lateral puzzles

Here is a collection of lateral puzzles, which are stories that can be explainedwith a non-obvious reason. Usually you state the story, then have others ask up to 20 yes or no questions to see if they can figure out the answer.

  1. A man pushes his car by a hotel and gets sent to jail.
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  2. A man walks into a restaurant, orders albatross, eats one bite, then kills himself.
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  3. A man lives on the twelfth floor of an apartment building. Every morning he takes the elevator down to the lobby and leaves the building. In the evening, he gets into the elevator, and, if there is someone else in the elevator -- or if it was raining that day -- he goes back to his floor directly. Otherwise, he goes to the tenth floor and walks up two flights of stairs to his apartment.
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  4. A man walks into a bar and asks for a drink. The bartender pulls out a gun and points it at him. The man says, "Thank you," and walks out.
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  5. A hunter aimed his gun carefully and fired. Seconds later, he realized his mistake. Minutes later, he was dead.
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  6. A woman has incontrovertible proof in court that her husband was murdered by her sister. The judge declares, "This is the strangest case I've ever seen. Though it's a cut-and-dried case, this woman cannot be punished."
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  7. A man is lying dead in a room. There is a large pile of gold and jewels on the floor, a chandelier attached to the ceiling, and a large open window.
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  8. A man and his wife raced through the streets. They stopped, the husband got out of the car, and when he came back his wife was dead and there was a stranger in the car.
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  9. A body is discovered in a park in Chicago in the middle of summer. It has a fractured skull and many other broken bones, but the cause of death was hypothermia.
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  10. A cabin, locked from the inside, is perched on the side of a mountain. It is forced open, and thirty people are found dead inside. They had plenty of food and water.
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  11. There is a bit of water and broken glass on the floor. George and Gracie are dead.
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  12. A man was found dead in a car. The cause of death was a bullet through the head. The doors were locked and the windows were rolled up, yet there were no bullet holes. How was he shot in the head?
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  13. Dave and Bill met at a bar to discuss their plans to overthrow the government. Each man ordered a vodka on the rocks. Bill downed his and ordered another, drinking it in a single gulp. Meanwhile, Dave, who was sipping his drink, suddenly fell forward dead. Both men were intended to be murdered. Why did Dave die and Bill live?
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  14. A man was found dead lying in a field with an unopened package. How did he die?
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  15. Four men are dead sitting around a card table. One of them was shot. What happened?
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  16. A man dressed in full scuba gear is found burnt to death in a remote forest. How did it happen?
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  17. There are two rocks and a carrot in a field. How did they get there and why are they there?
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  18. A woman is murdered in front of hundreds of people, but they all think it's an accident.
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  19. A dead man is found naked in the middle of the desert with a straw nearby. How did he die?
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Updated Mar 07, 2024