Lateral Thinking 3

1. How can you throw a ball as hard as you can so that it comes back to you? The ball should have nothing attached to it, it shouldn't hit anything, and no one else should catch it or throw it.

Throw the ball straight up so gravity brings it back to you.

2. A woman gave natural birth to two sons who were born on the same hour of the same day of the same month of the same year. But they were not twins and she had no access to a time machine. How could this be?

Polyzygotic – multiple fetuses produced by two or more zygotes AKA triplets or better.

3. A man walks into a bar and asks for a drink of water. The bartender thinks for a minute, pulls out a gun and points it at him. The man says, "Thank you," and walks out.

The man swallows his saliva out of fear of having a gun pointed at him. edit: or the gun was a water gun an the bartender squirted the man.

4. There are six eggs in the basket. Six people each take one of the eggs. How can it be that one egg is left in the basket?

The last one to take an egg picked up the basket containing the the sixth egg.

5. Acting on an anonymous phone call, the police raid a house to arrest a suspected murderer. They don't know what he looks like but they know his name is John and that he is inside the house. The police bust in on a carpenter, a lorry driver, a mechanic and a fireman all playing poker. Without hesitation or communication of any kind, they immediately arrest the fireman. How do they know they've got their man?

The mans name is on his uniform that he is wearing.

'Polyzygotic – multiple fetuses produced by two or more zygotes AKA triplets or better. '

Naw, doesn't wash. Even different eggs and different sperm, still maternal twins.

Multiple births. They were not twins. Perhaps a part of triplets, or beyond.

hence the "AKA tripletts or better"

Here are the two that commonly produce identical and paternal twins

• Monozygotic – multiple (typically two) fetuses produced by the splitting of a single zygote
• Dizygotic – multiple (typically two) fetuses produced by two zygotes A zygote (from Greek ζυγωτός zugōtos "joined" or "yoked", from ζυγοῦν zugoun "to join" or "to yoke")^[1] is a cell that is the result of fertilization. That is, two haploid cells—usually an ovum from a female and a sperm cell from a male—merge into a single diploid cell called the zygote (or zygocyte). In humans, a zygote exists for about four days, at which time it becomes a blastocyst.^[

Well then, it looks like the yoke's on me....

Why she can not have a couple of daughters too ? then these two sons will be part of a quadraplet ?

Sorry bT didn't read your's, you have already covered this aspect.

#5, Because the carpenter, the lorry driver, and the mechanic are women.

I'm working on the others.

the man had the hiccups, the bartender startled him with gun & he was over them

Must be something of this kind - given that "the bartender thought for a minute"

"The mans name is on his uniform that he is wearing."

I like my answer better.

2 She was the doctor, nurse or midwife

4 The 6th person is holding the basket

5 His name is on his shirt

#1. You are an astronaut (or cosmonaut) on an asteroid, and the ball orbits the asteroid. Of course this requires the asteroid to have just the right amount of mass so the gravity of the asteroid prevents you and the ball from flying out into space.

#4. The puzzle doesn't say there are ONLY six eggs in the basket, so it must have had seven eggs in it.

#5. Carpenters, truck drivers, and mechanics could also have their names on their shirts. However, the fireman only had his last name on his shirt, and the others have first names other than John.

1. throw the ball straight up and it will come back to you.

2. Clearly they were triplets or quads...

3. An old one this. The man had hiccups and the fright of having a gun pointed at him stopped them.

4. The last one took basket and remaining egg.

5. The house was a firehouse, and the fireman was in his uniform, so he was the one who lived there.

I agree with 1,3,4&5 but stand firm on #2 she was a doctor and the boys were from different patients.

So, this doctor delivered one baby with her right hand, and the other with her left?

Oops. Well it could happen. Couldn't it? Ok maybe it was triplets.

Either way you look at it, the proposed solutions are purely a matter of the precise interpretation of the statements.

As the question says "she gave natural birth", rather than "she delivered naturally", your interpretation cannot be supported. (Did you perhaps make a translation in your head and forget what had actually been written?)

Well the rest are answered more or less

1 or throw it up a steep slope?

2. The women flew through the international date line and had the second son at the same time as the previous? (have fertilized 2 different eggs are technically not twins).

some alternatives

1. Throw the ball while on a small asteroid so it goes in orbit. Turn around an catch it.

2. The 2 sons were clones.

3. Squirt gun.

4. One person put back an egg.

5. The killing was done by arson (see Colorado history). Police always know they've got their man even when they haven't.