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.

Murder in the Home of Married Couple

One evening there was a murder in the home of married couple, their son and daughter. One of these four people murdered one of the others. One of the members of the family witnessed the crime. The other one helped the murderer.

These are the things we know for sure:

  1. The witness and the one who helped the murderer were not of the same sex.
  2. The oldest person and the witness were not of the same sex.
  3. The youngest person and the victim were not of the same sex.
  4. The one who helped the murderer was older than the victim.
  5. The father was the oldest member of the family.
  6. The murderer was not the youngest member of the family.

Who was the murderer?

Riddle Answer

Clown and the King

Once upon a time there was a kingdom. A king and a clown lived in this kingdom. Unfortunately they hated each other so they agreed that they will poison each other one day.

There are only twelve vials of poison in whole kingdom and they are locked in one chamber in the castle.

The poisons have numbers from 1 to 12. The higher the number the stronger the poison. The effect on the human body is simple – you drink the poison, you die. Each stronger poison neutralizes all weaker poisons which means that poison 12 neutralizes all poisons, poison 11 neutralizes all poisons except poison 12, etc. If you drink poison 11 followed by poison 12 nothing happens. If you drink poison 12 and then poison 11 you die.

The king enters the chamber first and takes all the even numbered poisons (2, 4, 6, 8, 10, 12). The clown then enters and takes the odd numbered poisons. They meet in the throne hall where each fills one cup and hands it over to the other who immediately drinks it. Now each fills the cup once again, now for himself, and drinks it (hoping to save his own life).

Both the king and the clown primarily want to survive but want to poison the other. There is one dose of each poison – it’s not possible to divide it. The poisons are fluids without color or smell and they have the same consistency as water.

The clown survived and the king died from the poison. What did the clown do?

Riddle Answer

The Wisest Son

One day, a father went to his three sons and told them that he would die soon and he needed to decide which one of them to give his property to. He decided to give them all a test. He said, “Go to the market my sons, and purchase something that is large enough to fill my bedroom, but small enough to fit in your pocket. From this I will decide which of you is the wisest and worthy enough to inherit my land.”

So they all went to the market and bought something that they thought would fill the room, yet was still small enough that they could fit into their pockets. Each son came back with a different item. The father told his sons to come into his bedroom one at a time and try to fill up his bedroom with whatever they had purchased.

The first son came in and put some pieces of cloth that he had bought and laid them end to end across the room, but it barely covered any of the floor.

Then the second son came in and laid some hay, that he had purchased, on the floor but there was only enough to cover half of the floor.

The third son came in and showed his father what he had purchased and how it could fill the entire room yet still fit into his pocket.The father replied, “You are truly the wisest of all and you shall receive my property.” What was it that the son had showed to his father?

Riddle Answer

The Firing Squad

Pirate Pete had been captured by a Spanish general and sentenced to death by his 50-man firing squad.

Pete cringed, as he knew their reputation for being the worst firing squad in the Spanish military. They were such bad shots that they would often all miss their targets and simply maim their victims, leaving them to bleed to death, as the general’s tradition was to only allow one shot per man to save on ammunition. The thought of a slow painful death made Pete beg for mercy.

“Very well, I have some compassion. You may choose where the men stand when they shoot you and I will add 50 extra men to the squad to ensure someone will at least hit you. Perhaps if they stand closer they will kill you quicker, if you’re lucky,” snickered the general. “Oh, and just so you don’t get any funny ideas, they can’t stand more than 20 ft away, they must be facing you, and you must remain tied to the post in the middle of the yard. And to show I’m not totally heartless, if you aren’t dead by sundown I’ll release you so you can die peacefully outside the compound. I must go now but will return tomorrow and see to it that you are buried in a nice spot, though with 100 men, I doubt there will be much left of you to bury.”

After giving his instructions the general left. Upon his return the next day, he found that Pete had been set free alive and well. “How could this be?” demanded the general. “It was where Pete had us stand,” explained the captain of the squad.

Where did Pete tell them to stand?

Riddle Answer