Ask Me Help Desk - Lateral Thinking Puzzle

Wow what a guess Syn, well done.

I believe you had a third one of these? Did you want to do it?

Sorry, I was at a client's office most of today so I haven't been in here. I think this is an easier one:

A man is alone on an island with no food and no water, yet he does not fear for his life. Why not?

Is the island Manhatten? ;)

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Originally Posted by Synnen

Is the island Manhatten? ;)

No.

I would be amazed if you got it on your first guess. Second maybe. :)

Was it a curb island in a parking lot?

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Originally Posted by jmjoseph

Was it a curb island in a parking lot?

No

A median, or other traffic-type island?

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Originally Posted by jmjoseph

A median, or other traffic-type island?

Yes. Really, that's it for this puzzle. It's a traffic island. Kind of nice to have an easy one once in a while. :D

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Originally Posted by Just Looking

Yes. Really, that's it for this puzzle. It's a traffic island. Kind of nice to have an easy one once in a while. :D

Yea, I don't have a tough one in me after getting up at 4:00 A.M. every morning.

Actually, that's the kind that would stump me. All of these puzzles thus far have been the variety whereby there isn't any type of word-play type thing like that involved, as in, you can just take what it says at face value. (Though the statements can still be misleading.) So I would have taken island to be an island.

But then, that was the kind where you don't have to ask a bunch of questions - you just try to guess it.

Got any more up your sleeve?

I also lied to Unky earlier. It's not a mortician. That's the person who fixes up the body. It's a coroner you want, the medical guy in the morgue.

How about a change of pace? This isn't a "yes", "no" puzzle - just a logic puzzle.

A train goes between Chicago and New York. The brakeman, the fireman and the engineer are named Smith, Jones and Brown. (The names are not necessarily in order). There are also three passengers named Mr. Smith, Mr. Jones and Mr. Brown. Mr. Brown lives in New York. The brakeman lives halfway between New York and Chicago. Mr. Jones earns exactly $20,000 per year. Smith beat the fireman at their last game of golf. The passenger who lives in Chicago has the same name as the brakeman. The brakeman's next door neighbor is a passenger on this train and earns exactly three times as much as the brakeman. What is the name of the engineer?

Smith. And no I'm not just guessing.

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Originally Posted by morgaine300

Smith. And no I'm not just guessing.

I knew you'd get it but I thought it might take longer. :)

I don't think I'll be here much tonight. "Someone" wants some attention. I'll see if I can find another puzzle later.

Actually, it took me like 5-10 minutes. I've been doing those logic puzzles my whole life. (Although I've never seen one that had a math trick as a clue.)

Deleted - sorry, changed my mind. :)

OK, since J-Lo is not wanting to commit at this very second, I'll throw some in. The following came from a list of "tricky" ones, except that I answered most of them correctly the first time, within about 30 seconds. So these are not yes and no ones... assuming anyone is alive out there, they shouldn't take long.

Adults are holding children, waiting their turn. The children are handed (one at a time, usually) to a man, who holds them while a woman shoots them. If the child is crying, the man tries to stop the crying before the child is shot.

A cabin, locked from the inside, is perched on the side of a mountain. It is forced open, and thirty people are found dead inside. They had plenty of food and water.

A man marries twenty women in his village but isn't charged with polygamy.

A woman came home with a bag of groceries, got the mail, and walked into the house. On the way to the kitchen, she went through the living room and looked at her husband, who had blown his brains out. She continued to the kitchen, put away the groceries, and made dinner

A man is found dead in the arctic with a pack on his back.

A train pulls into a station, but none of the waiting passengers move.

And lastly:
A young woman is whisked away to a far off land, where she kills the first person she meets. Then she teams up with three others to kill again.

Since those won't last long, I'll post a harder one. This one has two alternatives - one of them is easy and fairly obvious and I guessed it quickly too. (I also head it years ago.) So we're going to use the alternative answer because this'll require more figuring out.

A rope breaks. A bell rings. A man dies.

1. The children are getting their vaccination..

2. They died of suffocation while they were sleeping?

3. This is an African village or an Arabic/Islamic country?

4. " who had blown his brains out" that I do not understand the slang in here :(

5. The man got tired, fell down and froze to death?

6. The train is full... or the train has a notice saying it's under repair...

7. An extremist who hates men?

8. The man is being executed (guillotine)?

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1. The children are getting their vaccination..

Yup. Well, any type of shot at the doctor's. Another version is getting their photo "shot" with Santa.

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2. They died of suffocation while they were sleeping?

Nope.

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3. This is an African village or an Arabic/Islamic country?

No unusual cultures going on here.

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4. " who had blown his brains out" that I do not understand the slang in here :(

i.e. with a gun - suicide

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5. The man got tired, fell down and froze to death?
6. The train is full... or the train has a notice saying it's under repair...

Nope.

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7. An extremist who hates men?

I realized after I posted it that this one might be hard, and one of the ones I didn't get. If no one gets this, it might require questions. We'll see.

Actually, all of these are like trick questions. They're all very logical but sound funny. Think like how the first one is.

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8. The man is being executed (guillotine)?

Is this supposed to be the one in the separate thread? That's one you'll have to do questions on - I wasn't sure how fast the first set would get solved, so I threw that in. I can't be back (probably) for a good 13-14 hours from now (unless I get an unexpected break), so you can take off on any of these you want.

Quote:

Originally Posted by morgaine300

A cabin, locked from the inside, is perched on the side of a mountain. It is forced open, and thirty people are found dead inside. They had plenty of food and water.

The cabin was taken by an avalanche and they froze to death?

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A man marries twenty women in his village but isn't charged with polygamy.

The man has been divorcing between each marriage?

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A woman came home with a bag of groceries, got the mail, and walked into the house. On the way to the kitchen, she went through the living room and looked at her husband, who had blown his brains out. She continued to the kitchen, put away the groceries, and made dinner

She already knew her husband was dead?

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A man is found dead in the arctic with a pack on his back.

This man was parachuting when a strong wind blew him in the middle of the Arctic. The old winds being too heavy, he started falling down and died on impact.

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A train pulls into a station, but none of the waiting passengers move.

The train doesn't have passenger compartments?

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And lastly:
A young woman is whisked away to a far off land, where she kills the first person she meets. Then she teams up with three others to kill again.

It's a movie :p

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A rope breaks. A bell rings. A man dies.

Did those happen in the order you gave them?
Is the bell attached to the man?
Is the man attached to the rope?
Are there relevant people involved?

1. Vaccinations
2. Plane crash
3. The man is a priest/reverend
4. She looks at a photograph
5. Parachute didn't open
6. Model train?
7. The Wizard of Oz
8. The man is climbing Mt Everest, and his supporting rope breaks. A bell was tied to his pack and it rang as he fell. Hitting the ground far below, he dies.

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1. Vaccinations
2. Plane crash
3. The man is a priest/reverend

All correct.

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4. She looks at a photograph

No but along the right lines.

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5. Parachute didn't open

That was a different puzzle. ;)

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6. Model train?
7. The Wizard of Oz

Yup. I didn't get that last thing at all. This came out of a set that can have "unrealistic" answers, but I wasn't thinking about that.

So 4 is close. 5 - parachute too obvious.

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8. The man is climbing Mt Everest, and his supporting rope breaks. A bell was tied to his pack and it rang as he fell. Hitting the ground far below, he dies.

No. But I'll get to your set of questions in a minute.

Oh, I'm confused. I don't know why I thought Unky's last post was Synnen. When I saw the second post, I thought she changed her guesses.

Tired. That's my excuse and I'm sticking with it.

(Unky's post)
As to dead hubby, yeah she already knew he was dead but...

Did you know which movie? (Am I the only one who didn't get that one?)

Bell:
Did those happen in the order you gave them? Yes.

Is the bell attached to the man? No.

Is the man attached to the rope? No.

Are there relevant people involved? Only the man.

Arctic - he's a cave man and was caught in a glacier?

Shopping woman - She had him stuffed and put in his favorite chair?

Rope/bell/dead - He's leaning against a cordon keeping back the crowd, the rope of the cordon breaks, he falls forward just as the bell to start a horserace rings and is trampled to death by the horses.

No to all, although the shopping woman is still along the right lines.

The woman's husband didn't die... but is now a vegetable?

Arctic--is the pack his? Does it contain survival gear?

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The woman's husband didn't die... but is now a vegetable?

Getting colder again. He's dead.

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Arctic--is the pack his? Does it contain survival gear?

No and no.

Is it a sculpture?

Is the pack a play on words? As in, it's not a backpack, but a pack of dogs or wolves or bears?

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Is it a sculpture?

No, but getting warmer again. You've had the right idea about 3 times and just aren't hitting on it.

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Is the pack a play on words? As in, it's not a backpack, but a pack of dogs or wolves or bears?

You got it. Wolves to be exact.

His ashes?

Oh, I see I find it "helpful" now instead of agreeing. How nice.

Anyway... I thought of that immediately, but maybe cause I have a cat in an urn on my mantle.

Okay, do we have an answer for the rope/bell/dead yet?

It seems not...

Did the die as he fell down?
Did he die at ground level? Above ground level?
Was he on an elevated place before dying?
Is the bell an electric bell?
Is the bell anywhere within 1 m from the man?

No, we haven't solve it yet. We have thus far:

A rope breaks. A bell rings. A man dies.

Did those happen in the order you gave them? Yes.

Is the bell attached to the man? No.

Is the man attached to the rope? No.

Are there relevant people involved? Only the man.

Did the die as he fell down? Yes.

Did he die at ground level? Above ground level? Um... I guess I'll have to call it ground level.

Was he on an elevated place before dying? Yes.

Is the bell an electric bell? No.

Is the bell anywhere within 1 m from the man? Yes.

Did he die in a city?
- In a remote area otherwise?

Was the breaking of the rope the cause of his fall?

Was the rope attached to the bell?

Did he die in a city? No.
- In a remote area otherwise? Oh, highly possible.

Was the breaking of the rope the cause of his fall? No.

Was the rope attached to the bell? Not directly.

Is the man a mountain climber?
Was the man flying before falling down?
Was he running at any point before falling down?