“Welcome to Jojoba, Admiral!” says the intercom voice, and the crew recognize it’s Yoba’s voice, Total Commandeer of the Star Fleet.

“Admiral?” says the former Captain, and then understands that this was the test for his promotion to Admiral. Then ads a military “Thank you, SIR!”

“At ease, Admiral. Permission to enter orbit granted. The potatoes are a-smokin’ and a-waitin’. Beam down when ready.”

The Admiral gives the necessary orders, landing parties are organized by ranks and contingents. In half an hour they are all enjoying the party, especially those famous, delicious Jojoba potatoes.
Yoba’s approaching the first officer, asking him:

“You’ve been on a long mission. Are you up to date with the latest negotiations with the fetrengi?”

“Well, last I heard was that they were willing to give up their Face Dancers technology, if we allow them access to the latest research on gravity neutrons. But I doubt our Board will agree to such a disadvantageous bargain.”

“Indeed, that was what they proposed. What would we do with their shapeshifters, I have no idea. However they could make great progress on their gravity engines if they had some of our insight on the neutrons. The Board has already rejected this, but we didn’t communicate it to them yet. We will announce them in a week, at the Peace Conference on Gaudeamus. In the meantime, you are under arrest.”

“What is this new devilry?” asks the first officer, confused, as he gets handcuffed with force field cuffs by the Chief of Security.

What was happening? Why was the first officer under arrest?

The correct answer to this riddle is, of course, that the crow had intentionally ingested chaumas in order to poison the fox, who would have been the first to feast on her flesh at the fleshing ritual in the Fleshing Meadows – as the first who saw her dead body.

Sleep tight,
Gec.

The answer to the Frog Run riddle was correctly guessed by Deimos Tel`Arin. As A. also confirmed, it was the Frog Olympics, taking place this year at the same time as the Human Olympics.

Cheers!

Well, the Potatoes Counterattack was deciphered by ionnebunul, and Deimos confirmed its authenticity. Indeed, Jojoba ground crew expected that the cargo ship would dock, and started teleporting the potatoes on board without additional checks. Luckily, as the security officer noticed, they were delicious and the crew didn’t mind having them teleported right in their mouths, let alone the provisions they made.

See you soon!

Our friend Deimos gives us the final answer to the riddle he posted here a while ago, entitled I Am the Queen.

Here’s the solution, and of course the details of the contest can be found on his domain.

I am the Queen
She is someone with great power and authority.

I do not exist, yet many have known me for almost a decade.
She is a fictional character that has been around for almost a decade.

About the past, I was once good. Very evil, totally brutal I am now.
She was good, but now she is bad.

Mentioned within the Demon’s domain, I was.
This is a reference to Deimos’s domain ahkong.net as Deimos Tel`Arin fancies himself as a Cyber Demon. The Demon’s domain basically means Deimos’s domain @ ahkong.net

The queen is mentioned in this post found in Deimos’s domain:
Alien in your back yard!!

Sharp and pointy objects, my title rhymes with.
Her title is “Queen of Blades” and “Blades” rhymes with sharp and pointy objects, right?

An actor as a protagonist in a popular TV series shares my name.
Now who might that female actor be?

Revered for vanquishing beings that are dead yet not quite dead, she is.
Referring to – Buffy, the Vampire Slayer.

Also, her physical beauty quite matches with my own.
Sarah Michelle Gellar is quite beautiful, aye?

Hell be damned, now tell me – Who am I?
Just a filler text so that when the first characters of each sentence forms the following hidden (quite obvious actually) message reads – I AM SARAH

So yes, our Queen is indeed – Sarah Kerrigan, The Queen of Blades. Congrats to Wan Kong Yew for getting it correct, as well as Lis and roel for affirming it!

The date 1 April 2008 was chosen to be the date to publish the answers, as a tribute to StarCraft‘s 10th year anniversary as the PC Game was released on 1 April 1998.

I wanted to thank Deimos for delighting us with this riddle and for taking the time to organize the contest!

As far as the correct solution for the riddle goes, here’s what happened, and how the story goes from here:

Smiling, the captain announces on the intercom:

“Everyone, rejoice, we have beaten the resilience record. The amount of time the crew of a ship of USS class can stand still in battle positions. This was the second test of the day, not for the security chief, but for all the crew. We managed 7 hours, 31 minutes, and 2 seconds, which is one hour more than the previous record, held by USS CakeCheese.”

“Hurray, hurray,” booms the ship with the enthusiastic crew, so loud that the member who had passed out and was on the way to the infirmary jumps up and shouts “hurray” as well, not really knowing why.

After some time the navigator announces:

“Captain, we’ve reached Jojoba.”

“Open hailing frequencies!” orders the captain, then greeting the Jojoba control tower officer on duty, “Greetings, and may Jojoba prosper! Requesting permission to enter orbit. My men are thirsty and hungry for some of your renowned potatoes!”

“Permission denied! You will not enter Jojoba system space. You are not granted permission to approach orbit. Set course backwards, expedite, or you will be fired upon.”

As the captain, and everyone, were still confused, seconds pass, then suddenly the chief of security shouts:

“Photon torpedo approaching, estimated impact seven seconds!”

“Shields up!” booms the captain. “Engines backward full. Code red. Open coded subspace transmitters, expedite! Transmit code three, seven, niner, four, five, eight, niner, three. Expedite.”

Just as he said the last word, and the chief officer pressed the Go button, the photon torpedo hits the shield, but the ship doesn’t shake or break.

“What is this new devilry?” asks the captain in a low voice, unable to comprehend the situation. The security chief, however, figures something out and smiles behind his panel.

What was happening? What did the security Chieftain Admiral understand that the others are still confused about?

“Well done, security chief,” says the captain on the intercom. “It was a test. All officers, meet me and number one on the main deck, to celebrate the security chief’s promotion to Chieftain Admiral of Armory and Weaponry!”

They all flock to the main deck, when suddenly the intercom goes live again:

“All crew, battle positions! All crew battle positions! This is not a drill, I repeat, this is not a drill!”

Within moments all are at their posts.

“Take evasive maneuver!” shouts the captain.

“Evading enemies, go!” replies navigator.

“Shields up, 90 percent!”

“Up they go, 90 percent, sir!”

All were tensed, and this was augmented by the fact that they didn’t know what they were up against. The captain had had no time to inform them, too busy giving orders that saved the ship and their lives.

Everyone stood still, as seconds passed. Then minutes passed. Then hours passed, no one daring to interrupt. So they stood until the first fellow crew member fell to the floor, exhausted by hunger, thirst, tension and sleep deprivation.

“Take him to the infirmary,” says the captain. “Navigator, set course for Jojoba system. Let’s feast on some delicious potatoes to celebrate!”

What was there to celebrate?

The fox had accidentally eaten a black mushroom, and it needed the antidote to survive: a ghost mushroom (very rare thing). There was a ghost mushroom near the dead tree, that the wolf knew about, but I had found it first, so when he went, it was no longer there. The fox smelled the mushroom in my backpack and whispered this to the bear. When I figured things out, I gave them the mushroom, glad to have been able to help. We all became friends and they accompanied me to the green lake.

See you soon!

The previous riddle was cracked by Heather in BC – it was a combine harvester, but her guess was close enough. Many people gave similar (correct) answers, but A. was right on with the exact wording . Congratulations everybody.

The next riddle will be something different, so stay tuned.

The noob sailor was frustrated with scrubbing the floors, so he turned to the dark side and collaborated with the pirates. On his watch, the pirates threw the shark on board, knowing that the captain would use the old strategy of spinning the ship to throw the shark away, while all the men were up the mast. When all the sailors were dizzy, they boarded the ship and tied them tight, except for the noob sailor, their spy.

Good luck with the next one!

However, the correct answer is that the captain’s strategy was this:

To make the ship spin faster and faster, fast enough so that the centrifugal force throws the sharp shark overboard. Men can hold on to the mast, but the sharp shark isn’t smart enough to realize what’s going on.

There is a continuation to this riddle here.

What had happened was this:

They were indeed on a combat mission. The problem wasn’t that the food was running out, but that there was no enemy detected in 10 parsecs range. The solution that the captain was hoping to hear from his first officer was to turn on the cloak detectors, since obviously the enemy was cloaked somewhere nearby. Hence the joke he made about playing target shooting with potatoes, which shows that the sense of humor was valued among the crew.

See you soon for another of my favorite riddles!

Good luck with the next one!

Cheers!

Good luck with the next riddle!

The correct answer (which, as you know (you did read the about page, didn’t you?), in this case as in all cases, means the answer I had in mind when creating the riddle) is: happiness. It was identified by Ivaylo Hristov. Angie Hurst pointed out this answer as well.

Good luck finding your inner selves, and see you soon for the next riddle!

See you soon for a wiser riddle (perhaps an abstract one? )

See you soon for the next challenge.

Gărgăriță, riță, zboară-n poieniță…
[Dowdy-cow, dowdy-cow, ride away heame...]

Animals must be better astronomers than us humans, because they display strange behavior starting about half an hour before the eclipse actually begins, and I never saw a horse looking through a telescope.

The answer is: the sunflower.

And while we’re at it, did you ever notice how the sunflower seeds form spirals? Those seeds must be really good at math, because the number of left spirals and the number of right spirals they form are successive Fibonacci numbers . Typically 34 and 55, but may go up to 89 and 144 for large flowers.

How many seeds do you have to eat to account for a flower with 144 spirals?

But if you want to see some really creative answers, be sure to read all the comments.

If a kite flew high enough to leave the atmosphere, what would happen to it?

The frogs came from all over the world because it was the Frog Olympic Games, and who wouldn’t want to be there? The frogs have no internet access, no cable TV, no satellites…

The Frog King and Queen were about to light the Olympic Flame, and nobody wanted to miss it .

Thanks to all who commented, and good luck with the next one.

The correct answer was indeed: the dew. Aye, the fresh dew in the summer mornings…

The previous riddle was cracked by Daisy the Curly Cat, followed by Colin, Deimos Tel`Arin, Wan Kong Yew, and Selene.

Yes indeed, the crocodiles eat stones and rocks and keep them in the stomach, and the stomach muscles can move the stones in such a way as to help digestion (must come in handy when they eat bones ).

See you soon.

Good luck with the next one!

See you soon for the next riddle!

Good luck with the next one!

The “unwell” man (who was actually feeling fine) didn’t speak English, so he couldn’t understand what the man near the window told the flight attendant. The male flight attendant asked him if he wanted to lie down in French, and he accepted. The two other business men were glad because they applied a very basic business principle: they eliminated the middle man.

May your businesses run smoothly!

By the way, now that the man has set foot on the Moon, kind of makes you wonder, when will he set foot on the Sun? Whose flag do you think will be there first?

By the way, if there were a war between ants and humans, the ants would definitely win it!

See you soon for the next challenge!

Here’s what actually had happened: the wolf and the bear were friends. The wolf went on a raid to the pig farm. The farmer had a dog that had rabies, and he kept it tied to a chain. The dog bit the wolf, and the wolf knew that rabies could spread to all the forest, if it got hold of him. He asked his old friend to do him a favor and kill him.

On to the next challenge! Good luck!

Crocodilul, who guessed “the light”, was the closest match.

See you soon!

This is the answer to the previous riddle. As GeekMom correctly guessed (or got really really close), the frog had had a chat with the dog. The dog thought the man walking it was its servant, as he was fulfilling all its wishes. When barking loud, the man would bring food. When heading for the door, the man would take the dog out. In the dog’s mind, the only master is the dog itself.

Turbob also gets a thumbs up for the unusually insightful comment they posted!

See you soon!

Good luck solving the next one (coming soon).

Remember, the riddles posted here have nearly impossible to find answers, but the point isn’t really to find the answer but to get creative and come up with plausible solutions. The previous one was particularly challenging. Here’s the solution:

My old friend who appeared was in fact a werewolf. Being a full moon, he would soon transform, and he warned me to leave the premises. Those who heard and saw me running made the connection and ran for their lives as well .

I hope you enjoyed this one. Stay tuned for the next.

GeekMom almost got the answer this time. It was not a seed, it was a leaf!

Good luck and stay tuned!

Stay tuned for the next riddle.