1. A man is shipwrecked on a long thin desert island with nothing but a penknife

The island is completely covered with dense forest and a fire has started at one end of the island, blown by a gentle but persistent wind  it is moving towards the opposite end at 1mph

Without leaving the island (this includes wading into the sea and waiting it out) how can the man survive longer than the time it will take for the fire to burn up the whole island? <<Solved>>

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2. A man buys rice in America for $10 per kilo, transports it to Africa and then sells it for $1 per kilo

By doing this, he makes himself into a millionaire

How?

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3. I have 2 ropes, both of them, if lit at one end, will take exactly 1 hour to burn all the way through

However, they are of uneven, and varying width, so they will burn at different rates in different parts of the rope (half the length burned doesnt mean half the time gone)

How can I accurately time 45 minutes? <<Solved>>

I have more, but you can solve these first

1. Bury himself in the sand?

2. Hmmm....

3. is evil, but the clue is two ropes i think

if you burn one of the ropes at both ends it would burn for 30 mins not 60 right?

so if you lit one at both ends and the other at one end. then by the time the first burnt out - 30 mins - you could then light the other end of the other rope which should burn through the remainder in 15 mins.

right track?

And make a new topic for each one... would be good to debate some of these answers

And PLEASE post more.. love 'em.

You have the right answer to number 3 but the wrong answer to number 1

The fire is slow-burning enough and burns over a large enough area at once that he would suffocate whilst it was passing over him (and no, there are no convenient hollow reeds around - even if there were it would burn, and he would get smoke instead of air)

So he dies anyways?  

No, he can survive the fire - just not by burying himself in the sand

ahhhh..... I'm thinking he back burns somehow... using the knife in the process

a. Explain back burning.. I'm not sure what youre talking about and so can't be sure if its right or wrong

b. more detail needed anyway

I don't care.... I'm right

Naaah.... i gots to think abt it

He uses the knifes (somehow) to start a fire buring in the opposite direction? (just explaining more on super king's idea)

2... Currently conversion?

All the currency references are the same, for the sake of argument lets say its US dollars (As it appears, he is charging less for the rice than he bought it for) 

As for the stuff on number 1, you're on the right track but I'm not sure you're quite there yet

and PLEASE post these in separate topics next time!

will do

I think people have pretty much figured out number 1, although if someone could explain fully to make sure.....

number 2 is still unanswered (the guy selling rice at a loss who becomes a millionaire by doing so)

Ok, so as I see it, in no 1 - he starts burns a strip of the forest on his end, so that  by the time the major fire reaches him, there'll be nothing to burn. So Back burning.

Yes? No? 

No 2 - he sells the rice cooked?

no1 - yes, you've got it (I was wondering whether to call it solved earlier since the idea was mentioned, but not the detail)

If he uses the pen knife to cut a branch he can light a fire half way down the island which will burn at the same speed as the first, he then stands on the ashes and the main fire goes out when it reaches the burn line

no2 - no, no change to the rice in between purchase and sale (you're still making an assumption that isn't there and its putting you off the answer)

I was actually thinking that he doesn't sell the rice in Africa, but I can't explain how he'd become a millionaire

So then I came up with the cooking thing 

well, if in being cooked it could get 10 times heavier, it might just work

but that's not the answer 

We can still ask questions right?

Does he sell the rice in Africa? 

yeah, ask away (but only things that can have a yes/no answer

Doesn't 'Does he sell the rice in Africa' qualify?

how odd.. I didn't see that

yes, he sells the rice in Africa, as was said in the orginal post

theres no trick in the description - he buys rice in America at 10 US $ per kilogram, transports it across the Atlantic and sells it in Africa for 1 US $ per kilogram (all units in both cases are the same, the rice underwent no alterations during transit). He does this for an unspecified amount of time (an unimportant amount of time) and after that period of time he becomes a millionaire, where before he was not a millionaire

There is one vital assumption that you must be making, it seems so basic that you probably don't even realise you are making it, but look for the one thing that doesn't seem to make sense in the puzzle and then think for a way to make it make sense that doesn't require the rest of the puzzle to be altered 

Did he become a millionaire by selling rice?

yes, selling the rice in the way I described was what made him into a millionaire

btw, you're probably going to kick yourself, or kick me (metaphorically) when you get the answer, or I tell you

As has been the case for every other riddle

yup

Superkings riddles are ass-kicking good 

Sigh... I hate you!

*back to mulling* 

He keeps buying and selling rice over and over again - so there is no limit to the amount he sells and buys.....right?

sure, no limit on amounts bought or sold

So that's the answer??

After buying and selling lots of rice, he makes his million? 

but how does he become a millionaire by selling rice for less than he bought it for?

Bugger.... i don't know!!

In trying to reason out the answer, there will be a point that does not make sense. This point will seem nonsensical but is only so because of a small thing that you think is true but isn't. I would suggest you reason into it as far as you can (to find the crunch point) then think around that point to see if you can identify all the things that you're assuming to be true that go into that point. Then see if any of those things aren't actually specified in the riddle and if they would make the answer logical if you removed them from you're thinking

It's hard to say more than that or say it clearer than that without giving you too much of a clue

Oh goodness me.... My foggy head can't deal with this right now

Aman! Get thinking! 

Or if you want I could just tell you... 

Or give you a more specific hint (the above is true for many riddles - when they're based around an untrue assumption) 

Ok, I'll take the more specific hint please

The devil is in the detail - you're being mislead by the way the riddle is phrased

hmmmm.... okay....

hang on 

might help to look back at the original - its only about 2 lines long so you don't have too much to look through to find the misleadment

2. A man buys rice in America for $10 per kilo, transports it to Africa and then sells it for $1 per kilo

By doing this, he makes himself into a millionaire

How?

yup, thats it

now.. find the misleading bit

hehe hehe I'd pasted it in my edit box so that I could read it along with your last 2 hints

I'll stick around "live" for another couple of minutes so that if you get it you don't have to wait for hours to find out

then its sleeping time for me  

I can't decide bet this - sells it for $1 per kilo

or the fact that 'it' isn't really specified in the first line? 

Ok, I give up!

Tell me before you leave pls?

that means what it says - he bought it for $10 per kilo, transported it across the Atlantic and sold it for $1 per kilo. No alterations made to the rice in transit, same units used throughout

He's a millionaire in African currency terms not in American dollars terms. So he's a millionaire in Africa but not necessarily in America.

Nope, same units used throughout - US$ (It theoretically works just as well with any other currency, but it's definitely consistent throughout and he's most likely to be using US$)

hmm.. this now appears to be the only riddle I've posted that still stands.. I should post some more

My mistake - "The 5 men" still has no solution

It doesn't say how much rice he bought

doesn't matter - he just keeps buying and selling repeatedly

damn....

where do you get all these from?!

lol

A long history of hearing riddles from people

and also occasionally the internet... 

ok, here's a dumb answer:: The dude probably had dodgy wieght system which meant he was only selling part of the kilo but pretending it was a kilo?

a more intelligent yet probably wrong answer:  Depression of value? 

nope, and nope

I suppose if the value of the dollar fluctuated conveniently (to make the $10 he paid worth less than the $1 he charged) then he could profit from investing in rice.. but if the economy was that messed up then I think business would probably suffer

Besides, the exact numbers are immaterial - it would work just as well if he were buying for $100/kilo and selling for $0.01/kilo (actually, that would mean that he becomes a millionaire sooner)

exactly

I just can't put my finger on the wrongful assumption we're making!!!

yes.. i think i found the wrongful assumption

the guy was actually a billionaire or worth more.. but because he was selling at a cheaper price, he lost his money, hence becoming a millionaire..??! 

come SK. you can do it.. say its right

damn you're good

muhahahaha.... told ya my mind works better at nights

well, probably didnt tell you, but yea, my mind works better at nights rather than mornings

Whoa!!!

Kow tow to funkycoda!!!

yess.. SK and FC top of the ladder...

doh!! that means gotta start posting some riddles myself 

lol @aman

*smacking head* I knew that once the answer presented itself I'll go D'oh!!!

damn straight

Or I could look up some super hard ones that even I can't get  

I read one once that was in the old "you can ask a number of people a number of questions but there's some special condition whereby they don't give straight answers" format but the condition was that of the three people, one answers the question asked, one anwers the previous question asked and one answers the next question to be asked

that is not confusing at all.. i've read that too once.. or i could be dreaming that i read it

pity MetallicA left just in before I came up with a solution.. i wonder if he will be dreaming about that  

hehehehehehe!!!

it'd be a nightmare!!

would be funny if he came up with a solution actually.. just to realised it has been solved already

I hate when that happens - like the matchstick and the couple in the car one!

hehe.. yea, the matchstick, i was just abt to answer, even with the buckets and coins, until others have answered..

i'll take credit for the couple in the car tho' 

 SK                     Dek

you are killing him for #2?

Yes, and all the other obvious ones that I didn't get

grrrrrr 

hehehe.. you missed out

Bah!

What have i missed? LOL,

Have you checked out the welcome page?

Yeah, i've missed heaps since i left!!

hehhehehe

Do you sometimes find yourself wishing you didn't have to eat or sleep (or do anything else) so that you wouldn't miss anything?

Or is that just me? 

hmmmm, maybe just you. hehehe

D'oh!!

hahah

Hey, at least I'm keeping you fellas entertained....

true that!!

lol