Riddles and Trick Puzzles
Riddles are one of the oldest form of puzzle, and can also be one of the most infuriating to solve.You will often 'get' the answer straight away or struggle with it for ages; some riddles may have more than one plausible answer. Another distinctive feature of the riddle that can infuriate is that they seem obvious once you know the answer, but can frustrate and baffle those who don't know what the answer is.
An example of a classic riddle would be something like "What is broken when you speak its name?" Again, think about it and you will soon come on the answer; it is obvious when you have the answer and if it took a time to find it you wonder why!
Trick Puzzles
Other puzzles in this sort of category can rely on you understanding some sort of 'trick' implicit in the question. We all know maths questions such as what is 342342 x 32423 x 0 x 43782 where of course the answer is 0. But with word puzzles, the little trick in such questions can be harder to spot and it is important not to take them at face value.Hidden Meaning Puzzles
For instance, a question in this category might ask you what is right at the middle of the House of Commons? If you don't 'get' the answer straight away, read it a couple of times to find the alternative meaning and the answer will be trivial to come by.Mind games in this category are great fun as they test understanding, ability to think creatively and around a subject, and are therefore often used by businesses as well as in magazines, books and other puzzle and game publications. Please return to our Mind Games page for more examples of mind games and for information on ordering english reasoning puzzles.