# 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:** 57
**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:** [September 14, 2023, 3:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lateral-thinking-puzzles-third-time-is-best/987214/1121 "2023-09-14T15:31:01Z")
Did the objects together form a picture of something not related to the individual objects themselves? ---
**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:** [September 14, 2023, 3:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lateral-thinking-puzzles-third-time-is-best/987214/1122 "2023-09-14T15:38:22Z")
> [@Rebo](#): > > Is this a well-known artist? **Yes** > Was he a surrealist? **Not in the sense you probably mean** > [@Biotop](#): > > Did the objects together form a picture of something not related to the individual objects themselves? **No** By the way, thank you Biotop, for the lateral inspiration. ---
**Author:** ![Rhodes](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rhodes/32/273_2.png) [@Rhodes](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rhodes)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2023, 3:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lateral-thinking-puzzles-third-time-is-best/987214/1123 "2023-09-14T15:55:02Z")
So it was an entertainment presentation with the items illustrated. And the items are of unknown material. Does not seem to be in front of a live audience, right? Is this on a website? Is it in a magazine? Are people puzzled/frustrated/angry because they felt their privacy was violated? Because the image is gross? Because the image is blasphemous? Because the overall image forms an offensive shape? like a swastika or a phallus? ---
**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:** [September 14, 2023, 3:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lateral-thinking-puzzles-third-time-is-best/987214/1124 "2023-09-14T15:56:44Z")
> [@Rhodes](#): > > So it was an entertainment presentation with the items illustrated. And the items are of unknown material. Does not seem to be in front of a live audience, right? **Correct** > > Is this on a website? > Is it in a magazine? **Newspaper** > > Are people puzzled/frustrated/angry because they felt their privacy was violated? **No** > Because the image is gross? **No** > Because the image is blasphemous? **No** > Because the overall image forms an offensive shape? like a swastika or a phallus? **No** Post not empty ---
**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:** [September 14, 2023, 3:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lateral-thinking-puzzles-third-time-is-best/987214/1125 "2023-09-14T15:59:06Z")
Is it part of one of those puzzle pages – the illustration is some sort of puzzle, and people are angry and frustrated because either the information needed to solve the puzzle doesn’t seem to be there, or because the solution seems to be unfair in some way? ---
**Author:** ![Rhodes](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rhodes/32/273_2.png) [@Rhodes](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rhodes)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2023, 4:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lateral-thinking-puzzles-third-time-is-best/987214/1126 "2023-09-14T16:00:26Z")
Is it a comic strip? ---
**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:** [September 14, 2023, 4:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lateral-thinking-puzzles-third-time-is-best/987214/1127 "2023-09-14T16:04:51Z")
> [@thorny\_locust](#): > > Is it part of one of those puzzle pages – the illustration is some sort of puzzle, and people are angry and frustrated because either the information needed to solve the puzzle doesn’t seem to be there, or because the solution seems to be unfair in some way? **This is close, but it wasn’t meant to be a puzzle at all** > [@Rhodes](#): > > Is it a comic strip? **Yes** You basically have all the parts now - anyone want to tie it all together? ---
**Author:** ![Rhodes](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rhodes/32/273_2.png) [@Rhodes](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rhodes)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2023, 4:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lateral-thinking-puzzles-third-time-is-best/987214/1128 "2023-09-14T16:13:50Z")
Did the image advocate a controversial political position? Was this the final installment of the comic strip? If so, because the publishers canceled the strip? Or because the author quit/retired? Is the frustration/anger because there are plotlines that will never be resolved? ---
**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:** [September 14, 2023, 4:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lateral-thinking-puzzles-third-time-is-best/987214/1129 "2023-09-14T16:22:17Z")
**None of those.** And think of what thread we’re in. ---
**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:** [September 14, 2023, 5:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lateral-thinking-puzzles-third-time-is-best/987214/1130 "2023-09-14T17:10:43Z")
Did something in the artwork inadvertently end up looking like something it wasn’t supposed to look like? If so, did it appear to be something folks might consider offensive? ---
**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:** [September 14, 2023, 5:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lateral-thinking-puzzles-third-time-is-best/987214/1131 "2023-09-14T17:11:16Z")
**No** ---
**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:** [September 14, 2023, 5:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lateral-thinking-puzzles-third-time-is-best/987214/1132 "2023-09-14T17:25:00Z")
Was the problem that people were expecting to get their usual comic strip, and instead just got a confusing mishmosh that made no sense? ---
**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:** [September 14, 2023, 5:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lateral-thinking-puzzles-third-time-is-best/987214/1133 "2023-09-14T17:34:17Z")
**Yes** , and I think that’s about as solved as we’re going to get. Biotop’s description of Nancy as a lateral thinking puzzle if you cover up the final panel got me thinking about “but what if it was a single panel?” And that reminded me of [Cow Tools.](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cow_tools) Gary Larson, creator of The Far Side, did not mean for the comic to be confusing - the joke was just that cows aren’t good at making tools. But people tried to read more into it, with some thinking they’d have to figure out what the weird objects were in order to get the joke. He’d accidentally given them a lateral thinking puzzle with no solution. (Which I’m sure you wouldn’t want me to do in this thread, would you?) ---
**Author:** ![Rebo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rebo/32/13005_2.png) [@Rebo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rebo)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2023, 6:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lateral-thinking-puzzles-third-time-is-best/987214/1134 "2023-09-14T18:34:29Z")
I was thinking it might be B.C. - but the clues didn’t fit. ---
**Author:** ![Knowed\_Out](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/knowed_out/32/7380_2.png) [@Knowed\_Out](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Knowed_Out)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2023, 12:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lateral-thinking-puzzles-third-time-is-best/987214/1135 "2023-09-15T00:25:11Z")
I thought it might have been the bit from an episode of TBBT where Sheldon Cooper was playing Pictionary and nobody could get his Physics references. ---
**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:** [September 15, 2023, 2:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lateral-thinking-puzzles-third-time-is-best/987214/1136 "2023-09-15T14:22:20Z")
**I’m having some chips and onion dip for lunch. Later I’ll put on some shorts to mow the grass. Tonight our band plays and we hired Jon Schwartz as our drummer.** **Where am I?** ---
**Author:** ![Rhodes](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rhodes/32/273_2.png) [@Rhodes](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rhodes)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2023, 2:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lateral-thinking-puzzles-third-time-is-best/987214/1137 "2023-09-15T14:31:20Z")
Is it relevant that you call them “chips” rather than “crisps”? Does “shorts” refer to the short pants that you wear for yard work? Will you be mowing your own lawn? Are you in a place where Jon Schwartz is a famous enough drummer that most people would recognize the name? ---
**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:** [September 15, 2023, 2:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lateral-thinking-puzzles-third-time-is-best/987214/1138 "2023-09-15T14:36:23Z")
Great question. It may be crisps instead of chips Yes Yes No ---
**Author:** ![Rebo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rebo/32/13005_2.png) [@Rebo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rebo)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2023, 2:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lateral-thinking-puzzles-third-time-is-best/987214/1139 "2023-09-15T14:50:18Z")
I’m sure I’ve figured it out because I know who Jon Schwartz is. I’ll let others play it out. ---
**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:** [September 15, 2023, 3:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lateral-thinking-puzzles-third-time-is-best/987214/1140 "2023-09-15T15:21:02Z")
Are you male, female, or other? Is the lawn you’re going to mow, while wearing shorts, visible to the public? [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lateral-thinking-puzzles-third-time-is-best/987214.md?page=56) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lateral-thinking-puzzles-third-time-is-best/987214.md?page=58)