# Lateral puzzle -- anybody know the answer?
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lateral-puzzle-anybody-know-the-answer/213032
**Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share
**Created:** [November 13, 2003, 3:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lateral-puzzle-anybody-know-the-answer/213032 "2003-11-13T15:21:26Z")
**Posts on this page:** 9
**Page:** 2
### Author:  [@Psifireus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Psifireus)
#### Post date: [November 14, 2003, 2:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lateral-puzzle-anybody-know-the-answer/213032/21 "2003-11-14T02:52:52Z")
I think it has something to do with Pete Townsend and the recent paedophile charges. (Towns and) **kids** in horror
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### Author:  [@cankerist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cankerist)
#### Post date: [November 14, 2003, 2:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lateral-puzzle-anybody-know-the-answer/213032/22 "2003-11-14T02:56:21Z")
**SpaceDog** - I though of that too but it doesn’t expain why the kids fled in horror.
**BraheSilver** - (silver nose perhaps?), that’s a more likely answer! - to carry it further, what if the kids had placed the mines the previous day and marked each mine with a stone, only to find that someone had gathered all the stones during the night. But that still doesn’t explain the two piles.
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### Author:  [@stpauler](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/stpauler)
#### Post date: [November 14, 2003, 3:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lateral-puzzle-anybody-know-the-answer/213032/23 "2003-11-14T03:03:18Z")
Here’s my guess and a first time using a spoiler…
The field is a baseball field that is going to have a strip mall built on it (or some building but strip malls are popping up everywhere).
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### Author:  [@BraheSilver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BraheSilver)
#### Post date: [November 14, 2003, 3:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lateral-puzzle-anybody-know-the-answer/213032/24 "2003-11-14T03:38:05Z")
For a serious guess, I’ll use a spoiler box:
The field was actually the top a two-missile bunker. One “town” was the military base, and the other was the civilian city outside. The children ran out to watch the missiles launch, then fled in terror when they realized WWIII was starting. The piles of stones were the remains of the launch tubes after the ICBMS left.
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### Author:  [@Horseflesh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Horseflesh)
#### Post date: [November 14, 2003, 4:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lateral-puzzle-anybody-know-the-answer/213032/25 "2003-11-14T04:58:53Z")
Maybe the towns are separated by a field containing Stonehenge and there was an earthquake that shook the stones down into piles?
As noted before, piles of rocks could be describing a number of things: cairns, makeshift graves, or
pyramids. Perhaps the kids are in ancient Egypt. The play at the feet of two giant pyramids and on Saturday they notice that 1) the tombs have been broken into and raided, or 2) they have collapsed in on themselves. Just a WAG
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### Author:  [@SpaceDog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SpaceDog)
#### Post date: [November 14, 2003, 9:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lateral-puzzle-anybody-know-the-answer/213032/26 "2003-11-14T09:10:54Z")
> [@](#):
>
> \*Originally posted by cankerist \*
> \*\ ***SpaceDog** - I though of that too but it doesn’t expain why the kids fled in horror. \*\*
Whilst I don’t think it’s right, or certainly not the entire solution, it does fit because the puzzle says “looked at the field in horror and ran back into their houses crying”. It doesn’t say that the running was due (directly) to being horrified. They were horrified first then running in tears. Sorry to nitpick, but these puzzles sometime work like that.
Some good other guesses, I looked through a couple of puzzle books I had last night to see if there was anything similar. There wasn’t, which may mean that this is a newer puzzle.
I still don’t really get the significance of two piles of stones … why two. Perhaps it’s to do with sorting, maybe there are different types of stones in each pile ?
This is going to bug me for the rest of the day now.
SD
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### Author:  [@Grousser](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Grousser)
#### Post date: [November 14, 2003, 12:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lateral-puzzle-anybody-know-the-answer/213032/27 "2003-11-14T12:49:10Z")
Mmm… my guess. They were organized by adults every Saturday morning to fight snowball wars in the field. Every day they found two piles of snowballs in the middle of the field, ready to use them.
But this Saturday, the snow has melted and adults have replaced snowballs with stones. If I was a kid in that situation, I would have returned crying and horrified.
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### Author:  [@Grousser](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Grousser)
#### Post date: [November 14, 2003, 1:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lateral-puzzle-anybody-know-the-answer/213032/28 "2003-11-14T13:15:04Z")
Sorry, **Scuba\_Ben**. I posted the same answer in that forum. I couldn’t resist it.
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### Author:  [@bughunter](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bughunter)
#### Post date: [November 14, 2003, 9:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lateral-puzzle-anybody-know-the-answer/213032/29 "2003-11-14T21:31:08Z")
OK, my idea:
The two piles of stones are the graves of Santa Claus and The Easter Bunny.
That’s my story and I’m stickin’ to it.
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