Main      Site Guide    
Brain Food

Realistic Lateral Thinking Puzzles

Lateral Thinking Puzzles, unlike most puzzles, are inexact. In a sense, they are a hybrid between puzzles and storytelling. In each puzzle, some clues to a scenario are given, but the clues don't tell the full story. Your job is to fill in the details and complete the story. Obviously, there is usually more than one answer to any given puzzle, but, in general, only one solution is truly satisfying.

You can try solving these puzzles on your own -- that's certainly a legitimate way to go about this -- but usually you can have more fun if you involve other people. The way this works is, you look at the answer (maybe you want to try the puzzle on your own first!), then read just the clues to your friends. Your friends must determine the answer by asking questions about it, which you may answer only with yes, no, or doesn't matter. You can adjust the difficulty of the puzzle by varying the initial clues, throwing in red herrings, and so forth.

Warning: For some reason, these puzzles have a tendency to be rather morbid.

The scenarios given on this page are realistic, if unlikely. The clues can all be taken at face value, although that's not to say their implications can't be misleading.

#21

A man is lying drowned in a dead forest.

Solution

#22

A woman buys a new pair of shoes, goes to work, and dies.

Solution

#23
Tough one!

A man meets a one armed man on a subway, who pulls a gun and shoots him.

Solution

#24

A man is lying awake in bed. He makes a phone call, says nothing, and goes to sleep.

Solution

#25

A man kills his wife, then goes inside his house and kills himself.

Solution

#26

Two men enter a bar. They are served identical drinks. One lives; the other dies.

Solution

#27

Joe, wearing a mask and carrying an empty sack, leaves his house. An hour later he returns with a full sack. He goes into a room and turns out the lights.

Solution

#28
Tough one!

Hans and Fritz are German spies during World War II. They try to enter America, posing as returning tourists. Hans is immediately arrested.

Solution

#29

Tim and Greg were talking. Tim said, "The terror of flight." Greg said, "The gloom of the grave." Greg was arrested.

Solution

#30

A man dies of thirst in his own home.

Solution