Ask Me Help Desk - Lateral Thinking Puzzle

Did the bell fall on the man? The rope holding the bell broke, and it fell and crushed the man?

For anyone new coming on, just start at post #357.

Is the man a mountain climber? No.

Was the man flying before falling down? No.

Was he running at any point before falling down? Not likely.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Synnen

Did the bell fall on the man? The rope holding the bell broke, and it fell and crushed the man?

Although that is one answer, that's the easier "popular" version I spoke of when I first posted this. This is a different version to make it more fun. Though I don't think this one is difficult, I do think that to just guess it without the questions would require some imagination. (Though some around here do have quite a bit of imagination.)

But credit for solving an answer - just not my answer. :D

(Okay, I'm among the living again - almost. I feel better, just not good yet. :o)

Was the bell attached to the rope?

The elevated place:
Was it a set of stairs? A balcony? A rooftop? Part of a building? A mountain?
A hill? Some type of land formation?

Did the man see the rope break? Did he hear the bell ring?

Is it true that the man fell from some elevated area, hit the ground below, and that is what caused his death? Was the rope meant as a barrier (I'm sure there's a better word, but I can't think of it) to falling off whatever type of elevation is in question?

Yep, I was thinking about that, but the fact that the man wasn't in some city but in a 'remote place' removed that possibility. However, I just thought about some big bell in a remote place... though that's not so common...

But let's try it.

Is the bell bigger than the man?
Did the bell crush the man?
Did the rope cause his death?
Was the man handling the rope?
Did the man fall on the bell? :p

Quote:

(Okay, I'm among the living again - almost. I feel better, just not good yet. :o)

Hey, welcome back. I was just thinking about you a couple of hours ago and wondering how you were doing.

Was the bell attached to the rope? Not directly.

The elevated place:

Was it a set of stairs? A balcony? A rooftop? Part of a building? No.

A mountain? A hill? Maybe.

Some type of land formation? Yes.

Did the man see the rope break? No.

Did he hear the bell ring? Yes.

Is it true that the man fell from some elevated area, hit the ground below, and that is what caused his death? Yes.

Was the rope meant as a barrier (I'm sure there's a better word, but I can't think of it) to falling off whatever type of elevation is in question? No.

Quote:

But let's try it.

Try again.:D

Is the bell bigger than the man? I wouldn't think so.
Did the bell crush the man? No.
Did the rope cause his death? No.
Was the man handling the rope? No.
Did the man fall on the bell? :p No. [/QUOTE]

Does what the man did relevant?
- Was it some sport?
- Was it some rescue?
- Was it for leisure?

Does what the man did relevant? Yes.
- Was it some sport? No
- Was it some rescue? No
- Was it for leisure? Yes.

Current puzzle: start at post #357, pg 36.

The rope holding the goat broke, and the bell on his collar rang as he ran at the man and butted him off the cliff.

Is it relevant what type of land formation, or only that he fell off it to his death?

Is the bell from an alarm clock? A fire alarm? A car alarm? Some other type of alarm? A bell ringing to tell time? A bell from a church?

Are you saying it is relevant what the man does for a living? Or is it relevant what the man was doing at the time?

Some sort of leisure: Was he walking? Running? Riding a bike? Going for a drive? Meditating? Was he a tourist? Was he eating? Was he hunting? Was he bird watching? Golfing? Skiing? Girl watching? Was it a beach outing? Playing a game of some sort?

Okay, back to bed.

Lol JLo :p

Was there any natural catastrophe involved?
- Tornado?
- Earthquake?
- Landslide?

Is there an animal involved?
- A horse?
- A wolf?
- Many animals?

Did the man slip at any point before falling?

A sailor was swept overboard, forcing him to swim to shore. He was swimming toward the sound of a buoy bell, in the bay. The rope ancoring the bell broke, setting the buoy adrift, causing the man to swim out to sea, following the sound of the bell. He drowns at sea.

Ooooh... I think JMJ is right here.

But... but... wasn't the man was on an elevated place? On some landscape like a mountain or a hill? Some rope broke, before the ball rang? :confused:

Fell off a cliff into the ocean and followed the buoy bell?

Then his death is no more cause by falling down, but by drowning... :confused:

This is true.

Dammit! The drowning was better than my goat theory!

Getting close though guys...

Quote:

Originally Posted by Synnen

Fell off a cliff into the ocean and followed the buoy bell?

I think she's got it. Did he die from the fall off a cliff, following the sound of a wayward buoy?

You said "close". This has to be it.

Quote:

Originally Posted by jmjoseph

I think she's got it. Did he die from the fall off of a cliff, following the sound of a wayward bouy?

You said "close". This has to be it.

Sounds good to me. I guess the only question is why he didn't see he was at the edge of the cliff. Was he drunk? Was the fog too thick? Was he blind? Was he crazy? Blindfolded? Was it during the night?

Well, all the discussion on wrong answers have been a source of amusement, and much creativity going on. Adam is correct that some ideas are getting close, but I won't say which ones. :D I'll just go answer the questions and maybe that will shed light (or not).

It was Mr. Bell, with the Rope, on the cliff?

Is it relevant what type of land formation, or only that he fell off it to his death? It's relevant for the setting.

Is the bell from an alarm clock? A fire alarm? A car alarm? Some other type of alarm? A bell ringing to tell time? A bell from a church? None of the above.

Are you saying it is relevant what the man does for a living? No.
Or is it relevant what the man was doing at the time? Yes.

Some sort of leisure: Was he walking? Yes.

Running? Riding a bike? Going for a drive? Meditating? Was he a tourist? Was he hunting? Was he bird watching? Golfing? Skiing? Girl watching? No.

Was he eating? Irrelevant but probably not.

Was it a beach outing? Playing a game of some sort? No.

Was there any natural catastrophe involved? - Tornado? -Earthquake? - Landslide? No.

Is there an animal involved? - A horse? - A wolf? - Many animals? No.

Did the man slip at any point before falling? Possibly.

JMJ gets points for creativity on his "man overboard" answer, but Unky was right about the falling.

Quote:

I think she's got it. Did he die from the fall off a cliff, following the sound of a wayward buoy?

Was this a real question or a guess at the answer? As an answer, not there.

As two questions:
Did he die from the fall off a cliff? Yes.

... following the sound of a wayward buoy? Yes, but I think there are better words than "following."

I guess the only question is why he didn't see he was at the edge of the cliff.

Was he drunk? Was the fog too thick? Was it during the night? Irrelevant.

Was he blind? Yes.

Was he crazy? Maybe a little. :D

Blindfolded? No.

That set probably about did it. So who's around to put the final together and get the prize?

I'll take a stab at it, but only if I can share the prize. :) Plus, I know you want to get started on a new one.

A blind man was walking along a cliff. He got confused as to where he was because he typically used the sound of the bell on the buoy to judge his distance from the edge of the cliff. Since the rope of the buoy broke it was drifting further from shore, so he walked off the edge of the cliff.

Apparently I need to spread some rep but...

Oh wait, I hope there's some appreciation for me throwing up while I go into the new skin to do this, but I'll be back in a minute...

Comment on Just Looking's post

Ding! Ding! Ding!

While Morgaine is spreading the rep, I'll post the next puzzle. I have to run to an attorney's office for one of my clients, so I'll be gone for a couple of hours. Have I ever mentioned that attorneys are not necessarily my favorite people? :confused:

When Ned learned that his sister was dying, he decided to become a used-car salesman. How come?

SHIVERS!

That was absolutely NOT worth the joke to write Ding, Ding, Ding. Sheesh, I couldn't even find the post. Unky, if you're using that new skin all the time, I understand why you can't find anything. I had to put it on "newest" and then it's all backwards, and when I put it on "oldest" (expecting the end to be at the, well you know, the end), it wasn't there and I couldn't find it.

WHAT'S WITH THAT?

Not something I've yet experienced and that's even more horrid than this comment thing. OK, more junk to add to my list. Ain't no one could explain to me how that even comes close to working right.

SHIVERS again!!

(Sorry for the rant in the middle of this, but that was a horrifying experience! )

(Darn, I should've gotten a screenshot of that mess while I was there.)

The official answer:

A blind man enjoys walking near a cliff and uses the sound of a buoy to gauge his distance from the edge. One day the buoy's anchor rope breaks, allowing the buoy to drift away from the shore. When it rings, the man thinks he's further away from the edge than he is, walks over it, and falls to his death.

So yours was pretty much right on. Yes, you can share in the prize, and I've just decided the prize is getting rid of the new skin. :rolleyes:

Quote:

I'd help with the thowup... But ewwww. :)

Rotflmo!

Quote:

Originally Posted by Just Looking

When Ned learned that his sister was dying, he decided to become a used-car salesman. How come?

The death of his sister made him completely lose his mind?? :p

Seriously, I have some stuff to do as well, so I'll cook up some questions while I'm off. And no, I've never heard that attorneys aren't your favorite people. Some of them are actually OK, and unfortunately the bad ones give them all a bad name.

Okay. Here goes.

Ned hated his sister. When he found out that she was dying, he was really happy. Except... since he was an estate lawyer, he knew he wasn't going to get a penny of her money unless he was really poor and needed it. SO! He quit his job working for the rich and famous and went back to his small town in Connecticut to take care of his dying sister and scam her out of as much money as possible. Since he had to have a job to be in her good graces, he got a job as close to the hospital as possible so that he could monitor how soon he could throw his celebratory party.

I so far have not found any creative way to connect these events. Are we assuming this one requires questions?