this post was submitted on 27 Jul 2023
119 points (93.4% liked)

Asklemmy

43945 readers
638 users here now

A loosely moderated place to ask open-ended questions

Search asklemmy 🔍

If your post meets the following criteria, it's welcome here!

  1. Open-ended question
  2. Not offensive: at this point, we do not have the bandwidth to moderate overtly political discussions. Assume best intent and be excellent to each other.
  3. Not regarding using or support for Lemmy: context, see the list of support communities and tools for finding communities below
  4. Not ad nauseam inducing: please make sure it is a question that would be new to most members
  5. An actual topic of discussion

Looking for support?

Looking for a community?

~Icon~ ~by~ ~@Double_A@discuss.tchncs.de~

founded 5 years ago
MODERATORS
Cloak@lemmy.ml
mekhos@lemmy.ml
tmpod@lemmy.pt
14specks@lemmy.ml
119
What are your best lateral thinking puzzles? (lemmy.ml)
submitted 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) by lenz@lemmy.ml to c/asklemmy@lemmy.ml
38 comments fedilink hide all child comments
 

So I once came across this little puzzle, and I’ve been hungry for more ever since:

There are 500 bricks in an airplane. While it’s flying, one brick falls out of the airplane. How many bricks are left in the plane?499

What are the three steps to putting a giraffe in a refrigerator?Step 1: Open the fridge. Step 2: Put the giraffe inside. Step 3: Close the fridge.

What are the four steps to putting an elephant in a refrigerator?Step 1: Open the fridge. Step 2: Take the giraffe out. Step 3: Put the elephant inside. Step 4: Close the fridge.

The Lion King is having a birthday party. Every animal in the kingdom shows up except for one. Who is it, and why?The elephant, because he’s stuck in the fridge.

An old lady wants to cross a river. A local man tells her that the river is infested with crocodiles, and that if she tries to cross, she’ll surely be eaten and die. Despite this, she swims across and gets to the other side safely. Why was she able to do this?Because the crocodiles are all at the Lion King’s birthday party.

After the old lady safely crosses the river, she suddenly dies. Why?A brick fell on her!

I’ve been looking for more questions like this for years with no luck. Have y’all got any more puzzles like this? Make me think laterally!

you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
[–] lenz@lemmy.ml 2 points 1 year ago (2 children)

You are indeed expected to come up with all those answers. Usually someone who already knows the answer asks the questions to you in person, and you guess until you get it right. Slowly, you realize the answers all have to do with the previous questions, and it makes it easier to think creatively hahaha. I wish I knew more than just this series of questions, but these are harder to come up with than it seems like lol.

[–] tko@tkohhh.social 1 points 1 year ago

So it's basically an exercise to promote creative thinking?