Brain-Teaser Quiz for Seniors: A Fun Collection of Lateral-Thinking Puzzles That Reveal the Answer with a Shift in Perspective

Crocodile

Handstand in the garden…? You might start overthinking it, but brain teasers are all about flexibility! If you make “niwa” (garden) do a handstand—in other words, read it backwards—it becomes “wani.” The correct answer is “crocodile.”

sunflower

It shows a state where “hi” gathers around, in other words, “hi” is “around.” Combining the words gives “hi-mawari,” so the correct answer is himawari (sunflower).

cucumber

It was a wordplay riddle: when nine “ri” characters (kyuu, meaning nine) come together, you get “kyuuri” (cucumber). Cucumbers are a quintessential summer vegetable, rich in water, making them perfect for hydration and preventing heatstroke in hot weather.

comb

The answer is “kushi” (comb). Think of the numbers 9 and 4. First, 9 times 4 equals 36. Next, 9 plus 4 equals 13, and 9 minus 4 equals 5. In this way, all the calculations fit perfectly with the two numbers 9 and 4, which together form the word “kushi.”

night game

Try reading the string “ā-kā-sā-nā-hā-mā-yā-rā-wā” out loud. It’s the elongated sounds of the A-row of the gojūon: “a ka sa ta na ha ma ya ra wa.” But if you go through them in order, you might notice that “tā”—that is, the ta-row—is missing. Since there’s no “tā,” in other words “nai tā” (“no tā”), the correct answer is “night game.”

added dakuten

Try adding a dakuten to the first “ka” in karasu (crow). It changes to the word garasu, right? Speaking of garasu, it’s the transparent material used for things like windows. So, by adding a dakuten, a crow (karasu) transforms into transparent glass (garasu).

mother

Try removing the handakuten (small circle) from the top right of the Katakana in “パパ.” “パ” becomes “ハ.” In other words, if you take the circle off “パパ,” it becomes “ハハ,” and the answer is “母” (mother).