20 famous lateral thinking riddles and their answer

Lateral thinking riddles are fun because they start with a question, but the answer is often far from what we would expect. These types of quizzes are often featured at parties or events for participants to enjoy. So, if you’ve come across this article, you might be stuck on one of these 20 lateral thinking riddles. Luckily, we’ve provided the answers to all of them!

1. The Man in the Bar

Puzzle: A man walks into a bar and asks for a glass of water. The bartender pulls out a gun, points it at the man, and the man says, “Thank you” and leaves. What happened?

Answer: The man had hiccups. The bartender scared him to cure them.

2. Three Switches One Light Bulb

Puzzle: You’re in a mansion with a lightbulb in the attic and three switches in the basement. It’s late in the evening, and you’re tired, so you can only go from the basement to the attic once. How do you figure out which switch controls the lightbulb?

Answer: Turn on the first switch and wait for 5 minutes. Then turn it off and turn on the second switch. Go to the attic. If the light is on, the second switch controls it. If the light is off, touch the bulb: if it’s warm, the first switch is the correct one; if it’s cold, the third switch controls the light.

3. The Deadly Cocktail

Puzzle: Two people ordered the same cocktail at a restaurant. They both drank it at different paces, but one person died while the other survived. How?

Answer: The cocktail contained poison in the ice. One person drank quickly before the ice melted, while the other waited, allowing the poison to spread.

4. Heaven and Hell

Puzzle: You’re standing in front of two doors, one leading to hell and the other to heaven. There are two guards: one always lies, and the other always tells the truth (but you don’t know which is which). What single question can you ask to determine which door leads to heaven?

Answer: Ask one of the guards which door the other guard would say leads to heaven. Whether you’re speaking to the liar or the truthful guard, their answer will always be false. Then, choose the opposite door.

5. The Pair of Socks

Puzzle: You have 12 red socks, 12 white socks, and 12 black socks in your drawer. Without looking, how many socks do you need to remove to ensure that you have at least one matching pair?

Answer: You need to remove 4 socks. Since there are only 3 different colors, the 4th sock will definitely match at least one of the previously removed socks.

6. The Room with No Doors or Windows

Puzzle: You’re stuck in a concrete room with no windows or doors, and only a mirror and a table. How do you get out?

Answer: Look into the mirror, see what you saw, take the saw, cut the table in half, two halves make a whole, and climb out through the hole.

7. The Burning Rope

Puzzle: You have two ropes. Each rope burns in exactly one hour, but they don’t burn evenly (one half might burn faster than the other). How do you measure 45 minutes using these ropes?

Answer: Light one rope from both ends and the other from one end. When the first rope finishes burning (30 minutes), light the other end of the second rope. The second rope will burn in 15 minutes, totaling 45 minutes.

8. Pills and Blind Man

Puzzle: A blind man is stranded alone on a deserted island. He has two blue pills and two red pills, and he must take exactly one red pill and one blue pill to survive. Taking anything else will result in his death.

Answer: The man breaks each pill in half. For each pill, he discards a half and swallows the other half. This way, he will end up consuming exactly one red pill and one blue pill.

9. The Locked Car

Puzzle: A man is locked in a car with no way to escape. All the doors are locked, the windows are up, and there’s no sunroof. Yet, after some time, he is able to leave the car easily. How?

Answer: The car is a convertible, and the man simply put the roof down.

10. The Bankrupt Man and the Hotel

Puzzle: A man was pushing his car when he stopped in front of a hotel and knew immediately that he was bankrupt. How?

Answer: The man was playing Monopoly.

11. The Driver Who Didn’t Break the Rules

Puzzle: A driver was going the wrong way down a one-way street. He passed several police officers, but they didn’t stop him. Why?

Answer: The driver was walking, not driving.

12. The Mysterious Coin Flip

Puzzle: You flip a coin 10 times, and it lands on heads each time. What are the odds that it will land on heads on the 11th flip?

Answer: The odds are still 50/50. The previous flips don’t affect future outcomes.

13. The Man and The Elevator

Puzzle: A man lives on the 10th floor of a building. Every day, he takes the elevator down to the ground floor to leave the building. However, when he returns, he only goes halfway up in the elevator and walks the rest of the way unless it’s raining. Why?

Answer: The man is short and can only reach the halfway buttons, but when it rains, he uses his umbrella to press the higher buttons.

14. The Woman in the Coffee Shop

Puzzle: A woman goes into a coffee shop and orders a cup of coffee. She then sits down, tastes it, and immediately leaves. Why?

Answer: She wanted to test if her taste buds worked. She had lost her sense of taste and wanted to see if it had returned.

15. Broken Glass in the Train Car

Puzzle: Someone is found dead in a train car. There’s water and broken glass on the floor. How did they die?

Answer: This one is a fish in a fishbowl that broke during the train ride.

16. The Riddle of the Sphinx

Riddle: What has one voice but walks on four legs in the morning, two legs in the afternoon, and three legs in the evening?

Answer: A human. In the morning of life, they crawl on all fours as a baby; in the afternoon of life, they walk on two legs as an adult; and in the evening of life, they use a cane, walking on three legs as an elderly person.

17. Jumping From a Skyscraper

Riddle: A man jumps from a 50-floor skyscraper and survives without any injuries. How is this possible?

Answer: He jumped from the ground floor.

18. The Two Pills

Puzzle: A man is captured and given two pills, one in each hand. One pill is poisonous, and the other isn’t. He’s forced to take one, but whichever pill he takes, he dies. How?

Answer: The captor poisoned the water the man drank to swallow the pill.

19. The Deadly Door

Puzzle: A man opened a door, screamed, and was found dead a few minutes later, with no gunshots reported in the vicinity. What could have happened to him?

Answer: The man was in a plane.

20. The Rain and the Man

Puzzle: A man was walking down the street, and suddenly it started raining. He didn’t have an umbrella or a hat, yet not a single hair on his head got wet. How?

Answer: The man was bald.