The riddle was initially given to the thirty companions. Now it sounds like all the men of Timnah are in on the plot to get at Samson. It is almost as though it has by now become a nationalistic imperative to humiliate this upstart foreigner who has dared to challenge them on their own ground.
1 What began with thirty companions (Judges 14:11) and grew to involve his wife’s people/relatives (Judges 14:16) had now expanded to the men of the city.
18 And the men of the city said to him on the seventh day before the sun went down, “What is sweeter than honey? What is stronger than a lion?”And he said to them, “If you had not plowed with my heifer, you would not have found out my riddle.”