Lateral thinking puzzle

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Lateral thinking puzzles are often referred to as Situation puzzles, "yes/no" puzzles, or "no, no oh my dear god no!" puzzles.

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[edit] Lateral thinking puzzles

A classic Visual Lateral Thought puzzle. By using maximum of four lines, and not lifting the pen off the paper, are you able to join every one of these dots?
The answer is below.

Lateral thinking puzzles are usually played in a group, alone, in pairs, with limited resources, by deep sea divers, or other situations. It is most often used to determine if an individual suffers from lateral thinking. Depending upon the settings and level of difficulty, other answers, hints or simple explanations of why the answer is "yes", "", or "please, God, no more" may be considered acceptable.

[edit] How to play

One player initiates the game by asking in a high-pitched and awkward voice whether anybody wants to play a Lateral Thinking puzzle. Once all other alternatives are exhausted, the game begins. The initiator of the game "tosses" to the players a confusing or counter-productive situation while the players are allowed to ask the aforementioned "tosser" yes/no questions until they either arrive at an explanation for the situation or beat him savagely about the head and body with a blunt instrument.

[edit] Classic lateral thinking puzzles

There are a great many Lateral Thinking puzzles available. Compendiums of puzzles can be bought in bookshops or stolen from farmers; alternatively, you might like to try and make up your own! Here are a few simple lateral thinking puzzles to get you started:

The Bar Enigma

Q. Tom is found dead in the living room, with a bar across his back. How did he die?

A. An enormous bar fell on him. (Roll over for answer^[1])

The Riddle Of The Adults And The Children

Q. Adults are holding children, waiting their turn. The children are handed to a man, who holds them while a woman shoots them. Their parents are pleased. Why?

Clue: It is X-Mas time

A. Because their children are ginger. (Roll over for answer)

The Albatross Soup Puzzle

Q. A man walks into a restaurant and orders a bowl of albatross soup. He takes one bite, then runs out of the restaurant and hurls himself off a nearby cliff, killing himself. Why?

A. A force named gravity accelerates all bodies within the Earth's atmosphere towards the planet's centre of mass. The acceleration during the time the man was falling brought him to a high speed. When he hit the ground at the bottom of the cliff, the sudden deceleration ruptured several vital internal organs, causing him to bleed to death. (Roll over for answer)

The Cocky Maid

Q. A maid was heating water to be added to a bath. Suddenly, the butler walked in and said: "Don't you know that the longer you heat that water for, the colder the bath will be?" Why did he say that?

A. It was Opposite Day.^[2] (Roll over for answer)

The Car Accident

Q. A father and his son were in a car accident. The father was dead on impact, and the son was severely injured and rushed to the hospital. How could a loving God allow such a tragedy to befall two innocent people?

A. The father had once watched gay pornography while at college, and the car crash was God's judgement on him and the inherently sinful fruit of his loins. (Roll over for answer)

Milo's Grandson

Q. Tom is visiting his friend, Milo, when he notices a strange portrait on Milo's wall. Tom asks Milo who it is. Milo replies: "That is clearly my grandson." But Milo is twelve. What is going on?

A. Milo is a ghost. (Roll over for answer)

Eggs in a basket

Q. There were six people, and six eggs in a basket. Everyone took one, but yet there was still one left over. How can this be.

A. One/Two of them was/were Siamese twins with only two arms and he/she/it/they could only take one egg. (Roll over for answer)

The Miraculous Baby

Q. A baby falls out of a twenty-story building and survives. How?

A. It was magical.(Roll over for answer)

The Unexpected Firing

Q. A man was fired at work on his first day for doing his job. Why?

A. He was ginger. (If you haven't worked out what to do yet for an answer, you may be thinking too laterally.)

Antony and Cleopatra

Q. Antony and Cleopatra are found dead in a room. Around them are bits of broken glass and puddles of water. How did they die?

A. A crazy man broke into their house and stabbed them. He then threw pieces of broken glass around the house and poured water on the floor, because he was crazy^[3]. (If you still haven't worked out what to do for the answer, you may have more of an issue than lateral thinking.^[4])

A classic Lateral Thought answer. At no time were you told that the lines needed to be straight.
And this exemplifies the major concern with the disease of Lateral thinkers, and demonstrates why it is often fatal^[5].

[edit] Terminology

• Yope is a word devised to answer a question with yes and no simultaneously. You can think of it as an answer saying Yes, but ... and No, but ... at the same time. This would be used when it would be to easy to give a straight answer.
• Yaybino is a word devised to answer yes, no and maybe simultaneously. It means that the tosser has lost interest in the game and is stalling to try and remember what the hell they were talking about again.
• Yaybiyes is a word devised to answer yes, maybe, and yes simultaneously. It doesn't give any further indication as to the situation, however it does add an air of mystery to the tosser^[6].
• Irrelevant (or n/a) is used when a question is not applicable to the current situation. It is also used to describe the impact that the puzzle will have on the remainder of your life.
• Irrelevant, but assume no is used when the situation is the same regardless of what the correct answer to the question is. An example question that might have this answer is: "Do you have a large penis?"

[edit] Footnote