# Lateral Thinking Puzzles: Fourthcoming Mysteries **URL:** \ **Category:** Thread Games\ **Created:** [May 29, 2026, 1:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lateral-thinking-puzzles-fourthcoming-mysteries/1030468 "2026-05-29T01:30:02Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/the_other_waldo_pepper/32/12370_2.png) [@The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Other_Waldo_Pepper)\ **Post date:** [May 30, 2026, 8:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lateral-thinking-puzzles-fourthcoming-mysteries/1030468/21 "2026-05-30T20:48:54Z")
No, I was blandly serious, and she knew it. ---
**Author:** ![Ana\_Byrd](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/5f8ce5/32.png) [@Ana\_Byrd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ana_Byrd)\ **Post date:** [May 30, 2026, 8:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lateral-thinking-puzzles-fourthcoming-mysteries/1030468/22 "2026-05-30T20:50:57Z")
Did you ask her to go to something that was not her idea of a good time? ---
**Author:** ![The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/the_other_waldo_pepper/32/12370_2.png) [@The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Other_Waldo_Pepper)\ **Post date:** [May 30, 2026, 8:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lateral-thinking-puzzles-fourthcoming-mysteries/1030468/23 "2026-05-30T20:53:14Z")
Nope. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [May 30, 2026, 8:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lateral-thinking-puzzles-fourthcoming-mysteries/1030468/24 "2026-05-30T20:54:28Z")
Is the exact phrasing of her question relevant? Is the exact phrasing of your reply relevant? ---
**Author:** ![Ana\_Byrd](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/5f8ce5/32.png) [@Ana\_Byrd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ana_Byrd)\ **Post date:** [May 30, 2026, 8:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lateral-thinking-puzzles-fourthcoming-mysteries/1030468/25 "2026-05-30T20:54:59Z")
Did your reply mention your ex? ---
**Author:** ![The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/the_other_waldo_pepper/32/12370_2.png) [@The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Other_Waldo_Pepper)\ **Post date:** [May 30, 2026, 8:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lateral-thinking-puzzles-fourthcoming-mysteries/1030468/26 "2026-05-30T20:58:56Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > Is the exact phrasing of her question relevant? > Is the exact phrasing of your reply relevant? All these years later, I can’t even recall the exact phrasing. So, no, I don’t suppose it turns on wordplay; things would’ve presumably played out the same way with, uh, synonyms all around. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/the_other_waldo_pepper/32/12370_2.png) [@The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Other_Waldo_Pepper)\ **Post date:** [May 30, 2026, 10:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lateral-thinking-puzzles-fourthcoming-mysteries/1030468/27 "2026-05-30T22:08:57Z")
> [@Ana\_Byrd](#): > > Did your reply mention your ex? Well. _she_ indirectly referenced my ex: by pointing out that said ex and I had, well, just _broken up,_ or else it wouldn’t make a ton of sense to talk about me going out on a date with anyone else. And, carrying on with the indirectness, I replied by likewise referencing the breakup without actually mentioning the ex. ---
**Author:** ![Sigene](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/df788c/32.png) [@Sigene](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sigene)\ **Post date:** [May 30, 2026, 11:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lateral-thinking-puzzles-fourthcoming-mysteries/1030468/28 "2026-05-30T23:53:35Z")
Did she ask in such a way that she meant a date with her and you didn’t take it that way? (e.g. “Are you ready to date?” “No”) ---
**Author:** ![The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/the_other_waldo_pepper/32/12370_2.png) [@The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Other_Waldo_Pepper)\ **Post date:** [May 31, 2026, 1:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lateral-thinking-puzzles-fourthcoming-mysteries/1030468/29 "2026-05-31T01:16:14Z")
> [@Sigene](#): > > (e.g. “Are you ready to date?” “No”) She wasn’t asking in general terms, or hypothetical ones; _she, in particular,_ was making clear to _this here guy in particular_ that, if I’d like to go on “a date” at a _particular time_ of my choosing, on a _particular day_ of my choosing, then it was understood that a direct result of me accepting would involve then narrowing things down to a specific set of _particulars_ — because if ‘dinner and a movie’ was going to be the _particular_ date, well, that’d presumably require selecting a _particular_ restaurant and a _particular_ film to be enjoyed with the _particular_ young woman who, I was being told right then, had been wanting to go out with me for a while. ---
**Author:** ![Biotop](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/biotop/32/321_2.png) [@Biotop](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Biotop)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2026, 8:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lateral-thinking-puzzles-fourthcoming-mysteries/1030468/30 "2026-06-04T20:13:00Z")
Communication issue such as different language or sign language misinterpretation? ---
**Author:** ![The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/the_other_waldo_pepper/32/12370_2.png) [@The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Other_Waldo_Pepper)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2026, 1:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lateral-thinking-puzzles-fourthcoming-mysteries/1030468/31 "2026-06-21T13:03:18Z")
Nope. ---
**Author:** ![Biotop](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/biotop/32/321_2.png) [@Biotop](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Biotop)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2026, 11:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lateral-thinking-puzzles-fourthcoming-mysteries/1030468/32 "2026-08-30T11:08:32Z")
Any chance for the answer? ---
**Author:** ![The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/the_other_waldo_pepper/32/12370_2.png) [@The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Other_Waldo_Pepper)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2026, 12:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lateral-thinking-puzzles-fourthcoming-mysteries/1030468/33 "2026-08-30T12:52:28Z")
Yeah, in retrospect I gave a literally truthful answer to @Sigene in hopes of keeping things going just a little longer; it didn’t occur to me that it’d kill the thread! So, mea culpa, and maybe Sigene should take it. Anyhow: playing matchmaker, she said that a friend of hers was crazy about me, and that — as I was no longer seeing someone — if I’d like to go out on a date, just name the time and place. I turned her down. A month went by. Another month went by. A third month went by. Eventually, I got around to asking her about it. “IT WAS ME, YOU IDIOT,” she explained. ---
**Author:** ![Biotop](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/biotop/32/321_2.png) [@Biotop](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Biotop)\ **Post date:** [September 4, 2026, 4:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lateral-thinking-puzzles-fourthcoming-mysteries/1030468/34 "2026-09-04T16:30:58Z")
From a Nancy daily comic, August of 1956: In the first frame Nancy is grousing because she has picked some nuts at the park, but they are too hard to crack. In the second frame she smacks the nuts with a hammer. No luck. In the third frame Nancy is smiling and pouring her bag of nuts into a box. “This will work.” She says. In the last frame we see that Nancy has written something on the box. We also see why. So what has Nancy written on the box, and why? ---
**Author:** ![Ana\_Byrd](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/5f8ce5/32.png) [@Ana\_Byrd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ana_Byrd)\ **Post date:** [September 6, 2026, 1:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lateral-thinking-puzzles-fourthcoming-mysteries/1030468/35 "2026-09-06T13:27:39Z")
Did it solve the problem by getting other people to crack the nuts? ---
**Author:** ![pjd](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pjd/32/3009_2.png) [@pjd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pjd)\ **Post date:** [September 6, 2026, 1:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lateral-thinking-puzzles-fourthcoming-mysteries/1030468/36 "2026-09-06T13:54:00Z")
Did she write her home address on the box and send it by USPS, knowing that it was likely to arrive broken ? ---
**Author:** ![Biotop](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/biotop/32/321_2.png) [@Biotop](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Biotop)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2026, 12:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lateral-thinking-puzzles-fourthcoming-mysteries/1030468/37 "2026-09-07T00:16:54Z")
- > [@pjd](#): > > Did she write her home address on the box and send it by USPS, knowing that > it was likely to arrive broken ? Holy crap! Got it. She wrote “Fragile” and mailed it too herself. Impressive. ---
**Author:** ![Mahaloth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mahaloth/32/1079_2.png) [@Mahaloth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mahaloth)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2026, 12:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lateral-thinking-puzzles-fourthcoming-mysteries/1030468/38 "2026-09-07T00:29:01Z")
> [@Biotop](#): > > Holy crap! Got it. She wrote “Fragile” and mailed it too herself. Impressive How did that help? Is the joke that the postal system handles all fragile things badly? ---
**Author:** ![Biotop](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/biotop/32/321_2.png) [@Biotop](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Biotop)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2026, 12:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lateral-thinking-puzzles-fourthcoming-mysteries/1030468/39 "2026-09-07T00:46:07Z")
- > [@Mahaloth](#): > > How did that help? Is the joke that the postal system handles all fragile things badly? Yes. While the postal service may not have that reputation now, in the 1950’s (so I am told) this was a thing. ---
**Author:** ![pjd](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pjd/32/3009_2.png) [@pjd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pjd)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2026, 7:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lateral-thinking-puzzles-fourthcoming-mysteries/1030468/40 "2026-09-07T07:59:34Z")
😮 I wasn’t being entirely serious ! [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lateral-thinking-puzzles-fourthcoming-mysteries/1030468.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lateral-thinking-puzzles-fourthcoming-mysteries/1030468.md?page=3)