# 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:** 227
**Author:** ![Saint\_Cad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/saint_cad/32/18907_2.png) [@Saint\_Cad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Saint_Cad)\ **Post date:** [December 4, 2020, 6:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lateral-thinking-puzzles-lets-do-it-again/842193/4523 "2020-12-04T18:01:48Z")
The only thing I can think of is when the student plagarized the work, they changed English money, (I know Scrooge says “half-a-crown”) into American coinage. I.e. “half a crown” becomes penny. ---
**Author:** ![Fretful\_Porpentine](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fretful_porpentine/32/2873_2.png) [@Fretful\_Porpentine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fretful_Porpentine)\ **Post date:** [December 4, 2020, 6:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lateral-thinking-puzzles-lets-do-it-again/842193/4524 "2020-12-04T18:05:07Z")
The only thing I can think of is when the student plagarized the work, they changed English money, (I know Scrooge says “half-a-crown”) into American coinage. I.e. “half a crown” becomes penny. **No.** ---
**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:** [December 4, 2020, 6:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lateral-thinking-puzzles-lets-do-it-again/842193/4525 "2020-12-04T18:06:44Z")
Did she get those words from something to do with Christmas carol_s_, not A Christmas Carol? ---
**Author:** ![Fretful\_Porpentine](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fretful_porpentine/32/2873_2.png) [@Fretful\_Porpentine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fretful_Porpentine)\ **Post date:** [December 4, 2020, 6:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lateral-thinking-puzzles-lets-do-it-again/842193/4526 "2020-12-04T18:13:21Z")
Did she get those words from something to do with Christmas carol _s_ , not A Christmas Carol? **No.** ---
**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:** [December 4, 2020, 6:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lateral-thinking-puzzles-lets-do-it-again/842193/4527 "2020-12-04T18:17:26Z")
Was unchecked spellcheck involved? Don’t know how a machine would turn Ebenezer into Penny, but I’ve seen weirder suggestions. ---
**Author:** ![Fretful\_Porpentine](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fretful_porpentine/32/2873_2.png) [@Fretful\_Porpentine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fretful_Porpentine)\ **Post date:** [December 4, 2020, 6:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lateral-thinking-puzzles-lets-do-it-again/842193/4528 "2020-12-04T18:19:08Z")
Was unchecked spellcheck involved? Don’t know how a machine would turn Ebenezer into Penny, but I’ve seen weirder suggestions. **No to unchecked spellcheck, YES to machine-manipulated language in a broader sense.** ---
**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:** [December 4, 2020, 6:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lateral-thinking-puzzles-lets-do-it-again/842193/4529 "2020-12-04T18:19:29Z")
a Bob (Cratchett) is 12 pennies. Is that relevent? ---
**Author:** ![Fretful\_Porpentine](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fretful_porpentine/32/2873_2.png) [@Fretful\_Porpentine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fretful_Porpentine)\ **Post date:** [December 4, 2020, 6:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lateral-thinking-puzzles-lets-do-it-again/842193/4530 "2020-12-04T18:24:30Z")
a Bob (Cratchett) is 12 pennies. Is that relevent? **It is not, but you’re getting very warm…** ---
**Author:** ![Saint\_Cad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/saint_cad/32/18907_2.png) [@Saint\_Cad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Saint_Cad)\ **Post date:** [December 4, 2020, 6:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lateral-thinking-puzzles-lets-do-it-again/842193/4531 "2020-12-04T18:43:04Z")
Did the student use software that takes passages from papers and rewrites them to escape plagerism checks? If so, did that software change a name to “Penny” and another to “Bounce”? ---
**Author:** ![Fretful\_Porpentine](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fretful_porpentine/32/2873_2.png) [@Fretful\_Porpentine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fretful_Porpentine)\ **Post date:** [December 4, 2020, 6:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lateral-thinking-puzzles-lets-do-it-again/842193/4532 "2020-12-04T18:54:11Z")
> [@Saint\_Cad](#): > > Did the student use software that takes passages from papers and rewrites them to escape plagerism checks? > > If so, did that software change a name to “Penny” and another to “Bounce”? **YES! Solved!** In addition to neglecting to read her work over after running it through the plagiarism-spinner, the student failed to recognize that certain character names are perfectly good thesaurus words – “Scrooge,” for example, occasionally got changed to “Penny pincher.” I might have overlooked this (Scrooge is, after all, _a_ penny pincher, so the sentence still made sense despite the odd grammar and capitalization), but I was having a hard time ignoring the reference to Scrooge’s clerk, Bounce Cratchit. Congrats! Allah bless us every one! ---
**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:** [December 15, 2020, 11:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lateral-thinking-puzzles-lets-do-it-again/842193/4533 "2020-12-15T23:00:26Z")
**A well-respected head of state was assassinated in front of many witnesses. The killer was banished, but faced no other punishment. Why the leniency?** ---
**Author:** ![Saint\_Cad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/saint_cad/32/18907_2.png) [@Saint\_Cad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Saint_Cad)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2020, 3:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lateral-thinking-puzzles-lets-do-it-again/842193/4534 "2020-12-16T15:56:45Z")
My first though was this occurred in Ancient Greece where banishment was a worse punishment that death. I don’t think Able (in the Cain/Able story) was a head of state. But I’m going to guess Alexander of Greece who was “assassinated” by his pet macaque who his servants then drove away. ---
**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:** [December 16, 2020, 9:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lateral-thinking-puzzles-lets-do-it-again/842193/4535 "2020-12-16T21:40:28Z")
**No to all of those** , though I love the monkey idea. ---
**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:** [December 16, 2020, 10:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lateral-thinking-puzzles-lets-do-it-again/842193/4536 "2020-12-16T22:18:42Z")
By head of state, are you indicating a human person who is the titular leader of a nation? By assassinated, do you mean deliberately murdered? Did this happen in real life or was it fictional? ---
**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:** [December 16, 2020, 10:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lateral-thinking-puzzles-lets-do-it-again/842193/4537 "2020-12-16T22:54:48Z")
> [@Cheesesteak](#): > > By head of state, are you indicating a human person who is the titular leader of a nation? **Yes** > > By assassinated, do you mean deliberately murdered? **Yes** > > Did this happen in real life or was it fictional? **Sort of both? I guess you could call it a fictional event with a real life element.** It’s a bit weird, and that’s why it’s a puzzle. ---
**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:** [December 16, 2020, 11:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lateral-thinking-puzzles-lets-do-it-again/842193/4538 "2020-12-16T23:23:02Z")
Did the witnesses want the head of state dead? Did the head of state want to die? Was the assassination illegal? Was the banishment done as part of the normal due process of law, for that time and place? Was the head of state assassinated for reason of objection to his politics? Was the head of state assassinated for personal reasons (i.e., unrelated to politics)? Was anyone else killed as part of the same act as the assassination of the HoS? Was this relevantly during a war? ---
**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:** [December 16, 2020, 11:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lateral-thinking-puzzles-lets-do-it-again/842193/4539 "2020-12-16T23:36:29Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > Did the witnesses want the head of state dead? **Probably not** > Did the head of state want to die? **No** > Was the assassination illegal? **It wasn’t supposed to happen** > Was the banishment done as part of the normal due process of law, for that time and place? **I think so, although my source suggests some objected to it.** > Was the head of state assassinated for reason of objection to his politics? **No** > Was the head of state assassinated for personal reasons (i.e., unrelated to politics)? **Unrelated to politics, yes** > Was anyone else killed as part of the same act as the assassination of the HoS? **No, though there were other deaths that followed.** > Was this relevantly during a war? **No** No hints this time! ---
**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:** [December 17, 2020, 1:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lateral-thinking-puzzles-lets-do-it-again/842193/4540 "2020-12-17T01:54:30Z")
Did this happen in the past 200 years? Last 2000 years? BCE? ---
**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:** [December 17, 2020, 3:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lateral-thinking-puzzles-lets-do-it-again/842193/4541 "2020-12-17T03:40:51Z")
**Within the past 200 years.** ---
**Author:** ![Saint\_Cad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/saint_cad/32/18907_2.png) [@Saint\_Cad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Saint_Cad)\ **Post date:** [December 17, 2020, 12:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lateral-thinking-puzzles-lets-do-it-again/842193/4542 "2020-12-17T12:04:59Z")
Was there a legal reason the assassin could not be given the death penalty? I’m thinking something like a member of the royal family was the assassin and under that countries laws members of the royal family could not be put to death. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lateral-thinking-puzzles-lets-do-it-again/842193.md?page=226) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lateral-thinking-puzzles-lets-do-it-again/842193.md?page=228)