# 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:** 170
**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:** [June 19, 2025, 12:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lateral-thinking-puzzles-third-time-is-best/987214/3381 "2025-06-19T12:07:22Z")
Had you ever met the person who sent the text? (If yes: would you still have been able to figure it out even if you had not met the person?) Yes, but even if I hadn’t, I would have been able to figure it out. Did the phone number have an area code / country code that was unusual for the place where your mother lives? Was there anything else distinctive about it? No, and nothing distinctive beyond it not being in her contacts. Was it someone she had arranged to meet at church that week? No Do people normally text your mom to tell her when they won’t be at church? Sometimes So the text sender was not in your mom’s contacts. Is it therefore safe to assume your mom was, for some reason, in the sender’s contacts? (No specific scenario in mind where this would be important; just trying to figure out where lateral thinking might come into play.) I don’t know. Might the sender have previously been listed in your mom’s contacts? For example (but not limited to this), your mom might have gotten a new phone and, in the process of transferring over from the old phone, lost some or all of her contacts? No. Did your mother’s birthday coincide with the date of some event or some cancelled event that allowed the caller to know your mother’s birthday? ( for example another birthday party). No. Did the person who texted, upon discovering your mother’s approaching birthday, have to look up the number somewhere else to be able to text her? I don’t know. Did the person know your mother’s text number before finding out about her birthday? I don’t know. Did someone else specifically inform the texter about your mother’s birthday? I don’t know. Would knowing the age of the texter help us at all? Possibly. I don’t know her precise age, but elderly. Was there something in the specific language used in the text that helped you identify the person texting? Yes. Did the church produce the kind of fund-raising calendar that lists local people’s birthdays on it? No. ---
**Author:** ![Sigene](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/df788c/32.png) [@Sigene](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sigene)\ **Post date:** [June 19, 2025, 12:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lateral-thinking-puzzles-third-time-is-best/987214/3382 "2025-06-19T12:10:52Z")
did the text contain a spelling or grammar that is non standard U.S. English that gave away the nationality of the sender…and that gave you the hint that it had to be that one person who would write that way? Example: using the spelling ‘colour’ would indicate a UK person…and there is only one in the congregation from the UK, so it would have to be them. ---
**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:** [June 19, 2025, 12:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lateral-thinking-puzzles-third-time-is-best/987214/3383 "2025-06-19T12:22:23Z")
No, there was nothing unusual about the spelling or grammar. ---
**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:** [June 19, 2025, 12:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lateral-thinking-puzzles-third-time-is-best/987214/3384 "2025-06-19T12:37:42Z")
Have you read something written by this person before? Did they write emails or newsletters for the church? ---
**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:** [June 19, 2025, 12:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lateral-thinking-puzzles-third-time-is-best/987214/3385 "2025-06-19T12:38:13Z")
Not to my knowledge for both. ---
**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:** [June 19, 2025, 1:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lateral-thinking-puzzles-third-time-is-best/987214/3386 "2025-06-19T13:06:03Z")
Any relevant graphics, emojis? ---
**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:** [June 19, 2025, 1:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lateral-thinking-puzzles-third-time-is-best/987214/3387 "2025-06-19T13:08:49Z")
I don’t think there were any, but if there were, they weren’t relevant. ---
**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:** [June 19, 2025, 1:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lateral-thinking-puzzles-third-time-is-best/987214/3388 "2025-06-19T13:19:08Z")
Was there some indication in the text that indicated the age of the sender? Indicated an inexperience with texting? ---
**Author:** ![Sigene](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/df788c/32.png) [@Sigene](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sigene)\ **Post date:** [June 19, 2025, 1:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lateral-thinking-puzzles-third-time-is-best/987214/3389 "2025-06-19T13:20:37Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > Was there something in the specific language used in the text that helped you identify the person texting? > Yes. But > [@](#): > > No, there was nothing unusual about the spelling or grammar. There must be something subtle in the text to where both of these statements are true. Did they use a different foreign language for a word? punctuation? an emoji? ---
**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:** [June 19, 2025, 1:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lateral-thinking-puzzles-third-time-is-best/987214/3390 "2025-06-19T13:20:57Z")
How about with fonts, text size, or caps on? ---
**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:** [June 19, 2025, 1:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lateral-thinking-puzzles-third-time-is-best/987214/3391 "2025-06-19T13:25:00Z")
Outdated terminology? ---
**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:** [June 19, 2025, 1:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lateral-thinking-puzzles-third-time-is-best/987214/3392 "2025-06-19T13:41:24Z")
Was there some indication in the text that indicated the age of the sender? Indirectly. Indicated an inexperience with texting? No. There must be something subtle in the text to where both of these statements are true. No. Did they use a different foreign language for a word? punctuation? an emoji? No to all. How about with fonts, text size, or caps on? Outdated terminology? No to all. ---
**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:** [June 19, 2025, 1:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lateral-thinking-puzzles-third-time-is-best/987214/3393 "2025-06-19T13:43:55Z")
How about in the name of your mother? ---
**Author:** ![dirtball](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dirtball/32/18772_2.png) [@dirtball](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dirtball)\ **Post date:** [June 19, 2025, 1:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lateral-thinking-puzzles-third-time-is-best/987214/3394 "2025-06-19T13:47:07Z")
Does the answer involve a reference to something that happened in the past? ---
**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:** [June 19, 2025, 1:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lateral-thinking-puzzles-third-time-is-best/987214/3395 "2025-06-19T13:49:01Z")
Would your mom have been able to figure out on her own who sent the text if she had been thinking about it in the same way you did? Or is there something relevant that you knew and she did not? (If yes: knowledge about the specific person? About language? About technology?) Is the church setting relevant? Could the same thing have happened with someone your mother knew through work or a non-religious social club? You said that it was someone who worked at the church; would it help to know more about their specific job? ---
**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:** [June 19, 2025, 2:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lateral-thinking-puzzles-third-time-is-best/987214/3396 "2025-06-19T14:02:07Z")
How about in the name of your mother? Not sure I understand the question, but there’s nothing relevant about my mother’s name. Does the answer involve a reference to something that happened in the past? Not really. Would your mom have been able to figure out on her own who sent the text if she had been thinking about it in the same way you did? Or is there something relevant that you knew and she did not? (If yes: knowledge about the specific person? About language? About technology?) My mother had all of the relevant knowledge needed. Is the church setting relevant? Yes. Could the same thing have happened with someone your mother knew through work or a non-religious social club? Possibly. You said that it was someone who worked at the church; would it help to know more about their specific job? Yes. ---
**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:** [June 19, 2025, 2:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lateral-thinking-puzzles-third-time-is-best/987214/3397 "2025-06-19T14:05:16Z")
Was there anything in the text besides the fact they weren’t going to be at church, and happy birthday? Any requests or side comments that gave away their identity? ---
**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:** [June 19, 2025, 2:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lateral-thinking-puzzles-third-time-is-best/987214/3398 "2025-06-19T14:17:52Z")
Yes, there was something else in the text. ---
**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:** [June 19, 2025, 2:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lateral-thinking-puzzles-third-time-is-best/987214/3399 "2025-06-19T14:22:01Z")
Is this person a member of the clergy? Is their job: – Secretarial / administrative? – Related to religious education? – Related to music? – Related to charitable / community activity at the church? – Related to the physical maintenance or beautification of the church or its property? Does their job give them access to (relevant) information that most people wouldn’t have? ---
**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:** [June 19, 2025, 2:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lateral-thinking-puzzles-third-time-is-best/987214/3400 "2025-06-19T14:30:09Z")
Is this person a member of the clergy? No. **Is their job:** **– Secretarial / administrative?** **– Related to religious education?** **– Related to music?** **– Related to charitable / community activity at the church?** **– Related to the physical maintenance or beautification of the church or its property?** Music. Does their job give them access to (relevant) information that most people wouldn’t have? No. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lateral-thinking-puzzles-third-time-is-best/987214.md?page=169) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lateral-thinking-puzzles-third-time-is-best/987214.md?page=171)