# 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:** 23
**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:** [August 12, 2023, 3:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lateral-thinking-puzzles-third-time-is-best/987214/441 "2023-08-12T03:32:00Z")
Yes. Gold, in fact. ---
**Author:** ![Jegpeg](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/f475e1/32.png) [@Jegpeg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jegpeg)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2023, 9:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lateral-thinking-puzzles-third-time-is-best/987214/442 "2023-08-12T09:52:21Z")
Was the boat a sailing boat? Was the gold medal awarded for winning the race or something else? (for example giving up theiiir chance of winning to rescue someone in distress thinking of [Lawence Lemieux](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lawrence_Lemieux)) though I know he is not the right answer. ---
**Author:** ![iamatractorboy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/iamatractorboy/32/21261_2.png) [@iamatractorboy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/iamatractorboy)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2023, 10:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lateral-thinking-puzzles-third-time-is-best/987214/443 "2023-08-12T10:31:26Z")
Was it a cox in the four or eight? Basically grabbed someone from the crowd to replace their cox who had been taken ill? So got someone small and shouty to do the job? ---
**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:** [August 12, 2023, 12:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lateral-thinking-puzzles-third-time-is-best/987214/444 "2023-08-12T12:14:33Z")
Two-man boat race at the 1900 Olympics. They got rid of their coxswain for being too heavy and for the gold medal match, they found some kid in Paris to do the job. There is a picture of the kid with his medal, but no one knows who he is. Researchers have tried to find out who he was, but it appears the youngest medal winner in Olympic history is unknown. Story you can read: [https://www.si.com/olympics/2021/08/05/youngest-medalists-olympics-1900-mystery-french-coxwain](https://www.si.com/olympics/2021/08/05/youngest-medalists-olympics-1900-mystery-french-coxwain) Picture of the unknown medal winner: [![](https://s.wsj.net/public/resources/images/BN-PH945_0809ol_M_20160809131059.jpg) ](https://s.wsj.net/public/resources/images/BN-PH945_0809ol_M_20160809131059.jpg) ---
**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 12, 2023, 12:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lateral-thinking-puzzles-third-time-is-best/987214/445 "2023-08-12T12:20:15Z")
> [@Mahaloth](#): > > > [@Peter\_Morris](#): > > > > Was this a British event? > > **NO** I’d heard the story, but misremembered the details. I thought it happened in the Oxford vs Cambridge Boat Race. ---
**Author:** ![iamatractorboy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/iamatractorboy/32/21261_2.png) [@iamatractorboy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/iamatractorboy)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2023, 12:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lateral-thinking-puzzles-third-time-is-best/987214/446 "2023-08-12T12:24:35Z")
That is hilarious. Why has no one else thought to use a little kid! ---
**Author:** ![kayaker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kayaker/32/441_2.png) [@kayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayaker)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2023, 12:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lateral-thinking-puzzles-third-time-is-best/987214/447 "2023-08-12T12:25:58Z")
> [@iamatractorboy](#): > > Why has no one else thought to use a little kid! Maybe because they shriek and then you’d have to shoot them in the head? ---
**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:** [August 12, 2023, 1:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lateral-thinking-puzzles-third-time-is-best/987214/448 "2023-08-12T13:32:28Z")
> [@iamatractorboy](#): > > That is hilarious. Why has no one else thought to use a little kid! They had. The article says: " Upon noticing that the French boats had been stashing children in their cox seats to reduce their overall weight loads, the Dutch rowers ditched the 60-kilogram Brockmann in favor of a 33-kilogram boy whom, as Brandt [later described in writing](http://isoh.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/04/57.pdf), they simply “found” on site." ---
**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:** [August 12, 2023, 1:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lateral-thinking-puzzles-third-time-is-best/987214/449 "2023-08-12T13:36:26Z")
That kid sure had a story to tell for the rest of his life. That’s even better than the guy Pete Townshend pulled out of the audience to play drums at a Who concert when Keith Moon passed out on horse tranquilizers. [He had a story too](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scot_Halpin), but he didn’t get a medal. ---
**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 12, 2023, 1:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lateral-thinking-puzzles-third-time-is-best/987214/450 "2023-08-12T13:37:48Z")
And of course, nowadays, the Olympics have instituted rules about minimum ages… And there are frequent scandals about some countries (allegedly) falsifying records about athletes’ ages to flout those rules. ---
**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:** [August 12, 2023, 1:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lateral-thinking-puzzles-third-time-is-best/987214/451 "2023-08-12T13:48:52Z")
I wonder if the kid knew it was the Olympics. The article said that many of the athletes genuinely did not realize they were in the Olympics that year as it was part of the World’s Fair that year. ---
**Author:** ![iamatractorboy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/iamatractorboy/32/21261_2.png) [@iamatractorboy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/iamatractorboy)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2023, 1:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lateral-thinking-puzzles-third-time-is-best/987214/452 "2023-08-12T13:59:12Z")
Ah right, how funny! ---
**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:** [August 12, 2023, 4:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lateral-thinking-puzzles-third-time-is-best/987214/453 "2023-08-12T16:37:56Z")
**A father and daughter discussed a book they had recently read. When they discussed the very opening of the book, the father thought the setting was a cloudy, overcast day. The daughter thought it was a clear, sunny day. Why did they think so differently?** ---
**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 12, 2023, 4:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lateral-thinking-puzzles-third-time-is-best/987214/454 "2023-08-12T16:44:02Z")
Did they actually read two different books, with the same or similar title? Did they read different translations of the same book? Did one of them misunderstand the meaning of a particular word? ---
**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:** [August 12, 2023, 4:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lateral-thinking-puzzles-third-time-is-best/987214/455 "2023-08-12T16:48:18Z")
> [@Peter\_Morris](#): > > Did they actually read two different books, with the same or similar title? > > **No, I was going to make it clear. They read the same book.** > > Did they read different translations of the same book? > > **NO.** > > Did one of them misunderstand the meaning of a particular word? > > **Word or phrase, yes.** Yeppers. ---
**Author:** ![Jegpeg](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/f475e1/32.png) [@Jegpeg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jegpeg)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2023, 4:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lateral-thinking-puzzles-third-time-is-best/987214/456 "2023-08-12T16:56:14Z")
Was the daughter adult? a teenager? under 12? Under 7? Was the book written in English? ---
**Author:** ![pjd](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pjd/32/3009_2.png) [@pjd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pjd)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2023, 5:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lateral-thinking-puzzles-third-time-is-best/987214/457 "2023-08-12T17:03:18Z")
Were they in different locations such that, eg, “a summer’s day” would mean different things ? ---
**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:** [August 12, 2023, 5:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lateral-thinking-puzzles-third-time-is-best/987214/458 "2023-08-12T17:06:24Z")
> [@Jegpeg](#): > > Was the daughter adult? a teenager? under 12? Under 7? > > **Teenager.** > > Was the book written in English? > > **YES** > [@pjd](#): > > Were they in different locations such that, eg, “a summer’s day” would > mean different things ? **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:** [August 12, 2023, 5:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lateral-thinking-puzzles-third-time-is-best/987214/459 "2023-08-12T17:15:24Z")
Would the difference in their ages have led to different interpretations of a word or phrase? ---
**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:** [August 12, 2023, 5:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lateral-thinking-puzzles-third-time-is-best/987214/460 "2023-08-12T17:25:21Z")
> [@dirtball](#): > > Would the difference in their ages have led to different interpretations of a word or phrase?. **YES** [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lateral-thinking-puzzles-third-time-is-best/987214.md?page=22) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lateral-thinking-puzzles-third-time-is-best/987214.md?page=24)