Collection · 16 riddles
Work, screens, paperwork and everyday habits. These original situation puzzles begin in familiar territory, then ask you to explain a decision or an event that seems to make no sense. The rules.
16 riddles
Modern lives · ★☆☆
A man takes one spoonful from the most beautiful bowl of cereal he has ever seen, spits it straight back out and apologises. Beside him, a woman he has never met bursts into tears. Nobody was poisoned, he took nobody's breakfast, and the bowl went in the bin an hour later. Why?
Modern lives · ★★☆
A woman is murdered in a yard behind six-metre walls. None of the surrounding buildings has a window or roof overlooking it. Yet a witness describes the killer's cap, shoulders and bag. He watched with his own eyes, without entering the yard or seeing the man's face. How?
Modern lives · ★★☆
A woman gets a furious letter from a stranger: her words gave away a film's twist twenty minutes in. She has never met him, written a review or discussed the film in public. Every sentence she wrote was accurate, yet one word spoiled the ending. What happened?
Modern lives · ★★★
A technician climbs alone into a wind turbine for a routine repair. His two colleagues wait at the foot of the tower. An hour later, without a single call from him, they phone for help: they know he is dead. He did not fall, nothing fell on him, and nobody else went up. How is that possible?
Modern lives · ★★☆
A man parks in the garage attached to his house, drops the keys in his pocket and pulls the door shut. He has dinner with his wife and goes to bed. Both are found dead in their bed by morning. No break-in, and the boiler is ruled out. The car has not moved, and its tank is empty. What happened?
Modern lives · ★☆☆
Two neighbours across the landing make a month-long bet: whoever walks the least pays for dinner. Each has a watch that counts the steps. The first walks two hours a day. The second has not left his flat, owns no treadmill, and it is his watch that shows the most steps. How is that possible?
Modern lives · ★★☆
Every day at noon, a man gets an alert from his mother's video doorbell: the meal delivery. This Wednesday the alert comes at the usual time and shows the usual driver, who sets the meal down and leaves, as he does every day. The man, who has not spoken to his mother since yesterday, calls an ambulance at once. Why?
Modern lives · ★★☆
A woman is found dead at the foot of her stairs. The police call it an accident: no sign of a struggle, no footprints, the house is spotless. Three days later a detective comes back, crouches over a small round device sitting against the skirting board, and has the husband arrested. What happened?
Modern lives · ★☆☆
Since her husband's funeral, a woman has had a message from him every morning at seven. A few words, never the same twice. She replies; he never answers. Her husband's phone has been switched off in a drawer for ten days. How is that possible?
Modern lives · ★★☆
A car mounts the kerb and stops against a lamp post. Nobody is hurt, and neither occupant has moved from their seat. Behind the wheel is a twenty-year-old woman with no driving licence. Beside her is a man she met an hour ago. The police fine him, and only him. Why?
Modern lives · ★★★
One morning a man's bank writes to say his account is closed: the holder has died. He goes to the register office, where a clerk hands him a death certificate in his own name, dated three months earlier. Nobody mistyped anything, and there is no namesake. What happened?
Modern lives · ★☆☆
At three in the morning a man walks his orchard, lighting hundreds of small flames one by one between the trees. He is not lighting the place up, he is not smoking anything out, and he burns nothing that grows there. At sunrise he blows every flame out and goes to bed. Why?
Modern lives · ★☆☆
An unknown runner crosses the line first among the women at the city marathon. She started with everyone else, wore her own number the whole way, and thousands saw her finish. Two hours later, without a single witness against her, the organisers take her medal back. How do they know?
Modern lives · ★★☆
For a year a man has crossed off one box every evening on the kitchen calendar. He is not counting down to a trip, or a visit, or anyone's return. On the evening he crosses off the box he has been waiting for, he lays his papers out on the table and takes his own life. Why?
Modern lives · ★☆☆
Four hours on the tarmac: the aircraft is faultless, the tanks are full, the sky is clear, and the airport at the other end never closes. When the tower finally clears the flight for takeoff, the captain shuts down the engines and cancels it. He is neither ill nor drunk, and he has been on duty since dawn. Why?
Modern lives · ★★☆
For six years, a bank clerk has not taken a single day off. First in, last out, never once off sick. This year head office orders him to take two weeks' leave. He spends them at home, doing nothing anyone could hold against him, and he is arrested before he is due back. Why?
