# 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:** 244
**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:** [November 25, 2021, 1:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lateral-thinking-puzzles-lets-do-it-again/842193/4863 "2021-11-25T01:44:28Z")
reply to Chronos: Is the timepiece based on (more than one might apply)… …The motion of celestial objects (such as the Sun) through the sky? No …A substance falling through some small aperture? No …A pendulum? No …A spring releasing tension? Yes …Gears? Yes …Signals from some other timepiece? No …A quartz oscillator? No …An electrical battery? Maybe…\* …Utility-provided alternating current? No\* Come to think of it: Is a frequency of alternating current relevant? No \* When I say more than one kind of timepiece is involved, I think it misleads in a way I do not want to mislead. The timepieces I reference in the original puzzle are mostly wristwatches, probably wind-ups. There were most certainly, for a different reason, electric clocks and maybe even battery clocks involved. I also know for certain that there was a critical electric clock that shaped events, but it certainly did not help our two people to arrive on time. Indeed quite the opposite. I hope this helps…but not to much! 😉 ---
**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:** [November 25, 2021, 1:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lateral-thinking-puzzles-lets-do-it-again/842193/4864 "2021-11-25T01:55:45Z")
reply to ChockFullOfHeadyGoodness: Is the cab important? Not really. It’s just when the people showed up on time, they showed up in a cab. Would they have also been late if they had journeyed on foot? Or taken a personal car? Or taken an Uber instead of a cab?? The thought of Uber makes me laugh. These folks involved showed up in a cab. But it does not matter. They were not on time in the actual twentieth century event because of their mode of transportation, nor could they avoid being late today with different transportaion, if the same events happened. ---
**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:** [November 25, 2021, 2:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lateral-thinking-puzzles-lets-do-it-again/842193/4865 "2021-11-25T02:13:50Z")
reply to ChockfullOfHeadyGoodness: Does “cab” in fact refer to a taxi cab? It refers to the common street transportation by a driver of a vehicle being paid to transport customers in their to a desired place in exchange for money. +++++ reply to dirtball: Is there any significance to the fact that two people were arriving (as opposed to just one person, or three, or any other number)? It could have been a different number of people. But it wasn’t. There is a reason why it was two that is quite relevant if you look at it one way, but not so much if you look at it another way. Suffice to say that at the time this happened it needed to be these two people for…reasons. If this same scenario were to play out again, a hundred years from now, would we expect the arrivees (am I coining a word here?) to be even later than seven minutes? Who knows? I expect things in a hundred years will have changed so much as to make the possibility of this type of occurrence obsolete. ---
**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:** [November 25, 2021, 2:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lateral-thinking-puzzles-lets-do-it-again/842193/4866 "2021-11-25T02:16:06Z")
Not sure why I’m asking this, but… Was World War I relevant? Was World War II relevant? ---
**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:** [November 25, 2021, 2:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lateral-thinking-puzzles-lets-do-it-again/842193/4867 "2021-11-25T02:22:35Z")
reply to Chronos: Not sure why I’m asking this, but… Was World War I relevant? Was World War II relevant No to both. ---
**Author:** ![dirtball](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dirtball/32/18772_2.png) [@dirtball](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dirtball)\ **Post date:** [November 25, 2021, 2:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lateral-thinking-puzzles-lets-do-it-again/842193/4868 "2021-11-25T02:35:23Z")
Is the reason these people were coming to this location relevant to the answer we’re looking for? If the answer to the first question is yes, were they coming for a reason involving politics? Science? ---
**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:** [November 25, 2021, 4:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lateral-thinking-puzzles-lets-do-it-again/842193/4869 "2021-11-25T04:58:34Z")
reply to dirtball: Is the reason these people were coming to this location relevant to the answer we’re looking for? Yes. If the answer to the first question is yes, were they coming for a reason involving politics? Science? No to politics or science ---
**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:** [November 25, 2021, 3:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lateral-thinking-puzzles-lets-do-it-again/842193/4870 "2021-11-25T15:48:06Z")
> [@Biotop](#): > > …A spring releasing tension? Yes > …Gears? Yes This would seem to indicate pocket watches so … were the timepieces pocket watches? ---
**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:** [November 25, 2021, 4:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lateral-thinking-puzzles-lets-do-it-again/842193/4871 "2021-11-25T16:50:06Z")
Is there any time they would have been 7 minutes late in the 20th century ? Or is the millennium switch relevant ? ---
**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:** [November 25, 2021, 5:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lateral-thinking-puzzles-lets-do-it-again/842193/4872 "2021-11-25T17:03:13Z")
Not quite answered in your response to Cheesesteak. Is the 7 minutes specific to Frankfurt meaning, if this exact same scenario happened in another city, could the time difference be different than 7 minutes? ---
**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:** [November 25, 2021, 5:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lateral-thinking-puzzles-lets-do-it-again/842193/4873 "2021-11-25T17:11:50Z")
> [@Saint\_Cad](#): > > This would seem to indicate pocket watches so … were the timepieces pocket watches? Mostly wristwatches actually. My ignorance of timepieces is showing, alas. Before the quartz age. ---
**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:** [November 25, 2021, 5:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lateral-thinking-puzzles-lets-do-it-again/842193/4874 "2021-11-25T17:19:40Z")
> [@pjd](#): > > Is there any time they would have been 7 minutes late in the 20th century ? > Or is the millennium switch relevant ? Before the Frankfurt visit such timliness was possible but I don’t think guaranteed… Afterwards, in the same circumstances, the Frankfurt arrivees(??) would be late.The century/millinnium was not the issue. ---
**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:** [November 25, 2021, 5:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lateral-thinking-puzzles-lets-do-it-again/842193/4875 "2021-11-25T17:24:11Z")
> [@Saint\_Cad](#): > > Not quite answered in your response to Cheesesteak. > Is the 7 minutes specific to Frankfurt meaning, if this exact same scenario happened in another city, could the time difference be different than 7 minutes? The city is not relevant other than that was where the folks who arrived on time were going. And thanks to the wristwatches they were on time. Had they been going elsewhere in the otherwise exact same scenario, they would have been on time then, but 7 minutes late now. ---
**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:** [November 25, 2021, 5:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lateral-thinking-puzzles-lets-do-it-again/842193/4876 "2021-11-25T17:26:23Z")
Were they trying to get there on time, or were they trying to get there seven minutes early? ---
**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:** [November 25, 2021, 5:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lateral-thinking-puzzles-lets-do-it-again/842193/4877 "2021-11-25T17:29:51Z")
> [@Biotop](#): > > The city is not relevant other than that was where the folks who arrived on time were going. So Frankfurt is a red herring? If their scenario were, let’s say, a destination in Vancouver or Tokyo or Cairo, Illinois the whole puzzle would be exactly the same? ---
**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:** [November 25, 2021, 5:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lateral-thinking-puzzles-lets-do-it-again/842193/4878 "2021-11-25T17:47:25Z")
> [@The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](#): > > Were they trying to get there on time, or were they trying to get there seven minutes early? I don’t think it mattered to them, actually. ---
**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:** [November 25, 2021, 5:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lateral-thinking-puzzles-lets-do-it-again/842193/4879 "2021-11-25T17:53:56Z")
> [@Saint\_Cad](#): > > So Frankfurt is a red herring? If their scenario were, let’s say, a destination in Vancouver or Tokyo or Cairo, Illinois the whole puzzle would be exactly the same? Not a red herring at all. You almost certainly know what this puzzle is all about, though the exact details may help or hopefuly (heh heh) mystify the situation. ---
**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:** [November 25, 2021, 5:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lateral-thinking-puzzles-lets-do-it-again/842193/4880 "2021-11-25T17:55:43Z")
Was there a third person involved? I know it’s not the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand but I’m thinking along those lines. ---
**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:** [November 25, 2021, 6:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lateral-thinking-puzzles-lets-do-it-again/842193/4881 "2021-11-25T18:08:05Z")
> [@Biotop](#): > > But it does not matter. They were not on time in the actual twentieth century event because of their mode of transportation, Just caught this. Were the people actually 7 minutes late although the watches around them said they were on time? Or were they actually on-time in the 20th century but today would be 7 minutes late? ---
**Author:** ![cheeses\_of\_nazareth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cheeses_of_nazareth/32/7700_2.png) [@cheeses\_of\_nazareth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cheeses_of_nazareth)\ **Post date:** [November 25, 2021, 7:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lateral-thinking-puzzles-lets-do-it-again/842193/4882 "2021-11-25T19:19:57Z")
Would knowing the identities of the arrivees, or the third person they met, help solve the puzzle? Are any of them famous? (say, enough to have their own Wikipedia page?) Did the go to Frankfurt for some kind of competitive purpose? Did they go to commemorate some event? [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lateral-thinking-puzzles-lets-do-it-again/842193.md?page=243) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lateral-thinking-puzzles-lets-do-it-again/842193.md?page=245)