conundrum
kuh-NUN-drumnounMeaning a confusing and difficult problem; also, a riddle
Memory hook CONE + DRUM: how do they fit?. Jamal has to fit a giant drum, a traffic cone and a tuba into one tiny car. It’s a real conundrum!
How to fit six bikes into a tiny garage was a real conundrum.
In context The town faced a conundrum: the old bridge was too weak for buses, yet tearing it down would cut the village off from the school for a whole year.
Similar puzzle, riddle, problem, mystery
Opposite solution, answer
Of unknown origin; it first appears in English in the 1500s.