Lateral Thinking Thread

Pighead

1)
A carrot a scarf and five pieces of coal are lying on a lawn. No-one deliberately put them there, but there is a perfectly logical reason for it. What?




2)
In a large wooden barn, a dead man is hanging from a rafter. The rope around his neck is 10 feet long, his feet are three feet from the ground. He is 20 feet off the ground.
It is not possible to climb along the wall, or the rafters. The man hanged himself. How did he manage it?



3)
Mr Smith and Mr Jones are on a business trip, staying in the same hotel. They are in adjacent rooms. During the night, Mr Smith sleeps soundly. Mr Jones however, despite being tired, cannot sleep.
He phones Mr Smith and then falls asleep immediately after hanging up. Why is this the case?

Pighead

4)
A man is lying dead in a phone booth. The handset is swinging. Two windows are broken. He wasnt murdered. How did he die?


5)
Two grandmasters played 5 games of chess. Each won the same number of games and lost the same number of games. There were no draws. Explain?


6)
Three women dressed in swimsuits were standing together. One was happy, two were sad. The sad women were smiling, the happy one was crying. Whats going on?

Pighead

7)
A warehouse boss has just arrived at work when an employee rushes into his office. He explains that while asleep the night before, he dreamt one of the storage boxes contained a bomb, which would explode at 2pm that day, causing mass destruction. The boss was sceptical but investigated the claim.
After a asearch, a bomb was found. The police were called, bomb defused and tragedy averted. Afterwards ,the boss thanked the employee and promptly sacked him.
The employee had not planted the bomb and had saved the warehouse from destruction. The manager however was right to fire him. Why?



8)
A man in a restaurant complained of a fly in his coffee. the waiter took the cup away, promising a fresh cup. He returned a fewminutes later. The man complained that it was the same cup of coffee. He was right. How could he know?


9)
A man stood looking through a window 10 storeys up. Suddenly, he opened the window and leapt through it. It was a sheer drop outside the window to the ground. He didnt use a parachute, land on water or another soft surface, yet he was completely unhurt. Explain?

Pighead

10)
Antony and Cleopatra are lying dead on the floor of a turkish villa. Nearby is a broken bowl. They werent poisoned and there bodies have no marks. No single person was in the villa when they died. How did they die?


11)
A woman sat at a table with her two sons. She spoke to both sons, they both replied but never uttered a word to each other. They had not fallen out and did not dislike each other. They conversed freely with their mother the whole time. They never addressed each other though. Why?



12)
two sisters were cleaning out a shed. When they finished, one had a dirty face, the others was clean. the sister with the clean face went to wash hers whilst the other sister did not wash. Why not?

Blisterman

First one is a snowman.

Oh and the last one, the opne with the clean face saw the dirty face and thought hers was dirty too.

Kernel

Pighead wrote:

1)
A carrot a scarf and five pieces of coal are lying on a lawn. No-one deliberately put them there, but there is a perfectly logical reason for it. What?

Melted snowman?

Pighead wrote:

2)
In a large wooden barn, a dead man is hanging from a rafter. The rope around his neck is 10 feet long, his feet are three feet from the ground. He is 20 feet off the ground.
It is not possible to climb along the wall, or the rafters. The man hanged himself. How did he manage it?

He is 7 foot tall or thereabouts? And he hanged himself after the unmerciful slagging you gave last night?

Pighead wrote:

3)
Mr Smith and Mr Jones are on a business trip, staying in the same hotel. They are in adjacent rooms. During the night, Mr Smith sleeps soundly. Mr Jones however, despite being tired, cannot sleep.
He phones Mr Smith and then falls asleep immediately after hanging up. Why is this the case?

[/quote]

Mr. Smith snores very loudly?

Pighead

Blisterman:1 and 12 correct! Impressed that you got the last won.You must be very lateral.Respect
Kernel: 1 and 3 Correct!
Although -1 points for your ridiculous second answer!

Pighead, this would be a lot
A)easier
B)Less confusing later on
C)Greater chance of longevity

If you were to do them one by one. We did a thread like this a couple of months ago. It were great it was.

Debyaka

"Antony and Cleopatra are lying dead on the floor of a turkish villa. Nearby is a broken bowl. They werent poisoned and there bodies have no marks. No single person was in the villa when they died. How did they die?"

Antony and cleopatra are goldfish maybe?

Kernel

Pighead wrote:

4)
A man is lying dead in a phone booth. The handset is swinging. Two windows are broken. He wasnt murdered. How did he die?

He was a fisherman who phoned home to say he had caught a fish that was "this big" - flung his arms out and cut his wrists on the glass as he broke the 2 windows.

Kernel

Pighead wrote:

Blisterman:1 and 12 correct! Impressed that you got the last won.You must be very lateral.Respect
Kernel: 1 and 3 Correct!
Although -1 points for your ridiculous second answer!

Oh crap.. i misread.. how did he get up there...? He stood on a big block of ice which has since melted?

Debyaka

Pighead wrote:

9)
A man stood looking through a window 10 storeys up. Suddenly, he opened the window and leapt through it. It was a sheer drop outside the window to the ground. He didnt use a parachute, land on water or another soft surface, yet he was completely unhurt. Explain?

He only jumped out onto the window ledge??

Debyaka

Pighead wrote:

7)
A warehouse boss has just arrived at work when an employee rushes into his office. He explains that while asleep the night before, he dreamt one of the storage boxes contained a bomb, which would explode at 2pm that day, causing mass destruction. The boss was sceptical but investigated the claim.
After a asearch, a bomb was found. The police were called, bomb defused and tragedy averted. Afterwards ,the boss thanked the employee and promptly sacked him.
The employee had not planted the bomb and had saved the warehouse from destruction. The manager however was right to fire him. Why?

Sleeping on the job..

breadmonkey

5)They weren't playing eachother

Kernel

Pighead wrote:

7)
A warehouse boss has just arrived at work when an employee rushes into his office. He explains that while asleep the night before, he dreamt one of the storage boxes contained a bomb, which would explode at 2pm that day, causing mass destruction. The boss was sceptical but investigated the claim.
After a asearch, a bomb was found. The police were called, bomb defused and tragedy averted. Afterwards ,the boss thanked the employee and promptly sacked him.
The employee had not planted the bomb and had saved the warehouse from destruction. The manager however was right to fire him. Why?

The guy works nights and was asleep the night before and dreaming?

Pighead wrote:

8)
A man in a restaurant complained of a fly in his coffee. the waiter took the cup away, promising a fresh cup. He returned a fewminutes later. The man complained that it was the same cup of coffee. He was right. How could he know?

The man had marked the cup? The fly was still there? It was the man's cup, not the restaurants?

Pighead wrote:

9)
A man stood looking through a window 10 storeys up. Suddenly, he opened the window and leapt through it. It was a sheer drop outside the window to the ground. He didnt use a parachute, land on water or another soft surface, yet he was completely unhurt. Explain?

He was on the ground floor? The other ten storeys were underground? He was superman/Neo?

breadmonkey

7)He sleep walks!!!

Debyaka

Pighead wrote:

6)
Three women dressed in swimsuits were standing together. One was happy, two were sad. The sad women were smiling, the happy one was crying. Whats going on?

The sad women had just lost Ms. Universe to the happy woman crying with joy so they had to smile.

Kernel

Pighead wrote:

6)
Three women dressed in swimsuits were standing together. One was happy, two were sad. The sad women were smiling, the happy one was crying. Whats going on?

Ahhh.. a beauty pageant.. like miss world, swimsuit competition et al.

Pighead

Papa Smut wrote:

Pighead, this would be a lot
A)easier
B)Less confusing later on
C)Greater chance of longevity

If you were to do them one by one. We did a thread like this a couple of months ago. It were great it was.

Good Call Papa,Whos my Daddy!
Eh bit late to do anything bout it now tho.
I live and learn

breadmonkey

6)They are on a winners podium. Tears of joy for the winner, brave smiles for 2nd & 3rd

breadmonkey

damn people are posting fast on this one!

Eye

2) The man had a large block of ice jumped up and tied the rope then waited for it to melt and hang himself.

10) The man was on the ground floor looking out the window and up through the window of the 10th storey of the building across the road, when he jumps he does'nt have far to fall.

12) The sister with the dirty face looked and the clean face of her sister and thought her face would be fine and did'nt wipe it, the clean faced sister looked and saw her sisters dirty face and thought hers would be the same so she wiped her face.

breadmonkey

8)The fly is still in the cup of coffee?

Debyaka

Pighead wrote:

11)
A woman sat at a table with her two sons. She spoke to both sons, they both replied but never uttered a word to each other. They had not fallen out and did not dislike each other. They conversed freely with their mother the whole time. They never addressed each other though. Why?

The old woman had double vision maybe?

Gurgle

5)
Two grandmasters played 5 games of chess. Each won the same number of games and lost the same number of games. There were no draws. Explain?

At least one of the games was against someone else.

6)
Three women dressed in swimsuits were standing together. One was happy, two were sad. The sad women were smiling, the happy one was crying. Whats going on?

Crying woman won the beauty contest, Smiling women are the runners up.

seamus

Pighead wrote:

9)
A man stood looking through a window 10 storeys up. Suddenly, he opened the window and leapt through it. It was a sheer drop outside the window to the ground. He didnt use a parachute, land on water or another soft surface, yet he was completely unhurt. Explain?

The key here is that he's looking *through* the window, not out the window. Clearly he's a window cleaner and jumped through the window, into the building.

Pighead

Think these are all that have been answered so far.Not very impressive people!

1. Melted Snowman
2. he originally stood on a large icecube which melted away?
3. the other guy was snoring so loud it stopped him sleeping, so phoning him woke him up
4.
5.
6. they are on a podium collecting medals after a competition - the crying one is crying with joy, other putting on brave face
7.
8.
9.
10.
11.
12.The clean sister saw her dirty sister and assumed she also was dirty - so she cleaned. The dirty sister saw her clean sister and assumed she also was clean - so she didn't. Obviously there's a shortage of mirrors.

Pighead

seamus wrote:

The key here is that he's looking *through* the window, not out the window. Clearly he's a window cleaner and jumped through the window, into the building.

I take it back.Spot on Seamus!

Pighead

Gurgle wrote:

5)
Two grandmasters played 5 games of chess. Each won the same number of games and lost the same number of games. There were no draws. Explain?

At least one of the games was against someone else.

Exactly!

Bacchus

5) They were'nt playing each other

monkeyfudge

Pighead wrote:

7)
A warehouse boss has just arrived at work when an employee rushes into his office. He explains that while asleep the night before, he dreamt one of the storage boxes contained a bomb, which would explode at 2pm that day, causing mass destruction. The boss was sceptical but investigated the claim.
After a asearch, a bomb was found. The police were called, bomb defused and tragedy averted. Afterwards ,the boss thanked the employee and promptly sacked him.
The employee had not planted the bomb and had saved the warehouse from destruction. The manager however was right to fire him. Why?

He was the night watchman and he shouldn't have been asleep on the job?

Gurgle

11)
A woman sat at a table with her two sons. She spoke to both sons, they both replied but never uttered a word to each other. They had not fallen out and did not dislike each other. They conversed freely with their mother the whole time. They never addressed each other though. Why?

One was deaf and communicated through sign language.
The other was blind.

Stephen

4) Natural causes? The windows may have been broken beforehand.

bringitdown

11) - Sons were deaf / lip read / spoke in sign language?

Debyaka

monkeyfudge wrote:

He was the night watchman and he shouldn't have been asleep on the job?

Try reading the rest of the thread before answering,
that one has been answered loads of time.

WizZard

11) One was deaf and dumb, the other blind. The blind one can't use sign language

WizZard

8) the coffee was cold?

monkeyfudge

Debyaka wrote:

Try reading the rest of the thread before answering,
that one has been answered loads of time.

Ah... I was going on Pighead's recap post, where he said which ones hadn't been answered.

Debyaka

monkeyfudge wrote:

Ah... I was going on Pighead's recap post, where he said which ones hadn't been answered.

Guessed that alright,
Pighead is running abit slow today after his "Bum Boys" thread last night..

Eoghan-psych

Pighead wrote:

11)
A woman sat at a table with her two sons. She spoke to both sons, they both replied but never uttered a word to each other. They had not fallen out and did not dislike each other. They conversed freely with their mother the whole time. They never addressed each other though. Why?

Two seperate times.

radiospan

I think 4) and 10) have only been answered once so far. Not sure if they're right.

Pighead

Updated recap post!

1. Melted Snowman
2. he originally stood on a large icecube which melted away?
3. the other guy was snoring so loud it stopped him sleeping, so phoning him woke him up
4.He was a fisherman. he was stretching out his arms to describe how big a fish he had caught, and accidently broke the glass on either side slitting his wrists
5. they were playing other opponents, not each other
6. they are on a podium collecting medals after a competition - the crying one is crying with joy, other putting on brave face
7. the employee was on nightshift so was sleeping on the job
8.
9.
10. There was more than one person there (not one single, but more than one)
11.
12.The clean sister saw her dirty sister and assumed she also was dirty - so she cleaned. The dirty sister saw her clean sister and assumed she also was clean - so she didn't. Obviously there's a shortage of mirrors.

A lot of people close with 11

tSubh Dearg

4) is the fisherman who catches a huge fish, goes into the phone booth to call his wife and he is so excited that when she asks how big it was he hold his hands out and says "this big" in the process breaking the glass of the phone booth on either side, cutting his wrists and bleeding to death.

tSubh Dearg

dang posted too slow!

oh forgotten the number but Anothony and Cleopatra are goldfish who's bowl has fallen over and smashed and they died suffocting in the air

monkeyfudge

Are you sure Seamus wasn't right with his answer for No. 9? It's seems like a perfect answer.

And... for No. 8... had the man already added sugar to his coffee before giving it back?

tadhgrrr

9) the guy was a window cleaner, he opened the window on the 10th story and jumped into the building....simple really

Gurgle

9)
A man stood looking through a window 10 storeys up. Suddenly, he opened the window and leapt through it. It was a sheer drop outside the window to the ground. He didnt use a parachute, land on water or another soft surface, yet he was completely unhurt. Explain?

The building was in an atmospheric bubble on the moon.

Doc

tadhgrrr wrote:

9) the guy was a window cleaner, he opened the window on the 10th story and jumped into the building....simple really

Yea especially simple when someone else already answered it!

The answer to 11 must be that both sons are mute...

Eoin

8)
A man in a restaurant complained of a fly in his coffee. the waiter took the cup away, promising a fresh cup. He returned a fewminutes later. The man complained that it was the same cup of coffee. He was right. How could he know?

He had already put sugar in the coffee before he sent it back, and could taste it when he got a replacement?

WizZard

eoin_s wrote:

He had already put sugar in the coffee before he sent it back, and could taste it when he got a replacement?

Ah, well done. That must be it!

TerrorFirmer

@9 - He was on the ground floor looking up through the window? thats about all i can think off.

Unless hes spiderman.