Lateral Thinking Puzzles

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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. A classic example:

A father and his son are involved in a car accident, as a result of which the son is rushed to hospital for emergency surgery. The surgeon looks at him and says "I can't operate on him, he's my son". Explain.

A variant of this involves a father and son travelling on a scheduled flight; the father asks the flight attendant if his son may visit the cockpit and she takes him there. When he's gone the pilot explains to the co-pilot "That was my son". For a few people there's no 'puzzle' here, but most of us are so used to seeing only male surgeons and pilots that we too easily overlook the obvious explanation: the pilot or surgeon is the boy's mother.

To solve these puzzles you'll need to check your assumptions, especially about who, what, when, where, why?. Some won't yield to that approach, and demand a flash of inspiration, such as:

A landlord is threatening to evict a father and his beautiful young daughter, unless she agrees to marry him. In a false gesture of sincerity, he offers her an opportunity for her and her father to remain in the house, without marrying him. He has a silk bag in which he says he has placed a white and a black stone from the footpath on which they're standing. If she picks the white stone from the bag, without looking, she wins; if she picks the black, she loses. However, the young girl saw him place two black stones in the bag. She can't expose him in front of the witnesses without angering him and making things worse. How does the clever girl win? Answer

In this puzzle, there are no tricks - everything is pretty much as it seems. It calls for a novel solution. Well, perhaps it could be argued that the assumption that needs checking is the one about how the drawn stone is known...

So, be prepared to think outside the box for these classic lateral thinking puzzles. Enjoy!

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

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? Answer

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