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Caravel Forum : Other Boards : Forum Games : Lateral puzzle thread. (A thread where you can post some lateral thinking puzzles.)
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roach strangler
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I have decided that I am going to make a lateral puzzle thread for all of us to enjoy.

Rule: If you solve a puzzle get ready to have one for the forum because their going to try and solve it.

Puzzle: 3 men: 1st one is a lawyer, 2nd is an explorer, 3rd is yet another lawyer. 1st lawyer decides to get a refreshment and the explorer comes with him. The explorer takes his thermos with him. Later on that evening the other lawyer goes to check what was going on, He sees 1st lawyer cold on the ground.(trying to not get graphic here)

What was the murder weapon? Try to solve it. ;)
01-01-2008 at 07:37 PM
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Jatopian
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Explorer in the refreshment place with a thermos. Or bare hands. Or something.

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01-01-2008 at 07:40 PM
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roach strangler
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Jatopian wrote:
Explorer in the refreshment place with a thermos.

Your getting fairly warm.
01-01-2008 at 07:45 PM
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hartleyhair
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He used the Evilly Hot Tea (TM), which was stored in the Thermos, to smite upon the first lawyer for having a name beginning with D!

It's so obvious!

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01-01-2008 at 09:01 PM
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Chaco
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I'm going to go with "the explorer strangled the lawyer with his own tie" or some such nonsense as that.

I don't much like lateral thinking puzzles in the context of a web forum since there are any number of reasonable answers to any situation (most of the time) and people posting puzzles from books often leave out important details.

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01-01-2008 at 09:06 PM
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calamarain
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Lateral thinking puzzles are good yes, but only if you're allowed to ask questions of someone who knows the answer. Otherwise there could be any number of possible explanations, and it's just guesswork.

Incidentally, in this one, the murder weapon was a dagger/knife made of ice that was stored in the thermos. Once melted, no weapon could be found.

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01-02-2008 at 01:17 AM
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roach strangler
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Excellent thinking Calamarian!

Now you must challenge us with one.
[Last edited by roach strangler at 01-02-2008 01:46 AM]
01-02-2008 at 01:44 AM
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calamarain
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There wasn't any thinking involved, roach strangler. That's the point! I only knew that one because I'd heard it before. There is no sane way I could have produced that answer if I didn't know it without having several questions answered by the one who posed the puzzle.

Lateral thinking puzzles only work if you can ask questions.

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01-02-2008 at 02:05 AM
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Jacob
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What was the relevance of there being two lawyers are one explorer? If none, it's a pretty poor lateral thinking puzzle.

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[Last edited by Jacob at 01-02-2008 04:24 PM]
01-02-2008 at 04:24 PM
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Sillyman
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You don't have to be able to ask questions. You could just give a puzzle with enough detail that there is only one answer.

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01-09-2008 at 06:55 AM
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zex20913
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That would require a novel, and I'd still probably be able to find a *possible* alternate solution.

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01-09-2008 at 12:10 PM
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Oneiromancer
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In my opinion the whole purpose of lateral puzzles is being able to ask questions. See the lateral puzzles in the "Puzzle tag" thread for examples.

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01-09-2008 at 12:40 PM
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Maurog
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Actually, I have a better solution to the initial puzzle. The cause of death is hypothermia, it was extremely cold and windy and the lawyer was dressed inappropriately for the weather. After the explorer poured a thermosful of cold water over him, he didn't stand a chance.

It's a better solution because it uses the additional information that the lawyer is not an explorer, and therefore doesn't know to dress for cold weather or read the signs that tell it's going to be windy soon.

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01-09-2008 at 12:52 PM
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Snacko
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How about we be able to ask questions in the topic?

I know Calamarian suggested that, but it hasn't exactly been implemented yet.

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01-10-2008 at 06:00 PM
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coppro
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Bind a temporary to a non-const reference. (there are two solutions, one uses C++09 and it's the easy one)
01-12-2008 at 03:41 AM
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Caravel Forum : Other Boards : Forum Games : Lateral puzzle thread. (A thread where you can post some lateral thinking puzzles.)
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