# 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:** 190
**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:** [August 13, 2025, 10:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lateral-thinking-puzzles-third-time-is-best/987214/3781 "2025-08-13T22:31:45Z")
It wasn’t a recreation of a real event. I’m not 100% sure what you mean by a recreation of a fictional event, but I’m pretty sure this isn’t that. ---
**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:** [August 13, 2025, 11:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lateral-thinking-puzzles-third-time-is-best/987214/3782 "2025-08-13T23:58:08Z")
What decade was the show broadcast? 50’s, 60’s, 70’s, 80’s, 90’s, later? If it wasn’t a live broadcast, would the extra scene have been needed? ---
**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:** [August 14, 2025, 12:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lateral-thinking-puzzles-third-time-is-best/987214/3783 "2025-08-14T00:04:15Z")
Did the sports event(s) occur in exactly the same way in each broadcast? ---
**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:** [August 14, 2025, 12:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lateral-thinking-puzzles-third-time-is-best/987214/3784 "2025-08-14T00:39:02Z")
> [@Cheesesteak](#): > > What decade was the show broadcast? 50’s, 60’s, 70’s, 80’s, 90’s, later? > > If it wasn’t a live broadcast, would the extra scene have been needed? 1950s; no. ---
**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:** [August 14, 2025, 12:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lateral-thinking-puzzles-third-time-is-best/987214/3785 "2025-08-14T00:39:55Z")
> [@Biotop](#): > > Did the sports event(s) occur in exactly the same way in each broadcast? I believe so. ---
**Author:** ![Sigene](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/df788c/32.png) [@Sigene](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sigene)\ **Post date:** [August 14, 2025, 1:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lateral-thinking-puzzles-third-time-is-best/987214/3786 "2025-08-14T01:32:47Z")
did the two broadcasts occur in the same continent? or even hemisphere? I’m still pushing that the broadcasts repeated because the sport followed a season….summer in June in the northern hemisphere, in November (5 1/2 months later) in the southern hemisphere. Am I on the right track here, or completely off base? Did it involve Aligator wrestling? Or surfing? ---
**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:** [August 14, 2025, 2:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lateral-thinking-puzzles-third-time-is-best/987214/3787 "2025-08-14T02:24:40Z")
> [@Sigene](#): > > did the two broadcasts occur in the same continent? or even hemisphere? > > I’m still pushing that the broadcasts repeated because the sport followed a season….summer in June in the northern hemisphere, in November (5 1/2 months later) in the southern hemisphere. > > Am I on the right track here, or completely off base? > > Did it involve Aligator wrestling? Or surfing? Different continent. Both in the northern hemisphere. No alligators. No surfing. ---
**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:** [August 15, 2025, 1:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lateral-thinking-puzzles-third-time-is-best/987214/3788 "2025-08-15T01:18:07Z")
Were the countries involved… Britain / US (in either order)? Britain / Canada? France / Canada? US / Canada? Spain / Mexico? Some other combo of Spanish-speaking countries? ---
**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:** [August 15, 2025, 1:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lateral-thinking-puzzles-third-time-is-best/987214/3789 "2025-08-15T01:29:29Z")
> [@Fretful\_Porpentine](#): > > Were the countries involved… > > Britain / US (in either order)? Correct. ---
**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:** [August 15, 2025, 1:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lateral-thinking-puzzles-third-time-is-best/987214/3790 "2025-08-15T01:39:09Z")
So here’s my thought. Original broadcast was 48 minutes and 12 minutes for commercials. There was no advertiser the second time so no commercials and they needed to make up those 12 minutes, hence an extra scene. Except for the timings, is that it? ---
**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:** [August 15, 2025, 2:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lateral-thinking-puzzles-third-time-is-best/987214/3791 "2025-08-15T02:04:50Z")
> [@Saint\_Cad](#): > > So here’s my thought. Original broadcast was 48 minutes and 12 minutes for commercials. There was no advertiser the second time so no commercials and they needed to make up those 12 minutes, hence an extra scene. Except for the timings, is that it? The thing is, I don’t think that’s it; for all I know, The Powers That Be would’ve maybe been just as happy with an overall runtime that was ten or twelve minutes shorter than what they wound up with, or with an overall runtime that was ten or twelve minutes longer than what they wound up with, that second time around. I don’t know that filling a specific “Start At Time X and End At Time Y” programming slot was actually a factor. ---
**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:** [August 15, 2025, 9:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lateral-thinking-puzzles-third-time-is-best/987214/3792 "2025-08-15T21:36:38Z")
That said: it’s maybe not a lot of fun to play _“nuh-uh, that’s not what I was thinking,”_ and hypothetically needing to pad out the overall runtime seems like a possible match with the stated idea of needing to add a scene because of the lack of commercials. If the consensus is that it’s a satisfactory answer — because it _could’ve_ fit — then I’m okay with calling it solved, even if what really happened was a different story. ---
**Author:** ![Sigene](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/df788c/32.png) [@Sigene](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sigene)\ **Post date:** [August 15, 2025, 11:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lateral-thinking-puzzles-third-time-is-best/987214/3793 "2025-08-15T23:04:01Z")
if we accept it as solved, can you give us the story? what was the show and the background? ---
**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:** [August 15, 2025, 11:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lateral-thinking-puzzles-third-time-is-best/987214/3794 "2025-08-15T23:19:16Z")
Sure: after REQUIEM FOR A HEAVYWEIGHT aired to acclaim on American television, they tapped some up-and-coming actor named Sean Connery to take his shirt off and play the boxer in an adaptation for the BBC. But, they realized, the scripted version would have Connery doing a costume change right when a commercial would air — only, see, _without_ any commercials, that’d be problematic. And so a scene got written for some up-and-coming actor named Michael Caine, who could talk about stuff that — well, hadn’t really been needed to move the _story_ along, the story could’ve simply moved on to the next Connery scene; it’s just that _Connery_ wouldn’t be ready for the next Connery scene: not on live television, anyway. ---
**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:** [August 16, 2025, 1:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lateral-thinking-puzzles-third-time-is-best/987214/3795 "2025-08-16T01:41:34Z")
Heh heh. Sort of like the Dark Shadows situation. Gotta stall for time. ---
**Author:** ![Sigene](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/df788c/32.png) [@Sigene](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sigene)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2025, 4:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lateral-thinking-puzzles-third-time-is-best/987214/3796 "2025-08-23T16:31:11Z")
Lets see how easy this is. I’m hesitant to do these since mine seem easy and well known. There is a food product that can be used to replace another food product. But. It is primarily made up of the food product it would be intended to replace. ---
**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:** [August 23, 2025, 4:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lateral-thinking-puzzles-third-time-is-best/987214/3797 "2025-08-23T16:41:58Z")
Are eggs involved? Is either/both of the products primarily fat? Are fruits involved? ---
**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:** [August 23, 2025, 4:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lateral-thinking-puzzles-third-time-is-best/987214/3798 "2025-08-23T16:54:21Z")
Do people use the replacement product because… – It’s healthier, or perceived to be healthier? – It’s cheaper? – It’s more readily available? ---
**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:** [August 23, 2025, 4:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lateral-thinking-puzzles-third-time-is-best/987214/3799 "2025-08-23T16:55:25Z")
Is it a butter substitute made from butter plus other fats? ---
**Author:** ![Sigene](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/df788c/32.png) [@Sigene](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sigene)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2025, 5:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lateral-thinking-puzzles-third-time-is-best/987214/3800 "2025-08-23T17:59:55Z")
No eggs fat or fruits directly involved [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lateral-thinking-puzzles-third-time-is-best/987214.md?page=189) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lateral-thinking-puzzles-third-time-is-best/987214.md?page=191)