Lateral Thinking - puzzles

 

1. There is a man who lives on the top floor of a very tall building.

Everyday he gets the elevator down to the ground floor to leave the

building to go to work.Upon returning from work though, he can only

travel

half way up in the lift and has to walk the rest of the way unless

it's

raining! Why? (This is probably the best known and most celebrated of

all

lateral thinking puzzles. It is a true classic. Although there are

many

possible solutions which fit the initial conditions, only the

canonical

answer is truly satisfying. )







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2. A man and his son are in a car accident. The father dies on the

scene,

but the child is rushed to the hospital. When he arrives the surgeon

says,

"I can't operate on this boy, he is my son! " How can this be?







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3. A man is wearing black. Black shoes, socks, trousers, lumper,

gloves

and balaclava. He is walking down a black street with all the street

lamps

off.

A black car is coming towards him with its light off but somehow

manages

to stop in time. How did the driver see the man?







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4. Why is it better to have round manhole covers than square ones?

This is

logical rather than lateral, but it is a good puzzle that can be

solved by

lateral thinking techniques. It is supposedly used by a very

well-known

software company as an interview question for prospective employees.







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5. A man went to a party and drank some of the punch. He then left

early.

Everyone else at the party who drank the punch subsequently died of

poisoning. Why did the man not die?



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6. A man walks into a bar and asks the barman for a glass of water.

The

barman pulls out a gun and points it at the man. The man says 'Thank

you'

and walks out.

(This puzzle claims to be the best of the genre. It is simple in its

statement, absolutely baffling and yet with a completely satisfying

solution. Most people struggle very hard to solve this one yet they

like the answer when they hear it or have the satisfaction of

figuring it out. )







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Scroll down for the solutions.
















SOLUTIONS

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1. The man is very, very short and can only reach halfway up the

elevator

buttons. However,if it is raining then he will have his umbrella with

him

and can press the higher buttons with it.







2. The surgeon was his mother.







3. It was day time.







4. A square manhole cover can be turned and dropped down the diagonal

of

the manhole. A round manhole cannot be dropped down the manhole. So

for

safety and practicality, all manhole covers should be round.







5. The poison in the punch came from the ice cubes. When the man

Drank the

punch, the ice was fully frozen. Gradually it melted, poisoning the

punch.







6. The man had hiccups. The barman recognized this from his speech

and

drew the gun in order to give him a shock. It worked and cured the

hiccups-so the man no longer needed the water.