10 silly trick questions

A farm.

My boss at my last job was a big fan of trick questions, and during my time working there he would often ask us quite a few puzzlers. Here are a few of those trick questions to get the brain juices flowing...

1) Bob's father has five sons named Ten, Twenty, Thirty, Forty and...  What was the fifth son called?


2) A farmer owns a square farm measuring five miles long by five miles wide.  He walks a lap of his land to check the fence, and it takes him eighty minutes to walk the first side, eighty minutes to walk the second side, and eighty minutes to walk the third side.  However, it takes him one hour and twenty minutes to walk the fourth side.  Why?


3) What's red and smells like blue paint?

What can you put into a barrel to make it weigh less?

4) If you're in a race and you overtake the person in second place, what place are you in?


5) A man owns a barrel which weights 100 kilos.  He puts something in the barrel.  It now weighs only 99 kilos.  What did he put in the barrel?


6) When does 10 + 4 = 2?


7) What was the tallest mountain on Earth before Mount Everest was discovered?


8) Imagine you're trapped in a house where all the doors and windows are locked.  Security guards are stationed inside the house and guard dogs are stationed outside the house.  There are no phones or internet inside the house. How do you escape?

What's the fastest thing in Africa?
Remember, it's a trick question!

9) What's the fastest thing in Africa?


10) Finally, here's one which will have your head going round in circles...

What is your chance of answering this multiple choice question correctly?
A) 25%
B) 50%
C) 0%
D) 25%

. . . . . . . .

Scroll down the page for the answers...














1) Bob's father has five sons named Ten, Twenty, Thirty, Forty and...  What was the fifth son called?
Answer: Bob.

Red paint smells like blue paint.

2) A farmer owns a square farm measuring five miles long by five miles high.  He walks a lap of his land to check the fence, and it takes him eighty minutes to walk the first side, eighty minutes to walk the second side, and eighty minutes to walk the third side.  However, it takes him one hour and twenty minutes to walk the fourth side.  Why?
Answer: One hour and twenty minutes is eighty minutes.


3) What's red and smells like blue paint?
Answer: Red paint.


4) If you're in a race and you overtake the person in second place, what place are you in?
Answer: Second place.


5) A man owns a barrel which weights 100 kilos.  He puts something in the barrel.  It now weighs only 99 kilos.  What did he put in the barrel?
Answer: A hole.

Mount Everest

6) When does 10 + 4 = 2?
Answer: On a clock.


7) What was the tallest mountain on Earth before Mount Everest was discovered?
Answer: Mount Everest. Just because it hadn't been discovered didn't mean it wasn't still the tallest mountain.


8) Imagine you're trapped in a house where all the doors and windows are locked.  Security guards are stationed inside the house and guard dogs are stationed outside the house.  There are no phones or internet inside the house.  How do you escape?
Answer: You stop imagining.


9) What's the fastest thing in Africa?
Answer: Light.


10) Finally, here's one which will have your head going round in circles...
What is your chance of answering this multiple choice question correctly?
a) 25%
b) 50%
c) 0%
d) 25%

Answer: Number 10 is totally a trick question because there is no correct answer.  It's mathematically illogical.

Here's an an interesting fact regarding Mount Everest to round things off.  When the Great Trigonometric Survey first measured the height of Mount Everest in 1854, they measured its height as exactly 29,000 feet.  However, they reasoned that such a rounded figure would make it seem like they had just made a rough estimate, so they they therefore added a couple of feet onto the official height to make it sound more believable and precise.