Lateral (puzzle)

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A lateral or black story is a puzzle in which a paradoxical or seemingly nonsensical end situation of a short story is given with little information , the previous course of which must be found through targeted inquiries. A lateral is sometimes (somewhat imprecisely) referred to as a yes-no puzzle . Since a criminal story is very often the basis, the term mystery thriller is also common.

origin

The name of the puzzle comes from the Latin adjective lateral ("sideways, sideways") as well as from the way of thinking that is required to solve it, lateral thinking . In this context, “lateral” should actually be translated as “playful, creative” or “extravagant” in the sense of “creative”. The lateral puzzles often contradict everyday logic and are highly improbable. That is why they often move in the realm of the criminal absurd.

description

The puzzler usually sets a situation in one sentence, the outcome of which must be guessed. The participants feel their way towards the solution with the help of questions to which the assignee can answer with “yes” or “no”. Questions can also be answered with “irrelevant” if they are not necessary to solve the riddle. The extent to which assistance is given always depends on the group of players and the fun, which should be the focus. Usually the answers “yes” or “irrelevant” entitle to further questions, whereas a “no” allows the next adviser to take the turn. The winning conditions can be agreed in advance for those fellow counselors who achieve the most “yes” or for those counselors who can reconstruct the complete solution first.

Examples

One of the most famous laterals begins with the information: Romeo and Juliet lie dead on the floor in front of an open window. Shards of glass lie on the wet floor. What happened?

The solution: Romeo and Juliet are goldfish. The window was torn open by a strong draft, which in turn caused the fishbowl to fall to the ground, whereupon the fish suffocated.

A well-known lateral begins with it: A dead man lies naked in the snow with a match in his hand. Footprints are nowhere to be seen. What happened?

The solution: The man was previously with several people in a hot air balloon that threatened to crash because there was not enough gas in the tank. In order to lose weight, everyone undressed. When that didn't help, they drew matches. The man had the smallest and had to jump.

A more complex example with a very short end situation and a long history to be guessed at: A man goes to a specialty restaurant, orders albatross meat and eats it. Suddenly he gets up, goes home and hangs himself. Why?

The solution: the man went to sea with his friend years ago, was shipwrecked and stranded on an island. They were the only two survivors, with himself lying sick and weak in a cave and being nursed back to health by his friend using the only food there was on the island: the meat of the albatross, as his friend told him. After the rescue, the paths of the two diverged. When the man passed the restaurant and saw that they had albatross meat on offer, he went in expecting old memories to eat some more. As he ate the meat, he suddenly realized that he had never eaten albatross meat before. In his need, his friend had prepared the meat of the drowned and stranded shipmates for him and made him believe it with a white lie so as not to put additional psychological stress on the weakened comrade. The man could not live with the idea of ​​having eaten human flesh, so he hanged himself.

See also

literature

Web links