Riddles can help sharpen the mind and openup new thought processes.Practicing riddles each day can help simplify thinking, provide better memory retention and improve cognitive capabilities. Even challenging riddles can be solved if you use a few simple techniques.

• Which common English word becomes shorter when you add two letters?
  Shorter
• Which word in the English language is always spelled incorrectly?
  Incorrectly
• Which is the longest word in the English language?
  Smiles
• Which colour in the English language doesn’t rhyme with any other English words?
  Orange
• Which is the only self-enumerating number in English?
  Four
• Which is the word in English that has nine lettersand remains a word at each step even when you remove one letter from it, right up to a single letter remaining. List each letter as you remove them, along with the resulting word at each step?

‘Startling’ is the word. Begin by removing ‘l’, which makes it ‘starting’, then take away the ‘t’, making it ‘staring’, and so on – string; sting; sing; sin; in; and, I.

• Which English word has three consecutive double letters?
  Bookkeeper
• Remove six letters from this sequence to reveal a familiar English word.
  BSAINXLEATNTEARS
  The familiar English word that remains is BANANA after removing the phrase SIX LETTERS.
• Which letter in the English alphabet holds the most water?
  The letter C. (Sea)
• What am I? This word has 6 letters. Letters 2,4 and 6 are the same. If you jump 7 letters from the 1st letter, you get the 3rd letter and if you jump 7 letters again from the 3rd you get the 5th Guess the word.

DELETE – 2,4 and 6 letters is ‘E’. If you jump 7 letters from D you get 3rd letter which is ‘I’. If you jump 7 letters from ‘I’ you will get ‘T’ which is fifth letter.

Priyanka Ruchandani
Teacher