# 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:** 223
**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 22, 2026, 9:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lateral-thinking-puzzles-third-time-is-best/987214/4441 "2026-04-22T21:47:54Z")
15 or younger. ---
**Author:** ![Sigene](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/df788c/32.png) [@Sigene](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sigene)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2026, 12:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lateral-thinking-puzzles-third-time-is-best/987214/4442 "2026-04-23T12:42:15Z")
Let’s confirm that this was a teacher asking you questions in a classroom situation…correct? Were these questions related to school subject matter? By not answering the questions were you somehow punished? or did the questioner just move on? DId they ask other (presumably students) the same questions, looking for answers? Did you know the questions in advance? or did you just know you were going to be asked 3 questions? Does the subject matter of the questions (class) matter? ---
**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 23, 2026, 3:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lateral-thinking-puzzles-third-time-is-best/987214/4443 "2026-04-23T15:20:57Z")
> [@Sigene](#): > > Let’s confirm that this was a teacher asking you questions in a classroom situation…correct? Teacher asking questions in a classroom, correct. > [@](#): > > Were these questions related to school subject matter? I believe every question asked was about something taught as school-subject matter. > [@](#): > > By not answering the questions were you somehow punished? or did the questioner just move on? > > DId they ask other (presumably students) the same questions, looking for answers? Other students in the classroom could and did answer; I was in no way punished for not answering. > [@](#): > > Did you know the questions in advance? or did you just know you were going to be asked 3 questions? Didn’t know what questions would be asked; just how many. > [@](#): > > Does the subject matter of the questions (class) matter? All these decades later, I can’t even remember what the remaining two questions (or answers) were. The first one was a grammar question, but I’m not sure that’s relevant. ---
**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:** [April 23, 2026, 4:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lateral-thinking-puzzles-third-time-is-best/987214/4444 "2026-04-23T16:09:58Z")
Were these questions being asked as part of a competitive quiz? If so, was there a reason why you might not have wanted to win? In trying to answer the one question wrong, were you just trying to be funny? ---
**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 23, 2026, 6:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lateral-thinking-puzzles-third-time-is-best/987214/4445 "2026-04-23T18:03:28Z")
> [@dirtball](#): > > Were these questions being asked as part of a competitive quiz? Yes. > [@](#): > > If so, was there a reason why you might not have wanted to win? No, I wanted to win. > [@](#): > > In trying to answer the one question wrong, were you just trying to be funny? In giving what I figured was the wrong answer, I wasn’t trying to be at all funny. ---
**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 23, 2026, 6:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lateral-thinking-puzzles-third-time-is-best/987214/4446 "2026-04-23T18:29:27Z")
When they said you got it right, were they telling the truth? Lying? Mistaken? Joking? ---
**Author:** ![Sigene](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/df788c/32.png) [@Sigene](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sigene)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2026, 7:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lateral-thinking-puzzles-third-time-is-best/987214/4447 "2026-04-23T19:54:44Z")
For this competitive quiz that you were trying to win, was getting the first question wrong part of your strategy to gain an advantage and hopefully better chance of ultimately winning? I’m thinking along the lines of a pitcher walking a strong batter to get another lesser batter and getting a strategically better position for the pitcher’s team to win. Or a baseball fielder intentionally dropping a ball, so as to set up a double play.. Something like that,…you wanted to intentionally foul up the first question to somehow give you a future winning advantage. ---
**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 23, 2026, 8:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lateral-thinking-puzzles-third-time-is-best/987214/4448 "2026-04-23T20:24:18Z")
> [@Peter\_Morris](#): > > When they said you got it right, were they telling the truth? Lying? Mistaken? Joking? As far as I could tell, they were blandly telling the truth. ---
**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 23, 2026, 8:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lateral-thinking-puzzles-third-time-is-best/987214/4449 "2026-04-23T20:28:56Z")
So, you tried to get it wrong, but got it right by accident? And they truthfully told you you were right? Which was a surprise to you? ---
**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 23, 2026, 8:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lateral-thinking-puzzles-third-time-is-best/987214/4450 "2026-04-23T20:28:58Z")
> [@Sigene](#): > > Something like that,…you wanted to intentionally foul up the first question to somehow give you a future winning advantage. I’d really like to say ‘yes’ to this, but I knew that giving the _correct_ answer would’ve been even more of an advantage than giving an incorrect one — so I gave an answer that I figured would be wrong, and was _glad_ that it turned out to be right. ---
**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 23, 2026, 8:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lateral-thinking-puzzles-third-time-is-best/987214/4451 "2026-04-23T20:29:55Z")
> [@The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](#): > > so I gave an answer that I figured would be wrong, and was _glad_ that it turned out to be right. So, it was a lucky guess? ---
**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 23, 2026, 8:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lateral-thinking-puzzles-third-time-is-best/987214/4452 "2026-04-23T20:31:10Z")
> [@Peter\_Morris](#): > > So, you tried to get it wrong, but got it right by accident? > And they truthfully told you you were right? > Which was a surprise to you? I expected to get it wrong. I would’ve been glad to get it wrong. I answered in a way that made it more likely that I’d give a ‘wrong’ answer than the ‘right’ one. By accident, I got it right, and got told I was right, which surprised the heck out of me. ---
**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 23, 2026, 8:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lateral-thinking-puzzles-third-time-is-best/987214/4453 "2026-04-23T20:35:16Z")
> [@Peter\_Morris](#): > > So, it was a lucky guess Yeah, but I feel like that’s kind of selling it short; like I was just saying, I answered in a way that, as far as I can tell, made it _more_ likely that I’d give an incorrect answer instead of the correct one. I wasn’t even hoping to luckily get it right; I was expecting, and would’ve been delighted, to get it wrong. ---
**Author:** ![Sigene](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/df788c/32.png) [@Sigene](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sigene)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2026, 9:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lateral-thinking-puzzles-third-time-is-best/987214/4454 "2026-04-23T21:11:55Z")
Were you trying to get it wrong to make it more challenging to you? Were you pretty confident that you would be able to answer the questions correctly that you wanted to get one wrong just to make it more of interesting to you? Or maybe you wanted to get it wrong out of altruism? By getting it wrong, someone else would benefit from your wrong answer? ---
**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 23, 2026, 9:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lateral-thinking-puzzles-third-time-is-best/987214/4455 "2026-04-23T21:21:46Z")
I was trying my best to win. ---
**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:** [April 23, 2026, 10:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lateral-thinking-puzzles-third-time-is-best/987214/4456 "2026-04-23T22:01:06Z")
Hm, I’m stumped for the moment, but I have been on the other end of an interaction much like this. It was a physics class, and the question was what would happen if a particular equation had a plus sign instead of a minus sign. One student frivolously answered “the Universe would blow up”, and I congratulated him on his right answer (much to his surprise). ---
**Author:** ![Sigene](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/df788c/32.png) [@Sigene](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sigene)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2026, 12:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lateral-thinking-puzzles-third-time-is-best/987214/4457 "2026-04-24T00:56:36Z")
You were trying your best to win by answering the question wrong; even though answering the question correctly would have given you more advantage? This is hard for me to reconcile. Did you know at the time you answered that a correct answer gave you more advantage of winning? or did that recognition come later? By getting it wrong, would you have been able to validate something else like the teacher was wrong on something? I’m thinking the teacher (or someone) told you something you didn’t believe, so you intended to answer it incorrectly to make a logical argument that the teacher was wrong. But since you were right (according to the teacher) your plans were foiled. ---
**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 24, 2026, 1:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lateral-thinking-puzzles-third-time-is-best/987214/4458 "2026-04-24T01:06:38Z")
> [@Sigene](#): > > You were trying your best to win by answering the question wrong; even though answering the question correctly would have given you more advantage? This is hard for me to reconcile. Yup, that’s where the laterality comes in! > [@](#): > > Did you know at the time you answered that a correct answer gave you more advantage of winning? or did that recognition come later? Oh, I knew — at the time — that giving a correct answer would give me a better advantage of winning. > [@](#): > > By getting it wrong, would you have been able to validate something else like the teacher was wrong on something? I’m thinking the teacher (or someone) told you something you didn’t believe, so you intended to answer it incorrectly to make a logical argument that the teacher was wrong. But since you were right (according to the teacher) your plans were foiled. Literally my only goal, in giving that answer, was getting the win. ---
**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 24, 2026, 1:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lateral-thinking-puzzles-third-time-is-best/987214/4459 "2026-04-24T01:14:48Z")
Was this a team game? If yes, would giving the wrong answer have helped one of your teammates? Did your decision not to answer any more questions help your teammates? Were you trying not to appear too smart? Were the subsequent questions connected to the first one? Would knowing the subject matter of the questions help? If yes: spelling? Other language arts? Math? Science? Geography? History? ---
**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 24, 2026, 1:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lateral-thinking-puzzles-third-time-is-best/987214/4460 "2026-04-24T01:16:07Z")
Was this a team competition? Were you competing directly against another person/team? Did you want your answer to impact your competition? [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lateral-thinking-puzzles-third-time-is-best/987214.md?page=222) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lateral-thinking-puzzles-third-time-is-best/987214.md?page=224)