Lateral thinking puzzles that challenge your preconceptions.
1. You are driving down the road in your car on a wild, stormy night, when you pass by a bus stop and you see three people waiting for the bus:
1. An old lady who looks as if she is about to die.
2. An old friend who once saved your life.
3. The perfect partner you have been dreaming about.
Knowing
that there can only be one passenger in your car, whom would you choose?
Hint: You can make everyone happy. Your car can only contain one passenger, so whom should it be?
Solution: The old lady of course! After helping the old lady into the car, you can give your keys to your friend, and wait with your perfect partner for the bus.
2. 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?
Hint: The police only know two things, that the criminal's name is John and that he is in a particular house.
Solution: The fireman is the only man in the room. The rest of the poker players are women.
3. A man lives in the penthouse of an apartment building. Every morning he takes the elevator down to the lobby and leaves the building. Upon his return, however, he can only travel halfway up in the lift and has to walk the rest of the way - unless it's raining. What is the explanation for this?
Hint: He is very proud, so refuses to ever ask for help.
Solution: 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.
4. How could a baby fall out of a twenty-story building onto the ground and live?
Hint: It does not matter what the baby lands on, and it has nothing to do with luck.
Solution: The baby fell out of a ground floor window.
5. Bad Boy Bubby was warned by his mother never to open the cellar door or he would see things that he was not meant to see. One day while his mother was out he did open the cellar door. What did he see?
Hint: His mother was an odd woman.
Solution: When Bad Boy Bubby opened the cellar door he saw the living room and, through its windows, the garden. He had never seen these before because his mother had kept him all his life in the cellar.
6. 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?
Hint: This has nothing to do with adoption or time travel.
Solution: The surgeon can not operate on her own son; she is his mother.
7. 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?
Hint: A alternate version of the problem is...
Saradhi, Nick & Ted win a raffle contest. The prize is three hard boiled eggs in a basket. After discussing how to divide the prize, each take one egg. Nick & Ted get hungry and so eat their eggs. One of the original eggs is still left in original basket.
Solution: The last person took the basket with the last egg still inside.
8. A landlady allows students to rent her apartment for 7 days under a specific condition: the student must pay rent daily using her 7-link golden chain. However, the student can only make two cuts in total, and they cannot cut multiple links in one go—each cut can only separate one chain at a time. Despite these restrictions, the student must pay exactly one chain link each day for the full 7-day stay. How can the student achieve this with just two cuts?
Hint: You can ask for change.
Solution:
Here’s how the student can pay the rent using the 7-link golden chain with only two cuts:
Step-by-step Process
- First cut: Separate a single link (1-link piece).
- Second cut: Separate a 2-link piece from the remaining chain.
Now, you have three pieces: 1-link piece, a 2-link piece and 4-link piece.
Paying the Rent Daily
- Day 1: Give the 1-link piece.
- Day 2: Take back the 1-link piece and give the 2-link piece.
- Day 3: Give the 1-link piece along with the 2-link piece, making 3 links in total.
- Day 4: Take back both the 1-link and 2-link pieces and give the 4-link piece.
- Day 5: Give the 1-link piece along with the 4-link piece, making 5 links in total.
- Day 6: Take back the 1-link piece and give the 2-link piece along with the 4-link piece, making 6 links in total.
- Day 7: Give the 1-link piece again, bringing the total to 7 links.
By following this strategy of giving and taking back the pieces, the student can meet the condition of paying exactly one chain link per day, using only two cuts.
