# 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:** 69
**Author:** ![LennieB](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/8dc957/32.png) [@LennieB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LennieB)\ **Post date:** [December 31, 2019, 5:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lateral-thinking-puzzles-lets-do-it-again/842193/1361 "2019-12-31T05:45:08Z")
Were the stockings a gift from: Visiting royalty? A Show-Business figure? A politician? A famous relative? A literary figure? Was the stockings gift: The event? A symbol of a larger event? Did the donor, the girl, and onlookers regard the gift-giving as historic? ---
**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:** [December 31, 2019, 6:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lateral-thinking-puzzles-lets-do-it-again/842193/1362 "2019-12-31T06:06:53Z")
> [@LennieB](#): > > Were the stockings a gift from: > Visiting royalty? > A Show-Business figure? > A politician? > A famous relative? > A literary figure? > > Was the stockings gift: > The event? > A symbol of a larger event? > > Did the donor, the girl, and onlookers regard the gift-giving as historic? **No to everything here.** ☹ ---
**Author:** ![Go\_Arachnid\_Laser\_1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/b2d939/32.png) [@Go\_Arachnid\_Laser\_1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Go_Arachnid_Laser_1)\ **Post date:** [December 31, 2019, 6:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lateral-thinking-puzzles-lets-do-it-again/842193/1363 "2019-12-31T06:19:01Z")
Are the socks literal “garment for the foot and lower part of the leg” socks? Is the specific material they were made of significant? Is some pattern in the socks significant? Was the sock’s original owner a child when the events took place? A young woman (16+ years)? ---
**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:** [December 31, 2019, 6:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lateral-thinking-puzzles-lets-do-it-again/842193/1364 "2019-12-31T06:24:22Z")
**reply to Go\_Arachnid\_Laser** : Are the socks literal “garment for the foot and lower part of the leg” socks? **Yes** Is the specific material they were made of significant? **Yes** Is some pattern in the socks significant? **No. I am not sure what the stockings looked like. But I can hazard an educated guess!** ---
**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:** [December 31, 2019, 6:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lateral-thinking-puzzles-lets-do-it-again/842193/1365 "2019-12-31T06:27:31Z")
**Reply to Go\_Arachnid\_Laser** : Was the sock’s original owner a child when the events took place? **No** A young woman (16+ years?) **Not sure of the age, but an adult.** ---
**Author:** ![LennieB](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/8dc957/32.png) [@LennieB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LennieB)\ **Post date:** [December 31, 2019, 6:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lateral-thinking-puzzles-lets-do-it-again/842193/1366 "2019-12-31T06:37:17Z")
Is the original stocking-giver important as himself or herself? That is to say, would we recognize this person’s name? Did this person choose the girl to give the stockings to: randomly? by lottery? or by prior acquaintance with her (or her family)? Was the girl as the adult donor associated in some important way to the charity? Was the ca. 1800–1820 event significant: On a national level? On a NE regional level? On a state level? Only on a local level? Is the title of the later book about this topic known to most American adults? Do we think of this girl AS a girl, even though she obviously grew up? Is she in the book under her real name? ---
**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:** [December 31, 2019, 7:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lateral-thinking-puzzles-lets-do-it-again/842193/1367 "2019-12-31T07:27:05Z")
**reply to LennieB** : Is the original stocking-giver important as himself or herself? That is to say, would we recognize this person’s name? **No**. Did this person choose the girl to give the stockings to: randomly? **No** by lottery? **No** or by prior acquaintance with her (or her family)? **Yes** Was the girl as the adult donor associated in some important way to the charity? **No. Not that I know of.** Was the ca. 1800–1820 event significant: On a national level? **No** On a NE regional level? **No** On a state level? **No** Only on a local level? **Yes. But not much even there. Yet today two hundred years later we all know about it. History is kind of funny that way.** Is the title of the later book about this topic known to most American adults?\* **No** Do we think of this girl AS a girl, even though she obviously grew up? **Yes** Is she in the book under her real name? **Yes** - Interestingly enough, there is another book about this whole incident written by a very famous American and his wife, people not generally thought of as authors. That book alas is forgotten (though still buyable!). It is pretty amazing to me what this small incident led to in our culture. Those stockings should never have been torn up. But who could have foreseen the big names who would later be involved and that we would care still nearly a century and a half into the future? ---
**Author:** ![Go\_Arachnid\_Laser\_1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/b2d939/32.png) [@Go\_Arachnid\_Laser\_1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Go_Arachnid_Laser_1)\ **Post date:** [December 31, 2019, 7:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lateral-thinking-puzzles-lets-do-it-again/842193/1368 "2019-12-31T07:40:31Z")
Were the socks made out of wool? cotton? ---
**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:** [December 31, 2019, 7:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lateral-thinking-puzzles-lets-do-it-again/842193/1369 "2019-12-31T07:45:12Z")
**reply to Go\_Arachnid\_Laser** : Were the socks made out of wool? **Yes** cotton? **No** ---
**Author:** ![Go\_Arachnid\_Laser\_1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/b2d939/32.png) [@Go\_Arachnid\_Laser\_1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Go_Arachnid_Laser_1)\ **Post date:** [December 31, 2019, 7:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lateral-thinking-puzzles-lets-do-it-again/842193/1370 "2019-12-31T07:45:38Z")
No, wait, scratch that. I think I have it. Mary had a little lamb, fleece as white as snow. ---
**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:** [December 31, 2019, 8:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lateral-thinking-puzzles-lets-do-it-again/842193/1371 "2019-12-31T08:21:08Z")
> [@Go\_Arachnid\_Laser](#): > > No, wait, scratch that. I think I have it. > > Mary had a little lamb, fleece as white as snow. **You got it!** [Story here](https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&source=web&rct=j&url=https://modernfarmer.com/2017/12/true-story-behind-mary-little-lamb/&ved=2ahUKEwid3PLTs9_mAhVFZM0KHWc7D5QQFjADegQIDRAW&usg=AOvVaw0vYkzEHvhZU2DgKjxzVEcT) and [here](https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&source=web&rct=j&url=https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/mary-had-little-lamb-based-true-story-180963330/&ved=2ahUKEwid3PLTs9_mAhVFZM0KHWc7D5QQFjAFegQICRAB&usg=AOvVaw1tEEGJSNo_KWc3IytbgvgA) and [[url=https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&source=web&rct=j&url=http://www.newenglandhistoricalsociety.com/mary-little-lamb-yes-mary-little-lamb/&ved=2ahUKEwid3PLTs9\_mAhVFZM0KHWc7D5QQFjAPegQIAhAB&usg=AOvVaw2zqoOCeB9\_UEhzpJdQBBBi]here](https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&source=web&rct=j&url=http://www.newenglandhistoricalsociety.com/mary-little-lamb-yes-mary-little-lamb/&ved=2ahUKEwid3PLTs9_mAhVFZM0KHWc7D5QQFjAPegQIAhAB&usg=AOvVaw2zqoOCeB9_UEhzpJdQBBBi). Mary’s mother supposedly made the stockings from the little lamb’s wool. They were cut up and sold many years later for lovers of the rhyme. This helped raise funds to restore the meeting house in Sterling, Massachusetts. Mary’s story was believed by automaker Henry Ford so much so that he and his wife [wrote a book](https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&source=web&rct=j&url=https://entertainment.howstuffworks.com/arts/literature/controversy-behind-mary-had-little-lamb.htm&ved=2ahUKEwiHkN6Oud_mAhVGCc0KHYePDWUQFjAJegQIAhAB&usg=AOvVaw0RDt51ued8hXGT8y4IljMH) defending Mary Sawyer’s version of how the poem came to be. How this lamb, nursed to health by Mary, one day in the early 1800s followed Mary to school. How the ensuing uproar was noted by a friend who wrote the poem about the incident. How the poem ended up in a book that became famous and made Mary famous. Thomas Edison recorded the Mary poem on one of the first phonograph [records](https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=PRJpn02crbI). Just think what that pair of stockings would be worth today if whole and preserved! ---
**Author:** ![LennieB](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/8dc957/32.png) [@LennieB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LennieB)\ **Post date:** [December 31, 2019, 8:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lateral-thinking-puzzles-lets-do-it-again/842193/1372 "2019-12-31T08:24:11Z")
Bravo! Bravissimo, GAL! And here: > **[Unitarian inspired popular nursery rhyme](https://www.uuworld.org/articles/popular-nursery-rhyme)** > > In her childhood, Mary Elizabeth Sawyer Tyler had a little lamb. ---
**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:** [December 31, 2019, 4:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lateral-thinking-puzzles-lets-do-it-again/842193/1373 "2019-12-31T16:07:52Z")
I claim the next one, but I need to look it up at home before posting it. Hold a bit for me! ---
**Author:** ![Knowed\_Out](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/knowed_out/32/7380_2.png) [@Knowed\_Out](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Knowed_Out)\ **Post date:** [December 31, 2019, 4:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lateral-thinking-puzzles-lets-do-it-again/842193/1374 "2019-12-31T16:14:17Z")
Mahaloth has a puzzle, but won’t release it till next year. Why? ---
**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:** [December 31, 2019, 4:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lateral-thinking-puzzles-lets-do-it-again/842193/1375 "2019-12-31T16:25:04Z")
> [@Knowed\_Out](#): > > Mahaloth has a puzzle, but won’t release it till next year. Why? Is it bigger than a breadbasket? ---
**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:** [December 31, 2019, 5:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lateral-thinking-puzzles-lets-do-it-again/842193/1376 "2019-12-31T17:00:06Z")
> [@Knowed\_Out](#): > > Mahaloth has a puzzle, but won’t release it till next year. Why? Nope, I found it! Just in time for 2019. \*\*Eli is heading to prison now, but he wouldn’t have been caught if it hadn’t been for what Christy did. What happened? \*\* ---
**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 31, 2019, 7:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lateral-thinking-puzzles-lets-do-it-again/842193/1377 "2019-12-31T19:37:38Z")
Is this a factual case? Are “Eli” and “Christy” their real names (or at least, approximations thereof)? Is the present tense accurate (going to prison now, vs. some time in the past)? Is Eli going to prison in a modern first-world country? Did Eli commit a crime? Did Eli commit a crime against property (theft, vandalism, etc.)? Did Eli commit a crime against a person/persons (murder, rape, assault, etc.)? Was Christy an accomplice to the crime? Was Christy a witness to the crime? Was Christy a victim of the crime? ---
**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:** [December 31, 2019, 8:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lateral-thinking-puzzles-lets-do-it-again/842193/1378 "2019-12-31T20:42:33Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > Is this a factual case? > > YES > > Are “Eli” and “Christy” their real names (or at least, approximations thereof)? > > YES > > Is the present tense accurate (going to prison now, vs. some time in the past)? > > NO(This is in the past) - just how I wrote this > > Is Eli going to prison in a modern first-world country? > > YES > > Did Eli commit a crime? > > YES > > Did Eli commit a crime against property (theft, vandalism, etc.)? > > YES > > Did Eli commit a crime against a person/persons (murder, rape, assault, etc.)? > > NO - not the ones you listed, but any crime impacts people. No bodily harm. > > Was Christy an accomplice to the crime? > > YES and NO > > Was Christy a witness to the crime? > > YES > > Was Christy a victim of the crime? > > YES KK ---
**Author:** ![Hoopy\_Frood](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hoopy_frood/32/8452_2.png) [@Hoopy\_Frood](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hoopy_Frood)\ **Post date:** [December 31, 2019, 9:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lateral-thinking-puzzles-lets-do-it-again/842193/1379 "2019-12-31T21:06:51Z")
Is this referring to Eli Manning, Chris Christie, and the memorabilia scandal from a couple years ago? ---
**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:** [December 31, 2019, 11:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lateral-thinking-puzzles-lets-do-it-again/842193/1380 "2019-12-31T23:03:22Z")
> [@Hoopy\_Frood](#): > > Is this referring to Eli Manning, Chris Christie, and the memorabilia scandal from a couple years ago? No, though kind of a neat coincidence. I’m not totally informed on that incident, but I have vaguely heard of it. This is entirely unrelated. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lateral-thinking-puzzles-lets-do-it-again/842193.md?page=68) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lateral-thinking-puzzles-lets-do-it-again/842193.md?page=70)