19 October 2023 , 06:00
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Riddles are seriously tricky, and they'll likely leave you scratching your head in frustration as your brain works overtime to try and figure it out. Even when they're annoyingly simple, they send you into a frenzy and can leave you desperately asking family and friends to help you out. When you do manage to crack one, however, there's no better feeling.
Often pretty wordy, they can leave you staring at them until the riddle no longer looks like a sequence of words any longer - and this one posted by Metro is no different. But when you realise the answer is staring you in the face, you'll be kicking yourself.
The riddle is: What has 4 letters, sometimes has 9 letters, but never has 5 letters.
We're officially baffled already, and we bet that you are too. But the riddle becomes a little clearer when you notice that there isn't a question mark at the end of what you probably assumed was a question. So what does it mean?
The riddle isn't actually describing something, or asking you a question - it's simply telling you how many letters are in each word. So -What contains four letters. Sometimes contains nine letters. Never contains five letters.
'I don't want children staying up late at weekends - I really need adult time'
Clever isn't it? And when you think outside of the box, it does become a little bit more obvious. But it can be hard to expand your thinking until you know how.
On Twitter, people were discussing the riddle, with one person saying: "I love stuff like this", but others were posting pictures of people looking seriously confused.
Enjoy that? Fancy trying some other brainteasers? Why not try to count all the watermelons in this picture in just 11 seconds? Or, if you fancy something a whole lot tricker, why not try answering a question from Lee Mack's The 1% Club TV show? It's majorly hard.
Did you manage to solve the riddle? Let us know in the comments.