LATERAL THINKING Puzzles

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Trial A certain five letter word becomes shorter when you add two letters to it. What is the word?

Puzzle-1 Acting on an anonymous phone call, the police raid a house to arrest a suspected murderer. They don't know what he looks like but they know his name is John and that he is inside the house. The police bust in on a carpenter, a lorry driver, a mechanic and a fireman all playing poker. Without hesitation or communication of any kind, they immediately arrest the fireman. How do they know they've got their man?

Puzzle-2 Two boys wish to cross a river. The only way to get to the other side is by boat, but that boat can only take one boy at a time. The boat cannot return on its own, there are no ropes or similar tricks, yet both boys manage to cross using the boat. How?

Puzzle-3 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?

Puzzle-4 How could a baby fall out of a twenty-story building onto the ground and live?

Puzzle-5 A man and his son are in a car crash. The father is killed and the child is taken to hospital gravely injured. When he gets there, the surgeon says, 'I can't operate on this boy - for he is my son!!!' How can this possibly be?

Break How many birthdays does the average man have?

Puzzle-6 There are six eggs in the basket. Six people each take one of the eggs. How can it be that one egg is left in the basket?

Puzzle-7 A man is wearing black. Black shoes, socks, trousers, coat, gloves and ski mask. He is walking down a back 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?

Puzzle-8 Why is it better to have round manhole covers than square ones?

Puzzle-9 A murderer is condemned to death. He has to choose between three rooms. The first is full of raging fires, the second is full of assassins with loaded guns, and the third is full of lions that haven't eaten in 3 years. Which room is safest for him?

Puzzle-10 Can you name three consecutive days without using the words Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday, or Sunday?

Break An electric train is traveling northwest at 95 miles per hour, and the wind is blowing southwest at 95 miles per hour. In which direction does the smoke blow?

Puzzle-11 If you had one match and entered a room in which there were a kerosene lamp, an oil burner, and a wood burning stove, which would you light first?

Puzzle-12 Three cannibals and three anthropologists have to cross a river. The boat they have is only big enough for two people. The cannibals will do as requested, even if they are on the other side of the river, with one exception. If at any point in time there are more cannibals on one side of the river than anthropologists, the cannibals will eat them. What plan can the anthropologists use for crossing the river so they don't get eaten? Note: One anthropologist can not control two cannibals on land, nor can one anthropologist on land control two cannibals on the boat if they are all on the same side of the river. This means an anthropologist will not survive being rowed across the river by a cannibal if there is one cannibal on the other side.

Puzzle-13 A frog is at the bottom of a 30 meter well. Each day he summons enough energy for one 3 meter leap up the well. Exhausted, he then hangs there for the rest of the day. At night, while he is asleep, he slips 2 meters backwards. How many days does it take him to escape from the well?

Puzzle-14 Cathy has six pairs of black socks and six pairs of white socks in her drawer. In complete darkness, and without looking, how many socks must she take from the drawer in order to be sure to get a pair that match?

Puzzle-15 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?

Break Mary's mum has four children. The first child is called April. The second May. The third June. What is the name of the fourth child?

Puzzle-16 You have a three liter and a five liter measuring devices. You wish to measure out four liters. How? There are no markings and no other vessel.

Puzzle-17 You have two strings whose only known property is that when you light one end of either string it takes exactly one hour to burn. The rate at which the strings will burn is completely random and each string is different. How do you measure 45minutes?

Puzzle-18 A horse is tied to a 30 foot rope. A haystack lies 40 feet away, but the horse is able to eat it. How is this possible?

Puzzle-19 A man is stranded on an island covered in forest. One day, when the wind is blowing from the west, lightning strikes the west end of the island and sets fire to the forest. The fire is very violent, burning everything in its path, and without intervention the fire will burn the whole island, killing the man in the process. There are cliffs around the island, so he cannot jump off. How can the man survive the fire? (There are no buckets or any other means to put out the fire)

Puzzle-20 You are on an island and there are three crates of fruit that have washed up in front of you. One crate contains only apples. One crate contains only oranges. The other crate contains both apples and oranges. Each crate is labeled. One reads "apples", one reads "oranges", and one reads "apples and oranges". You know that NONE of the crates have been labeled correctly - they are all wrong. If you can only take out and look at just one of the pieces of fruit from just one of the crates, how can you label ALL of the crates correctly?

Break What two words have the most letters in it?

Puzzle-21 There are five gears connected in a row, the first one is connected to the second one, the second one is connected to the third one, and so on. If the first gear is rotating clockwise what direction is the fifth gear turning?

Puzzle-22 A boy and a girl are talking. "I am a boy" - said the child with black hair. "I am a girl" - said the child with white hair. At least one of them lied. Who is the boy and who is the girl?

Puzzle-23 Two fathers took their sons fishing. Each man and son caught one fish, but when they returned to camp there were only 3 fish. How could this be? (None of the fish were eaten, lost, or thrown back.)

Puzzle-24 How many times can you subtract 2 from 21 without getting a negative number for an answer?

Puzzle-25 A woman had two sons who were born on the same hour of the same day of the same year. But they were not twins. How could this be so?

Break How much dirt is there in a hole in the ground that's two feet wide, three feet long, and four feet deep?

Puzzle-26 A man on a park bench is looking at a small portrait. You ask him, "Who is that in the picture?" The man says, "Brothers and sisters, I have none, but that man's father, is my father's son." Can you tell what person is in the picture?

Puzzle-27 A pot contains 75 white beans and 150 black ones. Next to the pot is a large pile of black beans. A somewhat demented cook removes the beans from the pot, one at a time, according to the following strange rule: He removes two beans from the pot at random. If at least one of the beans is black, he places it on the bean-pile and drops the other bean, no matter what color, back in the pot. If both beans are white, on the other hand, he discards both of them and removes one black bean from the pile and drops it in the pot. At each turn of this procedure, the pot has one less bean in it. Eventually, just one bean is left in the pot. What color is it?

Puzzle-28 A woman shoots her husband. Then she holds him under water for over 5 minutes. Finally, she hangs him. But 5 minutes later they both go out together and enjoy a wonderful dinner together. How can this be?

Puzzle-29 A bucket is getting filled up every minute with same amount of water existing in the bucket. After 38 minutes if the bucket is only quarter full, at what time the bucket will be full?

Puzzle-30 Cannibals ambush a safari in the jungle and capture three men. The cannibals give the men a single chance to escape uneaten. The captives are lined up in order of height, and are tied to stakes. The man in the rear can see the backs of his two friends, the man in the middle can see the back the man in front, and the man in front cannot see anyone. The cannibals show the men five hats. Three of the hats are black and two of the hats are white. Blindfolds are then placed over each man's eyes and a hat is placed on each man's head. The two hats left over are hidden. The blindfolds are then removed and it is said to the men that if one of them can guess what color hat he is wearing they can all leave unharmed. The man in the rear who can see both of his friends' hats but not his own says, "I don't know". The middle man who can see the hat of the man in front, but not his own says, "I don't know". The front man who cannot see ANYBODY'S hat says "I know!" How did he know the color of his hat and what color was it?

Break Forward I'm heavy, backwards I'm not. What am I?

Break You are competing in a race and overtake the runner in second place. Which position are in you now?

Break A woman has seven children. Half of them are boys. How is this possible?

Puzzle-31 Three men in a cafe order a meal the total cost of which is $15. They each contribute $5. The waiter takes the money to the chef who recognizes the three as friends and asks the waiter to return $5 to the men. The waiter is not only poor at mathematics but dishonest and instead of going to the trouble of splitting the $5 between the three he simply gives them $1 each and pockets the remaining $2 for himself. Now, each of the men effectively paid $4, the total paid is therefore $12. Add the $2 in the waiters pocket and this comes to $14.....where has the other $1 gone from the original $15?