User:Dromioofephesus/Lateral Puzzles

Lateral thinking puzzles, sometimes called situation puzzles, typically involve a situation which requires some kind of explanation or answer. There is usually insufficient information to solve the problem at first sight so the solver has to ask questions or propose solutions. The best lateral thinking puzzles are intriguing and seemingly illogical yet have a satisfying answer. . The main site for setting and solving these puzzles is the Lateral Thinking Puzzles Forum (LTPF) where many of the following acronyms are used.

Jargon
See also Situation puzzle

Standard responses
According to Noobdogg: Standard responses are: Yes, No, Yesish (which is yes with a condition or limitation), and similarly Noish (but this ofcourse tends more to a negative answer), Yope (which is Yes and No, used for amiguous or vague questions)...

Commonly used acronyms and initialisms

 * CA: Can't Answer (used in CA Rulebreakers - see Common Lateral Thinking Puzzle Variations)
 * OTRT: On the Right Track
 * SVV: Sufficiently vague values
 * According to woubit:
 * "'svv', for 'sufficiently vague values', is an acronym unknown to mathematicians, who use 'slv' and 'ssv' for 'sufficiently large (or small) values' (as in '2 + 2 = 5 for slv of 2'). On the LTPF, svv is an alternative to 'yope', so that when someone asks 'Is this an X?' the answer 'yes, for svv of X' is equivalent to equivocation. Peter's usage above, to describe things that are 'sort of like questions', is precisely the purpose for which the acronym was invented some years ago."


 * FYOI: From your own imagination
 * IRR: Irrelevant
 * H? A? M?: Human, Adult, Male?
 * This is often abbreviated as "HAM?". Other abbreviations of this variety include HAF (human, adult, female) and the less often used HCM/HCF and HTM/HTF, in which the 'C' and 'T' stand for "child" and "teen," respectively.


 * DOYD: Depends on your definition
 * LAEFTR: Left as an Exercise for the Reader
 * [from technical books] LAEFTR is used to complete a proof when one doesn't mind a handwave, or to avoid one entirely. The complete phrase is: “The proof [or ‘the rest’] is left as an exercise for the reader.” This comment has occasionally been attached to unsolved research problems by authors possessed of either an evil sense of humor or a vast faith in the capabilities of their audiences. This is most often used on the LTPF by puzzle hosts when the other answers should give the reader sufficient information to determine the answer to the question. For example:
 * Was the door open? Yes Was the door closed? LAEFTR
 * In this case, one can be fairly certain that "the door" was either open or closed. By answering that the door was open, the host decides that it should not be necessary to indicate that the door was not closed.

Common lateral thinking puzzle variations (as hosted in the LTPF)

 * Classic - A lateral thinking puzzle that "everyone's heard before". Tends to contain deaths, midgets, fields (middle of), ice, and/or elevators, etc. ALSO ALBATROSSES!
 * Connections Puzzle - A puzzle in which the host presents three clues to three objects, people, etc. that are connected in some way. The goal is to determine what the clues stand for and what the connection is.
 * Headline - A lateral thinking puzzle where the purpose is to identify the (real news article) headline related to a given situation. (A favourite of the Admin)
 * Idiomuzzle - A lateral thinking puzzle in which the puzzle statement is a sentence with certain words written in different colors. The answer is always an idiom, and the rules are laid out by TommyP, the creator of the puzzle type, as follows: 
 * The puzzle statement is presented using black and green words (and occasionally red).
 * The words in black are only "fillers" to complete the statement, they are of no use more than to separate the green words from each other.
 * The green words are the words to be decoded into the solution idiom. One or more (if adjacent) green words are decoded to one word in the solution.
 * Red words don't need any decoding, they are moved to the solution "as is".
 * Decoding the green words is done by finding "synonyms, near-synonyms or sound-alikes" for them - and finding the synonyms is done by standard lateral questions.
 * Only "real" lateral questions should be asked - don't ask grammar questions like if the second word should be a noun, how many letters in a word... (but we neither have minus points nor IP bans, so don't be too afraid to ask...


 * Lateral Adventure - A lateral thinking puzzle where reality is often suspended (but lateral thinking is still required) while you take the role of an individual(s) exploring their current situation in order to fulfil a particular goal (usually escape from some level of confinement). Play often proceeds similarly to text-adventures.
 * Lateral Maze - A specialised version of the above in which the environment takes the form of a network of rooms typically all of the same size, square, and optional North/West/East/South exits. The similarity of the environments between mazes provides a degree of familiarity which the host diverts from through means of various custom features affecting the environment and/or the explorer(s). Common features include: coloured doors, activated by matching coloured switches; ladders; teleportation devices; chests requiring keys, etc.
 * Luggage Puzzle - A type of rulebreaker (see below) where questions are limited to something similar to the form: Can [name] take [object] to [place]?
 * Multi-tiered Idiomuzzle - Based on the concept of an Idiomuzzle (see above), the clue words in these puzzles must change a number of times, usually indicated by varying colors for each tier (for example, from blue to green to red), in order to reach the answer. Unlike in an Idiomuzzle, the answers to Multi-tiered idiomuzzles do not have to be idioms.
 * Neologistic Puzzle - A puzzle that presents a new word, typically one that cannot be defined by any other single existing word. The statement typically includes a few clues, and the goal is to discover the definition.
 * Rulebreaker - A lateral thinking puzzle where the purpose is to identify what rule the host is using to determine his/her responses.
 * Rulebreaker (CA) - A specialised version of the above in which the rule determines whether a question(/statement) can be answered or not (as opposed to how it's answered).
 * Camouflaged Rulebreaker - A rulebreaker in which a puzzle statement is given (often a classic), and puzzlers ask questions about it, but the answers are based on a rule the host is following rather than on the actual solution.
 * Scrund - A lateral thinking puzzle where the purpose is to identify a scrund (see More Jargon).
 * Versponse - A lateral thinking puzzle in which the puzzle statement, questions, and responses must all be written in some form of verse.

More jargon

 * Scrund - (noun) A [ludicrous] misconception that remains undetected and uncorrected for a long period of time because the subject never arose.
 * Admin - (noun) Also known as "Paul Sloane (author)", Admin is the official leader of the LTPF.
 * NOTE: This person is officially Deity of the Lateral Thinking Puzzles Forum and anything else (except for people like me and atheists).

"If he freed humanity and rescued Earth, that was good. But that was just a bonus. His main goal was much simpler. To spread lateral thinking worldwide. That goal was what had given him strength. That goal was what had kept him sane. Allowed him to retain a center of calm focus amid the awful chaos."
 * ~Tobias on Admin

"He is a man I greatly admire."
 * ~Oscar Wilde on Admin

"I'm his number one fan!"
 * ~Mark Twain on Admin


 * Cricket - (noun) Some kind of game that people from the UK talk about.
 * woubit - (noun) An almost god-like being, displaying many reality warping powers, though it is stated several times that while he appears to be, he is not omnipotent.
 * Ditloid - (noun) One of them letter substitution thingies.
 * Gourami - (noun) Some kind of fish, or something like that.
 * Doctapeppa - (noun) A nickname for His Majestic and All-Holy WiZedom, The Right Honourable Sir & Very Reverend Doctor, Imperial Dark Lord of the Sith, the Hero of Time, Ultimate War Supreme Grand Mafioso, LTPF Champion, Dread Mistress of the Night, The One, The First, Supreme Allied Commander of Everything Commendable, Lord of R'lyeh, 68th degree Archpriest, MSCE, Silver Warlord, Archmage of Bone, Lord of the Clouded Ruby, Don't Blame it on the Moonlight Blame it on the Boogie, Master Beta, Gamma, Delta, and Epsilon, The Ruined One, Count of Starstone, Lord David of Ham, Shawn "Docta Colonel Issac Newton Juan Garcia Cortez Onge Cull Pepper, III" The WiZe, Comrade Peoples' Commissar for the Internal Production of the People's Beets, Immortal & Immoral God, Guitar Hero, President for Life, Maximum Chief of the Revolution, Titular Latin Patriarch of Antioch, President-Elect of the High Council of Time Lords, Knight Who Says Ni, Apostle of National Unity, Benefactor of the Poor, Patron of Commerce and Industry, Electrifier of Souls, The Pwnerer, Esquire of the Magistrate Most Worthy, Despot of Morea, Prince, Monseigneur, Mace-bearer, Gran maestro, Paladin, Alderman, Great & Glorious Sultan, Arch-Treasurer of the Holy Roman Empire, The Dancing Flamingo, The Boss, The Main Man, The Big Cheese, The Head Honcho, The Righteously Honorable Honorably Righteous Emperor of Earth, Franchi, Esq., KG, MC, PC Ph.D. Th.D. M.P. FACHE, CCIM, CELTA, CPESC, NAGAB, AMIE, OPSA, SCTE, KPDS, TKT, OPST A.B.C. X.Y.Z. K.B.E

LTPF Lists
The following are lists that have been referred to/expanded by LTPF members for the purposes of solving a lateral puzzle.

List of professional fields

 * Artistic / musical / writer
 * Banking / financial / real estate
 * Clerical / Administrative
 * Computer related / Hardware
 * Construction / Craftsman
 * Criminal / Questionable Repute
 * Education / Academic Research
 * Entertainment / Media
 * Environmental / Outdoors / Nature
 * Executive / Management
 * Hospitality / Travel
 * Legal Services
 * Manufacturing / Distributions
 * Medical / Health Services
 * Politics / Government / Military
 * Sales / Marketing
 * Technical / Science / Engineering
 * Teaching / Child care
 * Transportation
 * Food Service
 * Other

List of untimely deaths (unordered)
See List of untimely deaths, below.

List of Periods of Time (ordered)

 * Instant
 * Planck Time
 * Rega
 * Second
 * Moment
 * Part
 * Minute
 * Hour
 * Sidereal Day
 * Day
 * Week
 * Fortnight
 * Molad
 * Month
 * Season
 * Year
 * Leap Year
 * Decade
 * Century
 * Millennium
 * Eternity
 * Forever
 * Time

List of Former Communist Countries

 * Democratic Republic of Afghanistan
 * Socialist People's Republic of Albania
 * People's Republic of Angola
 * People's Republic of Benin
 * People's Republic of Bulgaria
 * Chinese Soviet Republic
 * People's Republic of the Congo
 * Czechoslovak Socialist Republic
 * People's Democratic Republic of Ethiopia
 * Finnish Democratic Republic
 * German Democratic Republic
 * Political Committee of National Liberation
 * People's Revolutionary Government of Grenada
 * People's Republic of Hungary
 * Democratic Kampuchea
 * People's Republic of Kampuchea
 * Mongolian People's Republic
 * People's Republic of Mozambique
 * People's Republic of Poland
 * People's Republic of Romania
 * Somali Democratic Republic
 * Union of Soviet Socialist Republics
 * Tuvan People's Republic
 * Democratic Republic of Vietnam
 * People's Democratic Republic of Yemen
 * Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia

Death
Death seems to be quite a common subject in lateral puzzles, so there is a whole freaking section devoted to it.

Terminology

 * Homicide: The killing of human being by another human being. NOTE: This is not necessarily illegal. Justifiable use of deadly force in defense of life and lawful use of capital punishment are lawful homicides.


 * Suicide: The actual and intentional killing of oneself.


 * Cause of death: The cause of death is any injury or disease that produces a physiological derangement in the body that results in the death of the individual. Thus, although differing widely, the following are causes of death: a gunshot wound to the head, a stab wound to the chest, adenocarcinoma of the lung, and coronary atherosclerosis.


 * Mechanism of death: The mechanism of death is the physiological derangement produced by the cause of death that results in death. Examples of mechanism of death would be hemorrhage, septicemia, and cardiac arrhythmia. One must realize that a particular mechanism of death can be produced by multiple causes of death and vice versa. Thus, if an individual dies of massive hemorrhage, it can be produced by a gunshot wound, a stab wound, a malignant tumor of the lung eroding into a blood vessel and so forth. The reverse of this is that a cause of death, for example, a gunshot wound of the abdomen, can result in many possible mechanisms of death, e.g. hemorrhage or peritonitis. Medical examiners often have to review death certificates produced by clinicians. Not infrequently, the cause of death is listed as "cardiac arrest" or "cardiopulmonary arrest." Simply stated, this means that the heart stopped or the heart and lungs stopped. Experience tells us, however, that when any individual dies, the heart and lungs stop. These are not causes of death and, to a degree, are not even mechanisms of death. Yet, clinicians continue to list these diagnoses on the death certificate, and some government organizations accept them as causes of death.


 * Manner of death: The manner of death explains how the cause came about. Manners of death can generally be categorized as natural, homicide, suicide, accident, or undetermined. Another category that may be used is "unclassified." Just as a mechanism of death can have many causes and a cause many mechanisms, a cause of death can have multiple manners. An individual can die of massive hemorrhage (the mechanism of death) due to a gunshot wound to the heart (the cause of death), with the manner of death being homicide (somebody shot the individual), suicide (they shot themselves), accident (the weapon fell and discharged), or undetermined (one is not sure what occurred).


 * Justifiable use of deadly force: The use of deadly force is justifiable when a person is resisting any attempt to murder such person or to commit any felony upon him or her or upon or in any dwelling house in which such person shall be.


 * Excusable homicide: Homicide is excusable when committed by accident and misfortune in doing any lawful act by lawful means with usual ordinary caution, and without any unlawful intent, or by accident and misfortune in the heat of passion, upon any sudden and sufficient provocation, or upon a sudden combat, without any dangerous weapon being used and not done in a cruel or unusual manner.


 * Vehicular homicide: Vehicular homicide is the killing of a human being, or the killing of a viable fetus by any injury to the mother, caused by the operation of a motor vehicle by another in a reckless manner likely to cause the death of, or great bodily harm to, another.


 * Vessel homicide: Vessel homicide is the killing of a human being by the operation of a vessel by another in a reckless manner likely to cause the death of, or great bodily harm to, another.

Murder

 * First-degree murder: The unlawful killing of a human being:


 * 1. When perpetrated from a premeditated design to effect the death of the person killed or any human being;


 * 2. When committed by a person engaged in the perpetration of, or in the attempt to perpetrate, any:


 * a. Trafficking offense,
 * b. Arson,
 * c. Sexual battery,
 * d. Robbery,
 * e. Burglary,
 * f. Kidnapping,
 * g. Escape,
 * h. Aggravated child abuse,
 * i. Aggravated abuse of an elderly person or disabled adult,
 * j. Aircraft piracy,
 * k. Unlawful throwing, placing, or discharging of a destructive device or bomb,
 * l. Carjacking,
 * m. Home-invasion robbery,
 * n. Aggravated stalking,
 * o. Murder of another human being,
 * p. Resisting an officer with violence to his or her person,
 * q. Felony that is an act of terrorism or is in furtherance of an act of terrorism; or


 * 3. Which resulted from the unlawful distribution of any controlled substance, cocaine, or opium or any synthetic or natural salt, compound, derivative, or preparation of opium by a person 18 years of age or older, when such drug is proven to be the proximate cause of the death of the user,


 * is murder in the first degree.


 * Second-degree murder:
 * 1) The unlawful killing of a human being, when perpetrated by any act imminently dangerous to another and evincing a depraved mind regardless of human life, although without any premeditated design to effect the death of any particular individual, is murder in the second degree.
 * 2) When a person is killed in the perpetration of, or in the attempt to perpetrate, any:


 * a. Trafficking offense,
 * b. Arson,
 * c. Sexual battery,
 * d. Robbery,
 * e. Burglary,
 * f. Kidnapping,
 * g. Escape,
 * h. Aggravated child abuse,
 * i. Aggravated abuse of an elderly person or disabled adult,
 * j. Aircraft piracy,
 * k. Unlawful throwing, placing, or discharging of a destructive device or bomb,
 * l. Carjacking,
 * m. Home-invasion robbery,
 * n. Aggravated stalking,
 * o. Murder of another human being,
 * p. Resisting an officer with violence to his or her person, or
 * q. Felony that is an act of terrorism or is in furtherance of an act of terrorism,


 * by a person other than the person engaged in the perpetration of or in the attempt to perpetrate such felony, the person perpetrating or attempting to perpetrate such felony is guilty of murder in the second degree.


 * Third-degree murder: The unlawful killing of a human being, when perpetrated without any design to effect death, by a person engaged in the perpetration of, or in the attempt to perpetrate, any felony other than any:


 * a. Trafficking offense,
 * b. Arson,
 * c. Sexual battery,
 * d. Robbery,
 * e. Burglary,
 * f. Kidnapping,
 * g. Escape,
 * h. Aggravated child abuse,
 * i. Aggravated abuse of an elderly person or disabled adult,
 * j. Aircraft piracy,
 * k. Unlawful throwing, placing, or discharging of a destructive device or bomb,
 * l. Carjacking,
 * m. Home-invasion robbery,
 * n. Aggravated stalking,
 * o. Murder of another human being,
 * p. Resisting an officer with violence to his or her person, or
 * q. Felony that is an act of terrorism or is in furtherance of an act of terrorism,


 * is murder in the third degree.


 * Terrorism: an activity that:
 * Involves a violent act or an act dangerous to human life which is a violation of the criminal laws; or
 * Involves cyber crimes; and
 * is intended to:
 * Intimidate, injure, or coerce a civilian population;
 * Influence the policy of a government by intimidation or coercion; or
 * Affect the conduct of government through destruction of property, assassination, murder, kidnapping, or aircraft piracy.

Manslaughter

 * Manslaughter: The killing of a human being by the act, procurement, or culpable negligence of another, without lawful justification and in cases in which such killing shall not be excusable homicide or murder, is manslaughter.


 * Aggravated manslaughter of an elderly person or disabled adult: A person who causes the death of any elderly person or disabled adult by culpable negligence commits aggravated manslaughter of an elderly person or disabled adult.


 * Aggravated manslaughter of a child: A person who causes the death of any person under the age of 18 by culpable negligence commits aggravated manslaughter of a child.


 * Aggravated manslaughter of an officer, a firefighter, an emergency medical technician, or a paramedic: A person who causes the death, through culpable negligence, of an officer, a firefighter, an emergency medical technician, or a paramedic, while the officer, firefighter, emergency medical technician, or paramedic is performing duties that are within the course of his or her employment, commits aggravated manslaughter of an officer, a firefighter, an emergency medical technician, or a paramedic.


 * Assisting self-murder: Any person deliberately assisting another in the commission of self-murder shall be guilty of manslaughter.

Killing of unborn quick child
Murder of unborn quick child: The unlawful killing of an unborn quick child, by any injury to the mother of such child which would be murder if it resulted in the death of such mother, shall be deemed murder in the same degree as that which would have been committed against the mother.

Manslaughter of unborn quick child: The unlawful killing of an unborn quick child by any injury to the mother of such child which would be manslaughter if it resulted in the death of such mother shall be deemed manslaughter.


 * Note: If someone commits murder or manslaughter of the mother of an unborn quick child, and this act also results in the death of the unborn quick child, there may still be a possibility of the perpetrator being guilty of a crime against the mother as well as a crime against the child. This does not include lawful abortion.

List of untimely deaths

 * impact
 * electric shock
 * the other kind of shock
 * laceration
 * suffocation or asphyxiation
 * burning
 * freezing
 * heart attack
 * allergies
 * drowning
 * explosion
 * radiation
 * poison
 * a psionic death ray
 * laughing to death
 * other