# 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:** 210
**Author:** ![Sigene](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/df788c/32.png) [@Sigene](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sigene)\ **Post date:** [December 19, 2025, 9:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lateral-thinking-puzzles-third-time-is-best/987214/4181 "2025-12-19T21:35:25Z")
in WW2 there was rationing, including on soap. The tramp was doing his part to ration soap, by not using it. They were honoring his patriotic behavior of remaining dirty and not wasting soap. ---
**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:** [December 19, 2025, 10:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lateral-thinking-puzzles-third-time-is-best/987214/4182 "2025-12-19T22:54:17Z")
You got it!!! During WWII many of the common rationings made it one way or another into Nancy. The comic strip promoted these measures, usually in a patriotic way. Signs saying “Save Soap!” Or “Using less soap will help the War Effort” and “Soap savers are Patriotic” are here posted on a wall in the street. The kids see the signs, notice our filthy tramp, and are moved to salute his patriotism — much to the confusion of the tramp. ---
**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:** [December 31, 2025, 6:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lateral-thinking-puzzles-third-time-is-best/987214/4183 "2025-12-31T18:11:05Z")
**I just dug my old NES and one of its games out of storage and hooked it up to my TV. The console, cartridge, and controller were all still in good condition, but the game was no longer playable. Why not?** ---
**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:** [December 31, 2025, 6:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lateral-thinking-puzzles-third-time-is-best/987214/4184 "2025-12-31T18:14:14Z")
When you say dug, do you mean you had to dig(like with a shovel) to get to it? Is there an issue related to connecting it to a modern television? Did the game have a requirement that is no longer available in 2025? ---
**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:** [December 31, 2025, 6:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lateral-thinking-puzzles-third-time-is-best/987214/4185 "2025-12-31T18:16:24Z")
When you say dug, do you mean you had to dig(like with a shovel) to get to it? **No** Is there an issue related to connecting it to a modern television? **The issue did have to do with my modern TV** Did the game have a requirement that is no longer available in 2025? **Kind of? In a 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:** [December 31, 2025, 6:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lateral-thinking-puzzles-third-time-is-best/987214/4186 "2025-12-31T18:25:06Z")
> [@Ana\_Byrd](#): > > Is there an issue related to connecting it to a modern television? **The issue did have to do with my modern TV** It is simply that your television does not have the connection ports needed? Or equally that the NES does not have HDMI output? ---
**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:** [December 31, 2025, 6:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lateral-thinking-puzzles-third-time-is-best/987214/4187 "2025-12-31T18:32:38Z")
Did the game have any peripheral devices that came with it (light gun, glove, floor pad, disk-stacking robot, etc.)? Did the problem relate to video display of the game? Did the problem relate to the audio of the game? Come to think of it, a possible guess: The game was Duck Hunt, or something else that used the light gun, and something about the way the modern TV displayed the image prevented the gun from properly seeing its target ---
**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:** [December 31, 2025, 6:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lateral-thinking-puzzles-third-time-is-best/987214/4188 "2025-12-31T18:48:02Z")
Chronos got it. It’s a light gun game, and light gun sensors don’t work with modern TVs. ---
**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:** [February 18, 2026, 1:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lateral-thinking-puzzles-third-time-is-best/987214/4189 "2026-02-18T01:24:16Z")
I was just using a computer system, and I typed in a command. The command didn’t work. However, it successfully accomplished my purpose for typing the command. What happened? ---
**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:** [February 18, 2026, 1:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lateral-thinking-puzzles-third-time-is-best/987214/4190 "2026-02-18T01:29:31Z")
Oh, and callouts for @Ana_Byrd @Mahaloth @Biotop @Sigene @Nauplius @dirtball @Peter_Morris @colinfred @Cheesesteak @thorny_locust @The_Other_Waldo_Pepper , so folks notice there’s a new question. ---
**Author:** ![thorny\_locust](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thorny_locust/32/431_2.png) [@thorny\_locust](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thorny_locust)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2026, 1:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lateral-thinking-puzzles-third-time-is-best/987214/4191 "2026-02-18T01:32:08Z")
Were you testing whether the keyboard, or some key(s) on it, was working? ---
**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:** [February 18, 2026, 1:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lateral-thinking-puzzles-third-time-is-best/987214/4192 "2026-02-18T01:32:22Z")
I was not. ---
**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:** [February 18, 2026, 1:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lateral-thinking-puzzles-third-time-is-best/987214/4193 "2026-02-18T01:44:57Z")
Did you enter this command at a DOS prompt or some equivalent thereof? Were you demonstrating something for another person? ---
**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:** [February 18, 2026, 1:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lateral-thinking-puzzles-third-time-is-best/987214/4194 "2026-02-18T01:46:08Z")
> [@dirtball](#): > > Did you enter this command at a DOS prompt or some equivalent thereof? It was not a DOS prompt. I’m not sure what you consider “some equivalent thereof”. > [@dirtball](#): > > Were you demonstrating something for another person? No. ---
**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:** [February 18, 2026, 1:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lateral-thinking-puzzles-third-time-is-best/987214/4195 "2026-02-18T01:49:09Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > It was not a DOS prompt. I’m not sure what you consider “some equivalent thereof”. I’m thinking of whatever the equivalent would be on an old text-based non-DOS system. Not sure if there’s an umbrella term that would cover all the possibilities, although I might guess it would just be “command prompt.” ---
**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:** [February 18, 2026, 1:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lateral-thinking-puzzles-third-time-is-best/987214/4196 "2026-02-18T01:50:10Z")
Were you trying to lock out unauthorized users, and a typing error made the system lock you — and, as it happens, everyone else — out until someone puts in the right password or whatever? ---
**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:** [February 18, 2026, 1:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lateral-thinking-puzzles-third-time-is-best/987214/4197 "2026-02-18T01:50:41Z")
I think the general term would be “shell”. Unix-based systems have a few different options for them. But no, it wasn’t a shell. > [@The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](#): > > Were you trying to lock out unauthorized users, and a typing error made the system lock you — and, as it happens, everyone else — out until someone puts in the right password or whatever? No. ---
**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:** [February 18, 2026, 1:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lateral-thinking-puzzles-third-time-is-best/987214/4198 "2026-02-18T01:52:01Z")
Was this computer from the: 80s 90s 00s 10s 20s ---
**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:** [February 18, 2026, 1:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lateral-thinking-puzzles-third-time-is-best/987214/4199 "2026-02-18T01:53:11Z")
Ambiguous question. I could say either “00s” or “10s”. ---
**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:** [February 18, 2026, 1:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lateral-thinking-puzzles-third-time-is-best/987214/4200 "2026-02-18T01:54:03Z")
Do you _expect_ the command to work? [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lateral-thinking-puzzles-third-time-is-best/987214.md?page=209) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lateral-thinking-puzzles-third-time-is-best/987214.md?page=211)