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Lateral Thinking Puzzles
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Barry Grant
Barry Grant
Old Shoe

Sep-10-2006 18:25

Due to the success of the lateral puzzles in the "A riddle" thread, it seems appropriate to start a lateral thinking puzzle thread.

A rule of thumb to follow would be to allow those who do not know the answer to figure it out for themselves. If you happen to know the answer, please keep it to yourself and let the others have the fun.

Please feel free to start one at any point. It is not necessary to wait for one to finish before starting another one.

Have fun!

Replies

Bill Oakes
Bill Oakes

Sep-15-2006 13:16

Yay! I got one!

Barry Grant
Barry Grant
Old Shoe

Sep-15-2006 13:16

Holy majoly, that one totally escaped me.

*hangs head in shame*

Oh well, time to move on....

Bill, first, what's a "lorry"?

can I assume a breakdown company is some sort of vehicle repair shop?

Barry

Ms Helen
Ms Helen
Con Artist

Sep-15-2006 13:23

Barry in the UK we call 'trucks' lorries.

Lucian Ty
Lucian Ty

Sep-15-2006 13:24

A "lorry" is a British way of saying "a large motor truck designed to carry heavy loads."

I think that both the recovery truck and the man's lorry were identical.


Lucian Ty
Lucian Ty

Sep-15-2006 13:25

Oops.

Sorry, Ms Corning. I posted a minute after your definition.

Bill Oakes
Bill Oakes

Sep-15-2006 13:32

Sorry, let me clarify.

I am from Yorkshire, and usually we call 7.5 ton lorries "trucks." Its just a local dialect difference, (You say tomato, I say tomato. Oh, wait, that only works verbally. Duh)

I also mixed up a bit in the riddle, so let me try again:

A man phones a breakdown company, telling them his van has broken down. The company sent our a brand new recovery truck to bring him in. The mechanics at the breakdown centre were stumped when they saw their brand new recovery truck being towed into the yard by the broken down van. There was however, a reasonable explanation to this, but what is it?

Van is similar to ford transit in UK or Ford Econoline in US
Truck (lorry): Breakdown recovery vehicle, similar to a 7.5 ton lorry in the UK or a semi truck in the US, with a flatbed for carrying vehicles.

A Breakdown company is similar to the AA in the UK or the AAA in the US. In this, the breakdown company has their own vehicle repair garage, where cars are repaired.

This has actually happened to me before, and its much easier to explain it to someone verbally.

Hope this helps.

Barry Grant
Barry Grant
Old Shoe

Sep-15-2006 16:37

So, lemme get this straight.

Some guy calls a breakdown company telling them his van broke down. The breakdown company sends out a flat bed truck to go help the guy out. However, it's the van that tows the flat bed truck back to the breakdown company.

Is that the gist?

Bill Oakes
Bill Oakes

Sep-16-2006 00:58

Yep

Barry Grant
Barry Grant
Old Shoe

Sep-16-2006 04:07

does this have anything to do with physics?
you say this happened to you. could this happen in any country?
is the van towing the truck from the front of the truck? the back?
is the van actually towing the truck? is it an optical illusion?
does it have something to do with what broke down in the van? the terrain? time of day? season?
would this be considered a very unusual event or something that could happen often enough to not surprise someone?
was the flat bed of the truck empty when it went out? came back?
does it matter how many people were actually involved in this?
was the van actually broken down? was it a ruse to get the truck out there so a stunt could be performed?
did this happen to the breakdown company in the past? relevant?
is there something unique about a breakdown company that I would need to know? or is it just a vehicle repair shop?


Bill Oakes
Bill Oakes

Sep-16-2006 04:18

does this have anything to do with physics? (No)
you say this happened to you. could this happen in any country? (Yes)
is the van towing the truck from the front of the truck? the back? (Could be either)
is the van actually towing the truck? (Yes) is it an optical illusion? (No)
does it have something to do with what broke down in the van? (Yes)
the terrain? time of day? season? (Irrelevant to all)
would this be considered a very unusual event or something that could happen often enough to not surprise someone? (Not uncommon, but unorthodox solution)
was the flat bed of the truck empty when it went out? came back? Yes to both)
does it matter how many people were actually involved in this? (No)
was the van actually broken down? was it a ruse to get the truck out there so a stunt could be performed?
did this happen to the breakdown company in the past? relevant? (No)
is there something unique about a breakdown company that I would need to know? (No) or is it just a vehicle repair shop? (No)

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