Lets See - HOW BRILLIANT ARE YOU ?

Test yourself with these thinking exercises. The solutions are at
the bottom of the page. Don't be lazy. Try hard to figure these
out before you look! It'll be a lot more satisfying.

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

This is probably the best known and most celebrated of all
lateral thinking puzzles. It is a true classic. Although there
are many possible solutions which fit the initial conditions,
only the canonical answer is truly satisfying.


2. A man and his son are in a car accident. The father dies on
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?


3. A man is wearing black. Black shoes, socks, trousers, coat,
gloves and ski mask. He is walking down a back street with all
the street lamps off. A black car is coming towards him with its
light off but somehow manages to stop in time. How did the driver
see the man?

4. One day Kerry celebrated her birthday. Two days later her
older twin brother, Terry, celebrated his birthday. How?

5. Why is it better to have round manhole covers than square
ones? This is logical rather than lateral, but it is a good
puzzle that can be solved by lateral thinking techniques. It is
supposedly used by a very well-known software company as an
interview question for prospective employees.

6.. A man went to a party and drank some of the punch. He then
left early. Everyone else at the party who drank the punch
subsequently died of poisoning.. Why did the man not die?

7. A man died and went to Heaven. There were thousands of other
people there. They were all naked and all looked as they did at
the age of 21. He looked around to see if there was anyone he
recognized. He saw a couple and he knew immediately that they
were Adam and Eve. How did he know?


8. A woman had two sons who were born on the same hour of the
same day of the same year. But they were not twins. How could
this be so?

9. A man walks into a bar and asks the barman for a glass of
water. The barman pulls out a gun and points it at the man. The
man says 'Thank you' and walks out. This puzzle claims to be the
best of the genre. It is simple in its statement, absolutely
baffling and yet with a completely satisfying solution. Most
people struggle very hard to solve this one yet they like the
answer when they hear it or have the satisfaction of figuring it
out.

10. A murderer is condemned to death. He has to choose between
three rooms. The first is full of raging fires, the second is
full of assassins with loaded guns, and the third is full of
lions that haven't eaten in 3 years. Which room is safest for
him?

11. A woman shoots her husband. Then she holds him under water
for over 5 minutes. Finally, she hangs him. But 5 minutes later
they both go out together and enjoy a wonderful dinner together.
How can this be?

12. There are two plastic jugs filled with water. How could you
put all of this water into a barrel, without using the jugs or
any dividers, and still tell which water came from which jug?


13. What is black when you buy it, red when you use it, and gray
when you throw it away?

14. Can you name three consecutive days without using the words
Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday, or
Sunday? (or day names in any other language)


15. This is an unusual paragraph. I'm curious how quickly you can
find out what is so unusual about it.. It looks so plain you
would think nothing was wrong with it. In fact, nothing is wrong
with it! It is unusual though. Study it, and think about it, but
you still may not find anything odd. But if you work at it a bit,
you might find out.


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The solutions are below.... Don't be lazy. Try hard to figure
these out before you look!
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Solutions

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


2. The surgeon was his mother.


3. It was day time.

4. At the time she went into labor, the mother of the twins was
traveling by boat. The older twin, Terry, was born first early on
March 1st. The boat then crossed a time zone and Kerry, the
younger twin, was born on February the 28th. Therefore, the
younger twin celebrates her birthday two days before her older
brother.


5. A square manhole cover can be turned and dropped down the
diagonal of the manhole. A round manhole cannot be dropped down
the manhole. So for safety and practicality, all manhole covers
should be round.


6. The poison in the punch came from the ice cubes. When the man
drank the punch, the ice was fully frozen. Gradually it melted,
poisoning the punch.


7.. He recognized Adam and Eve as the only people without navels.
Because they were not born of women, they had never had umbilical
cords and therefore they never had navels. This one seems
perfectly logical but it can sometimes spark fierce theological
arguments. (Just what a HUMOR list needs!!)

8. They were two of a set of triplets (or quadruplets, etc.).
This puzzle stumps many people. They try outlandish solutions
involving test-tube babies or surrogate mothers.. Why does the
brain search for complex solutions when there is a much simpler
one available?


9. The man had hiccups. The barman recognized this from his
speech and drew the gun in order to give him a shock. It worked
and cured the hiccups--so the man no longer needed the water. The
is a simple puzzle to state but a difficult one to solve. It is a
perfect example of a seemingly irrational and incongruous
situation having a simple and complete explanation. Amazingly
this classic puzzle seems to work in different cultures and
languages.


10. The third. Lions that haven't eaten in three years are dead.


11. The woman was a photographer. She shot a picture of her
husband, developed it, and hung it up to dry.


12. Freeze them first. Take them out of the jugs and put the ice
in the barrel. You will be able to tell which water came from
which jug.


13. The answer is Charcoal.


14. Sure you can: Yesterday, Today, and Tomorrow!


15.. The letter "e," which is the most common letter in the
English language, does not appear once in the long paragraph.