1. Two men go to their local tennis club and play three tennis matches. Both win and lose an equal number of matches. How is this possible, given that you cannot have a draw in a tennis match?
2. Tom is reading about ancient Greece. One of his history books shows a picture of the remains of a temple in Athens bearing the inscription 55BC. He looks in another book and sees a picture of exactly the same temple, but on this one the inscription reads AD55. How does Tom know which date must be inaccurate?
3. Two wine bottles are dropped over the side of a hot air balloon, which is stationary off the coast of France. If one was full and the other empty, which bottle hit the ground first?
4. Hiding under a table at his sister’s birthday party, Paul can see eight pairs of legs walking around in the living room. After a while, he watches everybody go into an adjoining room to get some food. How is it possible that there are still six legs left in the room?
5. Jack and his wife, Jill, are walking in the park with Bob and his wife Becky. Jack and Bob are brothers. They suddenly bump into Becky’s older brother who is playing football with his little boy, Jimmy. Jill exclaims to the little boy: “What a nice surprise to see my little nephew!” Explain.
6. A man and wife describe their children as follows: “They are all blonds, but two. They are all redheads but two. And they are all brunettes, but two.” How many children do they have?
7. At midnight it’s raining. How probable is it that it will be sunny 72 hours later?
1. They were not playing against each other.
2. 55BC must be inaccurate as BC stands for ‘Before Christ’ and the Christian date system was not in use before the birth of Christ.
3. Neither since the hot air balloon was positioned over the sea.
4. The table’s four legs and Paul’s make six altogether.
5. The two women are sisters. Jack and Bob are two brothers who have married two sisters.
6. Three. A blond, a redhead and a brunette.
7. Impossible. 72 hours later it will be midnight again.