You have four identical keys labeled A, B, C, and D. Three weigh 10 grams each, but one is a lighter counterfeit weighing 9 grams. Using a balance scale once, you weigh (A + B) against (C + 10g standard weight). The scale balances perfectly. Which key is the counterfeit?
Key D
Since the scale balances, both sides weigh exactly 20g. That means A, B, and C must all be genuine 10g keys. By elimination, Key D is the 9g counterfeit.
About this riddle
Logic riddles give you a few facts and ask what must be true. List what you know, cross out what cannot be, and see what is left.
Difficulty: Medium. More like this: Logic riddles with answers or try Einstein's Logic Grid for a different kind of puzzle.
More logic riddles
Three runners—Alex, Bea, and Carl—complete a race with no ties. Alex did not finish third. Bea finished before Carl, but Bea did not win. Who won the race?
A detective who was tall enough to look out a second-story window noticed a man lying dead on the pavement below, with a closed window right beside him and a heavy book clutched in his hand. The detective immediately declared it was murder, not suicide. How did he know?
I am black and pointy and sit on a witch's head. What am I?
A painter works in a circular room with no corners. She needs to paint an identical blue stripe across the exact center of every wall. She starts at the north wall and walks in a straight line across the room to the south wall, painting as she goes. Without lifting her brush, how many distinct walls must she paint during this single straight-line crossing?
Two sisters were born at the exact same hour on the exact same day of the exact same year to the same biological parents, yet they are not twins. How can this be?
In a hallway, 100 closed lockers numbered 1 to 100 undergo 100 passes. On pass 1, every locker is toggled (opened). On pass 2, every 2nd locker is toggled. On pass 3, every 3rd locker is toggled, continuing this pattern until pass 100 where only locker 100 is toggled. After all passes, which lockers remain open?

