Lateral Thinking Puzzles. Let's do it again!

[Dr.Strangelove]

The puzzle:

@Dr. Strangelove

**The bird took flight not long after dawn. Outside of the darkness, it twinkled in the morning light.

What exactly was twinkling?**

And the full answer:

@Folly

retroreflective tape?
Retroreflective tape specifically on road signs? PRECISELY!

@Max_S

My guess based on everything presented so far is that pavement markers reflected sunlight into the eyes of a plane’s passengers. “Outside of the darkness” refers to the fact that sunlight is not reflected back to the passengers where the plane’s shadow covers pavement markers. AND THIS TOO

It was probably largely road signs I was seeing, although pavement markers would have twinkled as well. As Max S. notes, when the plane’s shadow covers the markers, they stay dark. But just outside the shadow, they are brilliant–because the sun is directly behind the plane, and the retroreflective devices brought the sunlight directly back into my eyes.

It had to be reasonably early in the morning to see the effect–much later and I couldn’t have seen my shadow, plus the angle of the signs would have been too steep (since they’re designed for angles near ground level).

Good job, everyone! This was a tough once.

[Mahaloth]

I’ll post mine tonight!

[Chronos]

You get a similar effect from naturally-occurring dew.

[Dr.Strangelove]

@Chronos

You get a similar effect from naturally-occurring dew.

And with a solid German name for the effect: heiligenschein. Dew is so small that the increased brightness looks continuous, as compared to the point lights that I saw, but the basic effect is the same.

[Mahaloth]

OK, I’m sure this is googleable, so please don’t google it and come on in and snipe the answer at us.

Mindy and her friends have really been costing Elena and her friends an arm and a leg lately. Why is that?

[Peter_Morris]

Have the limbs been amputated? Or otherwise harmed?

Is Mindy an organism that spreads or causes disease?

Is Mindy a fly? Specifically a mosquito? Flea? Bacterium? Virus?

[Biotop]

Hangman team competition?

[eschrodinger]

Are Mindy and Elena human beings?
Do they both exist in the world, as opposed to being, e.g., fictional characters?
Does “an arm and a leg” refer to literal limbs? Or to money?

[Mahaloth]

@Peter_Morris

Have the limbs been amputated? Or otherwise harmed? NO

Is Mindy an organism that spreads or causes disease? YES

Is Mindy a fly? Specifically a mosquito? Flea? Bacterium? Virus? NO

@Biotop

Hangman team competition? NO

@eschrodinger

Are Mindy and Elena human beings? NO
Do they both exist in the world, as opposed to being, e.g., fictional characters? YES(real)
Does “an arm and a leg” refer to literal limbs? NO Or to money? YES

**Mindy and her friends have really been costing Elena and her friends an arm and a leg lately. Why is that?
**

[Peter_Morris]

Is Mindy a rat? A mammal? A bird? An insect/spider/ other arthropod?

Is Mindy or Mindi part of the organism’s scientific name?

Is it MND - Motor Neuron Disease?

Does Mindy spread disease to humans? Other animals? Plants?

Is “Elena” an initialism? Is it really L.N.A? Does the A stand for “Association”?

[Mahaloth]

@Peter_Morris

Is Mindy a rat? NO

A mammal? NO

A bird? YES

An insect/spider/ other arthropod? NO

Is Mindy or Mindi part of the organism’s scientific name? NO

Is it MND - Motor Neuron Disease? NO

Does Mindy spread disease to humans? POSSIBLY Other animals? POSSIBLY Plants? NO

Is “Elena” an initialism? Is it really L.N.A? Does the A stand for “Association”? NO TO ALL

Mindy and her friends have really been costing Elena and her friends an arm and a leg lately. Why is that?

[Max_S]

@Mahaloth

Mindy and her friends have really been costing Elena and her friends an arm and a leg lately. Why is that?

Okay, so Mindy [a bird] and her friends have really been costing Elena and her friends [money] lately. Why is that?

Are Mindy and Elena competing? Are the friends people? Are the friends betting money on the competition? Are we talking about chicken fights here?

~Max

[Mahaloth]

@Max_S

Are Mindy and Elena competing? NO

Are the friends people? YES AND NO*

Are the friends betting money on the competition? NO

Are we talking about chicken fights here? NO

~Max

Are Mindy’s friends people? NO

Are Elena’s friends people? YES

[Max_S]

@Mahaloth

Are Mindy’s friends people? NO

Are Elena’s friends people? YES

Is Elena a person?

Are Mindy’s friends also birds?

Are Mindy and her friends bothering Elena?

Are Mindy and her friends causing property damage?

~Max

[Mahaloth]

@Max_S

Is Elena a person? YES

Are Mindy’s friends also birds? YES

Are Mindy and her friends bothering Elena? NO

Are Mindy and her friends causing property damage? NO

~Max

**Mindy and her friends have really been costing Elena and her friends an arm and a leg lately. Why is that?
**

[Folly]

Are Mindy and all her friends the same type of bird?
Are they a flightless bird?
Are the birds doing something that is costing Elena money?
Are they failing to do something that is costing Elena money?
Is Elena and/or her friends trying to do something about it?
Are Elene and/or her friends taking care of some or all of the birds?
Are the birds wild?
pets?
Are the birds being kept as a business?

[Mahaloth]

@Folly

Are Mindy and all her friends the same type of bird? YES
Are they a flightless bird? NO
Are the birds doing something that is costing Elena money? YES
Are they failing to do something that is costing Elena money? NO
Is Elena and/or her friends trying to do something about it? NO
Are Elena and/or her friends taking care of some or all of the birds? NO
Are the birds wild? YES
pets? NO
Are the birds being kept as a business? NO

**Mindy and her friends have really been costing Elena and her friends an arm and a leg lately. Why is that?
**

[panache45]

Would it help if we knew what kind of bird Mindy and her friends are?
Would it help if we knew the location of Mindy and her friends?
Would it help if we knew the location of Elena and her friends?
Are Elena and her friends engaged in an activity made more difficult by Mindy and her friends?
Are there other people involved, besides Elena and her friends?

[kk_fusion]

Was Mindy ever examined by veterinarians or research scientists?
Is “Mindy” known by that name to other people besides Elena and her friends?
Is Elena the leader of her peer group?

[Aspidistra]

Are Mindy and her friends costing money by something they are eating?
…somewhere they are living?
…some effect they are having on the environment?
…some effect they are having on humans?