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.
1,096
questions
9
votes
1answer
663 views
This keeps coming back
Find the appropriate fillers for the blanks...
jafe, maap, maju, ____, ____, node
Hint:
4
votes
1answer
496 views
The gang's all here?
Many people have fond memories of us. A little over two years ago, said memories resurfaced when one of us died. It's a shame, because that means we'll have to deal with him again at some point, and ...
8
votes
1answer
358 views
My friend is being held somewhere in New Zealand! Please help!
My friend ran into trouble when in New Zealand. He has been captured and is being moved around the country to a series of undisclosed locations. This is the last message I received from him.
...
6
votes
2answers
601 views
I don't exist yet. Help me fix that!
At the time of this posting, I don't exist. You can help fix that, though. In fact, the author posits that if you're reading this, you've probably done something similar enough already.
That doesn'...
5
votes
1answer
434 views
Breathing New Life [Part 5]
This is the final part of a 5 part series.
Links to the first 4:
Part 1: Large and in charge [solved]
Part 2: Small and resilient [solved]
Part 3: Immovable object [solved]
Part 4: Unstoppable ...
0
votes
1answer
329 views
Two Sons, One Father [closed]
You are an inmate in a concentration camp/prison. A sadistic guard is about to hang your son who tried to escape and wants you to pull the chair from underneath him. He says that if you don’t he will ...
0
votes
3answers
527 views
Who is having fun with Bob
Every friday, Bob is given a class test. The teacher doesn't check the students' answers by himself because there are 96 students in the class and he has other classes to manage as well. Instead, the ...
15
votes
4answers
2k views
Attendance at a dinner party
In the late 1400's, a Count, who is hosting a dinner party, receives a message from his steward.
The note lists that the following relatives of the Count will be attending the party:
The father'...
27
votes
16answers
14k views
How did Alice and Bob die?
A police investigator walks into a room. He sees two dead bodies on the floor, those of the unfortunate duo Alice and Bob, the players in many physics thought experiments. They had been locked in the ...
1
vote
1answer
127 views
Too much taxes? [closed]
Jack is a law-abiding US citizen who was filing his first taxes at age 21. He put his information into a free online e-filer and got the shock of his life. Jack only had \$3000 in income - but the ...
7
votes
4answers
2k views
6
votes
1answer
267 views
Squaring a cross one more time
This is the lateral-thinking fifth part to this question.
In this cross shape, all twelve sides are the same length and all angles are right angles. What is the smallest number of cuts that can ...
-1
votes
1answer
199 views
What will your hair be?
You're a member of a new government with exotic rule-sets.
One of the rules governs when and how hair shall be cut. The law states that on the second Thursday of every month hair shall be trimmed, ...
11
votes
1answer
295 views
Group Arithmetic
A little arithmetic to rock your brain. Each pair of equations is separate from the others. Within each pair, the variable to be solved for will represent the same thing, however other variables may ...
-3
votes
3answers
234 views
Equality and Fraternity
Consider the "equation" $6145 - 1 = 6143$. Can you move two digits so as to create a valid equality?
The equation $-127=-127$ is, of course, true. Suppose you were told again to move two digits as to ...
11
votes
5answers
1k views
A vicious villain
A vicious villain am I
The greatest of my kind
Covering the face of the Earth
A fiend of all mankind
Although I may appear weak and small
Great power I am assigned
Those who fail to heed my warning
...
8
votes
8answers
1k views
Where have you gone Señor Santa Claus?
Santa is exhausted, so he drops off his reindeer at the marked location below.
He tells them he will be strolling the large divided meadow if they need him.
Where is Santa, and why?
Please reference ...
0
votes
2answers
214 views
Connecting ends of a single object through portals [closed]
You put a metal rod halfway through a portal and open another portal so that the end of the rod that went through the first portal touches the other end of the rod. If you weld the two ends of the rod ...
6
votes
3answers
989 views
An interesting equation
Earlier today my friend, a mathematician, gave me a white bag with this equation on it:
SIΛ°H
What on Earth is in the bag?
-5
votes
7answers
749 views
The 100 War Ghosts [closed]
You are in a mansion, stuck in there armed with only a baseball bat that can only take 100 more hits. Then you are at the mercy of the War Ghosts, ghosts that can take as many hits according to color. ...
20
votes
4answers
3k views
16
votes
2answers
805 views
Ancient Saharan Artifacts
My respected colleague Dr. Henry just returned from an expedition in the Sahara.
He was hoping to find evidence of a sophisticated ancient civilization, but had little success. However, his team did ...
7
votes
1answer
1k views
2 + 2 = Fish. Who am I?
This is a simple problem that my friend asked me:
2 + 2 = Fish
3 + 3 = Eight
7 + 7 = ?
Can you figure out what is represented by the question mark?
4
votes
3answers
623 views
The Honest Guard
Three prisoners were blindfolded and given a shovel.
The sick and twisted guard told the three men: “No matter what happens tonight, at least one man is certain to die. However, it will not be the ...
5
votes
1answer
534 views
What am I, stalking you everyday?
I appear from the space
between the two planets
or between the two atoms
I am what a mouse and book
or a computer and air
have in common
When deceived, you shout my name
or when you are hiding your ...
1
vote
2answers
632 views
It's too easy? It's too easy!
I'm asked by my University Professor, Mandy, to come and see her in
her office after class. "Somethin' wrong?" I keep thinking when I
head to her office.
"You are elected to be our Math club'...
4
votes
3answers
4k views
Why did the lady die?
There was an IQ test created by Random Person. A contestant attempts to answer all the questions but fails the last one. Here goes the conversation:
Random Person: You have 500 bricks in the plane. ...
9
votes
4answers
2k views
The murder by the maid - Who is the murderer
A man was killed in a roundhouse with no doors or windows.
Four maids were present at the time of the murder, but are saying nothing. When asked what they were doing they replied as thus:
Maid 1: 'I ...
1
vote
10answers
1k views
Naturally, you don't want to meet me again
Scream out or scream low
You will only hear me when I blow whisper
Stand back or stand front
You will only see me when I want
Go there or no-where
I can be there beside with no distance
I don't ...
3
votes
4answers
639 views
The circle of Mega [closed]
I follow a pattern.
What am I?
It appears to me that just the above two sentences are not enough. I should add more about what I've already tried to solve it. But I already solved it, and it wouldn'...
7
votes
1answer
959 views
A naughty, naughty riddle (take that, NSA!)
Feeling lucky, punk?
Go on, ogle me, why don't ya?
But don't dare ask me for a quickie
Or else I'll just taunt ya
Just tell me what I want to hear
That you're a spy who loves me
If I ...
1
vote
1answer
1k views
A Simple Puzzle - A bus Driver [duplicate]
So imagine you are a bus driver.
You have left the depo at 9:00 AM on the dot!
You arrive at the first stop, open the doors and pick up the 3 people waiting at the stop.
At the next stop 2 Adults ...
13
votes
3answers
4k views
I am not a balloon. What am I?
My inner part is filled with helium
Rubber comprises my epithelium
If you tie me 'bout your hand
Then I'll stay closer to the ground
Else I'll go up to the sky
I am not a balloon, what am I?
7
votes
1answer
640 views
Find the password in the grid
You are a spy sent to the Moon in the year 2025. Your mission is to infiltrate a base that is guarded by simply a single unique passcode of length <10 on a standard QWERTY keyboard. The only hint ...
10
votes
2answers
642 views
Three in a lock
In the 1980s, a German spy was assigned a mission to retrieve a set of important documents kept inside a British outpost. The spy knew that the documents were locked in a safe, which the password was ...
134
votes
8answers
37k views
How can 64 = 65?
Here is a interesting picture with two arrangements of four shapes.
How can they make a different area with the same shapes?
2
votes
4answers
841 views
A pool of hungry sharks [closed]
You are standing in front of water-filled pool with hungry and aggressive human-eating sharks. You scratch your skin so that you bleed, which will make the sharks even more hungry. You then take a ...
-2
votes
4answers
6k views
Divide 40 eggs over 7 days, use odd numbers [closed]
I ve been asked to solve this riddle;
Eat 40 eggs in 7 days.
Minimum 1 egg a day.
Only use odd numbers...
14
votes
4answers
608 views
The answer to this puzzle is… [closed]
What is the answer?
Hints:
This puzzle is too vague
This puzzle is still incomplete
There is not enough information to determine the answer
When this puzzle is complete the answer will read as ...
-2
votes
2answers
235 views
What cannot stand outside a door? [closed]
Let there be a house of which there is a beautified front door that is closed. Now: what is that "thing" for which it is impossible, logically (and irrefutably), to be outside this closed door?
7
votes
3answers
989 views
Adam commutes to school
When the volume of the sound is low, Adam walks home from school. When the volume of the sound is high, he gets a ride. Why?
5
votes
1answer
556 views
Four girls in a maze; find a match of their names and given numbers [closed]
There are four girls in the maze.
1: One with dark hair and wearing a green hat.
2: One with brown skin wearing a black tank top.
3: One who hit the wall and bloodied her head.
4: One who ran ...
16
votes
2answers
3k views
-4
votes
7answers
392 views
Crossing the Bridge together [closed]
Two friends each weighing 150 lbs arrive at a Rope bridge 100 yards long.
The warning sign at the start of the bridge informs it can hold only a maximum of 325 lbs of weight at any given second, ...
15
votes
1answer
2k views
An Unfamiliar Day in the Life
Let me tell you about the day in my life that everything changed. Maybe it will sound something like your life. Maybe only bits and pieces will seem familiar.
I got up early this morning, but that ...
1
vote
3answers
1k views
100 Prisoners and a Light 2: Electric Boogaloo
You may recall the prison experiment done along the following lines:
One hundred prisoners have been newly ushered into prison. The warden tells them that starting tomorrow, each of them will be ...
7
votes
1answer
413 views
The Case of the Elementary Math
Due to many complaints about my code problem being to unoriginal, I have decided to write another problem based off the same idea, and a simple story.
Now Sherlock and Watson were solving a case of ...
4
votes
9answers
2k views
The London safes and their mysterious combinations
Here's the first riddle I invented for Puzzling SE. Hope you'll enjoy solving it.
This story takes place during World War II. A German spy is assigned the task to sneak overnight into a military base ...
1
vote
2answers
718 views
What color was the bear? [closed]
My grandfather had a very tough and interesting life. He was born in one city, some years later went to school in another city, and finally lived and worked in a third city. He was lucky though to die ...
1
vote
2answers
1k views
A Fairytale Of The Past [closed]
Four friends were travelling together. Their names were Dim, Burk, Lait and Kron. As they walked on, they saw a magician selling a flying carpet.
"This carpet costs 100 gold coins. It will take you ...
