Lateral Thinking Puzzles

Lateral Thinking Puzzles GOAL

Lateral Thinking Puzzles

Lateral Thinking Puzzles • The term 'lateral thinking' was coined by Edward de Bono to denote a problem-solving style that involves looking at the given situation from unexpected angles. Sometimes a problem seems difficult or insoluble because our assumptions about it are wrong.

Classic Example Lateral Thinking Puzzles • The Surgeon... A father and his son are involved in a car accident, as a result of which the father is very badly injured and his son is rushed to hospital for emergency surgery. However, the surgeon takes one look at the boy and says "I cannot operate on him". When asked why, the surgeon replies "Because he's my son...". • How could this be the case? • Answer: The surgeon is the boy's mother...

Edward De Bono's Six Thinking Hats • Blue Hat Thinking: Managing the thinking • White Hat Thinking: Just the facts • Green Hat Thinking: Creativity. Ideas. Possibilities • Yellow Hat Thinking: Benefits. Pluses • Black Hat Thinking: Difficulties. Problems • Red Hat Thinking: Feelings. Gut Instinct. Intuition

Lateral Thinking Puzzles Mr. Comm GOAL

Puzzle # 1 • Bottleneck • Put a coin in a bottle and then stop the opening with a cork. How can you get the coin out of the bottle without pulling out the cork or breaking the bottle? • Push the cork into the bottle, and shake the coin out.

Puzzle # 2 • Can You Explain? • Question: A girl who was just learning to drive went down a one-way street in the wrong direction, but didn't break the law. How come? • She was walking the wrong way.

Puzzle # 3 • Can You Explain? • Question: How can you throw a ball as hard as you can and have it come back to you, even if it doesn't hit anything, there is nothing attached to it, and no one else catches or throws it? • Answer: Throw the ball straight up in the air.

Puzzle # 4 • Can You Explain? • Question: Two students are sitting on opposite sides of the same desk. There is nothing in between them but the desk. Why can't they see each other? • Answer: The two students have their backs to each other.

Puzzle # 5 • Can You Explain? • Question: There are only two T's in Timothy Tuttle. True or false? • Answer: True. There are only two T's (upper case). There are also three t's (lower case).

Puzzle # 6 • Coast to Coast • Train A and train B are crossing the country, from coast to coast, over 3,000 miles of railroad track. Train A is going from east to west at 80 miles per hour, and Train B is going from west to east at 90 miles per hour. Which train will be closer to the west coast when they meet? (Hint: You don’t have to do any math to get the answer. Just use your head!)

Puzzle # 6 • Answer: When the trains meet, they will be at exactly the same point. Therefore, they will each be the same distance from the west coast.

Puzzle # 7 • Crossing the River • Jake was standing on one side of the river, and his dog Scruffy was standing on the other side. "Come on Scruffy, come, boy!" shouted Jake. Scruffy crossed the river, ran to Jake, and got a treat for being a good dog. The amazing thing was that Scruffy didn't even get wet! How did Scruffy do that?

Puzzle # 7 • Possible Answers: • The river was frozen. • There was a bridge over the river, and Scruffy crossed the bridge.

Puzzle # 8 • Digging Dirt: • Question: How much dirt is in a round hole that is 9 feet deep with a diameter of 3 feet? (Hint: You don’t have to do any math to get the answer. Just use your head!) • Answer: None. You make a hole by digging out the dirt, so the hole is empty.

Puzzle # 9 • Getting Younger? In the year 1201, a woman was 35 years old. In the year 1206, the same woman was 30. How is this possible? • Answer: The dates are B.C. rather than A.D.

Puzzle # 9 • Getting Younger? In the year 1201, a woman was 35 years old. In the year 1206, the same woman was 30. How is this possible? • Answer: The dates are B.C. rather than A.D. 1206 1201 0 1201 1206 30 YRS OLD 35 YRS OLD BC AD

Puzzle # 10 • Home: Regina left home one afternoon. She turned to the right and started running straight ahead. Then she turned to her left, ran, turned to her left again, ran, turned to her left one more time, and ran even faster. She headed for home. Then she saw a masked boy waiting for her. Who was he? • Answer: The masked boy was the catcher. Regina played on a coed baseball team.

Puzzle # 11 • Name the Dog: • Once a dog named Nelly lived on a farm. There were three other dogs on the farm. Their names were Blackie, Whitey, and Brownie. What do you think the fourth dog’s name was? • Answer: Nelly. (If there are only four dogs on the farm, the fourth one must be Nelly!)

Puzzle # 12 • New Shoes: • One day, two mothers and two daughters went shopping for shoes. Their shopping spree was successful — each bought a pair of shoes, and all together, they had three pairs. How is this possible? • Answer: Only three people went shopping: a grandmother, a mother, and a daughter — but remember that the mother was the grandmother's daughter!

Puzzle # 13 • One for Each: You have a bag with four candy bars in it. You promised to give each of your three friends a candy bar, and you want one for yourself. How can you accomplish this, and still have one candy bar left in the bag? • Answer: Take a candy bar for yourself. Then take out two more and give them to two of your friends. Give your third friend the bag with the third candy bar still in it. Or, give each friend a candy bar and keep the candy bar in the bag for yourself.

Puzzle # 14 • Outsmarting the Donkey: Amir tied two sacks of salt to the back of his donkey and headed for the market to sell the salt. On the way, Amir and the donkey passed a stream. The donkey jumped in to cool himself. As a result, much of the salt dissolved into the water, ruining the salt for Amir but improving matters for the donkey because his load became much lighter. Amir tried to get to the market on the following days, but the donkey always ruined the salt. Finally, Amir decided to teach the donkey a lesson. He once again set out with the donkey and the two sacks. • What did Amir do differently this time so that after that day the donkey stopped taking a swim?

Puzzle # 14 • Answer: Amir loaded the sacks not with salt but with sand. When the donkey jumped in the stream and got the sacks wet, they became much heavier.

Puzzle # 15 • The Last Three: Each letter below stands for the name of something. What should the last three letters be? • M V E M J S ? ? ? • Answer: U for Uranus, N for Neptune, and P for Pluto

Puzzle # 16 • Regular or Diet? One teenager goes up to a food booth at a fair and says, "A cola, please." The man working the booth asks, "Regular or diet?" The teenager asks, "What's the difference?" and is told that the regular costs 90 cents but that the diet soda costs $1. The teenager says, "Give me a diet cola, please" and places a dollar on the counter. • Next, another teenager comes up to the booth and says, "A cola, please," placing a dollar on the counter. The man in the booth gives him a diet cola. • How did the man in the booth know which soda-regular or diet-the second teenager wanted?

Puzzle # 16 • Answer: The second teenager put a dollar in change on the counter: 2 quarters and 5 dimes. If the teenager had wanted a regular cola, he would have put only 2 quarters and 4 dimes on the counter.

Puzzle # 17 • Rising Tide: The rope ladder of a boat hangs over the side of the boat and just reaches the water. Its rungs are 8 inches apart. • How many rungs will be under the water when the tide rises 4 feet? • Answer: When the tide rises 4 feet, the boat and its ladder will also rise. So no rungs will be under the water.

Puzzle # 18 • Time to Tell: A sundial is said to be the timepiece with the fewest moving parts. What is the timepiece with the most moving parts? • Answer: An hourglass—filled with many grains of sand or other granular material.

Puzzle # 19 • Ups and Downs: A man lives on the twelfth floor of an apartment building. Every morning he takes the elevator down to the lobby and leaves the building. In the evening, he gets into the elevator, and, if there is someone else in the elevator -- or if it was raining that day -- he goes back to his floor directly. Otherwise, he goes to the tenth floor and walks up two flights of stairs to his apartment. Why?

Puzzle # 19 • Answer: The man is a dwarf. He can't reach the upper elevator buttons, but he can ask people to push them for him. He can also push them with his umbrella.

Puzzle # 20 • Explain Joe’s Actions: • Joe, wearing a mask and carrying an empty sack, leaves his house. An hour later he returns with a full sack. He goes into a room and turns out the lights. • Joe is a kid who goes trick-or-treating for Halloween, returns, and goes to sleep.

Puzzle # 21 • What do you see? • Answer: an Eskimo or an Indian

Puzzle # 22 • How many faces can you see in this picture? • Seven is good, but if you can see 10 you are doing better ...

Puzzle # 23

Puzzle # 23 • If you look closely at the hypotenuse (long) edge of the triangle, you will find that it is not straight. In one case it is slightly concave (bends in) and in one case it is slightly convex (bends out). The difference between these two, is the area of one square. Try cutting them out of card and putting a ruler against the edge.

Puzzle # 24 • Three Switches and Three Bulbs: • Three switches outside a windowless room are connected to three light bulbs inside the room. How can you determine which switch is connected to which bulb if you may enter the room only once? • Answer: Switch one light on for a minute; turn it off and turn another one on. Go into the room and feel the off-bulbs. The warm one is connected to the first switch, the on-bulb is connected to the second.

Puzzle # 25 • Nutty Problem • A man is replacing a wheel on his car, when he accidentally drops the four nuts used to hold the wheel on the car, and they fall into a deep drain, irretrievably lost. A passing girl offers him a solution which enables him to drive home. What is it? • Use one nut from each of the four other wheels.

Puzzle # 26 • 15 Cents: Can 15 cents be made from 2 coins if one coin is not a dime? • Hint: What can the other coin be? • Answer: Yes, a nickel and a dime, the question only says that one coin can't be a dime.

Puzzle # 27 • To Light a Fire:You are hiking with a friend in the deep woods of northern Canada. A cold front quickly approaches and you find cover behind a sheltered boulder. A fire will be necessary if you are to survive the storm. In your pack you have a only one match, a candle, a tightly wound ball of birch bark and a roll of toilet paper. Which would you light first? • Answer: The match

Puzzle # 28 • Reading Light:There is a girl reading quietly in a dark room. All the lights are off and she has no special night vision or anything. How is she reading? • Answer: The girl is blind, she is reading Braille .

Puzzle # 29 • Make a word from boas that can be used to keep you clean. b o a s b s o a b

Puzzle # 30 • Pretend you are an alien who had managed to learn the English language, but you do not know what significance the days of the week have. On which day of the week would you assume1. You would cook a meal.2. You would get paid.3. You would get married.4. It would be unusually bright. Friday Monday Wednesday Sunday

Puzzle # 31 • If none of the following statements are true, who can we conclude broke the vase?Mike: Sally broke the vase.Tom: Mike will tell you who broke the vase.April: Tom, Mike & I could not have broken the vase.Chris: I did not break the vase.Erik: Mike broke the vase, so Tom & April couldn't have.Jim: I broke the vase, so Tom is innocent.

Puzzle # 31 • Chris. If the statement "I did not break the vase" is definitely false, we can be certain that Chris broke the vase. Statements that some individuals "couldn't have" broken the vase only mean that these individuals could have broken the vase, but do not guarantee that they did. Jim's statement that "Tom is innocent" is too vague. We know that Tom is not innocent, but this does not assure us that he broke the vase.

Puzzle # 32

Lateral Thinking Puzzles