St Patrick's Day Riddles

A leprechaun.

Green shoe-mender guarding gold at the rainbow's end is the classic leprechaun description.

Shamrock and roll.

Shamrock and roll puns on the music genre rock and roll using shamrock.

A shamrock.

Three leaves standing for Ireland, lucky when four, plainly names the shamrock.

Because they're always a little short.

Short means both tiny and low on cash, so a leprechaun stays short on money.

A sham rock.

Sham rock splits shamrock, where sham means fake, so a fake stone.

A rainbow.

Arching after rain with gold at its end describes a rainbow directly.

Short ribs.

Short ribs plays on the leprechaun being short while naming a barbecue cut.

In the dictionary.

Gold is a word, so it always sits in the dictionary alphabetically.

Paddy O'Furniture.

Paddy O'Furniture sounds like patio furniture, which stays out on the lawn.

A pot of gold.

A pot chased every March that cooks nothing is the pot of gold.

Because they're already wearing green.

Frogs are already green, so they skip the pinch for not wearing green.

A rash of good luck.

Rash means both a skin reaction from ivy and a sudden burst of luck.

He took a shortcut.

Shortcut means both a quick path and a jab at the leprechaun being short.

Because he couldn't afford plane tickets for them.

The joke plays on drive, so he drove them out by car since plane tickets cost too much.

A jig.

A quick Irish dance done around gold is the jig by definition.

A lepre-condo.

Lepre-condo blends leprechaun with condo to name his vacation home.

You don't want to press your luck.

Press your luck means both ironing flat and risking your luck too far.

When it's a French fry.

A French fry is a fried potato, so it is French not Irish.

The color green.

Not wearing it March 17th earns a pinch, which names the color green.

Paddy long legs.

Paddy long legs swaps daddy for the Irish Paddy in daddy long legs.

Just one. After that, the pot isn't empty anymore.

One coin makes the pot no longer empty, so only one can go in empty.

Shortstop.

Shortstop is a real baseball position and jokes about the leprechaun being short.

To keep from falling in the stew.

Standing on a potato keeps him from falling into the stew he would cook in.

St Patrick.

The saint whose feast turns cities green each March is St Patrick himself.

Horseshoe (horse + shoe). A classic lucky charm.

Horse plus shoe emoji combine into horseshoe, a lucky charm.

The Emerald Isle (emerald + isle), a nickname for Ireland.

The gem plus island emoji read as emerald isle, Ireland's green nickname.

The Blarney Stone (kiss + stone). Kissing it is said to grant the gift of gab.

Kiss plus stone spells the Blarney Stone, kissed for the gift of gab.

Riverdance (river + dance), the famous Irish step dancing show.

River plus dancer emoji sound out Riverdance, the Irish step dancing show.

Five. There are five shamrocks: two big ones, one medium, and two small ones.

A harp.

A stringed national symbol printed on Irish coins is the harp.

A fiddle.

Four strings, a bow, and reels at a session point to the fiddle.

A tin whistle.

A cheap six-hole metal pipe sweet in folk tunes is the tin whistle.

A shillelagh.

A knobby Irish walking stick that is part club is the shillelagh, an unusual word.

A Celtic knot.

Endless woven loops with no start or finish in Irish art is a Celtic knot.

Irish stew.

Lamb, potatoes, and onions in a bowl name the famous Irish stew.

Corned beef and cabbage.

Salty beef beside boiled greens is the American corned beef and cabbage dinner.

A parade.

Bands, floats, and dancers marching down the street describe a parade.

A potato.

Grown underground and boiled, mashed, or fried names the Irish staple potato.

A green top hat.

Tall and green with a buckled band on a leprechaun is his green top hat.

A lucky penny.

A heads-up coin bringing fortune when picked up is the lucky penny.

An emerald.

A bright green gem lending Ireland its nickname is the emerald.

Snakes.

Creatures St Patrick supposedly drove from Ireland that slither are snakes.

A river.

A bed but no sleep, running green through Chicago, is a river.

To get a little smarter.

Getting a little smarter puns on the leprechaun being little and short.

Because they like to go green.

Go green means both recycling and the leprechaun's own green color.

I'm rooting for you.

Rooting for you means both cheering and a plant putting down roots.

A tall tale, since he's so short himself.

A tall tale is a big story, funny because the leprechaun is short.

A gold coin.

A round shiny piece filling a leprechaun's pot is a gold coin.

A clover.

A low green field plant that is lucky with four leaves is the clover.

Ireland.

The green island nation the world celebrates today is Ireland.

A beard.

Long red hair on a leprechaun's chin is his beard.

Dublin.

Ireland's capital city is Dublin.

A pinch.

The playful squeeze for forgetting to wear green is a pinch.

Spring.

The season after winter when shamrocks sprout is spring.

Cabbage.

The leafy green boiled next to corned beef is cabbage.

Rick O'Shea.

Rick O'Shea sounds like ricochet, which means bouncing off walls.

He does nothing, gold never rusts.

Gold does not rust, so the leprechaun needs no trick at all.

A rainbow has no fixed end, it moves as you move toward it.

A rainbow's end shifts with your position, so there is no spot to dig.

The gift of gab.

Kissing the stone is said to grant the gift of gab, meaning smooth talking.

They were adders.

An adder is a kind of snake, and it also sounds like a thing that adds.

Blue.

The original color linked to St Patrick was a shade of blue, not green.

He is too short to see over anyone from the back.

Being short, the leprechaun sits up front so no tall heads block the screen.

She had the greenest thumb.

A green thumb means a gift for gardening, and hers was the greenest.

It was still a little green.

Green means both the plant's color and being new or inexperienced.

Isadora.

Isadora sounds like is a door, matching the girl in the doorway.

Colin.

Colin sounds like calling, which is what you do on a phone.

A little chuckle.

A little chuckle fits the leprechaun since he is so little.

To make a clean getaway with his gold.

A clean getaway puns on soap making things clean while he slips away.

Because the potatoes have eyes and the corn has ears.

Potatoes have eyes and corn has ears, so the field seems to see and hear.

He was green with envy.

Green with envy means very jealous, fitting a holiday full of green.

To brush up on its colors.

Brush up means both to practice and to use a paintbrush on colors.

No, it is a trick, two halves only make one whole.

Two shares cannot each be more than half, since halves add up to one whole.

Never take your eyes off him.

Legend says a leprechaun disappears the moment you look away, so keep watching.

To grow his own luck.

Clover stands for luck, so planting it means growing his own luck.

I have been short-changed.

Short-changed means cheated on money and also plays on the leprechaun being short.

The outside.

The outside is where every leaf shows, which makes it a classic trick answer.

To give it a little more cents.

Cents sounds like sense, so school gives the coin more cents and more sense.

A gold rush.

Coins spilling out cause a gold rush, punning on the famous scramble for gold.

The Holy Trinity.

Legend says St Patrick used the shamrock's three leaves to explain the Holy Trinity.

They keep it under their hat.

Keep it under your hat means to keep a secret, and leprechauns wear tall hats.