All NEW lateral thinking puzzles

Til death do us part – (The very latest lateral thinking brain-teaser)

A wife plans to kill her husband in a way that makes a successful prosecution against her unlikely. She breaks something in their home so that she has a reason for sending her husband somewhere. The husband dies as a consequence of the wife’s plan.

How did she kill her husband?

Clue – The husband is completely unaware of his wife’s intention.

Muxy’s Original Answer – The husband is in a coma and on life support in the home. The wife ‘accidentally’ breaks the life support equipment requiring an urgent relocation to the nearest hospital, which is across a state border. Euthanasia is illegal in the state they live, but legal in the state where the nearest hospital is.

David Hartman, Sunshine Coast Australia Answer – The wife breaks the washing machine. She sends her husband to a laundromat with the dirty washing. Buried inside the items to be washed is her husband’s deadly pet snake, which bites him when he loads the items into the washing machine. She tells police she has ‘no idea how my husband’s snake got into the dirty laundry. He’s always been careless with the pet’.

Okay, there are bound to be some great alternative answers here. Submit your own unique solution at the bottom of this page. The best answers will be published here.

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The answered prayer – (A brand new puzzle)

A woman is running late while delivering important documents on a wild, stormy night. She races into a lift and quickly selects her desired floor. As the lift begins to rise, there’s a sudden power outage. The lights go out, the lift stalls, and she’s trapped until the power is restored. She believes her prayers have been answered.

Can you explain what just happened?

Clue – There’s no longer any need to rush.

 

Muxy’s Original Answer – She was running late with a stay of execution for an inmate she believes has been wrongly convicted. The method of execution was the electric chair. The power failure happened seconds before the execution was meant to take place. They would need to reschedule the execution giving her ample time to deliver the stay of execution.

D.J. Beat Answer: – The woman is a secretary who had typed up important notes for a meeting later in the evening. She’d mistakenly put the notes in her handbag when leaving at the end of the day. Her boss had threatened her with dismissal if she didn’t get the notes there on time, but thanks to the power outage, the meeting would have to be put off until another day and she wouldn’t need to confront her angry boss.

Technically … it’s NOT a lateral thinking problem unless there is more than one answer. Help me out here … do YOU have an alternative answer that fits all the clues?

Please submit your answers at the bottom of this page.

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A view to murder – (A brand new puzzle)

A husband and wife have stopped to admire the view at a lookout on a steep mountain range in a remote location. Their car is parked behind and above them. Without anybody being near the vehicle, it rolls down the hill. Witnesses tell the attending police several hours later that they saw the man barely manage to leap out of the way, but his wife hadn’t seen the vehicle approaching and was crushed to death, pinned against the safety rail. A police officer inspects the car and immediately arrests the man for murder.

What does the police officer see that convinces him that the husband has murdered his wife?

Clue. The scene of the accident remained untouched until police arrived.

 

Muxy’s Original Answer – The handbrake wasn’t set, and a large puddle of water rested under the driver’s brake pedal. The officer deduced that the husband had used a block of ice to hold the brake pedal down and was ready for the vehicle to eventually move down the slope when the ice melted. The location being remote, the husband knew that the ice would have time to melt before police arrived.

This new puzzle needs alternative answers. Please submit your own original lateral thinking solution at the bottom of the page.

Your original answer could appear here …

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A tragic conclusion – (Another brand new puzzle)

A cross-country skier comes across a cabin deep in a high and very remote wilderness location. He forces entry into the securely locked-from-the-inside cabin to find two occupants who have died without warning only a short time earlier. ‘They never saw it coming’, he thinks. The skier looks about the cabin but finds nothing he would consider to be unusual.

How did they die?

     Clue – Exiting the cabin, the skier notes that the only tracks entering or leaving the cabin are his own.

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Muxy’s Original Answer – The occupants died from asphyxiation during a heavy snowstorm that had completely covered the cabin in thick snow, sealing it completely, and obscuring earlier tracks made by the occupants. A recently extinguished fire inside the cabin, the embers still warm, had exhausted their oxygen supply.

Do you have a unique answer that could appear here?

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An Edward de Bono insight …

“Without creativity, there would be no progress, and we would be forever repeating the same patterns”

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The lateral thinking puzzle … of murder!

Jason is working in his garden with a pitchfork in the presence of several reliable witnesses. A man approaches wearing a balaclava, gloves, and overcoat, and holding a handgun.

The man aims and fires a single shot directly at Jason. Jason runs toward the weapon, zigzagging to avoid being hit, and kills the man by thrusting his pitchfork into the man’s chest.

‘That was incredibly brave,’ a witness cry out. ‘Look at your jacket, Jason. The bullet passed through the sleeve barely missing you.’

Jason is NOT a hero. Jason was NEVER in danger.

Can you describe a scenario that explains this?

 Clue – A detective informs Jason that he was lucky that the pistol was homemade and could only hold a single round, and, for some reason, the chamber had been permanently sealed.

“How appropriate to find you tending to your lillies”

Muxy’s Original Answer – Jason told the man he needed to die in a way that allowed his family to claim insurance to pay the man the debt that he owed. Jason supplied the man with the weapon but loaded it with a blank and then permanently sealed the chamber so it could only be used once. Before doing so, he tested the weapon with a real bullet that he shot a hole through his jacket with.

Can you think of a scenario that fits the clues? (Submit below)

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The brainteasing puzzle of snoring

The sound of Sam’s snoring is usually just annoying, but today it causes terror and panic.

Why?

      Clue – These people are hearing Sam’s snoring for the first time.

“No jury would ever convict me … yes?”

 

Muxy’s Original Answer – Sam is a bus driver.

He’s fallen asleep while driving at high speed on the highway.

Muxy’s Alternative Twist – Sam is a pilot of a large passenger aircraft. He was reporting “an odd smell” coming through the air vents to a flight controller, who had put their conversation on loudspeaker.

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An epic story of accidental contact with aliens that will forever alter our human destiny.  Check out the book blurb …

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Wordcount: 70,000

Status update: Undergoing 6th professional developmental edit (I kid you not LOL)

BUT … it’s close folks … hang in there!

(Subscribe for notification of publication at the bottom of this page)

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The astronaut’s despair lateral thinking riddle

In a not-too-distant future, the solo pilot of a spaceship crashes on a previously unknown planet. The nearest human being, rescue ship, technology, or any form of life is more than a year’s travel time away. The planet is uninhabited and lifeless, but it does have an atmosphere able to sustain human life for up to an hour. Nobody knows where he is.

The spaceship is a wreck … nothing works, it has no breathable air left. The astronaut decides to use his remaining time to explore the landscape before he succumbs to the hostile environment. He takes no technology or equipment with him. Thirty minutes into his journey he is startled by a human voice.

How is this possible?

     Clue – He heard the exact same voice on Earth previously.

“I don’t want to die here … alone!”

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Muxy’s Original Answer – The astronaut heard his own echo when he cried out in anguish.

Muxy’s Alternative Twist – The astronaut is schizophrenic and thought the voice in his head belonged to someone else.

Boocaneer – The atmosphere on the planet was high in helium, which caused his voice to appear much higher – and therefore startled him – when he spoke to himself. (He’d experienced the same thing on Earth when he’d tried inhaling helium when filling party balloons)

indieGOjaquel – The astronaut’s body is slowly shutting down. Auditory hallucinations caused by the planets noxious atmosphere will be a pleasant distraction from the pilot’s impending asphyxiation

Do YOU have an alternative answer? Scroll to the bottom to leave your answer in the comments section.

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The most powerful examples of lateral thinking ingenuity applied to real-life situations can be found … here

Games – Teens – Business – Family – Conflict – Opportunity – Fun – Employment – Early childhood

Or … for a much younger audience …

Lateral thinking games and activities for children

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Lateral thinking puzzle CHALLENGE 

Submit an alternative answer. If it’s good and original, you’ll receive full credit.

Scroll down to submit

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The “angry cat” lateral thinking puzzle

Rachael and Thomas have moved into a share house with several other occupants. Thomas doesn’t like their new accommodation though because of the angry and aggressive cat that greeted them when they first walked in.

Rachael realizes that there isn’t really a problem.

Why?

     Clue – Even if Rachael does nothing at all, Thomas will eventually be okay with their new circumstances.

“I can’t live with this cat!”

 

Muxy’s Original Answer – There is a mirror near the entrance. Thomas is a cat, saw his reflection, and thought that it was another cat challenging him for the territory.

Rachael can cover up the mirror until Thomas becomes settled, but Thomas will figure it out eventually even if she does nothing.

Muxy’s Alternative Answer – The angry cat belongs to the previous tenant. Rachael has offered to care for the cat for a few hours only until the previous tenants have completed their move.

Cal’s Answer – Thomas is blind and they have moved into a house full of lazy roommates, one of whom has a friendly and docile cat. The front door has never been maintained and so squeaks horribly, sounding just like a growling cat. As Rachel is walking out, she realizes that the door is to blame and so oils the hinges, stopping the sound and clearing the name of the innocent cat.

Ganesh Chandra – It’s a stray cat that doesn’t normally live there. (Ha, Ha, sometimes even the simplest answers aren’t obvious. Well done!)

Do you have an alternative answer? – (Scroll down to submit)

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8/ The lateral thinking puzzle of the cheating husband

A newly married woman comes home unexpectedly early from work and is horrified and upset when she sees her husband in bed making love to another woman.

“How could you, you, you, you … b#%@&#d!”

Almost immediately her anger abates, and she realizes that she shouldn’t be upset.

Why?

     Clue – Some might think there is still some reason not to be happy.

“It’s all good. Don’t let me stop you.”

 

Muxy’s Original Answer – Click here to reveal the answers!

More “Muxy” original later thinking puzzles

or 

40 all-time classic lateral thinking puzzles

(with new twists and original answers)

or

Brainteasing puzzles for a younger audience

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Submit your original lateral thinking answers here:

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