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The Pilot Who Wore a Dress: And Other Dastardly Lateral Thinking Mysteries
Tom Cutler
Devised by devious genius Tom Cutler, The Pilot Who Wore a Dress is a fiendish collection of riddles, mysteries and puzzles to test and tease your brain.Here’s a simple one to get you started: four bodybuilders are huddling together in the street, under a small ladies’ umbrella, yet after 20 minutes not one of them has got wet. How is this possible?Separated into original brainteasers and timeless conundrums, plus locked-room head-scratchers and unsolvable crimes borrowed from the very best of detective fiction, this cunning collection will give your lateral thinking muscle a proper workout. See if you can crack the problems by tracing the clues tucked away in each mystery, without sneaking a peak at the answers at the back of the book.These puzzles are perfect for the squashed commute and after-dinner whoopla alike. They are guaranteed to entertain and delight, whether you’re a wannabe Sherlock Holmes or a budding Jonathan Creek. Side effects may include bafflement, laughter, smugness, and exclamations along the lines of, ‘It’s so obvious once you know the answer.’Oh, and about those bone-dry bodybuilders – who said it was raining? So obvious!
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Copyright (#ucefa55a4-8356-5892-adbe-849a11948a6d)
HARPER
An imprint of HarperCollinsPublishers
1 London Bridge Street
London SE1 9GF
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First published by HarperCollinsPublishers 2015
FIRST EDITION
© Tom Cutler 2015
Illustrations © Bart Aalbers
Match diagrams © Alexei Penfold
Cover layout design Holly Macdonald © HarperCollinsPublishers 2016
Tom Cutler asserts the moral right to be
identified as the author of this work
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Source ISBN: 9780008157210
Ebook Edition © November 2015 ISBN: 9780008157203
Version: 2016-02-25
Dedication (#ucefa55a4-8356-5892-adbe-849a11948a6d)
This book is dedicated to Dr John H. Watson,
‘the one fixed point in a changing age’.
Epigraph (#ucefa55a4-8356-5892-adbe-849a11948a6d)
‘How often have I said to you that when you have eliminated the impossible, whatever remains, however improbable, must be the truth?’
Sherlock Holmes, in The Sign of the Four (1890),
by Arthur Conan Doyle
About the Author (#ucefa55a4-8356-5892-adbe-849a11948a6d)
Tom Cutler began his career with numerous false starts, as a teacher, set designer, speechwriter, printer, wine waiter, City drone and radio reporter, before settling down in book and magazine publishing. After building up extensive scar tissue he finally threw caution to the wind and launched himself as a humorous writer upon a reading public that had done nothing to hurt him.
Tom’s books cover a variety of subjects, including language, sex and music. Among his several international bestsellers are, A Gentleman’s Bedside Book and the Amazon number-one blockbuster, 211 Things A Bright Boy Can Do. His work has been translated into more languages than you can shake a stick at. Tom has written for the Guardian, the Daily Mail, the Telegraph, the Huffington Post and BBC radio, and he has a regular column in The Chap magazine.
He is a practising magician and member of the Magic Circle, as well as a detective story fan and longstanding Sherlock Holmes aficionado. A lifetime’s experience as a very devious bugger has helped him in the writing of this book.
Tom lives at the seaside, where he enjoys kicking pebbles.
Contents
Cover (#u5de17d72-e3d1-5f2d-8e0d-c7952f306549)
Title Page (#ulink_4b65ec67-34fd-52c4-9a1e-187623fc56d0)
Copyright (#ulink_57a42a23-27f4-5fdb-aba5-37fb5e334ae8)
Dedication (#ulink_dcb70914-ce0f-5889-b59b-0ce4de86ad1d)
Epigraph (#ulink_1c319b86-e6cb-5ddd-8296-65d4e246f6b0)
About the Author (#ulink_16c2e025-a785-5c69-a941-00df215b417d)
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS (#ulink_82a2ab70-eb30-57f4-8c47-78483a42716d)
FOREWORD (#ulink_4962cc9d-aa42-54b3-b5f4-e40039a3af31)
INTRODUCTION (#ulink_0525a3fd-1c6b-547b-991e-d028275cd6d0)
LATERAL THINKING CLASSICS (#ulink_beb6729a-344b-5794-93ff-93cda4321128)
The sailor who ate the cream tea (#ulink_6955e1a0-e64a-5265-9176-cfa363a0a60d)
The Wishing Cup of Keriput (#ulink_8ebf56c4-2cd9-5d9e-bba4-b7d748d75bf3)
Murder in the snow (#ulink_1c6294c4-956f-58fd-9613-1c35ba61586e)
The Yorkshire factory (#ulink_d9d0b7c9-f99b-5e1f-8dad-5dc007b2878b)
The riddle of the Burns supper (#ulink_70de292e-c0a1-576a-b8b0-66fd40922ac7)
The annoying computer password (#ulink_85c019de-9781-59b0-9d42-288fbe872d26)
Terry’s girlfriends (#ulink_f4541988-03e6-533c-8e85-54743dd5e889)
The lorry driver slaying (#ulink_c0ccbda0-4e92-5afb-9179-18fb99541f05)
The magic bucket (#ulink_8908e86e-d306-5ccf-8081-9eb47613d209)
The impossible brothers (#ulink_149f9bbe-a8bb-52aa-9b81-ffd58d0232b9)
Arms and the child (#ulink_e3a7963e-660a-52cd-a8a5-e237150d31aa)
The window cleaner in the sky (#ulink_01bc3beb-6642-5a8f-8ad1-1b493d2088e1)
The troublesome signpost (#ulink_18ee2d39-a076-550c-a9a4-f1cbbe204dbe)
The Knightsbridge barber (#ulink_1bcb7396-8dd7-5b88-8a6a-34a3b73ca6d6)
The fastest beard in the world (#ulink_1bb813eb-c744-5ca6-982d-060f98f5ea5c)
The high window (#ulink_8095c9b0-8ee0-5b10-9ea6-737960ca608c)
The confusing coach trip (#ulink_b55a38b8-fbb5-58d6-884d-70b5ad5e6972)
The pilot who wore a dress (#litres_trial_promo)
Picking up the children from school (#litres_trial_promo)
The car in the river (#litres_trial_promo)
The sad end of Felicity Ffolkes (#litres_trial_promo)
The blind beggar (#litres_trial_promo)
A birthday message from the Queen (#litres_trial_promo)
Talking rubbish (#litres_trial_promo)
The Flood (#litres_trial_promo)
Hospital assault (#litres_trial_promo)
The two Italians (#litres_trial_promo)
House painting made simple (#litres_trial_promo)
The absent-minded taxi driver (#litres_trial_promo)
Plane crash in no man’s land (#litres_trial_promo)
The strange story of Antony and Cleopatra (#litres_trial_promo)
Bird strike (#litres_trial_promo)
Contradictio in adjecto (#litres_trial_promo)
Unconscious sexism (#litres_trial_promo)
The short week (#litres_trial_promo)
The man in the lift (#litres_trial_promo)
Mary’s mum (#litres_trial_promo)
The deserted prairie cabin (#litres_trial_promo)
The two prime ministers (#litres_trial_promo)
LOCKED ROOMS AND IMPOSSIBLE MURDERS (#litres_trial_promo)
The Tea-leaf (#litres_trial_promo)
The Adventure of the Speckled Band (#litres_trial_promo)
The Glass Coffin: an Inspector Jibson Mystery (#litres_trial_promo)
A Game of Roulette (#litres_trial_promo)
The Two Bottles of Relish (#litres_trial_promo)
The Problem of Thor Bridge (#litres_trial_promo)
LATERAL THINKING MYSTERIES FROM REAL LIFE (#litres_trial_promo)
Arsenic and Old Luce (#litres_trial_promo)
The rather-short-very-long baseball game (#litres_trial_promo)
The curious case of dihydrogen monoxide (#litres_trial_promo)
The Mary Celeste affair (#litres_trial_promo)
The story of Big Ben (#litres_trial_promo)
The Euston Road poisonings (#litres_trial_promo)
Kentucky blues (#litres_trial_promo)
