Questions tagged [lateral-thinking]
A puzzle solved through an indirect and creative approach, using reasoning that is not immediately obvious and involving ideas that may not be obtainable only using logic.
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Rules, rules, rules... still not enough!
I hadn't gotten a letter from any of my friends in a while, so I was quite surprised when I received one from my companion, O. He usually only contacts me when he has a problem, so I was quite ...
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The Queen of Starts - Is Her Bark Worse Than Her Bite?
Each tile belongs to at least one as-yet-unknown category but which belongs where and why?
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Crime and Punishments - Apologies in Advance
You know the drill man!
Place the tiles to find the eight-letter solutions to the clues
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An injured surgeon [closed]
Two brothers are both surgeons. They are skiing in the Alps one snowy day. They are both overly cautious and carry the same basic tools of their trade whenever they ski. Coincidentally, both brothers ...
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Rebus puzzle with four colored bars and diagonals between them
This is an extremely simple rebus puzzle, the answer is extremely obvious if you know where to seek, you only need some lateral thinking, and maybe some basic programming knowledge.
To make it even ...
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What concept does the image symbolize?
Well this is much more obscure than the previous one, but the puzzle is still very simple if you think about it a little bit more.
I will give you four images, each of them are connected to the ...
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What is 12 in this same pattern?
7 = 31674ZS
8 = 883011SO
9 = 166037352UR
10 = 434782608W...
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A strange corporate
The employees of corporate "Clocks" have a fixed rule for working hours. All the employees start working at 16:00 and finish their work by 21:00. They take exactly one break during that time....
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Quite the Namesake
Me and a friend of mine named O were once trapped in a room with a
shapeshifter (long story). I had a gun (even longer story), which was
good because me and O needed to kill the shapeshifter (possibly ...
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Math Crossword with a Twist
This puzzle was inspired by this one
Who will be the first to solve this tricky math crossword puzzle completely?
Across
2: Half of ({20 Across} x (smallest perfect number) + 446)
3: (Number of ...
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Who put these roof beams over the chimney, I'd like to know?
Before you read this, the credits: I came up with this puzzle entirely by myself, and the photo is mine.
I just bought a house last winter, and I was all ready to cozy up next to a warm fire in the ...
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Seasons to be Cheerful
Happy hebdomidaire grapple fans!!
In an effort to get Stiv to have to think for more than two minutes - I've drawn a puzzle from the "
Spares" category, which is the equivalent of pulling ...
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Who Are The Final Two Contenders, and Who Won?
Hello! I'm Mike, and welcome to your 3rd annual "Needle in a Haystack" awards!
We'll have just five rounds of competition, followed by judging, then your champ!
In each round, the ...
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An animal, posed in a poem
I might sound fe_ _ _ _
Yet I'm in the opposite.
Do not count my _ _ _ _s
It was one originally.
But you can spell out
A bright star in me!
And please be sure that you're
Going to the right direction!
...
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Nights at the Round Table
And there you are, the famous Round Table, seeing it in all its glory makes you smile, even though you thought it was a lot bigger. Well, no matter, as soon as you arrive, you find a parchment on the ...
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Naming Unconvention
This week's puzzle follows the usual convention: circles which represent as yet unknown categories.
One tile has been placed to help - your task is to place the others and explain why.
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Found in Africa
The answer to this puzzle is a six-letter word.
One thousand one.
"One friend"
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Strange shopping
A lady enters a clothing store.
She tries on a dress size L, but she finds it too large for her. Therefore she tries on the same dress, size XL. This one fits her perfectly.
Happy, she buys the dress ...
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International Kapow! The Semi-Finalists
Simple Rules:
Each circle represents a category - which is as of yet unknown.
Each of the tiles below belongs to at least one of the categories. Two have been placed for you - where do the others go ...
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Doubling Down - When a Good Idea Goes Bad
(Please note that this story is a work of fiction spun for the sake of the puzzle. It is based on little actual fact.)
Back in the early 1940's, in the dead center of WWII, there was a bit of a ...
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Tile And A Place - Where Have The Leaders Gone?
Each circle represents an (as yet) unknown category.
Each of the six tiles belongs to at least one category.
One tile has been placed. Where do the other tiles go and why?
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Jaws of Death - The Merry Tiler More Show
Three categories are depicted by circles and tiles belonging to those categories should be placed inside (or otherwise outside). Tiles can belong to any number of categories (0 to 4). Two are given to ...
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Which image should replace the question mark?
The answer to this puzzle is an image.
Could you figure it out?
Hints:
Hint 1:
Hint 2:
Hint 3:
Hint 4:
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A Few Tile Problem?
Have designed a number of puzzles - would love to know what you thought?
From the four tiles which two are A and B?
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Pay Close Attention - A puzzle for all those who can think outside the box
Reclining in his chair, Watson wrapped his arms around himself in what could be conceived as a bear hug, had there been another person there. Waiting patiently, Watson hummed a small tune to himself ...
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I promise, never again! [duplicate]
The first 15 non-negative integers are written below. The 16th number contains 4 digits! - yet it is the next and the last term.
No special knowledge required. Try see if you can find a pattern and ...
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A nice riddle: can you solve it? [duplicate]
Try to solve this
What is the beginning of the earth, the end of our time, the start of every end, and the end of every place?
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The smallest and the largest number [closed]
Shown below is number 10 formed with 5 sticks.
1 Move exactly 1 stick to get the smallest non-zero positive number.
2 Move exactly 1 stick to get the largest non zero positive number.
Some creative ...
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Fill in the blank word:
Fill in the blank word: (myriad, Alito, lame, moose, fleas, wash, wide, ass, know, endeavor, worth, it, _____, wind, dilemmas, shirt, ago)
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What am I pointing at?
I go into a store and point. I say "How much for 1?"
The storeowner replies "20 cents".
I then ask "So, how much is 12?" His answer: "40 cents".
I decide "...
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The apps playground
LinkedIn, Wikipedia, Facebook, Twitter, Stackoverflow, Wechat, Telegram, LaTeX, Overleaf, Snapchat, Netflix, WhatsApp, Formula 1, Pinterest, GitHub, YouTube, [...] are all playing checkers.
Instagram ...
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Paris and Wife Matchstick
Here are two matches dates that I hold with love in my heart:
The current sum is 1970 + 1997 = 3967.
You must requisition at most 10 matches so that the sum is "as big as possible". We will ...
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Beyond The Edge?
Ꭵn 𝔞ges past when sailors feared the 𝚖onsters 𝔞t The Edge, life was sim⍴lꬲᴦ for me.
But ever ƽince Magellan and his cursed vهyage, I’m ever beside myself, ever before, ever after, ever surrounding ...
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This is... to me! (Matches Puzzle)
Make these two "equivalent" equations true by simply moving (changing the position of) exactly three lines (per equation). The equations are two different representations of the same (what I ...
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"What sport is this medal table?" is back
On exactly the same spirit as "What sport is this medal table"
Can you find the values of the question marks in this medal table?
Three questions for you:
Is it related to the Olympic ...
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This is taking too long! [closed]
Move two lines to make the equation true.
As always, no inequality symbol (≠), adding, and subtracting lines. Move the lines only.
Hint 1:
Hint 2:
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Another Matchstick riddle(not puzzle)
Here are the rules in order to manipulate the matchsticks:
You are required to move exactly 3 matchsticks.
You may rotate any whole symbol(circled in blue)or number as many times as required.
Most ...
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What sport is this medal table?
Can you find the values of the question marks in this medal table?
Three questions for you:
Is it related to the Olympic Games?
What are USA's medal numbers?
What are the four missing nations?
...
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What's with the flip?
Uh-oh... We should've taken Professor Kernighan's advice before taking this trip and learned the local language. This desert is dreadful and we just want to reach civilization again, as fast as ...
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I can't remember her birthday!
My Persian friend said:
I will meet you in New York on my birthday.
But I can't remember her birthday! I only found this riddle related to her birthday in old chats.
$(y+z)/y = (y)/z = (A+10)/10 $
$...
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Yet another matchstick puzzle: 14 = 5 [closed]
Is the expression below correct? No. But I never take no for an answer.
Your task is to make the expression true by moving exactly two matchsticks.
As usual, inequalities are not allowed. So is ...
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Play with matchsticks
By moving only 1 matchstick make the equation correct (not equal and > and < are not allowed).
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A simple Matchstick puzzle [closed]
Here is a simple matchstick puzzle. Some creative thinking may be needed.
Make the equation below correct by moving only one matchstick. The use of > or < or not equal to is not allowed. You can'...
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How many fingers do the inhabitants of this planet have?
Actual Puzzle
After crash-landing your spaceship on an uncharted planet, you run across the following drawing:
$\begin{matrix}
⊙ & × & × & ⊓ & ⊓ & ⊙ & & \\
⊙ & ∿ &...
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A big kid plays with other kids while everyone else is guessing about a kid. No I'm not kidding at all!
A little while ago my friends had an elaborate baby shower to celebrate my friend's first pregnancy. I admit that I'm a giant man-child who loves playing with kids more then pretending to be an adult ...
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SECRET PUZZLER EYES ONLY
Today is my 40th birthday and I will be celebrating by sharing a puzzle with you all. I recently stumbled upon an abstruse image, and apparently the words in main body of the image all have something ...
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There are Colorados everywhere!
Deciding to go to Arizona, you go to the north part of it. But once as you arrive, you see a Colorado! We know that Colorado borders Arizona but you are far from Colorado!
Being confused, you are ...
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Juan and Pedro agreed to race [closed]
Juan and Pedro agreed to race against each other. After arriving at the exact same moment at the finish line, Juan declared that he won. Pedro, as well as all their friends who watched, agreed.
How ...
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Weird Math: Said Grandpa
"You think my math can sometimes be crazy? Just look at this equation I received from my cousin! Very Weird", said Grandpa.
"We are going to need some creative thinking to prove this ...
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Winter Rebus? (W in box)
The answer is a phrase. (1 9 6 2 1 4 5) … (10 1 7)
Please provide an explanation justifying your answer. No computer needed.
Text Version of the image:
Across the top of the image is a single word: “...
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