder. It was a difficult case, and Ixolite was completely stumped until he noticed a message sent to him by the killer cunningly hidden in a newspaper advertisement selling car licence plates.

Detective Ixolite thought about it for a while, and when he had solved the puzzle, immediately arrested the guilty man.

This is the newspaper advert (car licence plates for sale) that Inspector Ixolite saw.

Car License Plates For Sale:
W  05  NWO
H  13  HSR
O  05  EBM
D  08  UNE
U  10  HTY
N  04  BRE
N  16  TTE
I  26  LHC
T  10  AEE
I  26  CNA
X  22  VDA

How did Ixolite know the advert was a clue for him? Solve the code and determine who Ixolite arrested.

Riddle Answer

Puzzle of the Matches

A friend of mine emptied a box of matches on the table and divided them into three heaps, while we stood around him wondering what he was going to do next.

He looked up and said, “Well friends, we have here three uneven heaps. Of course you know that a match box contains altogether 48 matches. This I don’t have to tell you. And I am not going to tell you how many there are in each heap.”

“What do you want us to do?” one of the men shouted.

“Look well, and think. If I take off as many matches from the first heap as there are in the second and add them to the second, and then take as many from the second as there are in the third and add them to the third, and lastly if I take as many from the third as there are in the first and add them to the first—then the heaps will all have equal number of matches.”

As we all stood there puzzled he asked, “Can you tell me how many were there originally in each heap?” Can you?

Riddle Answer

3 Hats Puzzle

Three wise men are told to stand in a straight line, one in front of the other. A hat is put on each of their heads. They are told that each of these hats was selected from a group of five hats: three black hats and two white hats. The first man, let’s call him A, at the rear, can see both other men and their hats. The second man, B, in the middle, can see only the last man and his hat. The last man, C, standing at the front of the line, can’t see either of the men behind him or their hats.

None of the men can see the hat on his own head.

When A is asked if he knows the color of the hat he is wearing, he says no. When B is asked if he knows the color of the hat he is wearing he says no. When C is asked if he knows the color of the hat he is wearing he says, “Yes, my hat is black.”

He is correct. How did he come to this conclusion?

Riddle Answer

Murder at Freemont Street

A crime has been committed at Freemont Street. The main suspect is a man named Sean Baker. It was said that a man had been walking along the pathway when he was suddenly shot in the stomach. The suspect had brown hair, blue eyes and wore a baggy Armani suit just like Sean Baker’s.

Sean was asked to tell the story right from the beginning. “Well,” said Sean, “I was just hanging around the park when I saw this man walking along the pathway. Suddenly, a guy came up from behind him and shot him! I ran home as fast as I could.”

The policemen asked him to give a description of the murderer. “He had a red moustache, red hair and a baggy Armani suit on.”

“I think this man is telling a lie,” said one of the policemen. How did he know?

Riddle Answer

Fake Police Report

One murder happened in a village. A police officer instructed two police constables to go to the crime scene, investigate and prepare an preliminary incident report.

It was already past midnight and the crime scene was far away from the police station. The two constables decided not to travel to the crime scene and came up with a fake incident report instead. Below is the report.

When we reached the spot, the door was open and one man aged between 40-45 was found dead lying on the floor. The light and fan were switched on. There were some items found on a table:
– One open bottle of poison,
– One half filled drinking water bottle,
– One fountain pen,
– One newspaper was flipped open, pages 9 and 10 facing each other,
– One table top calendar showing June 20,
– One notebook.
The person committed suicide by drinking the poison.

After reading the incident report, the police officer immediately knew that it was fake. How did he know?

Riddle Answer