# 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:** 186
**Author:** ![Folly](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/folly/32/3219_2.png) [@Folly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Folly)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2020, 4:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lateral-thinking-puzzles-lets-do-it-again/842193/3703 "2020-08-11T16:27:03Z")
> [@Cheesesteak](#): > > Was the phone designed to only get incoming calls? **No.** ---
**Author:** ![Folly](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/folly/32/3219_2.png) [@Folly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Folly)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2020, 4:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lateral-thinking-puzzles-lets-do-it-again/842193/3704 "2020-08-11T16:27:57Z")
> [@Biotop](#): > > did nigel… did nigel dial by touch? **No.** does the phone vibration have relevance? **No** Does the minimum number of digits to complete a call with 999 have relevance? **No** ---
**Author:** ![Teuton](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/teuton/32/3864_2.png) [@Teuton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Teuton)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2020, 4:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lateral-thinking-puzzles-lets-do-it-again/842193/3705 "2020-08-11T16:30:32Z")
Does dialling 999 on this particular phone allow him to do something he wouldn’t otherwise be able to do? ---
**Author:** ![Folly](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/folly/32/3219_2.png) [@Folly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Folly)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2020, 4:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lateral-thinking-puzzles-lets-do-it-again/842193/3706 "2020-08-11T16:34:17Z")
> [@Teuton](#): > > Does dialling 999 on this particular phone allow him to do something he wouldn’t otherwise be able to do?.. **Yes** ---
**Author:** ![Teuton](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/teuton/32/3864_2.png) [@Teuton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Teuton)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2020, 4:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lateral-thinking-puzzles-lets-do-it-again/842193/3707 "2020-08-11T16:34:36Z")
I think I remember this in the news. Is the phone a Blackberry? ---
**Author:** ![Folly](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/folly/32/3219_2.png) [@Folly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Folly)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2020, 4:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lateral-thinking-puzzles-lets-do-it-again/842193/3708 "2020-08-11T16:36:03Z")
> [@Teuton](#): > > I think I remember this in the news. Is the phone a Blackberry?.. **Yes** ---
**Author:** ![Teuton](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/teuton/32/3864_2.png) [@Teuton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Teuton)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2020, 4:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lateral-thinking-puzzles-lets-do-it-again/842193/3709 "2020-08-11T16:37:36Z")
I thought it was an urban myth? Apparently, if you called the emergency services on your Blackberry it tried harder to stay on and not switch off on low battery. Is that why Nigel was calling them? ---
**Author:** ![Folly](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/folly/32/3219_2.png) [@Folly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Folly)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2020, 4:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lateral-thinking-puzzles-lets-do-it-again/842193/3710 "2020-08-11T16:49:22Z")
> [@Teuton](#): > > I thought it was an urban myth? Apparently, if you called the emergency services on your Blackberry it tried harder to stay on and not switch off on low battery. Is that why Nigel was calling them?.. **Yes**! There was a [phone charging myth](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/999_phone_charging_myth#:~:text=The%20999%20phone%20charging%20myth,dangers%20of%20making%20such%20calls.) that said that calling the emergency number would give an emergency charge to your phone. Maybe Nigel believed the myth, maybe he knew the truth, but dialing 999 and hanging up allowed him to make another call immediately after even though his Blackberry had turned off his cell radio in response to low battery conditions. This is because Blackberrys were programmed to turn the radio back on during a call to emergency services. And the radio stayed on for some minutes afterward, draining the last bits of energy from the battery. Oh look, another entertaining [Tom Scott video](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8-evKtoPN-8)… ---
**Author:** ![Teuton](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/teuton/32/3864_2.png) [@Teuton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Teuton)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2020, 8:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lateral-thinking-puzzles-lets-do-it-again/842193/3711 "2020-08-11T20:09:15Z")
Ooooh, Slough. I vaguely remember it being A Thing that you could call the emergency services and get a charge for your phone, which is so ridiculous on the face of it I dismissed it out of hand. It was only when the police asked people to stop doing it that I linked it with Blackberry phones. ---
**Author:** ![Folly](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/folly/32/3219_2.png) [@Folly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Folly)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2020, 8:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lateral-thinking-puzzles-lets-do-it-again/842193/3712 "2020-08-11T20:33:34Z")
Are you in the UK? I couldn’t really tell after poking around if this was ever really a thing in the states or not. ---
**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 12, 2020, 5:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lateral-thinking-puzzles-lets-do-it-again/842193/3713 "2020-08-12T05:25:09Z")
According to some investigative files from the CIA, who was responsible for the attempted murder of a US diplomat and the resulting international crisis ? Was it: A. Soviet assassins cooly silencing critics or B. Chinese spies stifling illicit opposition instigation or C. Alice and Benjamin doing the laundry. And how was the “crime” committed? ---
**Author:** ![Teuton](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/teuton/32/3864_2.png) [@Teuton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Teuton)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2020, 9:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lateral-thinking-puzzles-lets-do-it-again/842193/3714 "2020-08-12T09:46:07Z")
I am in the UK, yes. ---
**Author:** ![CardboardBoxx](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cardboardboxx/32/7079_2.png) [@CardboardBoxx](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CardboardBoxx)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2020, 10:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lateral-thinking-puzzles-lets-do-it-again/842193/3715 "2020-08-12T10:05:15Z")
Is this a word based puzzle, where the precise way you phrased options A and B are important? Are A and B completely irrelevant and the actual question is just “how did Alice and Benjamin doing the laundry cause the attempted murder of a US diplomat and the resulting international crisis?”? ---
**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 12, 2020, 2:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lateral-thinking-puzzles-lets-do-it-again/842193/3716 "2020-08-12T14:17:19Z")
Yes. The riddle I suppose could be phrased that way. But the CIA did not know that. All they had was the attempted murder with the likely suspects being evil communist villains. ---
**Author:** ![Zyada](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zyada/32/3028_2.png) [@Zyada](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zyada)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2020, 2:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lateral-thinking-puzzles-lets-do-it-again/842193/3717 "2020-08-12T14:33:22Z")
Does the answer involve bleach and ammonia? ---
**Author:** ![Folly](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/folly/32/3219_2.png) [@Folly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Folly)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2020, 2:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lateral-thinking-puzzles-lets-do-it-again/842193/3718 "2020-08-12T14:33:27Z")
Did the CIA suspect the attempted murder to be via poisonous gas? Other poisonous substance? Sonic attack? blunt force trauma? stabbing? ---
**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 12, 2020, 2:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lateral-thinking-puzzles-lets-do-it-again/842193/3719 "2020-08-12T14:56:21Z")
> [@Zyada](#): > > Does the answer involve bleach and ammonia? 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:** [August 12, 2020, 3:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lateral-thinking-puzzles-lets-do-it-again/842193/3720 "2020-08-12T15:02:12Z")
reply to Folly: Did the CIA suspect the attempted murder to be via poisonous gas? No Other poisonous substance? Yes Sonic attack? No blunt force trauma? No stabbing? No ---
**Author:** ![Folly](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/folly/32/3219_2.png) [@Folly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Folly)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2020, 3:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lateral-thinking-puzzles-lets-do-it-again/842193/3721 "2020-08-12T15:06:52Z")
Chemical poisoning? Radiation poisoning? Polonium? Was the poisonous substance in a food? Was it eaten by the diplomat? Drink? Drunk by the diplomat? Was the substance on clothes? Was it worn by the diplomat? ---
**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 12, 2020, 3:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lateral-thinking-puzzles-lets-do-it-again/842193/3722 "2020-08-12T15:24:47Z")
reply to Folly: Chemical poisoning? Yes * * * Radiation poisoning? Polonium? Was the poisonous substance in a food? Was it eaten by the diplomat? Drink? Drunk by the diplomat? Was the substance on clothes? Was it worn by the diplomat? No to everything else. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lateral-thinking-puzzles-lets-do-it-again/842193.md?page=185) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lateral-thinking-puzzles-lets-do-it-again/842193.md?page=187)