Lateral Thinking Puzzles

In the middle of the ocean is a yacht. Several corpses are
floating in the water nearby

His parachute failed

He was a frogman scooped up by a firefighting plane. (Sadly a true story)

A square manhole cover can be turned and accidentally dropped down the diagonal of the manhole. This cannot occur with a round manhole. So for safety and practicality, all manhole covers should be round.

He was playing Monopoly

Examine the words used very carefully, look for anything vague, or alternatively too precise.
Watch out there may be or usually is a Red Herring that is designed too put you on the wrong track.

Two twin girls work in the garden. One twin gets her face dirty. When they go in for tea only the twin with a clean face washes herself.

Why?

Lateral Thinking Puzzles are carefully worded so look for anything odd in the description, anything odd, too precise or too vague.

Red Herrings: Warning there may be a Red Herring designed to put you off the scent.

Male/Female Assumption : If the LTP talks of a Surgeon or Lawyer you may be expected to incorrectly assume it is a man.

Unusual Physique: Dwarfs,Deaf,Blind etc

Ice: Ice melts, dries and disappears could have been a stepping stone, or a weapon

Infidelity: As usual this is a strong motive for a crime

Assumptions: Analyze the puzzle for assumptions that you might be expected to make, then challenge these

The distinction between Lateral Thinking Puzzles and ordinary puzzles is not always clear but I think in a normal puzzle no matter how difficult you are given all the information necessary to solve the puzzle. Lateral Thinking Puzzles however require you to imagine the intermediate information.

For me the following isn't a lateral thinking puzzle.

"Why are 1983 pennies worth more than 1967 pennies?"

Lateral Thinking Puzzles are also called Situation Puzzles. Situation puzzles are often referred to as lateral thinking puzzles or "yes/no" puzzles. (Quote from Wikipedia)

Situation puzzles are usually played in a group, with one person hosting the puzzle and the others asking questions which can only be answered with a "yes" or "no" answer. Depending upon the settings and level of difficulty, other answers, hints or simple explanations of why the answer is yes or no, may be considered acceptable. The puzzle is solved when one of the players is able to recite the narrative the host had in mind, in particular explaining whatever aspect of the initial scenario was puzzling.

These puzzles are inexact and many puzzle statements have more than one possible fitting answer. The goal however is to find out the story as the host has it in mind. Critical thinking and reading, logical thinking, as well as lateral thinking may all be required to solve a situation puzzle. The term lateral thinking was coined by Edward De Bono to denote a creative problem-solving style that involves looking at the given situation from unexpected angles, and is typically necessary to the solution of situation puzzles

One train arrives at 20 past the hour and the second at 30 past the hour. He therefore only takes the second if it arrives at the station between 20 and 30 minutes past the hour

You give your keys to your friend and ask him to take the old lady to a hospital. You remain with your mightily impressed dream partner!.

Now would you have been able to think that quickly?