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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

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)

Barry Grant
Barry Grant
Old Shoe

Sep-16-2006 05:00

if it had something to do with what broke down in the van, was it something under the hood like a part of the engine? beneath the van? inside the van? above the van? side? front? rear?
was it a piece of the van that broke or something it was carrying?
if it's not just a vehicle repair shop, are it's other services vehicle related? relevant?
and the van was pulling the truck? pushing it?
was the van towing the truck with the truck's own towing cable? with some other device? relevant?
could the truck tow the van in the same way?

Bill Oakes
Bill Oakes

Sep-16-2006 05:15

if it had something to do with what broke down in the van, was it something under the hood like a part of the engine? (Technically, but i don't want to sound like a mechanic, so i will say no) beneath the van? (Kinda)inside the van? (Yesish) above the van? (No) side? (No) front? rear? (Yes to last 2)
was it a piece of the van that broke or something it was carrying? (Van)
if it's not just a vehicle repair shop, are it's other services vehicle related? (just the breakdown repair and rescue) relevant? (Yope)
and the van was pulling the truck? (Yes) pushing it? (No)
was the van towing the truck with the truck's own towing cable? (Yes) with some other device? (No) relevant? (No)
could the truck tow the van in the same way? (Possibly, but irrelevant)

Bill Oakes
Bill Oakes

Sep-17-2006 05:22

*looks up and down the gumshoe lounge which is empty*

It seems I have scared everyone away with this one. I have a clue which I would give but it would give it away too easily methinks.

All I will say is this. A broken down van towes a perfectly working recovery vehicle back to the garage where the van is to be repaired. One thing I will say is this: The van would not be able to be carried by the recovery vehicle, but it *could* be towed.

*Slinks back into shadows, looking for takers*



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