# Lateral Thinking Puzzles - third time is best! **URL:** \ **Category:** Thread Games\ **Created:** [July 18, 2023, 1:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lateral-thinking-puzzles-third-time-is-best/987214 "2023-07-18T13:39:29Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 151
**Author:** ![Sigene](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/df788c/32.png) [@Sigene](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sigene)\ **Post date:** [March 27, 2025, 7:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lateral-thinking-puzzles-third-time-is-best/987214/3001 "2025-03-27T19:57:45Z")
was this a popular enough movie that an average person would know about it if not have watched it? Was the movie created before 1980? Did the suggestion involve the crew making the cast happy? startled? ---
**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:** [March 27, 2025, 8:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lateral-thinking-puzzles-third-time-is-best/987214/3002 "2025-03-27T20:07:31Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > Were the cast birds? > Mammals? > Reptiles? > Amphibians? > Fish? > Invertebrates? > > **Invertebrates.** > > Did the suggestion involve food? > Did it involve something the “cast” would regard as a threat? > Did it involve the playing of sounds? > > **NO to all of these suggestions.** > > Were the “cast” depicting normal members of their own species? > Abnormal members? > Some other species? > > **Normal** alslslslsl ---
**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:** [March 27, 2025, 8:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lateral-thinking-puzzles-third-time-is-best/987214/3003 "2025-03-27T20:08:30Z")
> [@Sigene](#): > > was this a popular enough movie that an average person would know about it if not have watched it? > > **No, it’s a bit obscure.** > > Was the movie created before 1980? > > **No, after** > > Did the suggestion involve the crew making the cast happy? > startled? > > **Happy ultimately because it worked. I don’t know their initial reaction, but it worked so they were thrilled.** kkkkkkkk ---
**Author:** ![Rebo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rebo/32/13005_2.png) [@Rebo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rebo)\ **Post date:** [March 27, 2025, 8:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lateral-thinking-puzzles-third-time-is-best/987214/3004 "2025-03-27T20:28:38Z")
Is the animal a mollusc? ---
**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:** [March 27, 2025, 8:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lateral-thinking-puzzles-third-time-is-best/987214/3005 "2025-03-27T20:32:31Z")
Were the animals: Insects? If so: social insects, like ants or bees? Arachnids? Sea creatures? Able to fly? Were they _literally_ limp, as in floppy? “Lifeless” as in dead? Or appearing to be dead, but actually alive? Did the director provide the animals with something that met a physical need, like food or water? Did he _withhold_ something they physically needed, causing them to be more active in trying to obtain it? ---
**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:** [March 27, 2025, 9:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lateral-thinking-puzzles-third-time-is-best/987214/3006 "2025-03-27T21:09:25Z")
> [@Fretful\_Porpentine](#): > > Were the animals: > > Insects? If so: social insects, like ants or bees? > Arachnids? > Sea creatures? - Molluscs? - Arthropods? – arachnids? – insects? – crustaceans? - Cnidaria? – Sea anemones? – corals? – sea pen? - Onychophora? ---
**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:** [March 27, 2025, 9:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lateral-thinking-puzzles-third-time-is-best/987214/3007 "2025-03-27T21:54:07Z")
> [@Rebo](#): > > Is the animal a mollusc? Nope. ---
**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:** [March 27, 2025, 9:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lateral-thinking-puzzles-third-time-is-best/987214/3008 "2025-03-27T21:56:35Z")
> [@Fretful\_Porpentine](#): > > Insects? If so: social insects, like ants or bees? > Arachnids? > Sea creatures? > Able to fly? > > **Insect, not social animals as far as I Know.** > **Not able to fly and not sea creatures.** > > Were they _literally_ limp, as in floppy? “Lifeless” as in dead? Or appearing to be dead, but actually alive? > > **Appeared dead, but were alive.** > > Did the director provide the animals with something that met a physical need, like food or water? Did he _withhold_ something they physically needed, causing them to be more active in trying to obtain it? > > No to both. yepers ---
**Author:** ![SunUp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ea5d25/32.png) [@SunUp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SunUp)\ **Post date:** [March 27, 2025, 10:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lateral-thinking-puzzles-third-time-is-best/987214/3009 "2025-03-27T22:03:57Z")
Was the movie a horror film? Did the directory stimulate the insects’ motion by heat? By electric shock? ---
**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:** [March 27, 2025, 10:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lateral-thinking-puzzles-third-time-is-best/987214/3010 "2025-03-27T22:10:10Z")
> [@SunUp](#): > > Was the movie a horror film? > Did the directory stimulate the insects’ motion by heat? **By electric shock?** It was electric shock! I’ll call that close enough. I’ll post the full story for you: > [@](#): > > When James Cameron was serving as second unit director on _Galaxy of Terror_ (1981), he was asked to film an insert of a severed arm that’s being eaten by maggots. The team made a fake arm, covered it with mealworms, lit the shot, and rolled the camera, but the mealworms didn’t move. “They looked completely inert,” Cameron said. “So I thought, well, what would happen if we put a little electrical current through these worms? Maybe they’d jump around a little more. > So we get all ready to do the shot and two guys I knew who were producers had come up behind me to watch me work because they had heard I was doing some directing. I rolled the camera and when I said ‘Action,’ what they saw was two hundred mealworms all come to life. When I said ‘Cut,’ they stopped moving.his must have been tremendously impressive to two low-budget horror-movie producers. I’m sure they ratcheted up in their mind that if I could get a performance out of worms, I probably could work very well with actors. It was actually that day they offered him Piranha 2, which is his first directing credit even though he only worked 1 week on it. ---
**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:** [March 27, 2025, 11:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lateral-thinking-puzzles-third-time-is-best/987214/3011 "2025-03-27T23:20:31Z")
That must have been impressive to watch. Does the SPCA get upset about treatment of mealworms? ---
**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:** [March 27, 2025, 11:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lateral-thinking-puzzles-third-time-is-best/987214/3012 "2025-03-27T23:25:40Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > Does the SPCA get upset about treatment of mealworms? In 1980 or 1981, probably not on a movie as small as that one. ---
**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:** [March 28, 2025, 9:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lateral-thinking-puzzles-third-time-is-best/987214/3013 "2025-03-28T21:08:53Z")
**In the year 2000, three sisters living in the UK took out an unusual £1 million insurance policy. The policy did not insure them against death, illness, property loss, or liability. They were all healthy and not involved in any risky profession or travel.** **The company who issued the policy eventually canceled it even though no fraud had occurred and no claim(s) were ever made for it.** **What exactly were the women insuring against, and why do you think the company eventually canceled the policy?** ---
**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:** [March 28, 2025, 9:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lateral-thinking-puzzles-third-time-is-best/987214/3014 "2025-03-28T21:16:14Z")
Did the company cancel because the event insured against did not occur when the sisters thought it would. As an example (not my guess) the sisters insured against being raptured by the second coming of Christ on 25/12/2000. When it didn’t happen, the policy was cancelled? That year seems like it is important. Clearly not insurance against the Y2K bug, but was getting the policy in 2000 specifically important? Is the fact that they were sisters a key element? ---
**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:** [March 28, 2025, 9:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lateral-thinking-puzzles-third-time-is-best/987214/3015 "2025-03-28T21:21:44Z")
> [@Saint\_Cad](#): > > Did the company cancel because the event insured against did not occur when the sisters thought it would. As an example (not my guess) the sisters insured against being raptured by the second coming of Christ on 25/12/2000. When it didn’t happen, the policy was cancelled? > > **NO** > > That year seems like it is important. Clearly not insurance against the Y2K bug, but was getting the policy in 2000 specifically important? > > **The year is _not_ important.** > > Is the fact that they were sisters a key element? > > **Not really.** kkkkk ---
**Author:** ![SunUp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ea5d25/32.png) [@SunUp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SunUp)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2025, 9:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lateral-thinking-puzzles-third-time-is-best/987214/3016 "2025-03-28T21:34:10Z")
Were the sisters related by blood or adoption? If not, were the sisters members of a religious order? ---
**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:** [March 28, 2025, 10:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lateral-thinking-puzzles-third-time-is-best/987214/3017 "2025-03-28T22:19:57Z")
Was the insurance against something occurring that most reasonable people would think unlikely? ---
**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:** [March 28, 2025, 10:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lateral-thinking-puzzles-third-time-is-best/987214/3018 "2025-03-28T22:30:13Z")
Did the policy get cancelled because something about what was being insured changed? Did the policy get cancelled because while it was an insurable event when the policy was written, something occurred later to change that? Is the amount of £1,000,000 significant in any way? ---
**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:** [March 28, 2025, 10:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lateral-thinking-puzzles-third-time-is-best/987214/3019 "2025-03-28T22:34:17Z")
> [@SunUp](#): > > Were the sisters related by blood or adoption? If not, were the sisters members of a religious order? Irrelevant, so we’ll say “by blood” as it is the most common. No, not nuns or something religious order related, just sisters as in they have the same parents. > [@Biotop](#): > > Was the insurance against something occurring that most reasonable people would think unlikely? Yes. > [@Saint\_Cad](#): > > Did the policy get cancelled because something about what was being insured changed? No. > [@Saint\_Cad](#): > > Did the policy get cancelled because while it was an insurable event when the policy was written, something occurred later to change that? No. > [@Saint\_Cad](#): > > Is the amount of £1,000,000 significant in any way? No. ---
**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:** [March 28, 2025, 10:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lateral-thinking-puzzles-third-time-is-best/987214/3020 "2025-03-28T22:39:23Z")
Something tickling the back of my mind. Did the policy involve someone getting married? [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lateral-thinking-puzzles-third-time-is-best/987214.md?page=150) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lateral-thinking-puzzles-third-time-is-best/987214.md?page=152)