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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!

Jun-2-2007 05:44

Sorry, you hit my geek button!

Jun-2-2007 07:19

Want to explain it to us non-BBC watchers? What the hell is base 16? :)

Jun-2-2007 09:16

Um. It's a maths thing that I'm now going to completely fail to explain comprehensibly... like binary is base 2?

In base ten the number 10 means you've got one lot of ten and zero lots of ones. In base two the number 10 means you've got 1 lot of two and zero lots of ones. You can have any base you want. In base eight, for example, the number 11 would mean you had one lot of eight and one lot of one, so 11 in base eight is what we usually think of as nine.

In base sixteen 10 means sixteen, so you need extra characters to get you there. So you count 1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,A,B,C,D,E,F,10.

Many many moons ago we had an early home computer called a BBC micro, which you connected to a cassette player if you wanted to load programs. While the program was loading it counted up in base sixteen to let you know how much it had loaded, so you could sit there wondering why it was going from 19 to 1A to 1B etc. It was like watching paint dry and being in a maths class at the same time.

I am now going to bash my head against a wall and pretend I have a life :)

Jun-2-2007 09:18

Drat, I'm suffering from identity problems again. This is Cordy in disguise.

Mar-22-2010 14:38

This puzzle is slightly different - it is a cross between an adventure and a lateral puzzle.

I expect you to place yourself into Inspector Millet's shoes, and interrogate the three people present in your office (you may ask your subordinate Constable Spike as well) about the case. I am afraid your clever minds would solve the puzzle in no time if you were allowed a classical interrogation with questions like "What did you do yesterday afternoon“, so please ask Yes/No questions as you are used to. Sometimes, however, the interrogated people can be more talkative than that.

In this particular case, I can promise none of the persons involved will be outright lying, but please bear in mind that each of them has his/her own point of view, which may be biased and/or exaggerated, and that they do not necessarily know all the circumstances of the case.


Ready? So off we go:

A sobbing woman with a black eye bursts into your office. She is very upset, and the only thing you are able to make out among her sobs is that her name is Mrs Smith, she lives in a nearby village, and she was coming to report a rape.

As you are trying to calm her down, the telephone on your desk rings. You pick it up, and hear Jimmy Spike's voice: "I’ve just been called to a fight of two men. A certain Mr Smith and Mr Brown. None of them is severely injured, but especially Mr Smith is very violent and needs to be calmed down."

"Bring them over to my office, Constable", you sigh resignedly. "Seems this is going to be another long day," you say to yourself as you are putting down the receiver.

Go ahead and enjoy!

Mar-22-2010 23:12

(thanks Shell, great idea!)

You decide you'd better talk to the woman in your office before the men arrive. Handing Mrs Smith a glass of water and a tissue, you wait a moment for her sobs to subside and then gently ask 'Was it Mr Brown who attacked you?'

Mar-23-2010 14:06

You decide you'd better talk to the woman in your office before the men arrive. Handing Mrs Smith a glass of water and a tissue, you wait a moment for her sobs to subside and then gently ask 'Was it Mr Brown who attacked you?' { I.....I DON'T KNOW . ANSWERS MRS. SMITH }


* You can ask more than one question at a time, I will post the answers in CAPS and brackets so it will be easy to find. Just make sure you address each suspect when you ask them questions so I am sure who you are speaking too.*

Mar-24-2010 00:03

Inwardly sighing - this obviously wasn't going to be simple - you ask Mrs Smith some more questions:

"Did you notice anything about your attacker?"

"Were you at home when you were attacked?"

"Was it the man who raped you who gave you that black eye?"

Mar-24-2010 06:46

Inwardly sighing - this obviously wasn't going to be simple - you ask Mrs Smith some more questions:

"Did you notice anything about your attacker?" {ATTACKER? IF YOU WANT TO CALL HIM THAT, THEN YES}

"Were you at home when you were attacked?" {YES I WAS AT HOME}

"Was it the man who raped you who gave you that black eye?" { NO}

Just then Constable Spike enters your office with the two men.

Mar-24-2010 09:15

*Goes away to think about this one* Anyone else going to join in?