Lateral Questions and Answers
Here are thirteen lateral questions. To deduce the answers you need to switch into lateral thinking mode. Tip: Think like a wizard!
1) Just read out loud what you see!
Man
————
Board
2) Apply what you have learned
Stand
————
I
3) Are you literate and intuitive?
/r/e/a/d/i/n/g/
4) How are you travelling?
Cycle
Cycle
Cycle
5) Did you meet another cycle?
R
Roads a d s
6) Getting colder now?
0
————
M.D.
Ph.D.
7) Brighten up!
Knee
Light
8) One to avoid?
Ground
————————————- feet feet feet feet feet feet
9) Impossibly difficult – Very lateral question
He’s X himself
10) Check to see if you are developing a chip on your shoulder
ecnalG
11) Maybe….
death ….. Life
12) Don’t belittle your performance so far
THINK
13) Think quickly, classic lateral question
abababababababababababababababababababab..C
Friday
A man rode into town on Friday. He stayed for three nights and then left on Friday. How come?
A silly lateral thinking question – but it is surprisingly popular.
Solution
The man’s horse was called Friday.
OK, so this is really a schoolboy riddle, but people keep asking it!
The Realization
A man was walking downstairs in a building when he suddenly realized that his wife had just died. How?
Solution
The man had visited his wife in hospital. She was on a life-support machine. As he was walking down the stairs all the lights went out. There had been a power cut and the emergency back-up systems had failed. He knew that she had died.
The Blind Beggar
A blind beggar had a brother who died. What relation was the blind beggar to the brother who died? (Brother is not the answer).
Solution
The blind beggar was the sister of her brother who died.
This puzzle is one of a type that depends on the listener making implicit assumptions about gender – in this case that a blind beggar is a man. Similar puzzles involve surgeons who refuse to operate on their sons etc. This is probably the best of the class because it is very simply stated and yet which has the power to baffle those who have not heard it before.
The Man in the Bar
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 has 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.
Solution
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.
The is a simple puzzle to state but a difficult one to solve. It is a perfect example of a seemingly irrational and incongruous situation having a simple and complete explanation. Amazingly this classic puzzle seems to work in different cultures and languages.
Please send us your lateral questions.
