# 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:** 178
**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 26, 2025, 1:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lateral-thinking-puzzles-third-time-is-best/987214/3541 "2025-06-26T13:19:47Z")
- > [@Rebo](#): > > Trying to chase off the raccoons to _stop your dogs barking_ and waking you up? No ---
**Author:** ![Sigene](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/df788c/32.png) [@Sigene](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sigene)\ **Post date:** [June 26, 2025, 1:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lateral-thinking-puzzles-third-time-is-best/987214/3542 "2025-06-26T13:46:09Z")
> [@Biotop](#): > > Any of [these](https://youtu.be/4qT4ypTuGLM?t=85)? was it really on that list read off by bugs bunny? ---
**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 26, 2025, 2:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lateral-thinking-puzzles-third-time-is-best/987214/3543 "2025-06-26T14:06:02Z")
- > [@Sigene](#): > > was it really on that list read off by bugs bunny? Yes ---
**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:** [June 26, 2025, 2:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lateral-thinking-puzzles-third-time-is-best/987214/3544 "2025-06-26T14:08:51Z")
Do we really need to write out the list, “Was it a …?” for all of them? ---
**Author:** ![Sigene](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/df788c/32.png) [@Sigene](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sigene)\ **Post date:** [June 26, 2025, 2:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lateral-thinking-puzzles-third-time-is-best/987214/3545 "2025-06-26T14:08:51Z")
does it involve bears? or boars? ---
**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 26, 2025, 2:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lateral-thinking-puzzles-third-time-is-best/987214/3546 "2025-06-26T14:11:44Z")
- > [@Sigene](#): > > does it involve bears? > > or boars? bears ---
**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 26, 2025, 2:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lateral-thinking-puzzles-third-time-is-best/987214/3547 "2025-06-26T14:36:56Z")
You said much earlier that this would work on certain days of the week, but not others. Are those your garbage pickup days? Is the idea that the fish will scare off the bears and stop them from rooting in the garbage? ---
**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 26, 2025, 3:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lateral-thinking-puzzles-third-time-is-best/987214/3548 "2025-06-26T15:19:00Z")
- > [@Fretful\_Porpentine](#): > > You said much earlier that this would work on certain days of the week, but not others. Are those your garbage pickup days? Is the idea that the fish will scare off the bears and stop them from rooting in the garbage? You got it! One of my household responsibilities is to take out the garbage can on Tuesday mornings. We live in a “bear wise” community, so trash cannot be placed outside until the morning of pick-up, but must be out before 7am. From mid-November thru early March, I can get up, place the trash and just go back to bed as there is little bear activity then. But this time of year I must stay awake, drink coffee, and watch the can because sometimes the pick-up is not until late morning and occasionally a bear gets there first. Then it involves picking up trash dragged through the poison-ivy infested steep woodlands around our home if I am not paying attention. Usually I can just yell, however, and the bear runs off. But some mornings I wish I could just go back to bed so I googled for a solution and found a video showing a trash can with attached Billy bass. The bear came to the can, Billy sang and flopped, and the startled bear ran away. Might work, but I bet the bear would eventually wise up. ---
**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:** [June 26, 2025, 6:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lateral-thinking-puzzles-third-time-is-best/987214/3549 "2025-06-26T18:07:03Z")
I think this one will be easy for some people. I saw a 4045 and was disappointed Likewise seeing a 4053 and two 4012s But when I saw three 4490s I got very happy. What am I doing? ---
**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:** [June 26, 2025, 6:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lateral-thinking-puzzles-third-time-is-best/987214/3550 "2025-06-26T18:10:19Z")
So in the first case you saw only one number, but in each of the latter two cases you saw three numbers? ---
**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:** [June 26, 2025, 6:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lateral-thinking-puzzles-third-time-is-best/987214/3551 "2025-06-26T18:11:13Z")
Are you playing a game of some sort? Are you trying to build something? Or repair something? Was your happiness due to an anticipated financial benefit? Did these numbers appear on a computer screen? When you say you “saw three 4490s”, does that mean you literally saw the number 4490 repeated three times? ---
**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 26, 2025, 6:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lateral-thinking-puzzles-third-time-is-best/987214/3552 "2025-06-26T18:13:48Z")
Is a “4045” a “four thousand, forty-five”? Is it a 4, a 0, a 4, and another 5? Is it a forty, and a forty-five? (if the answer to the corresponding question is different for the other numbers, then same question). Is every number (within some appropriate range) also a thing? That is, is there a 4046, and a 4047, and so on, as well? ---
**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 26, 2025, 6:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lateral-thinking-puzzles-third-time-is-best/987214/3553 "2025-06-26T18:14:31Z")
Are these model numbers for some type of product? ---
**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:** [June 26, 2025, 7:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lateral-thinking-puzzles-third-time-is-best/987214/3554 "2025-06-26T19:16:53Z")
> [@Thing.Fish](#): > > So in the first case you saw only one number, but in each of the latter two cases you saw three numbers? Nope > [@Thing.Fish](#): > > Are you playing a game of some sort? > Are you trying to build something? Or repair something? > Was your happiness due to an anticipated financial benefit? > Did these numbers appear on a computer screen? > When you say you “saw three 4490s”, does that mean you literally saw the number 4490 repeated three times? Yes No Yes No No > [@Chronos](#): > > Is a “4045” a “four thousand, forty-five”? Is it a 4, a 0, a 4, and another 5? Is it a forty, and a forty-five? Four, Zero, Four, Five Similar for the others > [@Chronos](#): > > Is every number (within some appropriate range) also a thing? That is, is there a 4046, and a 4047, and so on, as well? Nope > [@dirtball](#): > > Are these model numbers for some type of product? Technically no. But close ---
**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 26, 2025, 7:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lateral-thinking-puzzles-third-time-is-best/987214/3555 "2025-06-26T19:23:23Z")
Does the order of the numbers matter? For instance, would 4405 be different from 4045? ---
**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:** [June 26, 2025, 7:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lateral-thinking-puzzles-third-time-is-best/987214/3556 "2025-06-26T19:30:33Z")
Very different ---
**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 26, 2025, 7:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lateral-thinking-puzzles-third-time-is-best/987214/3557 "2025-06-26T19:34:20Z")
I am pretty sure I know this one. ---
**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:** [June 26, 2025, 7:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lateral-thinking-puzzles-third-time-is-best/987214/3558 "2025-06-26T19:36:21Z")
Like I said, there would be a group of dopers that would see it and be, “Got 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:** [June 26, 2025, 7:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lateral-thinking-puzzles-third-time-is-best/987214/3559 "2025-06-26T19:38:33Z")
Do the numbers identify something? If so, is it a product? A service? Are the numbers assigned more-or-less arbitrarily? ---
**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:** [June 26, 2025, 7:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lateral-thinking-puzzles-third-time-is-best/987214/3560 "2025-06-26T19:38:57Z")
Yes Product I believe so. As a reminder to all, the ultimate question is what am I doing? [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lateral-thinking-puzzles-third-time-is-best/987214.md?page=177) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lateral-thinking-puzzles-third-time-is-best/987214.md?page=179)