12 detective riddles only the smartest people can solve

A Japanese ship was leaving the port and on its way to open sea. The captain went to go oil some parts of the ship and took his ring off so it wouldn’t get damaged. He left it on the table next to his bunk. When he returned, it was missing. He had suspected three crew members could be guilty and asked them what they had been doing for the ten minutes that he had been gone.

The cook said, “I was in the kitchen preparing tonight’s dinner.”

The engineer said, “I was working in the engine room making sure everything was running smoothly.”

The seaman said, “I was on the mast correcting the flag because someone had attached it upside down by mistake.”

The captain immediately knew who it was. How?

It was clearly the seaman. It was a Japanese ship and a Japanese flag is white with a single red dot in the middle. It can’t be hung upside down.

How many of these long riddles can you solve?

On the first day of school, someone murdered a history teacher. There were four people at the school that the police suspected had done it: the landscaper, a math teacher, a basketball coach, and the principal. These were their alibis:

The landscaper said he was outside mowing the lawn.

The maths teacher said he was giving a mid-year test.

The basketball coach said he was running practice drills with his players.

The principal said she was in her office.

After giving their alibis, the police arrested the killer immediately. Who killed the history teacher and how did the police know?

The maths teacher killed the history teacher. He claimed that he was giving a mid-year test, but it was the first day of school. Speaking of maths – only the smartest can solve these math riddles. Are you up for the challenge?

A serial killer kidnapped five different people and sat them down each with two pills in their hand and a glass of water. He told them each to take one pill but warned them that one was poisonous and the other was harmless. Whichever pill the victim didn’t take, the serial killer would take. Every victim somehow chose the poisonous pill and died. How did the serial killer get them all to take the poisonous pill?

Neither of the pills was poisonous. The poison was in the water that all the victims used to swallow their pill.

How many of these famous riddles can you solve?

A couple went to Hawaii for their honeymoon. Unfortunately, the husband returned home alone because his wife had died in a horrible boating accident. The police contacted the travel agent he booked the trip with and arrested him for murdering his wife. How did they know he did it?

The travel agent revealed that he had only booked a one-way ticket for his wife.

A chemist was murdered in his own lab. The only evidence was a piece of paper that had the names of chemical substances written on it. The substances were nickel, carbon, oxygen, lanthanum, and sulphur. The chemist only had three people come by his lab on the day of the murder: fellow scientist Claire, his nephew Nicolas, his wife, and his friend Marc. The police arrested the murderer right away. How did they know who it was?

There was a very obvious clue on the piece of paper. If you combine the abbreviations of the chemical substances on the paper, you’ll get a name: Ni-C-O-La-S.

Try to solve these maths riddles – they’re harder than you think!