Tricky Riddles for Adults Who Love a Challenge

I am the beginning of sorrow and the end of sickness. You cannot express happiness without me, yet I am in the midst of crosses. What am I?

I am always in you, sometimes on you; if I surround you, I can kill you. What am I?

What can run but never walks, has a mouth but never talks, has a head but never weeps, has a bed but never sleeps?

I am taken from a mine and shut in a wooden case, from which I am never released, and yet I am used by almost every person. What am I?

You measure my life in hours and I serve you by expiring. I am quick when I am thin and slow when I am fat. What am I?

What disappears as soon as you say its name?

Forward I am heavy, backward I am not. What am I?

What has cities, but no houses; mountains, but no trees; and water, but no fish?

I speak without a mouth and hear without ears. I have no body, but I come alive with wind. What am I?

I have keys but no locks, space but no room. You can enter, yet you cannot go inside. What am I?

What flies without wings and cries without eyes?

I am seen in the water but never get wet. What am I?

The person who makes it has no need of it. The person who buys it has no use for it. The person who uses it cannot see it. What is it?

Take one out and scratch my head, I am now black but once was red. What am I?

I have branches but no fruit, trunk, or leaves. What am I?