# 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:** 154
**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:** [April 9, 2025, 11:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lateral-thinking-puzzles-third-time-is-best/987214/3061 "2025-04-09T11:25:20Z")
Is it something with a different name in US as opposed to the rest of the world? ---
**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:** [April 9, 2025, 11:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lateral-thinking-puzzles-third-time-is-best/987214/3062 "2025-04-09T11:45:07Z")
Do they turn stuff in the opposite direction in some places? ---
**Author:** ![Cheesesteak](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cheesesteak/32/3694_2.png) [@Cheesesteak](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cheesesteak)\ **Post date:** [April 9, 2025, 11:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lateral-thinking-puzzles-third-time-is-best/987214/3063 "2025-04-09T11:50:09Z")
Is the puzzlement due to different electrical systems / sockets / switches used in other countries? ---
**Author:** ![Ana\_Byrd](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/5f8ce5/32.png) [@Ana\_Byrd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ana_Byrd)\ **Post date:** [April 9, 2025, 2:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lateral-thinking-puzzles-third-time-is-best/987214/3064 "2025-04-09T14:15:17Z")
Is it something with a different name in US as opposed to the rest of the world? **Yes** Do they turn stuff in the opposite direction in some places? **No** Is the puzzlement due to different electrical systems / sockets / switches used in other countries? **No** ---
**Author:** ![iamatractorboy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/iamatractorboy/32/21261_2.png) [@iamatractorboy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/iamatractorboy)\ **Post date:** [April 9, 2025, 4:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lateral-thinking-puzzles-third-time-is-best/987214/3065 "2025-04-09T16:56:21Z")
Presumably it’s not as simple as being a wrench rather than a spanner? ---
**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:** [April 9, 2025, 5:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lateral-thinking-puzzles-third-time-is-best/987214/3066 "2025-04-09T17:00:02Z")
Does it have anything to do with the metric system? ---
**Author:** ![Ana\_Byrd](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/5f8ce5/32.png) [@Ana\_Byrd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ana_Byrd)\ **Post date:** [April 9, 2025, 5:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lateral-thinking-puzzles-third-time-is-best/987214/3067 "2025-04-09T17:01:59Z")
Presumably it’s not as simple as being a wrench rather than a spanner? **That was actually part of it, but yes, there’s a bit more to it than that.** Does it have anything to do with the metric system? **No** ---
**Author:** ![colinfred](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colinfred/32/21338_2.png) [@colinfred](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/colinfred)\ **Post date:** [April 9, 2025, 5:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lateral-thinking-puzzles-third-time-is-best/987214/3068 "2025-04-09T17:03:22Z")
Monkey wrench, (from a Monkey Island game)? ---
**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:** [April 9, 2025, 5:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lateral-thinking-puzzles-third-time-is-best/987214/3069 "2025-04-09T17:05:54Z")
Hmmm…I was silent because I knew it. I wonder if it was in good sportsmanship to blurt out the answer. ---
**Author:** ![Ana\_Byrd](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/5f8ce5/32.png) [@Ana\_Byrd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ana_Byrd)\ **Post date:** [April 9, 2025, 5:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lateral-thinking-puzzles-third-time-is-best/987214/3070 "2025-04-09T17:06:05Z")
Monkey wrench, (from a Monkey Island game)? **Yes!** Care to go into more detail on what the puzzle solution might have been, and why foreign players found it so confusing? ---
**Author:** ![colinfred](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colinfred/32/21338_2.png) [@colinfred](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/colinfred)\ **Post date:** [April 9, 2025, 5:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lateral-thinking-puzzles-third-time-is-best/987214/3071 "2025-04-09T17:09:02Z")
I haven’t got anything more than using that games logic you might end up using a monkey as a wrench. (To Mahaloth, although I played the Monkey Island games way back, I do not remember this, and I guessed based on the fact “wrench” had already been confirmed, and it’s the kind of thing they’d do. If I had any recollection of it being an actual puzzle I would not have guessed.) Note I live in the UK and Monkey Wrench is a familiar term. ---
**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:** [April 9, 2025, 5:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lateral-thinking-puzzles-third-time-is-best/987214/3072 "2025-04-09T17:14:12Z")
> [@Ana\_Byrd](#): > > Care to go into more detail on what the puzzle solution might have been, and why foreign players found it so confusing? Maybe because it is properly named after the inventor so some countries think monkey monkey and some think Monke wrench? ---
**Author:** ![Ana\_Byrd](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/5f8ce5/32.png) [@Ana\_Byrd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ana_Byrd)\ **Post date:** [April 9, 2025, 5:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lateral-thinking-puzzles-third-time-is-best/987214/3073 "2025-04-09T17:16:48Z")
Close enough. The tool is only called a monkey wrench in certain dialects of English, so in any other language the pun becomes nonsense. ---
**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:** [April 9, 2025, 5:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lateral-thinking-puzzles-third-time-is-best/987214/3074 "2025-04-09T17:20:53Z")
Like in \*Unidentified Flying Oddball" where the astronaut from the future needs a wrench but King Arthur calls a wench over to help him. Or maybe nothing like that. ---
**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:** [April 9, 2025, 5:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lateral-thinking-puzzles-third-time-is-best/987214/3075 "2025-04-09T17:31:20Z")
> [@Saint\_Cad](#): > > it is properly named after the inventor Not correct. Etymology is uncertain, but this is certainly not correct. [See sections](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Monkey_wrench) on etymology and false etymology. Has the question been fully answered? Are there still details left to fathom? I’m not quite getting it. How did the different name make it difficult to solve? Presumably you click on a picture to select the tool, so would it even be named? Also, the term “monkey wrench” is actually well known in UK. ---
**Author:** ![Ana\_Byrd](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/5f8ce5/32.png) [@Ana\_Byrd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ana_Byrd)\ **Post date:** [April 9, 2025, 5:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lateral-thinking-puzzles-third-time-is-best/987214/3076 "2025-04-09T17:34:10Z")
It’s been fully answered - you had to use a monkey as a monkey wrench, which only makes sense (for a certain value of “makes sense”) in languages where it’s actually called a monkey wrench (so only in English). ---
**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:** [April 9, 2025, 6:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lateral-thinking-puzzles-third-time-is-best/987214/3077 "2025-04-09T18:21:50Z")
Okay, I missed the “use a monkey **AS** a wrench” part of the answer. ---
**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:** [April 9, 2025, 8:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lateral-thinking-puzzles-third-time-is-best/987214/3078 "2025-04-09T20:04:37Z")
> [@Peter\_Morris](#): > > Okay, I missed the “use a monkey **AS** a wrench” part of the answer Here is the moment in the game. [![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/IeKNzWU8lgk/hqdefault.jpg "The Secret of Monkey Wrench [Monkey Island 2 LeChuck's Revenge]") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IeKNzWU8lgk) ---
**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:** [April 9, 2025, 8:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lateral-thinking-puzzles-third-time-is-best/987214/3079 "2025-04-09T20:49:34Z")
You solve the problem by buttfucking a chimp? I mean seriously, did none of the makers spot the problem with those graphics? ---
**Author:** ![Thing.Fish](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thing.fish/32/9168_2.png) [@Thing.Fish](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thing.Fish)\ **Post date:** [April 10, 2025, 10:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lateral-thinking-puzzles-third-time-is-best/987214/3080 "2025-04-10T22:04:04Z")
Really, what problem _can’t_ buttfucking a chimp solve?! [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lateral-thinking-puzzles-third-time-is-best/987214.md?page=153) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lateral-thinking-puzzles-third-time-is-best/987214.md?page=155)