Can you solve these puzzles??

The answers are right below, but please dont cheat!!!!!!  
If you get  
6/6 - you are good at lateral thinking  
3/6 - you are somewhat there  
0 - you need to be more imaginative !!!  


             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.  
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             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?  
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             3.  A man is wearing black. Black shoes, 
socks, trousers, lumper, gloves and balaclava. He is 
walking down a black street with all the street lamps 
off. A black car is coming towards him with its lights 
off but somehow manages to stop in time. How did the 
driver see the man?  
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             4.  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. )  
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              5.  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?  
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              6. 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.) 

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SOLUTIONS

 

 

 


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              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.  
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              2. The surgeon was his mother.  
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              3. It was day time.  
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              4. 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.  
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              5. 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.  
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              6.  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.  
(This 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. )

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