The Coin John is on a raft, adrift in the ocean with several other survivors of a shipwreck. The others are too weak, so he or Mike will swim to a nearby island to look for help. It is almost certainly suicidal, due to the circling sharks, but they have little else to hope for. Mike takes the lose change from his pocket and puts two pennies in a hat. He tells John that one is a 2005 penny, and the other 1975. If John picks the newer penny he can stay on the rat, and Mike will risk his life. If John picks the older penny, he must go. John has seen that both pennies were actually dated 1975, but he doesn �t want to say anything, because Mike is a big guy. How does he win, and get Mike to go, without exposing him as a fraud in front of the others?

The Convent A man came to visit at a convent while the superior mother was out of town. He left before she returned, and was careful to leave nothing behind. The nuns said nothing about his visit, so how did the superior mother figure out that a man had been there?

The Speech A politician wrote a long speech. How did it help his career even before he gave the speech?

Switching On There are three switches outside a closed room. There are three lamps inside the room. You can flip the switches as much as you want while the door is closed, but then you must enter just once and determine which switch is connected to which lamp. How can you do it?

Solutions To The Lateral Thinking Puzzles

The Coin: John reaches into the hat and takes out either penny. He lets it slip out of his hand and fall into the ocean. Apologizing, he suggests that if the remaining penny in the hat is the 1975 one, he must have drawn the 2005 penny.Mike cannot argue with the logic unless he wants to admit to lying. Since the others won �t tolerate a liar anyhow, he makes the swim.

The Convent: Because a toilet seat was up.

The Speech: True Story solution: In 1912, President Teddy Roosevelt was shot in the chest. The folded-up manuscript of his speech was in his pocket, and slowed the bullet, saving his life, and so helping his career.

Switching On : Switch the first one on for a minute, then turn it off and turn the second on. Enter the room and feel the two bulbs that are off. The warm one was turned on by the first switch, the light that is on is connected to the second, and the other to the third.

Classic Brain Teasers Riddles

1. A woman proves in court that her husband was murdered by her sister, but the judge decides that the sister cannot be punished. Why?

2. A woman is found hanging by her neck from the high ceiling in an otherwise empty locked room with a puddle of water under her feet. How did she kill herself?

3. A man is lying drowned in a dead forest, far from water. How did this happen?

4. Two men are served identical drinks at the bar. One lives, but the other dies. Why?

5. A man dies of dehydration in his own home. Why?

6. A man runs along a hall with a piece of paper. When the lights flicker, he drops to his knees and begins to cry. Why?

7. A pipe, a carrot, and a couple sticks are lying together in a field. Why?

8. A woman lives on the tenth floor of an apartment building. Every morning she takes the elevator all the way down, and goes to work. In the evening, she gets into the elevator, and, if there is someone else in it she goes back to her floor directly. Otherwise, she goes to the seventh floor and walks up three flights of stairs to her apartment. Why?

9. A man grabbed a woman �s ring and pulled on it, then dropped it. How did this save her life?

10. A man was just doing his job when his suit was torn. Why did he die three minutes later?

The Brain Teasers Riddles Solutions

1. The sisters are Siamese twins.

2. She stood on a block of ice to hang herself.

3. A firefighting plane filled its tanks with water from a lake, sucking a scuba-diver in (Is this an urban legend, or did I see this on the news?). He drown while the plane was in flight and was dumped onto a burning forest with the water.

4. Poisoned ice cubes in the drinks: one man drinks slowly, giving them time to melt, but the other man drinks fast and doesn �t get much of the poison.

5. His lives on a houseboat, and was out to sea when he ran of drinking water.

6. He is running to deliver a pardon, and the flickering lights indicate the convict to be pardoned has just been electrocuted.

7. They �re what �s left of a melted snowman.

8. The woman is a midget. She can �t reach the upper elevator buttons, but she can ask people to push them for her. She can also push them with her umbrella.

9. They were skydiving, and she was unconscious. He pulled the ripcord ring for her, and the parachute opened.

10. He was an astronaut on a space walk, doing repairs.

1. A woman tries to drop her husband into the ocean, but he blows back into the boat. Why?

2. A man wakes up and sees that his brother is dead. Though they are alone in a quiet room, he immediately realizes that he will be dead soon too. How does he know this?

3. Why did running out of gas save Jacks life?

4. A married couple went to a movie and the husband strangled the wife during the show. How was he able to get her body home without attracting attention?

5. A man was doing his job when his clothing tore. Why was he dead ten seconds later?

6. Why was the man able to pass three cars going 70 miles-per-hour, while he was going only 60 miles-per-hour?

7. A man woke up in the middle of the night and turned off the light. Ten people died as result. Why?

8. A man saw a large goose through while looking out the window. Why were both he and the goose soon dead?

9. A woman was on an elevator. When it stopped, and the lights went out, she began to cry, knowing that her husband was dead. How did she know?

10. A man was pushed out of an airplane, without a parachute. How was he able to survive?

11. A woman bought new shoes, and shortly afterwards died from a knife-wound. Why?

1. Her husband was cremated, and she tried to pour his ashes into the ocean, but it �s a windy day, and his ashes blow back into the boat.

2. His brother is his Siamese twin, and since they share common organs, he cannot survive alone.

3. He was in the car in the garage, trying to kill himself with the carbon monoxide from the engine running.

4. The movie was at a drive-in theater, and their car had tinted windows.

5. He worked at a factory. His clothing got caught on a piece of machinery, dragged him in, and killed him.

6. The cars he passed were going in the opposite direction.

7. He was the lighthouse keeper, and turned off the light, causing a ship to wreck on the rocks.

8. The window he was looking out was on an airplane, and the goose was being sucked into the engine, causing the plane to crash.

9. She was on a hospital elevator, and her husband was on life support, which would also fail when the power went out.(Note: I have been informed that hospitals have emergency power for all critical systems and life support is one of those critical systems, so this scenario is not actually possible.)

10. The plane was sitting on the runway.

11. She was the assistant to a knife-thrower in a circus, and the new shoes made her stand two inches higher, throwing off the aim of the performer.

2. Agatha spent several days in the hospital. She wasn �t injured, and she wasn �t sick, but she did have to be carried out when she left though. Why was she in the hospital? That answer is below as well.

Simple riddles qualify too. For example:

3. How did John get his name in light at every theater in the country? (Answer below.)

Answer to 2nd: She was a newborn baby.
Answer to 3rd: He changed his name to "Exit."

Creative Mind Puzzles

Similarities: What does a chair have in common with my dog? Four legs and an IQ of zero.

Differences: What �s the difference between a chair and a toilet? If you don �t know, I can �t invite you over to my house!

Pun: Why did one of the customers at the motor vehicles department start rearranging seats after waiting for hours? Because he was the "chair-man of the bored."

What is it?

5. What is broken every time it �s spoken?

6. How did Mark legally marry three women in Michigan, without divorcing any of them, becoming legally separated, or any of them dying?

7. Mom and Dad have four daughters, and each daughter has one brother. How many people are in the family?

9. If I say "Everything I tell you is a lie," am I telling you the truth or a lie?

10. What work can a painter never quite finish?

11. Why wasn �t Bertha put in jail after killing dozens of people?

12. Why wasn �t John able to take a photo of his mother with curlers?

13. If there are three cups of sugar and you take one away, how many do you have?

14. What has a mouth but can �t chew?

15. How many letters are in the alphabet?

16. What gets wetter and wetter the more it dries?

17. What can travel around the world while staying in a corner?

18. Food can help me survive, but water will kill me. What am I?

19. Take away the whole and some still remains. What is it?

20. What stinks when living and smells good when dead?

21. When is it bad luck to meet a white cat?

22. If it has a quart capacity, how many pennies can you put into a empty piggy bank?

Hard Riddles - The Answers

6. It �s part of his job - he �s a justice of the peace.

7. Seven. The four daughters have only one brother, making five children, plus mom and dad.

8. Queue.

9. A lie. It can �t be the truth without contradicting itself (and therefore being a lie), but some of my statements can be lies, and this is one of those statements.

10. Her autobiography.

11. She was a hurricane.

12. You can �t use curlers to take photos! You need a camera.

13. You have just one - the one you took away.

14. A river.

15. There are eleven letters in "the alphabet."

16. A towel.

17. A stamp.

18. Fire.

19. The word "wholesome."

20. Bacon.

21. When you �re a mouse.

22. Just one - after that it won �t be empty.

Lateral Thinking Puzzles

Fillers | Lateral Thinking Puzzles

These lateral puzzles have been around for many years in one form or another and they are a great way to encourage discussion, thinking and creativity. Also once you know them, you can bring them in at a moment �s notice, but before using them make sure you know a few, because just occasionally a student can solve it instantly. A PDF version (48KB) is provided for easy printing, cutting out and using in class.

3. A man drives down the motorway at 70 miles per hour. He passes three cars going 80 miles per hour, then gets pulled over by a police officer and is given a ticket.

4. A man and his son are driving to watch the football. They have a car accident. The father is killed instantly. His son survives but is in critical condition. He is rushed to the hospital and prepped for surgery. The surgeon enters the operating room, looks at the boy and says, �I can�t operate on this boy. He�s my son.�

5. The telephone rang in the middle of the night and the woman woke up. When she answered it the caller hung up. The caller felt better.

[Show Clue] [Show Answer]

6. A man called to a waiter in a restaurant, "There �s a fly in my tea!"
The waiter replied, "I will bring you a fresh cup." After a few moments, the man called out, "This is the same cup of tea!" How did he know?

7. A man managed to visit over thirty foreign countries without his passport. He was welcomed in each country and left each one of his own accord. He did this in one day.

8. A black man dressed all in black, wearing a black mask, stands at a crossroads in a totally black-painted town. All of the streetlights in town are broken. There is no moon. A black-painted car without headlights drives straight toward him, but turns in time and doesn �t hit him.

9. An Arab sheikh tells his two sons that are to race their camels to a distant city to see who will inherit his fortune. The one whose camel arrives last will win. The brothers, after wandering aimlessly for days, ask a wise man for advise. After hearing the advice they jump on the camels and race as fast as they can to their destination.

10. You are on an island (in the center) that is one mile long and 100 yards wide. The vegetation is very dry from a long drought. Suddenly it catches fire at one end of the island, and a strong wind is blowing it towards you, burning the whole width of the island. There �s no beach, only sheer cliffs, and the sea is infested with sharks. What can you do?

11. A landlord is threatening to evict a father and his beautiful young daughter, unless she agrees to marry him. There are a lot of witnesses and in a false gesture of sincerity, he offers her an opportunity to remain in the house without marrying him. He has a silk bag in which he says he has placed a white and a black stone from the footpath on which they �re standing. If she picks the white stone from the bag, then she wins; if she picks the black, she loses. However, the young girl saw him place two black stones in the bag. She can �t accuse him of cheating, because he would say that his good question was called into question and storm off without showing the bag. How does the clever girl win?

12. A man is alone on an island with no food and no water, yet he does not fear for his life.

13. During the second world war on a foggy day the Americans and British had the following conversation:
Americans: "Please divert your course 15 degrees to the North to avoid a collision."
British: "Recommend you divert YOUR course 15 degrees to the South to avoid a collision."
Americans: "This is the Aircraft Carrier USS Abraham Lincoln, the second largest ship in the united states � atlantic fleet. I demand that you change your course 15 degrees north or counter measures will be taken."
The British were unarmed and did not move. What made the Americans change their minds?

14. A man is driving his car. He turns on the radio, listens for five minutes, turns around, goes home, and shoots his wife.

15. A man marries twenty women in his village but isn �t charged with polygamy.