This familiar riddle asks: What has hands but can’t clap? The clue sounds like it should describe a person, but the answer is an everyday object.
The answer is: a clock.
A traditional clock has an hour hand and a minute hand, and many clocks also have a second hand. Those “hands” move around the face to show the time, but of course they cannot clap.
The riddle works because the word “hands” has more than one meaning. We first think of human hands, but clocks use the same word for the pointers that move around the dial.
It is a simple, classic riddle that is easy to understand once you see the trick, which is why it has remained popular for generations.
