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.

Japanese Ship Thief

A Japanese ship was en route in the open sea. The Japanese captain went for a shower removing his diamond ring and Rolex watch on the table. When he returned, his valuables were missing. The captain immediately called the five suspected crew members and asked each one where and what he was doing for the last 15 minutes.

The Filipino cook in a heavy overcoat said, “I was in fridge room getting meat for cooking.”

The Indian Engineer with a torch in hand said, “I was working on generator engine.”

The Sri Lankan seaman said, “I was on the mast (top of the ship) correcting the flag which was upside down by mistake.”

The British radio officer said, “I was messaging to company that we are reaching the next port in 72 hours. From now that is Wednesday morning at 10 AM.

The British navigation officer said, “I am on night watch, so sleeping in my cabin.”

The captain caught the thief who apparently lied. So who is the thief?

Riddle Answer

The Missing Servant

A king has 100 identical servants, each with a different rank between 1 and 100. At the end of each day, each servant comes into the king’s quarters, one-by-one, in a random order, and announces his rank to let the king know that he is done working for the day. For example, servant 14 comes in and says, “Servant 14, reporting in.”

One day, the king’s aide comes in and tells the king that one of the servants is missing, though he isn’t sure which one.

Before the other servants begin reporting in for the night, the king asks for a piece of paper to write on to help him figure out which servant is missing. Unfortunately, all that’s available is a very small piece that can only hold one number at a time. The king is free to erase what he writes and write something new as many times as he likes, but he can only have one number written down at a time.

The king’s memory is bad and he won’t be able to remember all the exact numbers as the servants report in, so he must use the paper to help him.

How can he use the paper such that once the final servant has reported in, he’ll know exactly which servant is missing?

Riddle Answer

Ex-Wife Murder

“Who shot her?” cried Rogers as he rushed into the hospital three minutes after his ex-wife died from a bullet through her head.

“Just a minute, Mr. Rogers,” said Professor Stiggins. “We’ll have to ask you a few questions-routine, you know. Although divorced for the past six months, you have been living in the same house with your ex-wife, have you not?”

“That’s right,” replied Rogers.

“Had any trouble recently?”

“Well, yesterday, when I told her I was going on a business trip, she threatened to commit suicide. In fact, I grabbed a bottle of iodine from her as she was about to drink it. When I left last evening at seven, however, telling her I was spending the night with friends in Sewickley, she made no objection. Returning to town this afternoon,” continued Rogers, “I called my home and the maid answered.”

“Just what did she say?” inquired Stiggins.

“‘Oh, Mr. Rogers, they took poor mistress to St. Ann’s Hospital abbout half an hour ago. Please hurry to her.’ “She was crying, so I couldn’t get anything else out of her; then I hurried here. Where is she?”

“The nurse will direct you,” said Stiggins with a nod.

“A queer case, this, Professor,” said Inspector Kelley. “These moderns are a little too much for me, I’m afraid. A man and woman living together after being divorced six months!”

“A queer case indeed, Inspector,” mused the professor, “and you’d better detain Mr. Rogers. If he didn’t shoot her himself, I’m confident he knows who did.”

Why did the professor advise the Inspector to detain Rogers?

Riddle Answer

The Servant’s Wish

Once upon a time, in the West Lake village, a servant lived with his master. After service of about 30 years, his master became ill and was going to die. One day, the master called his servant and asked him for a wish. It could be any wish but just one. The master gave him one day to think about it.

The servant became very happy and went to his mother for discussion about the wish. His mother was blind and she asked her son for making a wish for her eye-sight to come back. Then the servant went to his wife. She became very excited and asked for a son as they were childless for many years. After that, the servant went to his father who wanted to be rich and so he asked his son to wish for a lot of money.

The next day he went to his master and made one wish through which all the three (mother, father, wife) got what they wanted. What was the servant’s wish?

Riddle Answer

3 Mislabeled Boxes

You have three boxes. One has only red marbles, one has only blue marbles and the third has an equal number of red and blue marbles. The labels on the boxes have intentionally been switched so that each box is now marked incorrectly.

Your job is to relabel the boxes correctly. Of course you could just look in the boxes to find out which labels match, but can you do it without looking into each box? Reach into any one of the boxes and select one marble. Can you now correctly label all three boxes? If not, select a second marble from any box. What is the fewest number of marbles you need to inspect in order to correctly label each box?

Riddle Answer

Long Riddles

Japanese Ship Thief

The Missing Servant

Ex-Wife Murder

The Servant’s Wish

3 Mislabeled Boxes

About

Riddles

Social Media