Classic Riddles #2 — Answers

Answers and explanations for all six riddles in Classic Riddles Set 2, including why each one works. Worth reading even for the ones you solved, since a couple have a neater logic than they first appear.

#1easy

I have branches, but no leaves, no trunk and no fruit. What am I?

Answer: a bank

A bank has branches all over the country, but none of them grow on a tree.

#2easy

What has a head and a tail, but no body?

Answer: a coin

A coin has heads on one face and tails on the other, and nothing in between.

#3medium

What gets wetter the more it dries?

Answer: a towel

A towel dries you by soaking up the water, so the harder it works the wetter it gets.

#4medium

What can travel all the way around the world while staying in one corner?

Answer: a stamp

A postage stamp sits in the corner of an envelope while the letter crosses the globe.

#5hard

I am not alive, but I grow. I have no lungs, but I need air. I have no mouth, but water kills me. What am I?

Answer: fire

Fire grows as it spreads, needs oxygen to burn, and is put out by water.

#6hard

What belongs to you, but other people use it far more than you do?

Answer: your name

Your name is yours alone, yet almost every time it is spoken, someone else is saying it.