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Lateral Thinking Quiz

Quiz by Mr Wells

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10 questions
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  • Q1
    1. One morning a petrol station attendant ran into the office the moment his boss arrived, and told him that the previous evening he had dreamt that one of the pumps had been leaking, causing a huge explosion. His boss was sceptical, but when he checked the pump in question, he indeed found a potentially disastrous leak. He switched off the pump, and then sacked the attendant. Why?
    He was asleep on duty.
  • Q2
    A man stopped his car opposite a hotel and immediately knew that he was bankrupt. How?
    He was playing Monopoly
  • Q3
    A lorry attempted to drive under a low bridge but got caught underneath it. People stopped and tried to help the driver free the vehicle, but they couldn’t push it either forwards of backwards. How did they eventually free his vehicle?
    Let some air out of the tyres
  • Q4
    A train was speeding down the track towards a nun who had fallen asleep on the railway line after a particularly rowdy party. The train had no headlights on, there was no moonlight, and no overhead lighting. How was the driver able to stop the train?
    It was day time so she could see
  • Q5
    A man leaves hospital and begins to walk home. On his journey he passes a phone box which begins to ring. Instead of answering it he punches the air and runs all the way home cheering. Why?
    He knows his deafness has been cured
  • Q6
    A horse ploughs a field all day. If he takes twenty four steps to reach one edge of the field to the other, how many hoof prints will the horse leave in the last furrow?
    None, the plough would cover all the tracks.
  • Q7
    A stranger entered a bar and ordered a glass of water. The barmaid said nothing, but grabbed a gun and aimed it at his head. Why did the man simply smile, thank her, and then leave?
    He had the hiccups and the fright cured them
  • Q8
    A woman was half way up a hospital escalator when it stopped and she immediately began to weep. Why?
    The power went off so the escalators stopped, her husband was on a life support machine so she knew he will have died.
  • Q9
    When a boat is at anchor, five rungs on the rope ladder over its side are underwater. If the rungs are 30cm apart and each one is 3 cm thick, how many rungs would be under water four hours later, if the tide rises at 35 cm per hour?
    Five rungs, the boats will rise with the tide.
  • Q10
    Polly Warden loved the colour yellow. All the walls in her new bungalow were primrose yellow. The carpets, curtain and all the soft furnishings were a golden yellow. What colour were her stairs?
    Bungalows do not have stairs.

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