A quiz that seems easy but is actually hard: trick questions that make you think flexibly

ice

This puzzle is a trick that plays on the meanings of the Japanese word “atsui.” Besides the kanji for “hot” (熱い), there is also the kanji for “thick” (厚い), and the riddle uses the latter. When it gets cold, ice forms and its thickness increases. Therefore, the thing that “gets thicker as it gets colder” is ice.

The hot water cooled down and turned into water.

As time passes, hot water cools down, eventually reaching room temperature and returning to plain water. Therefore, you could say that the “state as hot water” inside the kettle no longer exists. However, the water itself has not disappeared; only its temperature has dropped. This quiz is a trick question that can be solved by focusing on the fact that the hot water didn’t vanish as a substance—its state simply changed.

Because the clothes were black to begin with.

It might seem that the way you wash—like the detergent you use—is the cause, but that’s incorrect in this case. Washing can remove dirt from clothes, but it can’t change their original color. In other words, if the garment was originally black, it will remain black even after washing.

descent from a mountain

When you climb a mountain, you might enjoy the view, take a break, or snap some photos. These are things you may do, but not things you must do. However, anyone who has gone mountain climbing must come back down the mountain, so the correct answer is “descent.”

1 type

There is only one type of Othello piece: one side is white and the other side is black. Therefore, the answer is one type. The trick in the question is the comparison with shogi’s diverse pieces, which can mislead you into thinking that Othello pieces, despite having the same shape and type, come in various kinds.

university

If you write “university” in hiragana, it’s ‘だいがく’ (daigaku), right? The trick is to remove the dots at the top—that is, the dakuten on the ‘だ’ in ‘だいがく’! If you remove the dakuten from ‘だ’, it becomes ‘たいがく’ (taigaku), which means ‘withdrawal from school’ (退学). So ‘university’ (大学) is the correct answer! The key is converting from kanji to hiragana.

Because (I’m) working.

The reason I go to the hospital every day even though nothing is wrong with me is that I’m not going as a patient—I’m a doctor who works there. If the doctor doesn’t show up for work, they can’t see patients, right? Going in as a member of the hospital staff is just part of a doctor’s daily routine.