Two lateral thinking puzzles

boing
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  1. Radiation. The package contained an active gamma-ray emitter.
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I’ve never been to Rome, but Berlin doesn’t have many buildings over 5 stories, so I just extrapolated.

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I am the author of this book and many others of lateral thinking puzzles. Many of the comments show that people have misunderstood this kind of puzzle. There is insufficient information in the puzzle statement to solve the puzzle. They are exercises in questioning and lateral thinking. They work best as a game where one person knows the answer and others ask questions and get yes/no answers. They are great with the kids on long car journeys. Try the books - or the lateral puzzles forum at www.lateralpuzzles.com and preface your user name bbs please.

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Thank you for posting with clarifying information!

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Because smartass has too many characters?

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That was my first thought,Amazon drone.

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Practice, practice, practice.

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Yep. You could invent basically any answer to these and pretend it was the intended one. ‘He bit his cyanide tooth’ would fit for the first one, as would nearly anything.

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The man in the field was later identified as a Mr D B Cooper, a skydiving enthusiast. He’d evidently forgotten to strap himself into his 'chute. The great mystery is a package of unmarked $100 bills found next to the body.

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Huh? What? I don’t get it.

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But mostly just questioning.

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I would take that as “no creature, living or dead”. You would expect many bugs, worms, etc. in a field, even if it is an extreme desert. The Moon has been suggested. Another possibility is an astroturf sports field.
Now we just have to explain the death and the package.

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It’s an old joke in reference to Carnegie Hall’s context as a prestigious concert venue, so the way to get to the level to be able to perform there is a lot of practice.

Carnegie Hall 's page on what they refer to as The Joke.

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I don’t know what to say.

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Probably the Amazon driver who took out my mailbox.

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Exaaactly.

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Calling them puzzles is a bit misleading then. Why not call them creative thinking exercises?

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A man is lying dead in the field. Next to him is an unopened package. There is no other creature in the field. How did he die?

A cut-and-dried case of microbiome theft.

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Whether you do riddles with intended answers to reference (like the ones from @Paul_Sloane’s book) or more open ended thought exercises like the ones from Edward de Bono’s books (e.g. “come up with and describe a new utensil for eating”), there’s a mind-opening type benefit from the creative thinking involved - especially if you have fun with it.

I’m going to guess that he died of old age for #1, and that Mr. Jones arranged the murder of Mrs. Rigby-Brown for #2.