Archive for December, 2011

Brain Teasers for Adults

Thursday, December 8th, 2011

For centuries, brain teasers for adults have existed for the purposes of challenging the intelligence of the world’s population, and they have more than passed the test of time, considering they are incredibly fun and imaginative and are good at measuring how creative a person can be. Sometimes, brain teasers can really torment your mind, however; after all, while some of the answers are intelligent, some are awful, but people still generally enjoy them.

Most brain teasers for adults will generally require paying close attention to plays on words and double-meaning, and it will probably frustrate you, but you will still have fun while carefully testing your skills at logic. Good brain teasers for adults are enjoyed by many, not just by adults but by kids as well. Many different types of brain teasers for adults exist, such as logic puzzles, sudoku puzzles, tricky riddles, brain games and much more.

These days, there are perhaps innumerable riddles and brain teasers for adults available on the Internet and in puzzle books found in any super market or book store. These can also prove to be excellent gifts to give to a friend of a relative during the holidays. Finally, you can even find sudoku, word puzzles and brain teasers for adults even the local newspaper on a daily basis.

In this article, you can find additional hints that will help you unlock the master of logic, but first, you can try your hand with a few of these practice brain teasers.

Q: A man at work suddenly was unable to successfully log in to his terminal. After trying twice, his password remained incorrect, and then he remembered that every month, the passwords were automatically reset for the purposes of security. Because of this, he called his boss and told him “my password is out of date.” In response, his boss agreed and stated “The password is different. Now listen carefully — I know you can figure this out. Your new password features the same amount of letters as before, and four of the letters are still the same.” The man thanked his boss and correctly logged in to his terminal. What are his passwords?

A: The old password was “out of date.” The new password is “different.”

Q: Another man at work — also for the purposes of security — decided he wanted to encrypt his password, but he had to figure out how to do it so that he would remember it without a problem. He was required to use seven alphanumeric characters — which means it consists of only numbers and letters, not symbols. To remember this new password, he wrote “you force heaven to be empty.” What is his new encrypted password?

A: U472BMT. Say the characters out loud just like the sentence: “you four-seven to be em-tee.” A play on words!

Q: I am the start of sorrow but the end of sickness. It is impossible to express happiness without me, but I am also the midst of one’s crossness. I will never be in danger, though I am always in risk. You might find me in the sun, but you will not find me out of darkness. What am I?

A: The letter S.

In modern times, brain teasers are actually a part of interviewing for a job sometimes. This is because it is very helpful when analyzing a potential candidate. If you find yourself having to solve a very hard riddle, you must keep in mind that they are designed to trick you and catch you off-guard. Here are a few tips to help:

  • Look for anything that could potentially have a double-meaning and do not make assumptions.
  • Break apart the riddle if it has more than a few lines, and then individually analyze them
  • Dissect the key words to determine how they can be misleading.
  • Brain teasers involving letters usually involve the alphabet. For example, how would you file an ax? Under the letter A, of course!
  • Know that brain teasers are always fun due to the fact that the solution is both mundane and somehow non-perceivable. For example, how would one figure out the difference between a good lawyer and a great lawyer? The answer to this one is that the good lawyer knows his laws while the great lawyer knows his judges.

Sometimes, you might even find some optical illusions that will contain either misleading or otherwise deceptive pictures. The purpose of these brain teasers for adults is to focus both the eye and mind on the image and to attempt solving the answer hidden within. Similar to these, brain teasers will also engage and entangle your brain, hoping that you will forget your worries, even if just for a little while. This also means that brain teasers, while deceptive, are actually very good stress relievers.