analyzing skills
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.
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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.
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2. The surgeon was his mother.
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3. It was day time.
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4. A square manhole cover can be turned and dropped down the diagonal of
the manhole. A round manhole cover cannot be dropped down the manhole. So for
safety and practicality, all manhole covers should be round.
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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.
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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. ... »
