TWO RHYMING RIDDLES

1)

I carry many letters,
And though it's strange to say,
I stay the same no matter
How many you take away.

2)
My first is a number, my second another,
And each I assure you will rhyme with the other.
My first you will find is 1/5 of my second,
And truly my whole 80 years may be reckoned.
Yet my first and my second, no less and no more,
When added together will make twenty-four.

Answers:

1. Mailman
2. Fourscore

FOUR RHYMING RIDDLES

1)
Though I do not speak, I oft impart
The secret wishes of the heart;
I may deceive, may make amends,
May create foes, and yet make friends.
The harshest anger I can disarm,
Such is the power of my charm.

2)
A single syllable do I claim,
Black was my most famous name;
Fatal to mortals here below,
Thousands have I slain in a single blow.
Take off my first two letters and you'll find,
A second syllable now is mine;
Though not so deadly to mankind,
Yet I wrack the body and the mind.

3)
In earlier days, when hope was bright,
You spoke to me of love and light;
But now you tell another tale,
That life is brief and beauty frail.
As now we grieve, did we once rejoice,
To your unfelt, unfeeling voice.

4)
Across the world my empire does extend,
And while I live, my reign shall never end;
By all I'm loved, though almost all do I deceive,
Yet what I promise next they all believe.
I lead to Heaven, but am not needed there;
Earth is my sphere---amid mortal care.
If in vain you seek my name,
Search your heart, for there I am.

Answers:

1. Smile
2. Plague/ague
3. Church bell
4. Hope

FOUR RHYMING RIDDLES

1)
I've seen you where you never were,
And where you never will be;
And if you would be so inclined,
You could say the same of me.

2)
Goes to the door, but doesn't rap,
Goes to the window, but doesn't tap;
Though uninvited, a welcome guest,
When long without him, we are hard-pressed.

3)
It has neither top nor bottom,
It has no beginning or end;
Yet how it doth bind us,
Earthly women and men.

4) Credit: Robert B. Brough (1828-1860)

Cut off my head, and you'll quickly see
Something disliked by you and by me;
Cut off my tail, and then it is clear
The past of a verb will quickly appear;
Cut off my head and my tail also,
You'll have a conjunction then I know.
Whole, I'm an insect, feared when seen,
Dreaded at picnics in meadows green.
To critics, to acquaintances, to intimate friends,
My name a most delicate piquancy lends,
When they smile in their guile, and hiss as they sing,
And hide under flatteries a venomous sting.

Answers:
1. reflection in a mirror
2. sunlight
3. wedding ring
4. wasp/asp/was/as

FIVE RHYMING RIDDLES

1)
I'm not an airplane, though I fly through the sky;
I'm not a river, though I am full of water.

2)
He went to the wood and caught it;
He sat himself down and sought it;
Because he could not find it,
Home with him he brought it.

3)
Built long ago, yet made today,
Employed while others sleep;
What few would like to give away,
Nor any wish to keep.

4)
It has four fingers and one thumb,
It's neither fish, flesh, fowl, nor bone.

5)
What shoemaker makes shoes without leather,
With all four elements put together?
Fire and water, earth and air,
Every customer has two pair.

Answers:
1. cloud
2. thorn in a man's foot
3. bed
4. glove
5. horseshoe-maker

NATIONAL LEAGUE I
Credit: GAMES Magazine - Jan. 1987

Laurie Eynon

Each word or pair of words below is commonly associated with a particular nationality. For example, junk and checkers both would follow Chinese. Can you name the nationality that goes with the following:

1. Toast
2. Tape
3. Meatballs
4. Muffin
5. Roulette
6. Shepherd and Measles
7. Omelet
8. Oven and Treat
9. Coffee and Stew
10. Goulash
11. Bath and Delight
12. Steak and Cheese
13. Ice
14. Lantern
15. Bacon
16. Checkers

Answers:

1. French toast
2. Scotch tape
3. Swedish meatballs
4. English muffin
5. Russian roulette
6. German shepherd/measles
7. Spanish omelet
8. Dutch oven/treat
9. Irish coffee/stew
10. Hungarian goulash
11. Turkish bath/delight
12. Swiss steak/cheese
13. Italian ice
14. Japanese lantern
15. Canadian bacon
16. Chinese checkers

MIXED MESSAGES
Credit: GAMES Magazine
May, 2000

Stephen Sniderman

Sometimes folk wisdom, as represented by proverbs and cliches, can contradict itself. For example, we're told that all good things come to those who wait, but then we're also supposed to make hay while the sun shines. Each proverb below has a match that offers opposing insight or advice.

1. Absence makes the heart grow fonder.
2. Many hands make light work.
3. Haste makes waste.
4. Birds of a feather flock together.
5. All that glitters is not gold.
6. It's never too late to learn.
7. You can't judge a book by its cover.
8. Better safe than sorry.
9. All's fair in love and war.
10. Silence is golden.
11. Don't change horses in midstream.
12. The pen is mightier than the sword.
13. Hitch your wagon to a star.
14. Don't put off until tomorrow what you can do today.
15. Two's company - three's a crowd.
16. Beware of Greeks bearing gifts.
17. He who hesitates is lost.
18. A man's reach should exceed his grasp.
19. To thine own self be true.
20. You can't beat a dead horse.
21. Two heads are better than one.
22. Talk is cheap.
23. What will be will be.
24. Cross that bridge when you come to it.
25. Knowledge is power.

Answers:

1. Out of sight, out of mind.
2. Too many cooks spoil the broth.
3. He who hesitates is lost.
4. Opposites attract. (Familiarity breeds contempt.)
5. Seeing is believing.
6. You can't teach an old dog new tricks.
7. Clothes make the man. (What you see is what you get.)
8. Nothing ventured, nothing gained.
9. Cheaters never prosper.
10. The squeaky wheel gets the grease.
11. Variety is the spice of life.
12. Actions speak louder than words.
13. Don't bite off more than you can chew.
14. Cross that bridge when you come to it.
15. The more the merrier.
16. Don't look a gift horse in the mouth.
17. Look before you leap.
18. A bird in the hand is worth two in the bush.
19. When in Rome, do as the Romans.
20. If at first you don't succeed, try, try again.
21. If you want something done right, do it yourself.
22. Money talks.
23. Life is what you make it.
24. Forewarned is forearmed.
25. Ignorance is bliss.

SECOND BANANA

How many expressions can you think of that are second something---as in second hand?

(Possible) Answers:

banana/ best/ Coming/ Estate/ fiddle/ nature/ rate/ sight/ class/ thought/ wind/ gear/ childhood/ cousin/ guess/ string/ mortgage/ self/ time around/ lieutenant/ chance/ the motion/ opinion/ place

PRESTO - CHANGE-O  I
Credit: GAMES Magazine
December, 1985

N.M. Meyer

Change one letter in each of the three words in each line below to get three new words that are members of the same category. For example, given BIRTH, YAK, and PINT, you could change a single letter in each to get BIRCH, OAK, and PINE. No re-arrangement of letters is necessary.

1. AMPLE.....DEMON.....GRANGE
2. SQUIRE.....OPAL.....ECLIPSE
3. PORCH.....HEARING.....TUNE
4. PARROT.....PAISLEY.....RAVISH
5. COOPER.....ICON.....CRANIUM
6. ANGLE.....KNEW.....GRIST
7. TICKLE.....CANTER.....FALLBACK
8. TANGY.....BUSTLE.....LITTERBUG
9. COLOR.....DISH.....BRACKEN
10. BRIDLE.....WAIST.....HEARTH
11. CROCKS.....PHONY.....DAILY

Answers:

1. APPLE.....LEMON.....ORANGE
2. SQUARE....OVAL.....ELLIPSE
3. PERCH.....HERRING.....TUNA
4. CARROT.....PARSLEY.....RADISH
5. COPPER.....IRON.....URANIUM
6. ANKLE.....KNEE.....WRIST
7. TACKLE.....CENTER.....FULLBACK
8. TANGO.....HUSTLE.....JITTERBUG
9. COLON.....DASH.....BRACKET
10. BRIDGE.....WHIST.....HEARTS
11. CROCUS.....PEONY.....DAISY

CHANGE-O-NYMS
Credit GAMES Magazine
May, 2005

Janet G. Lonergan

Take a deep breath. For each given word, begin with a synonym of that word. Then think of a homophone for that synonym. Now a synonym for that homophone. And now a homophone for that synonym, which must also be a synonym for the bottom word. For example, if the given word were CYCLED and the bottom word was ROUGH:

CYCLED
RODE
ROAD
COURSE
COARSE
ROUGH

1. AUCTION...........................PAINFUL
2. COUPLE.............................CHIME

3. ENTIRE..............................RAIN
4. ESTATE..............................UNKIND

Answers:

1. AUCTION/SALE/SAIL/SOAR/SORE/PAINFUL
2. COUPLE/PAIR/PARE/PEEL/PEAL/CHIME

3. ENTIRE/WHOLE/HOLE/PORE/POUR/RAIN
4. ESTATE/MANOR/MANNER/MIEN/MEAN/

UNKIND

FIVE OLD RIDDLES

1)
At night they come without being fetched,
And by day they are lost without being stolen.

2)
I tremble at each breath of air,
And yet can heaviest burdens bear.

3)

A messenger that could not speak,
Bearing a letter that was not written,
Came to a city on a mountain top,
In which all the world did dwell.

4)
My first denotes company;
My second shuns company;
My third summons company;
My whole amuses company.

5)
What houses do always murmur,
Babble and sometimes roar;
Yet those who dwell within them,
Speak not a word?

Answers:

1. Stars
2. Water
3. Dove, olive leaf, Noah's Ark atop Mt. Ararat
4. Conundrum .............. (co - nun - drum)
5. Streams, rivers, and oceans

From Emma by Jane Austen

My first displays the wealth and pomp of kings,
Lords of the earth! their luxury and ease.
Another view of man my second brings,
Behold him there, the monarch of the seas!

But ah! united what reverse we have!
Man's boasted power and freedom all are flown:
Lord of the earth and sea, he bends a slave,
And woman, lovely woman, reigns alone.

Thy ready wit the word will soon supply,
May its approval beam in that soft eye!

Answer:

COURTSHIP

A PUZZLING INSCRIPTION

1. Legend has it that the following inscription was found in a small church in Wales over the Ten Commandments. A single letter, inserted where appropriate, and then separating the words formed, will render it intelligible and appropriate.

P R S V R Y P R F C T M N
V R K P T H S P R C P T S T N

Answer:

The missing letter is "E". The inscription should read:

PERSEVERE YE PERFECT MEN
EVER KEEP THESE PRECEPTS TEN

FOUR RHYMING RIDDLES

1)

Before my birth I had a name,
But soon as born I changed the same.
And when I'm laid within the tomb,
My father's name I shall assume.

2)
My first is a thing for the feet,
My second adorns the fair head.
My whole is under the sheet,
Before anyone is in bed.

3)
A word of three letters and no more,
But if you add two, we are fewer than before.

4)
It has a tongue, but never talks,
It has no legs, but always walks; 
Eyes it has, but cannot see,
It has a soul---but not like me.

Answers:
1. Tomorrow/today/yesterday
2. Mattress
3. Few
4. Shoe

MORE WHAT AM I?

1)
Worth more to its owner than any could pay,
The undying token of one special day.
It notes the beginning, but shows of no end,
A constant reminder of one faithful friend.

2)
My whole has six letters and means safe and steady,
My last four letters are the partner of ready.
My last five spell a place you may eat,
My whole once again, the home of a beast.

3)
I'm used to describe things sold very cheap,
If you treat people like me, few friends you will keep.
I'm often discarded in a careless heap,
Yet without me surely all men would weep.
For I am the mother of all life on earth,
Though thought of as nothing, I'm of infinite worth.

Answers:

1. wedding ring
2. stable
3. dirt

WHAT AM I?

1)
I never was, but am always to be,
No one has ever, or ever will, see me;
And yet I am the hope and confidence of all,
Who live and breathe on this terrestrial ball.

2)
The beginning of eternity,
The end of time and space;
The beginning of every end,
And the end of every place.

3. A riddle posed to Homer by some fishermen. The legend is that Homer died of frustration at being unable to solve this riddle.

What we caught we left behind, but what we failed to catch we brought home with us.

OR
(What we caught we threw away; what we didn't catch we kept.)

4)

My life can be measured in hours,
I serve by being devoured.
Thin, I'm quick,
Fat, I'm slow,
The wind is ever, ever my foe.

5)
I'm named after nothing,
Though I'm awfully clamorous,
And when I'm not working,
Your house is less glamorous.

Answers:

1. tomorrow
2. the letter "e"
3. fleas (lice)
4. candle
5. vacuum cleaner