# Got this riddle..need help **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [July 25, 2008, 9:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/got-this-riddle-need-help/457780 "2008-07-25T21:21:37Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Lemur866](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lemur866/32/434_2.png) [@Lemur866](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lemur866)\ **Post date:** [July 25, 2008, 10:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/got-this-riddle-need-help/457780/21 "2008-07-25T22:16:06Z")
[QUOTE=Freudian Slit] Some of them are cool, like the cabin one…but ones like the radio are kind of a stretch. It’s not like anyone could actually solve them, and they’re so out there that the twist is a bit dumb… [/QUOTE] OK, can you spoil the radio-suicide one for me? ---
**Author:** ![Freudian\_Slit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/5daacb/32.png) [@Freudian\_Slit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Freudian_Slit)\ **Post date:** [July 25, 2008, 10:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/got-this-riddle-need-help/457780/22 "2008-07-25T22:23:47Z")
[QUOTE=Lemur866] OK, can you spoil the radio-suicide one for me? [/QUOTE] I found it online. Here’s the link that I’m quoting from. [http://chem.lapeer.org/Chem1Docs/BrainTeasers.html](http://chem.lapeer.org/Chem1Docs/BrainTeasers.html) He’s a radio disc jockey who has just killed his wife. His alibi was the tape he left playing at the radio station, but when he turned the radio on, he heard nothing - in despair, he killed himself. ---
**Author:** ![Stealth\_Potato](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d78d45/32.png) [@Stealth\_Potato](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stealth_Potato)\ **Post date:** [July 25, 2008, 10:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/got-this-riddle-need-help/457780/23 "2008-07-25T22:30:10Z")
[QUOTE=Frylock] Weird. I knew this one before I had even read half of it. Could it be because I’m a parent? Or did I just get lucky this time? [/QUOTE] Funny, but I had hardly read the first clause (“adults are holding children”) before I thought “they’re getting vaccinations.” But then, the Santa Claus answer makes more sense and is probably the correct one. 😛 [QUOTE=Lemur866] OK, can you spoil the radio-suicide one for me? [/QUOTE] Easy. The man is paranoid and delusional, convinced that agents of the government are monitoring his every move through radio listening devices. His life is an eternal nightmare because he knows they never stop watching him, but he fears that if he takes an overt move to end his life, the agents will stop him. Therefore, he drives out into the country, turns up the radio to interfere with the monitors, pulls over, and shoots himself. EDIT: I think my answer is better. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Stealth\_Potato](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d78d45/32.png) [@Stealth\_Potato](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stealth_Potato)\ **Post date:** [July 25, 2008, 10:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/got-this-riddle-need-help/457780/24 "2008-07-25T22:58:09Z")
[QUOTE=Freudian Slit] I found it online. Here’s the link that I’m quoting from. [http://chem.lapeer.org/Chem1Docs/BrainTeasers.html](http://chem.lapeer.org/Chem1Docs/BrainTeasers.html) [/QUOTE] Oh for the love of — This is supposed to be an educational resource!!! I just ran across this little gem: The problem: > [@](#): > > Caleb Smathers was walking home from the market with three nice ripe cantaloupes, when he was faced with a problem. On the footbridge which he had to cross there was a sign announcing that the bridge’s capacity was two hundred pounds. Caleb himself weighed a hundred ninety-six pounds and the cantaloupes weighed two pounds each. What to do. He could, of course, make two trips, but a moment’s reflection enabled him to figure out a way of getting himself and his three cantaloupes across safely in one trip. How did he do it? The “solution”: He juggled the cantaloupes. And they’re expecting people to teach this kind of flagrant ignorance of the laws of physics to _children_? :smack: :mad: Grrrr. The real answer to that problem, of course, is that Caleb crossed the bridge easily, since the bridge was engineered to withstand loads in excess of its nominal limit, and in any case 202 is the same as 200 even given two significant figures, and I very much doubt that the load limit of the bridge was given as 2.0 \* 10^2 pounds. (…Naturally, it would be in kilograms.) ---
**Author:** ![volleyballer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/22d042/32.png) [@volleyballer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/volleyballer)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2008, 12:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/got-this-riddle-need-help/457780/25 "2008-07-26T00:10:53Z")
[QUOTE=Stealth Potato] Oh for the love of — This is supposed to be an educational resource!!! I just ran across this little gem: The problem: The “solution”: He juggled the cantaloupes. And they’re expecting people to teach this kind of flagrant ignorance of the laws of physics to _children_? :smack: :mad: Grrrr. The real answer to that problem, of course, is that Caleb crossed the bridge easily, since the bridge was engineered to withstand loads in excess of its nominal limit, and in any case 202 is the same as 200 even given two significant figures, and I very much doubt that the load limit of the bridge was given as 2.0 \* 10^2 pounds. (…Naturally, it would be in kilograms.) [/QUOTE] Ugh. These suck ass, especially when being inflicted on me in job interviews. It’s ironic they’re called ‘lateral thinking’, since I came up with an alternate answer to this one, and even tho my answer was ‘right’, it wasn’t the one they were looking for - and ended up not getting the job. I apologize in advance for the lameness of this one, and will provide the answer in anyone’s interested. A man lives in a multistory apartment building, on the 8th floor. When he comes home, on days when the weather’s good, or if no one else is waiting for the elevator, he takes the stairs up. Else, in bad weather, or if he has someone to ride up with, he takes the elevator. Why? ---
**Author:** ![volleyballer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/22d042/32.png) [@volleyballer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/volleyballer)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2008, 12:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/got-this-riddle-need-help/457780/26 "2008-07-26T00:18:58Z")
[QUOTE=volleyballer] Ugh. These suck ass, especially when being inflicted on me in job interviews. It’s ironic they’re called ‘lateral thinking’, since I came up with an alternate answer to this one, and even tho my answer was ‘right’, it wasn’t the one they were looking for - and ended up not getting the job. I apologize in advance for the lameness of this one, and will provide the answer in anyone’s interested. A man lives in a multistory apartment building, on the 8th floor. When he comes home, on days when the weather’s good, or if no one else is waiting for the elevator, he takes the stairs up. Else, in bad weather, or if he has someone to ride up with, he takes the elevator. Why? [/QUOTE] The 1st ‘or if’ should be ‘and’ ---
**Author:** ![Ignatz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/3be4f8/32.png) [@Ignatz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ignatz)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2008, 12:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/got-this-riddle-need-help/457780/27 "2008-07-26T00:46:48Z")
[QUOTE=Freudian Slit] I found it online. Here’s the link that I’m quoting from. [http://chem.lapeer.org/Chem1Docs/BrainTeasers.html](http://chem.lapeer.org/Chem1Docs/BrainTeasers.html) He’s a radio disc jockey who has just killed his wife. His alibi was the tape he left playing at the radio station, but when he turned the radio on, he heard nothing - in despair, he killed himself. [/QUOTE] That one is a ripoff of a story that appeared in one of the EC Comics, _Tales from the Crypt,_ or _Crime Suspenstories_ in the '50s. It differed in that the lp record was a song but it had a scratch across it so that the words, “This record was my alibi”, kept repeating and repeating and repeating. ---
**Author:** ![Arnold\_Winkelried](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Arnold\_Winkelried](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Arnold_Winkelried)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2008, 12:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/got-this-riddle-need-help/457780/28 "2008-07-26T00:54:49Z")
[QUOTE=volleyballer] A man lives in a multistory apartment building, on the 8th floor. When he comes home, on days when the weather’s good, or if no one else is waiting for the elevator, he takes the stairs up. Else, in bad weather, or if he has someone to ride up with, he takes the elevator. Why? [/QUOTE] I know this one. The man is a priest at the temple of Ra, the Sun God, and as part of his duties, he is commanded to devoutly mount the steps whilst reciting his daily devotions. However, if someone else is present, it is allowable for him to use the elevator in order to proselytize to his travelling companion (Ra has dictated a short elevator speech to be used expressly for this purpose.) On rainy days, Ra doesn’t care what the hell you do. Or else the man is Toulouse-Lautrec. ---
**Author:** ![volleyballer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/22d042/32.png) [@volleyballer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/volleyballer)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2008, 12:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/got-this-riddle-need-help/457780/29 "2008-07-26T00:59:00Z")
[QUOTE=Arnold Winkelried] I know this one. The man is a priest at the temple of Ra, the Sun God, and as part of his duties, he is commanded to devoutly mount the steps whilst reciting his daily devotions. However, if someone else is present, it is allowable for him to use the elevator in order to proselytize to his travelling companion (Ra has dictated a short elevator speech to be used expressly for this purpose.) On rainy days, Ra doesn’t care what the hell you do. Or else the man is Toulouse-Lautrec. [/QUOTE] Almost. Why’s the weather make a difference? ---
**Author:** ![Arnold\_Winkelried](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Arnold\_Winkelried](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Arnold_Winkelried)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2008, 1:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/got-this-riddle-need-help/457780/30 "2008-07-26T01:00:20Z")
Toulouse-Lautrec only carries an umbrella when it’s raining. ---
**Author:** ![SystematicChaos](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/fbc32d/32.png) [@SystematicChaos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SystematicChaos)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2008, 1:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/got-this-riddle-need-help/457780/31 "2008-07-26T01:12:22Z")
he is a migit and cannot reach the buttons to operate the elevator without an umbrella?..just a guess ---
**Author:** ![LurkMeister](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/3da27b/32.png) [@LurkMeister](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LurkMeister)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2008, 1:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/got-this-riddle-need-help/457780/32 "2008-07-26T01:39:14Z")
I also heard that one as “when he comes home, if he’s by himself or doesn’t have his umbrella he takes the elevator to the fifth (or some lower) floor and takes the stairs the rest of the way”. Which may give away the fact that the reason he does it is because he can’t reach the button for the eight floor. ---
**Author:** ![Indian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/c0e974/32.png) [@Indian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Indian)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2008, 1:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/got-this-riddle-need-help/457780/33 "2008-07-26T01:59:13Z")
[QUOTE=SystematicChaos] he is a migit and cannot reach the buttons to operate the elevator without an umbrella?..just a guess [/QUOTE] This the explanation I have heard for the elevator puzzle .. ---
**Author:** ![Merijeek](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f05b48/32.png) [@Merijeek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Merijeek)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2008, 2:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/got-this-riddle-need-help/457780/34 "2008-07-26T02:01:48Z")
[QUOTE=SystematicChaos] he is a migit and cannot reach the buttons to operate the elevator without an umbrella?..just a guess [/QUOTE] That’s how I heard it…twenty years ago or so. He’s a midget. Or that was the answer back in the day. -Joe ---
**Author:** ![volleyballer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/22d042/32.png) [@volleyballer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/volleyballer)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2008, 7:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/got-this-riddle-need-help/457780/35 "2008-07-26T07:45:17Z")
[QUOTE=Merijeek] That’s how I heard it…twenty years ago or so. He’s a midget. Or that was the answer back in the day. -Joe [/QUOTE] Yup, u all got it. I answered that he was a friend of the super who lived on a lower floor (like 2 or 3), whom he liked to drop in on & have a beer with before going to his apartment - in good weather. However, the super had to be outside mopping the entrance (or doing some other maintenance activity) when it was raining, so then the guy would go straight to his own apartment. The other times, when he saw someone else waiting for the elevator, rain or shine, he’d go with them, since he was a salesman who worked on comission (say, life insurance), and wouldn’t miss a chance to make a pitch. I thought my answer showed creative thinking ‘outside the box’. The employer didn’t. ☹ ---
**Author:** ![vetbridge](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/b5e925/32.png) [@vetbridge](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/vetbridge)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2008, 2:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/got-this-riddle-need-help/457780/36 "2008-07-26T14:01:06Z")
[QUOTE=_ **Stewie** _] A man turns on his car radio and immediately pulls over to the side of the road to commit suicide, why? [/QUOTE] He turned on the radio and it was Art Bell’s show? ---
**Author:** ![Q.E.D](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/51bf81/32.png) [@Q.E.D](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Q.E.D)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2008, 2:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/got-this-riddle-need-help/457780/37 "2008-07-26T14:50:02Z")
[QUOTE=volleyballer] The employer didn’t. ☹ [/QUOTE] Don’t feel bad; you probably dodged a bullet anyway. Employers who use “lateral thinking” puzzles as pre-employment screening tools are universally idiots. ---
**Author:** ![Gadarene](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e47c2d/32.png) [@Gadarene](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gadarene)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2008, 4:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/got-this-riddle-need-help/457780/38 "2008-07-26T16:17:40Z")
> [@](#): > > He turned on the radio and it was Art Bell’s show? 😃 ---
**Author:** ![chrisk](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/6de8d8/32.png) [@chrisk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chrisk)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2008, 4:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/got-this-riddle-need-help/457780/39 "2008-07-26T16:28:47Z")
[QUOTE=_ **Stewie** _] A man turns on his car radio and immediately pulls over to the side of the road to commit suicide, why? [/QUOTE] There could be all kinds of different answers to this one, though most of them depend on the guy being a somewhat depressive or suicide-prone type to start with. Perhaps he was married to and deeply in love with a woman famous enough that her own death, (under whatever circumstances) was reported on the radio news break. Unable to bear the thought of living without her, he shoots himself. Or… “This is not a test of the early warning system. The country is under massive nuclear attack. Please stand by for more updates as we get them.” ---
**Author:** ![chrisk](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/6de8d8/32.png) [@chrisk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chrisk)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2008, 4:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/got-this-riddle-need-help/457780/40 "2008-07-26T16:31:23Z")
[QUOTE=Q.E.D.] Don’t feel bad; you probably dodged a bullet anyway. Employers who use “lateral thinking” puzzles as pre-employment screening tools are universally idiots. [/QUOTE] Especially if they use a single ‘correct answer’ as the evaluation standard. Most puzzles (other than math) have more than one right answer, and even an answer that wouldn’t work out can show good things about somebody’s thinking style. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/got-this-riddle-need-help/457780.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/got-this-riddle-need-help/457780.md?page=3)