Lateral Thinking Puzzles

[Carol the Dabbler]

If both glasses contain poisoned ice cubes, then obviously ...

 

 

... the dead man nursed his drink, while the other fellow "sipped" so rapidly that he had finished his whisky before the ice had a chance to melt.

 

 

Oh, I have one:

 

The security guards at a factory have been warned that a particular employee is suspected of thievery, so when they see him leaving with a wheelbarrow full of sawdust, they search very carefully through the sawdust, but find nothing. The same thing happens the following day, and every day for several weeks. The guards never find anything hidden in the sawdust, and yet the man is indeed a thief. Explain.

[Undead Medic]

If both glasses contain poisoned ice cubes, then obviously ...

 

 

... the dead man nursed his drink, while the other fellow "sipped" so rapidly that he had finished his whisky before the ice had a chance to melt.

 

 

Oh, I have one:

 

The security guards at a factory have been warned that a particular employee is suspected of thievery, so when they see him leaving with a wheelbarrow full of sawdust, they search very carefully through the sawdust, but find nothing. The same thing happens the following day, and every day for several weeks. The guards never find anything hidden in the sawdust, and yet the man is indeed a thief. Explain.

 

 

The sawdust is the thing he's been stealing. Or the wheelbarrow(s)?

 

[Carol the Dabbler]

Responding to Undead Medic's post:

 

 

Technically, both, yes. But mostly the wheelbarrows.

 

[ChristineT]

Yes to the whisky answer, well done

[Carol the Dabbler]

A man lives on the top floor of an apartment block. Every morning he goes down in the elevator to the ground floor, gets out, goes to work. Every evening he comes home, gets back in the elevator and goes to the tenth floor, gets out and walks up the stairs the rest of the way to his apartment, unless he has someone else in the lift with him, or it has been raining. Why would this be?

 

Oh, I remember now! (But didn't work it out for myself, so have disqualified myself from giving the answer.) This is a really good one -- and perfectly logical once you know the answer!

[JessieBlackwood]

I shall put mine in a spoiler so you can read if you wish.

 

 

The man is (to put it in a correct way) a little person. In the morning he gets into the lift and is able to press the button for the ground floor. When he comes home, he cannot reach the top button unless someone else is in the lift with him who can reach. If it is raining, he carries an umbrella with which he can reach the button. Otherwise he goes to the floor with the highest button he can reach and walks the rest of the way.

 

[JessieBlackwood]

Okay then, new one.

 

A football scarf, four buttons and a carrot are found in a field. Nobody dropped them. How did they get there?

[Undead Medic]

Okay then, new one.

 

A football scarf, four buttons and a carrot are found in a field. Nobody dropped them. How did they get there?

 

 

A melted snowman?

 

 

[Carol the Dabbler]

I suppose lumps of coal and top hats are kinda passe by now?

[ChristineT]

Appropriate for the UK today!

[JessieBlackwood]

Well done to Undead Medic...

[JessieBlackwood]

And for my next trick...

 

You enter a deserted house late at night. Inside there is an oil lamp, a gas fire and a stove full of wood. You have only one match, however, so which do you light first?

 

You probably already know this one.

[Carol the Dabbler]

You probably already know this one.

Either I'd heard it somewhere before, long ago, or else my brain is starting to warp.

 

 

You light the match first.

 

[JessieBlackwood]

Well done Carol. When I first heard it I spent ages working it out before I realised... Dunno what that says about me...

[Carol the Dabbler]

There are two basic types of puzzles so far on this thread -- tricky situations (like the whisky question) and tricky wording (like the one about Christine in post #8). It's a big help to know which type you're dealing with, and I think I'm starting to be able to smell them. Also, knowing the solutions to several somewhat similar puzzles makes it easier to figure out the next one. Presented in isolation, any of these puzzles would be much more difficult. So don't feel bad!

[JessieBlackwood]

Went to see the Hobbit the other day with my sons, and I loved the riddle scene with Golum. Now those riddles were good, not impossible to work out either. Anglo Saxon riddles are interesting in an historical context too, but you need to understand something of Saxon history to key into some of them while others are still rediculously simple even now. Riddling is a clever learning tool, a way to see the world in a different way and a way to keep the brain agile. We've been doing stuff like this for centuries. No sense in stopping now...

[JessieBlackwood]

Got two new ones if anyone is still interested.

 

1. What object has keys that open no locks, space but no room and you can enter but not go in?

 

2. A poor man sees a rich man in a shop paying for everything with £50 notes. The poor man says to the rich man "I know all the songs known to man." The rich man says "Is that so? Well, I bet you all the money in my pocket that you can't sing a song with my daughter's name in it. Her name is Sara Lee Grayson." The poor man went home rich and the rich man went home poor, so what song did the poor man sing to win the bet?

 

Good luck...

[Carol the Dabbler]

Oh good, more puzzles -- thanks, Jessie!

 

 

1. Clue:

Oddly enough, there's one on my desk at this very moment.

 

Answer:

A keyboard!

 

 

2. Still working on this one!

[JessieBlackwood]

I can tell you, you will know this one.

[Carol the Dabbler]

Yeah, I have a sneaky feeling you're right, but the answer hasn't come to me yet. OK, thinking out loud:

 

I figure the answer to the second puzzle probably falls into one of two categories:

 

either a song with the phrase "my daughter's name" in it, or one with something that's not written as "Sara Lee Grayson," but sounds like it, basically a pun.

 

 

Yeah, I know, that first category is kinda cheating, and I don't really think it's what you had in mind, but it should win on a technicality. I couldn't offhand think of any songs like that, though, so I resorted to Google. There were a few hits, and this one is my favorite:

 

Oh, I have a little daughter, and my daughter's name is Kate.

And she's every bit as mischievous as a kitten on a skate.

-- Tom Paxton

 

 

Still feeding things to Google for the second category, but no winners yet.

[JessieBlackwood]

You're not right for the second one, you'll kick yourself when you find out.

 

Well done for the first one. Took me a while.

[Undead Medic]

Got two new ones if anyone is still interested.

 

1. What object has keys that open no locks, space but no room and you can enter but not go in?

 

A Computer Keyboard.

 

[biscuitbear]

2.

Happy Birthday To you!

[JessieBlackwood]

Well done to Undead Medic and bisscuitbear, you're both right.

[Carol the Dabbler]

Glad I looked at biscuitbear's answer before spending any more time trying to figure it out! That's not really my kinda answer. Maybe I'll write a song myself with lines like

 

 

Skies aren't necessarily gray.

Sunshine is coming our way.