# 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:** 84
**Author:** ![Larry\_Borgia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/larry_borgia/32/156_2.png) [@Larry\_Borgia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Larry_Borgia)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2020, 10:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lateral-thinking-puzzles-lets-do-it-again/842193/1661 "2020-01-18T22:03:10Z")
> [@Aspidistra](#): > > Was the bombing related to the Enigma code? **YES** I’m guessing 8f they didn’t bomb the town the Germans would have gotten a clue we could read their codes. ---
**Author:** ![Calavera](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calavera/32/70_2.png) [@Calavera](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Calavera)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2020, 10:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lateral-thinking-puzzles-lets-do-it-again/842193/1662 "2020-01-18T22:07:02Z")
Did the name of the town have a particular pattern that made cracking easier? ---
**Author:** ![Aspidistra](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aspidistra/32/3894_2.png) [@Aspidistra](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Aspidistra)\ **Post date:** [January 19, 2020, 3:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lateral-thinking-puzzles-lets-do-it-again/842193/1663 "2020-01-19T03:02:08Z")
Did the name of the town have a particular pattern that made cracking easier? **YES** and I declare the puzzle solved. Well done. I believe I either got this out of either Neal Stephenson’s Cryptonomicon, or wandering around the WWII codebreaking museum at Bletchley Park so can’t verify details, but the story is that bombers were sent to the town of … lets say Szczyrk in Poland, knowing that German coded dispatches would mention the name of the town the next day. The knowledge that this very statistically unlikely series of letters were going to appear in the messages was then taking advantage of in efforts to decipher German codes, and aided in the final decryption of the Enigma machine. ---
**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:** [January 19, 2020, 5:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lateral-thinking-puzzles-lets-do-it-again/842193/1664 "2020-01-19T05:48:46Z")
Great lateral thinking there, **Calavera**. And a fun puzzle **Aspidistra**. ---
**Author:** ![Aspidistra](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aspidistra/32/3894_2.png) [@Aspidistra](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Aspidistra)\ **Post date:** [January 19, 2020, 8:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lateral-thinking-puzzles-lets-do-it-again/842193/1665 "2020-01-19T08:15:08Z")
Well, I’m glad you found it enjoyable … I was somewhat worried we were going to lose the track on that one somewhere around the middle - but no need to fret as it turned out! the floor is open… ---
**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:** [January 19, 2020, 2:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lateral-thinking-puzzles-lets-do-it-again/842193/1666 "2020-01-19T14:47:55Z")
OK, I’ve got another one: **Back when my brother was in high school, he used to car-pool to school with some friends. Usually, after picking the last person up they would drive directly to the school. But occasionally, when they were running late, they would instead drive for a while in the _opposite_ direction from the school. One of them drove around in a circle, while another bought a copy of the _Washington Post_, even though he already had one at home. Then they proceeded directly to school, as usual.** Why did they do this? ---
**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:** [January 19, 2020, 3:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lateral-thinking-puzzles-lets-do-it-again/842193/1667 "2020-01-19T15:09:48Z")
Were they pretending that they were charged with bringing the newspaper to the library? ---
**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:** [January 19, 2020, 3:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lateral-thinking-puzzles-lets-do-it-again/842193/1668 "2020-01-19T15:12:10Z")
> [@Go\_Arachnid\_Laser](#): > > Were they pretending that they were charged with bringing the newspaper to the library? **No.** ---
**Author:** ![kk\_fusion](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kk_fusion/32/15276_2.png) [@kk\_fusion](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kk_fusion)\ **Post date:** [January 19, 2020, 3:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lateral-thinking-puzzles-lets-do-it-again/842193/1669 "2020-01-19T15:12:47Z")
If there was a newsstand closer to the school, would they have bought the paper there instead? Were they pretending to be somewhere else? Did the paper or receipt give an indication where or when it was bought? ---
**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:** [January 19, 2020, 3:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lateral-thinking-puzzles-lets-do-it-again/842193/1670 "2020-01-19T15:17:51Z")
If there was a newsstand closer to the school, would they have bought the paper there instead? **No.** Were they pretending to be somewhere else? **No.** Did the paper or receipt give an indication where or when it was bought? **Yes.** ---
**Author:** ![kk\_fusion](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kk_fusion/32/15276_2.png) [@kk\_fusion](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kk_fusion)\ **Post date:** [January 19, 2020, 3:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lateral-thinking-puzzles-lets-do-it-again/842193/1671 "2020-01-19T15:22:19Z")
Did they leave the school district to buy the paper? County? State? Time zone? ---
**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:** [January 19, 2020, 3:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lateral-thinking-puzzles-lets-do-it-again/842193/1672 "2020-01-19T15:24:37Z")
Did the newspaper have some kind of feature that your bro used to justify his tardiness? Did they spot somebody else that was supposed to be at the same school? Did one or more of them have the occasional assignment that had something to do with the paper, and they all skipped the first period to work on it? ---
**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:** [January 19, 2020, 3:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lateral-thinking-puzzles-lets-do-it-again/842193/1673 "2020-01-19T15:37:24Z")
Did they leave the school district to buy the paper? **It was a magnet school drawing students from across the county, so there was no “school district” as such.** County? **Yes, I believe so (but I had to check where the county boundaries were before answering this, so it isn’t particularly relevant to solving the puzzle. The same situation, in principle, could exist within a single county).** State? **No.** Time zone? **No.** ---
**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:** [January 19, 2020, 3:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lateral-thinking-puzzles-lets-do-it-again/842193/1674 "2020-01-19T15:38:46Z")
Did the newspaper have some kind of feature that your bro used to justify his tardiness? **No.** Did they spot somebody else that was supposed to be at the same school? **No.** Did one or more of them have the occasional assignment that had something to do with the paper, and they all skipped the first period to work on it? **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:** [January 19, 2020, 4:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lateral-thinking-puzzles-lets-do-it-again/842193/1675 "2020-01-19T16:08:40Z")
Does the person who sold them the paper make a difference? ---
**Author:** ![Ulf\_the\_Unwashed](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/b4bc9f/32.png) [@Ulf\_the\_Unwashed](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ulf_the_Unwashed)\ **Post date:** [January 19, 2020, 4:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lateral-thinking-puzzles-lets-do-it-again/842193/1676 "2020-01-19T16:25:08Z")
> [@Fretful\_Porpentine](#): > > Did the paper or receipt give an indication where or when it was bought? **Yes.** Was the main or only reason for the detour obtaining this indicator of time and place? If so, would purchasing some other item have worked just as well or did it have to be that newspaper? ---
**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:** [January 19, 2020, 4:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lateral-thinking-puzzles-lets-do-it-again/842193/1677 "2020-01-19T16:39:16Z")
Does the person who sold them the paper make a difference? **No.** Was the main or only reason for the detour obtaining this indicator of time and place? **No, there was a more significant reason for the detour.** If so, would purchasing some other item have worked just as well or did it have to be that newspaper? **Purchasing another item would also have worked.** ---
**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:** [January 19, 2020, 4:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lateral-thinking-puzzles-lets-do-it-again/842193/1678 "2020-01-19T16:48:46Z")
Was the school locked after the bell rang? ---
**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:** [January 19, 2020, 5:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lateral-thinking-puzzles-lets-do-it-again/842193/1679 "2020-01-19T17:00:40Z")
Was the school locked after the bell rang? **I don’t think so, but if it was, it’s not relevant.** ---
**Author:** ![eschrodinger](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eschrodinger/32/122_2.png) [@eschrodinger](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eschrodinger)\ **Post date:** [January 19, 2020, 5:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lateral-thinking-puzzles-lets-do-it-again/842193/1680 "2020-01-19T17:08:06Z")
Did they have to take a ferry so if they were running late, they’d have to wait for the next one? [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lateral-thinking-puzzles-lets-do-it-again/842193.md?page=83) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lateral-thinking-puzzles-lets-do-it-again/842193.md?page=85)