# Lateral Thinking Puzzles. Let's do it again! **URL:** \ **Category:** Thread Games\ **Created:** [October 23, 2019, 9:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lateral-thinking-puzzles-lets-do-it-again/842193 "2019-10-23T21:32:35Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 168
**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 30, 2020, 3:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lateral-thinking-puzzles-lets-do-it-again/842193/3343 "2020-06-30T15:02:57Z")
reply to Cheesesteak Does the connection have to do with Carson’s rise to prominence? No His retirement from the business? No Does it relate to something that happened on his late night show? Yes A recurring event or bit? No ---
**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 30, 2020, 3:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lateral-thinking-puzzles-lets-do-it-again/842193/3344 "2020-06-30T15:04:17Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > Does the connection involve geographic locations? > Does the connection involve spans of time? > Does the connection involve symptoms of COVID-19? > Does the connection involve measures taken to combat COVID-19? > Does the connection involve the age range of a set of people? No to all ---
**Author:** ![Cheesesteak](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cheesesteak/32/3694_2.png) [@Cheesesteak](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cheesesteak)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2020, 4:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lateral-thinking-puzzles-lets-do-it-again/842193/3345 "2020-06-30T16:49:59Z")
Does the connection involve a televised part of his show? Backstage event? Does it involve a particular guest? If we knew the guest, would we know the connection? Does it involve toilet paper? ---
**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 30, 2020, 5:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lateral-thinking-puzzles-lets-do-it-again/842193/3346 "2020-06-30T17:03:35Z")
reply to Cheesesteak: Does the connection involve a televised part of his show? Yes Backstage event? No Does it involve a particular guest? No If we knew the guest, would we know the connection? No Does it involve toilet paper? Yes ---
**Author:** ![RivkahChaya](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rivkahchaya/32/8919_2.png) [@RivkahChaya](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RivkahChaya)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2020, 7:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lateral-thinking-puzzles-lets-do-it-again/842193/3347 "2020-06-30T19:04:16Z")
Did he make some kind of joke during the Cold War about people hoarding toilet paper in the Soviet Union (a real thing), and remark on what it would take to make people hoard toilet paper in the US? Did he actually predict that it would take a pandemic to bring toilet paper hoarding to the US? ---
**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 30, 2020, 11:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lateral-thinking-puzzles-lets-do-it-again/842193/3348 "2020-06-30T23:55:12Z")
No. But you are getting near the solution. ---
**Author:** ![Peter\_Morris](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/peter_morris/32/359_2.png) [@Peter\_Morris](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Peter_Morris)\ **Post date:** [July 1, 2020, 12:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lateral-thinking-puzzles-lets-do-it-again/842193/3349 "2020-07-01T00:13:37Z")
Is it something to do with social distancing? ---
**Author:** ![Telemark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/telemark/32/372_2.png) [@Telemark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Telemark)\ **Post date:** [July 1, 2020, 12:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lateral-thinking-puzzles-lets-do-it-again/842193/3350 "2020-07-01T00:21:12Z")
I know the answer as well, so I won’t spoil it. But I believe that Carson’s role in the affair is somewhat overblown. ---
**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:** [July 1, 2020, 5:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lateral-thinking-puzzles-lets-do-it-again/842193/3351 "2020-07-01T05:03:46Z")
> [@Peter\_Morris](#): > > Is it something to do with social distancing? No. ---
**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:** [July 1, 2020, 5:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lateral-thinking-puzzles-lets-do-it-again/842193/3352 "2020-07-01T05:05:17Z")
> [@Telemark](#): > > I know the answer as well, so I won’t spoil it. But I believe that Carson’s role in the affair is somewhat overblown. Probably. But the connection is still interesting. ---
**Author:** ![RivkahChaya](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rivkahchaya/32/8919_2.png) [@RivkahChaya](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RivkahChaya)\ **Post date:** [July 1, 2020, 5:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lateral-thinking-puzzles-lets-do-it-again/842193/3353 "2020-07-01T05:54:16Z")
Oh. Hmmm. Well, Carson was in production during a number of US shortages-- meat shortage, oil embargo (gasoline shortage), miner’s strike leading to, essentially, an electricity shortage. Did he have a routine about a toilet paper shortage in the US, because that was considered reductio ad absurdum at the time? ---
**Author:** ![snoe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/43a26b/32.png) [@snoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/snoe)\ **Post date:** [July 1, 2020, 11:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lateral-thinking-puzzles-lets-do-it-again/842193/3354 "2020-07-01T11:41:59Z")
> [@Telemark](#): > > I know the answer as well, so I won’t spoil it. But I believe that Carson’s role in the affair is somewhat overblown. Clue in “role in the affair?” Hmm. Does this story concern events that happened on a wider scale than Carson’s show? (Sorry if that’s unclear — I mean something like many people going out and hoarding toilet paper, not just Carson’s audience laughing at his joke about toilet paper hoarding. The manifestation of a joke in the “real world.”) ---
**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:** [July 1, 2020, 1:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lateral-thinking-puzzles-lets-do-it-again/842193/3355 "2020-07-01T13:47:22Z")
> [@snoe](#): > > Clue in “role in the affair?” Hmm. Does this story concern events that happened on a wider scale than Carson’s show? > (Sorry if that’s unclear — I mean something like many people going out and hoarding toilet paper, not just Carson’s audience laughing at his joke about toilet paper hoarding. The manifestation of a joke in the “real world.”) You all pretty much got it. Johnny Carson made a joke about a toilet paper shortage during a time when there was a lot of uncertainty about the economy. And people actually panicked and ran out and hoarded toilet paper. Then, as with the coronavirus pandemic, there was no real shortage of toilet paper except the one caused by the panic about the shortage of toilet paper. People are funny about their bath tissue. > **[Remembering the great toilet paper shortage of 1973](https://www.cbsnews.com/news/remembering-the-great-toilet-paper-shortage-of-1973/)** > > A joke by late-night king Johnny Carson about a shortage of toilet tissue led to panic buying as Americans emptied store shelves of the prized commodity ---
**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:** [July 8, 2020, 5:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lateral-thinking-puzzles-lets-do-it-again/842193/3356 "2020-07-08T17:04:03Z")
He was very successful in his career and well known in his lifetime. He died in 1800. About 20 years ago his body was found after a tree blew over in a storm. His skeleton is now in a museum. He was a horse. His name is eleven letters long. Nine of the letters are the same. Why? ---
**Author:** ![SurrenderDorothy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/surrenderdorothy/32/1221_2.png) [@SurrenderDorothy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SurrenderDorothy)\ **Post date:** [July 8, 2020, 5:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lateral-thinking-puzzles-lets-do-it-again/842193/3357 "2020-07-08T17:12:23Z")
I’m pretty sure I know this one, so I’m going to sit it out, but I do kind of love this story. ---
**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:** [July 8, 2020, 5:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lateral-thinking-puzzles-lets-do-it-again/842193/3358 "2020-07-08T17:31:44Z")
I will be very impressed if someone, who does not know this story, is able to guess the name of the horse. ---
**Author:** ![RivkahChaya](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rivkahchaya/32/8919_2.png) [@RivkahChaya](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RivkahChaya)\ **Post date:** [July 8, 2020, 5:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lateral-thinking-puzzles-lets-do-it-again/842193/3359 "2020-07-08T17:37:23Z")
Is it a literal horse, or is it either a person whose last name was “Horse,” or a Horse Chestnut? ---
**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:** [July 8, 2020, 5:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lateral-thinking-puzzles-lets-do-it-again/842193/3360 "2020-07-08T17:40:08Z")
Literal horse. ---
**Author:** ![Cheesesteak](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cheesesteak/32/3694_2.png) [@Cheesesteak](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cheesesteak)\ **Post date:** [July 8, 2020, 6:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lateral-thinking-puzzles-lets-do-it-again/842193/3361 "2020-07-08T18:27:02Z")
Was this a race horse? ---
**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:** [July 8, 2020, 6:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lateral-thinking-puzzles-lets-do-it-again/842193/3362 "2020-07-08T18:27:47Z")
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