Here is a collection of lateral puzzles. To figure out the answer, submit yes and no questions via e-mail. Make sure to include the question number.

1. A man pushes his car by a hotel and gets sent to jail. Why?
2. A man walks into a restaurant, orders albatross, eats one bite, then kills himself. Why?
3. A man lives on the twelfth floor of an apartment building. Every morning he takes the elevator down to the lobby and leaves the building. In the evening, he gets into the elevator, and, if there is someone else in the elevator -- or if it was raining that day -- he goes back to his floor directly. Otherwise, he goes to the tenth floor and walks up two flights of stairs to his apartment.
4. A man walks into a bar and asks for a drink. The bartender pulls out a gun and points it at him. The man says, "Thank you," and walks out.
5. A hunter aimed his gun carefully and fired. Seconds later, he realized his mistake. Minutes later, he was dead.
6. A woman has incontrovertible proof in court that her husband was murdered by her sister. The judge declares, "This is the strangest case I've ever seen. Though it's a cut-and-dried case, this woman cannot be punished."
7. A man is lying dead in a room. There is a large pile of gold and jewels on the floor, a chandelier attached to the ceiling, and a large open window.
8. A man and his wife raced through the streets. They stopped, and the husband got out of the car. When he came back, his wife was dead, and there was a stranger in the car.
9. A body is discovered in a park in Chicago in the middle of summer. It has a fractured skull and many other broken bones, but the cause of death was hypothermia.
10. A cabin, locked from the inside, is perched on the side of a mountain. It is forced open, and thirty people are found dead inside. They had plenty of food and water.
11. There is a bit of water and broken glass on the floor. George and Gracie are dead.
12. A man was found dead in a car. The cause of death was a bullet through the head. The doors were locked and the windows were rolled up, yet there were no bullet holes found. How was he shot in the head?
13. Dave and Bill met at a bar to discuss their plans to overthrow the government. Each man ordered a vodka on the rocks. Bill downed his and ordered another and drank that in a single gulp. Meanwhile, Dave, who was sipping his drink, suddenly fell forward dead. Both men were intended to be murdered. Why did Dave die and Bill live?

Updated Apr 21, 2007