62 Lateral-Thinking Puzzles (With Answers)

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? 

Jenny is found without any signs of life in her car… an act of violence. Her purse, handbag, and phone are missing. Police work out who she is and contact her husband. The husband rushes to the crime scene and is immediately arrested. How are the police so certain it’s him?

Every two weeks a woman sits down and writes two words on 60 sheets of paper. Why does she do this?

Rachael and Monica have moved into a shared house with several other occupants. Monica doesn’t like their new accommodation though because of the angry and aggressive cat that greeted them when they first walked in. Rachael realizes that there isn’t really a problem. Why?

A woman lives on the 30th floor and hates taking the stairs. Every day she takes the elevator down to the lobby floor to go to work. When she comes home from work, she takes the elevator to the 20th floor and walks the rest of the way up, except on days when it rains. Those days she takes the elevator all the way home. Why does she walk the last ten flights of stairs if she hates it so much?

Sam’s dad couldn’t keep his son from playing video games. To keep Sam from playing video games all the time, the dad grabbed a hammer and solved the problem. Now he can play video games but Sam cannot. What did the dad do?

After a night of partying with her friends, a woman arrives home and finds that she cannot enter the house. She’s sure that she’s at the right home, but she cannot get inside. What happened that makes entering her home impossible?

At the bottom of a large hill, more than 50 cars are involved in an accident. Some of the cars are overturned and others are resting on top of other cars. The pile-up is so large that a few military vehicles and a fire truck are also involved in the crash. What happened to cause this big accident?

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

While walking across a large open field, you come across a woman that has died very suddenly, unexpectedly, and only a very short time ago. You look around but there is no one and nothing except for an unopened package next to the woman. How did she die?

A woman enters a large metal tube. She’s terrified and holds her husband’s hand for comfort. He soothes her but is fine himself. A few hours later, the torment ends, and the woman is fine. What happened?

A woman enters a room and presses a button. Within seconds she instantly loses 20 pounds. How did she lose the weight?

A newspaper article states that Mr. Smith and his wife were skiing in the Alps and that Mrs. Smith had an accident, fell off the mountain, and was killed. How does the man reading the newspaper know that Mr. Smith murdered his wife?

A couple enters a grand ballroom only to find the occupants are unalive. There has been no crime committed. The couple is not concerned by what they have found. How is this possible?

A woman is driving on a sunny day. She makes a turn and water suddenly starts to pelt her car very hard for about five minutes. Then the car is buffed by extremely hard blowing air. The car even begins to shake. The blowing stops, and the woman makes another turn onto the main road and heads home safely. What happened?

Let us agree that at the North Pole it is impossible to look north and at the South Pole it is impossible to look south. Then, where in the world would you be if you could look north and south but could not look east or west?

There are ten birds perched on a fence. A farmer aims his rifle and shoots one. How many birds are left?

A man was drinking a cup of tea when he was suddenly blinded. How?

A hunter aimed his gun carefully and fired. Seconds later, he realized his mistake. Minutes later, he passed away. What happened?

A man is lying without any signs of life, face down in the desert. There’s a match near his outstretched hand. What happened?