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.

10 Cigarette Butts

Bruce is an inmate at a large prison, and like most of the other prisoners, he smokes cigarettes. During his time in the prison, Bruce finds that if he has 3 cigarette butts, he can cram them together and turn them into 1 full cigarette. Whenever he smokes a cigarette, it turns into a cigarette butt.

One day, Bruce is in his cell talking to one of his cellmates, Steve.

“I really want to smoke 5 cigarettes today, but all I have are these 10 cigarette butts,” Bruce tells Steve. “I’m not sure that will be enough.”

“Why don’t you borrow some of Tom’s cigarette butts?” asks Steve, pointing over to a small pile of cigarette butts on the bed of their third cellmate, Tom, who is out for the day on a community service project.

“I can’t,” Bruce says. “Tom always counts exactly how many cigarette butts are in his pile, and he’d probably kill me if he noticed that I had taken any.”

However, after thinking for a while, Bruce figures out a way that he can smoke 5 cigarettes without angering Tom. What is his plan?

Riddle Answer

The Emperor’s Challenge

The emperor’s troops have captured you, the leader, and your 8 soldiers. He says he will execute you all but has given you the chance to take his challenge.

The emperor says that you and your platoon will be free if you survive his challenge, else, you will all die.

The emperor says that he will drug you and your 8 soldiers and put you all in the middle of a dry desert at a crossroads. There are 4 paths – one North, one East, one South, and one West, each which takes 8 hours to walk. One of the paths leads to a village that, if you find, ensures your freedom. When you all wake up, you may lead your soldiers to freedom.

You accept the challenge.

Before the emperor drugs you and your soldiers, he offers his advice. One should not wander off the paths, for if they do, they will surely get lost and die and furthermore you and your soldiers only have a day, 24 hours, to find the correct path to the village. Any more time in the desert and you all will die from thirst and hunger.

When you wake up in the desert you find a note in your pocket from the emperor. It reads: “I forgot to mention – two of your soldiers are my spies. They may or may not lie to you, but it is in their best interest to prevent you from reaching the village. The spies are peaceful, so they will not hurt you or your soldiers.”

As you fold the note up and tuck it away, your soldiers begin to wake up and the challenge begins.

Reaching the village in 24 hours is possible without trickery (digging for water, finding and oasis, having the spies tell you where the village is) and without anyone dying. The emperor has not tried to trick you in anyway either.

You must depend on your logic and reasoning. What is your solution?

Riddle Answer

17 Horses

A farmer wanted to divide his 17 horses among his three sons. According to the farmer, the oldest son should get half of the horses,the middle son should get one third of the horses and the youngest son should get one ninth of the horses.

When their father died they were not able to divide the horses as the result was coming in fractions. As the sons were fighting on how to divide the horses a traveling mathematician came and heard their problem. He proposed a solution with which all the sons got their share in the property without harming any animal.

What was the advice given and how the group of horses were divided?

Riddle Answer

Safe Conduct

Bumbletown had the most robbed bank in the land. The unfortunate clerk was frequently forced to open the safe, and the bank had lost so much money, that Mr Good, the bank manager, was going bald.

Then one day, Mr Good had an idea. His nephew, Fumble, should be the bank clerk. Now Fumble was the ideal man for the job. His memory was so bad, one could be sure that no robber could ever force him to remember the safe combination. Furthermore, his poor powers of recall were matched by a superb talent for puzzling things out. This meant that whenever Fumble needed to know the safe combination, all he had to do was obtain the following conundrum from Mr Good, which he could solve to reveal the five-digit safe combination.

‘The fourth digit is four greater than the second digit. There are three pairs of digits that each sum to 11. The third of the five digits is three less than the second. The first digit is three times the fifth digit.’

Of the 100,000 possible numbers, which was the correct safe combination?

Riddle Answer

Six Grave Plot

While ambling about your local cemetery, you stumble upon a grave marker situated before a six-grave plot. Glancing down, you notice an inscription upon the family stone. It reads:

Here lie…
2 Grandmothers with their 2 Granddaughters
2 Husbands with their 2 Wives
2 Fathers with their 2 Daughters
2 Mothers with their 2 Sons
2 Maidens with their 2 Mothers
2 Sisters with their 2 Brothers

Yet but 6 corpses all lie buried here. All born legitimate, from incest clear. How is this possible?

Riddle Answer

Long Riddles

10 Cigarette Butts

The Emperor’s Challenge

17 Horses

Safe Conduct

Six Grave Plot

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