Lateral Thinking

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• Lateral Thinking
• 20 Super Starter Activities

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Lateral Thinking

• Improve your ability to infer, deduce and
  speculate!

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1. You have 5 minutes to think of an answer and
write it in your book.

• There is a man who lives on the top floor of a
  very tall building. Everyday he gets the lift
  down to the ground floor to leave the building to
  go to work. However, upon returning from work he
  can only travel half way up in the lift and then
  has to walk the rest of the way - unless it's
  raining!

Why?
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ANSWER

• The man is very, very short and can only reach
  halfway up the lift buttons. However, if it is
  raining then he will have his umbrella with him
  and can press the higher buttons with it.

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2. You have 5 minutes to think of an answer and
write it in your book.

• A man and his son are in a car accident. The
  father dies at the scene, but the child is rushed
  to the hospital. When he arrives the surgeon
  says, "I can't operate on this boy, he is my son!
  "

How can this be?
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ANSWER

• The surgeon was his mother.

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3. You have 5 minutes to think of an answer and
write it in your book.

• A man is wearing all black. Black shoes, socks,
  trousers, coat, gloves and a ski mask. He is
  walking in the road with all the street lamps
  off. A black car is speeding towards him, with
  its lights off, but the driver somehow manages to
  stop before he crashes into the man dressed in
  black!
• How did the driver see the man?

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ANSWER
It was day time.
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4. You have 5 minutes to think of an answer and
write it in your book.

• A man went to a party and drank some ice cold
  punch. He was very tired so he decided to leave
  the party early. Everyone else at the party, who
  drank the punch, subsequently died of poisoning!
• Why did the man not die?

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ANSWER

• The poison had been put in ice cubes. When the
  man drank the punch, the ice was fully frozen.
  Gradually over the evening the ice melted,
  poisoning the punch and everyone who drank it!

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5. You have 5 minutes to think of an answer and
write it in your book.

• A man is found dead in his office. His head is on
  his desk soaked in a pool of blood. By his feet,
  on the floor, is a small handgun that has
  recently been fired. Forensics show that this is
  the gun that killed him. He has been shot in the
  left temple at close range. On the desk is a
  suicide note, and in his left hand is the pen
  that wrote the note.
• How did the police know this was a murder and not
  a suicide?

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ANSWER

• The man died with a pen in his left hand if it
  was suicide he would have died holding the gun!

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6. You have 5 minutes to think of an answer and
write it in your book.

• When Suzy Smith was six years old she hammered a
  nail into a tree in her garden to record her
  height. Fifteen years later she decided to see
  how much higher the nail was. The tree had grown
  by four centimetres each year.
• How much higher was the nail?

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ANSWERIt was in exactly the same place! Trees
grow from the top.
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7. You have 5 minutes to think of an answer and
write it in your book.

• Two English professors were discussing the
  English Language. Professor Green had just told
  Professor Red about a very special word. How can
  that be? Said Professor Red. Ah therein lies
  the secret! replied Professor Green. Its true
  there is a seven lettered word in the English
  language that contains eight words without
  rearranging any of the letters.
• What is the word?

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ANSWER

• Therein
• the, there, he, in, rein, her, here, ere.

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8. You have 5 minutes to think of an answer and
write it in your book.

• A man has committed murder and is condemned to
  death. He is given the chance to enter one of
  three rooms. The first is a raging inferno, the
  second is full of assassins with loaded guns, the
  third contains a lion who has not eaten for three
  years.
• Which room is the safest to enter?

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ANSWER

• The room with the lion the lion would be dead
  as it had not eaten for three years.

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9. You have 5 minutes to think of an answer and
write it in your book.

• What is the beginning of eternity, the end of
  time, the beginning of every end, and the end of
  every place?

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ANSWER

• The letter e
• Eternity, time, end, place
• E E E E E E

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10. You have 5 minutes to think of an answer and
write it in your book.

• When you add 2 to 11 the correct answer is 1.
• How is this possible?

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ANSWER

• When you add two hours to
• eleven oclock you get one oclock!

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11. You have 5 minutes to think of an answer and
write it in your book.

• A woman was found dead in the middle of a
  terrible snow storm. There were no tracks leading
  to or from the body. The cause of death was
  partially due to the unopened pack on her back.
• What was in the pack and what killed her?

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Answer

• An unopened parachute. The cause of death was
  impact with the ground.

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12. You have 5 minutes to think of an answer and
write it in your book.

• Professor Boffin and Professor Clever were
  playing chess. They played seven games each won
  the same number of games and there were no draws.
• How can this be true?

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ANSWER

• They were not playing each other!

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13. You have 5 minutes to think of an answer and
write it in your book.

• Mrs Summer is eighty five years old and getting
  rather absent minded. Every Tuesday she does her
  weekly shopping. However, recently she has been
  forgetting how to get to the supermarket! Last
  Tuesday on her way to the shops she did not stop
  at a red light and then turned down a one way
  street in the wrong direction. A policeman saw
  everything but did nothing about it?
• How could Mrs Summer get away with such behaviour?

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Answer

• Mrs Summer was not driving she was walking!

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14. You have 5 minutes to think of an answer and
write it in your book.

• During a terrible snow storm a man gets lost in
  the mountains. Almost dead from the cold he
  stumbles across a log cabin. Inside the cabin
  there is a newspaper, a fireplace, some kindling
  and a kerosene lamp.
• What should he light first?

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ANSWER

• A match! Its the only way to light the other
  things!

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15. You have 5 minutes to think of an answer and
write it in your book.

• A famous actor was found shot dead while sitting
  in his car outside his home. Forensics could not
  find any trace of gunpowder in the car. This
  suggests he was shot by someone outside the car
  however, the only bullet holes were found on the
  body. The doors and windows were closed and
  locked and the car was completely undamaged.
• How did someone manage to kill him?

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ANSWER

• The actor was in a convertible. He was shot when
  the top was down!

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16. You have 5 minutes to think of an answer and
write it in your book.

• An aeroplane carrying German citizens crashes on
  the border between America and Canada.
• In which country would the survivors be buried?

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ANSWER

• Neither! Survivors are not buried!

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17. You have 5 minutes to think of an answer and
write it in your book.

• It had started to rain very heavily. Rather than
  walk Mr Chatty decided to get a taxi home. As
  soon as he sat down in the taxi he began talking
  non-stop. The taxi driver realised he was going
  to have to put up with his talking all the way to
  Mr Chattys house! So he looked in his rear view
  mirror and said, Sorry mate I cant hear a word
  youre saying. I broke my hearing aid this
  morning and without it Im completely deaf! Mr
  Chatty remained silent for the rest of the
  journey. When they arrived at his house Mr Chatty
  got out, paid his fare and went inside. A few
  moments later he realised that the taxi driver
  had lied to him about being deaf!
• How did Mr Chatty know he was lying?

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ANSWER

• Mr Chatty must have told the driver his
  destination. Had the driver not heard him he
  would not have known where to go!

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18. You have 5 minutes to think of an answer and
write it in your book.

• A woman was driving alone in her car when she
  spun off the road at high speed. She crashed
  through a fence, and plunged into a fast flowing
  river. As the car came to a stop the woman
  realised she had broken her arms and could not
  release her safety belt and get out of the car.
  The car sank to the bottom of the river and she
  was trapped in the car! The police and fire
  brigade arrived two hours later the woman was
  still in the car alive!
• How was this possible?

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ANSWER

• The water in the river only came up to the
  womans chest.

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19. You have 5 minutes to think of an answer and
write it in your book.

• Police, acting on a tip off, raid a house to
  arrest a man suspected of robbing a bank. They
  have no idea what he looks like but they know his
  name is Peter. When the police break down the
  door they find a carpenter, a lorry driver, a
  mechanic and a fireman playing cards. Without
  hesitation or asking the card players any
  questions they immediately arrest the fireman.
• How do they know they have the right person?

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ANSWER

• The fireman is the only man in the room, the rest
  of the card players are women.

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20. You have 5 minutes to think of an answer and
write it in your book.

• An empty yacht, which had been missing for a
  week, is discovered in the middle of the ocean.
  It is not damaged in any way. Nearby in the water
  are five drowned bodies. When the lifeboat
  arrives they cant work out what happened.
• How could the people drown so near a boat?

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ANSWER

• The people on the yacht decided to go for a swim
  and jumped into the sea. Unfortunately they
  forgot to put the ladder down and therefore could
  not climb back onto the boat. Eventually they
  drowned!