I had an alternate solution for #2. I figured that the four poker players had come straight from work. With the occupations they each had, I thought they would have their names embroidered on their work shirts. Valid or flawed?

Depending on where you live, this might not be true, so...

the murder committed was by arson

The only solution I could think of was a name tag, I had a feeling it wasn't right though.

The card table was on the space between the room and the patio and only the fireman was sitting inside the house.

the police know its probably a man by the name and the mechanic and lorry driver could of been women.

its a fire house and they are in work clothes is what i was thinking

this is the stupidest lateral thinking problem

The police calls out "John", wheoever answers is the one

That question was very vague and could have been taken any way

The hint says they know 1 thing, the guys name is john and they are in a particular house. I thought that the fireman was the only one alive and the rest were dead because the house was on fire

thy wud arrest the fireman because ... obf hes got his name sum were or... thy just seyin its him coz hes a fireman

Garstang - right on - totally what I thought

i think the fire guy did it. cause HIS name was John

yu guys are funny

how can you know that the others are women? you can assume that there is at least one man (the fireman) but you couldnt possibly know that the others were women. however they never said that all the workers were in the same house or that they were playing poker with eachother. they also never specified if each raid was under the same warrant. the solution is that they were all in different houses raided under different warrants and that the fireman was the house that was specified by the tip and the fireman was the only person in the house so the murderer could only be the fireman

I was thinking that the carpenter, lorry driver, mechanic and fire man were all people who come to your house for a requested service and could have stayed afterwards, but because there was no fire the fireman could have only been there because it was his house.

I think it was the fireman, as he would had ample opportunity to destroy the evidence.

By the time the police reach there, John, the fireman has already killed the rest of the people. Caught red handed. Blood on his hands. Very simple.

The one with the all women 1 man is also possible.

All the rest ag sept john were women!
I think I got it RIGHT!

the fireman must have a name tag on his chest.

When the police busted the house, the fireman shouted at them for entering his house.

or

When the police busted the house, the fireman immedietly run away

When the police approached the poker table, they shouted "John is cheating!". everyone who is not John will naturally look at John. Gottcha!

The fireman was black. Simple.

in my native language all those proffession names are gender dismorphic (the word is not exactly the same to describe a male and a female professional of those areas, and I guess cause of culture, or perhaps cause I'm male, I thought only of the masculine version of the proffesion names, so I only thought about name tags on their clothes or somthing like the poker table not being inside the house completly, or that it was an online poker game or somthing like that

hmmm...name tag was my first thought too...but its too obvious. Fireman being the only man is the only logical assumption with what is given.

it is a bit sexist but yeah it makes since

This riddle is wacky. There is nothing that said the poker players were males and females. Delusional

super mokkai of the year!!!!!!!!!

I think remaining are ladies..he is only man..thats why.

walao. JOHN is a 3 timer. flirter sia

john could be name of woman..isn't it?

I thought Fireman because of the profession.

The police men and fireman are likely to have met. Unlike the other occupations.

having gender as the trick in the the answer is ridiculous.

Does that mean if something is man made no women where involved at all?

man I am bored

this is really a stupid question

the fireman cos hes a man,and the rest r ladies .it was a guess

It was the fireman because he was the only man and the rest were women, on the other hand, John could be a women's name.
This is boring.

maybe the murder weapon is fire. So fireman and fire......

why also the police forgot to mention the fireman was covered in blood and had an axe between his hands, and that helped em to figure it out

what about if the game was strip poker, the fireman was losing, and he had his name tattooed on himself somewhere...

I though he was the only one in the house because he was playing on the internet!

i thought it was sumthing like there is a picture on the wall of a mechanic, a lorry driver and a carpenter playing poker and john was playing internet poker... but the given solution works fine.

I said that the fireman had visible I.D.

Maybe because when it was the Fireman's turn, the carpenter, the lorry driver, the mechanical all said "it's your turn John" to the fireman.

no matter the occupation... the other three people playing poker could of been female, and the fireman John a male. therefore the police know this is john right away

This was such a good one, challenges preconceptions yadayada. I'm a girl and I still thought they were all guys. I should have noticed that instead of "firefighter" they used "fireman".

I think there's a house on fire and a guy was called he replied and said he's John and he didn't go,he's just sitting playing poker, the house burnt and he's the murderer now.

I think the name tag idea could be a valid answer. If the fireman has his last name on his coat and the others all have their first name on their work shirts (as is usually the case), then they have their man by process of elimination.

It was a woman named Janet who called the cop but she used her short name Jan. The cop heard John so he grabbed the firefighter. Thats how he got incinerated at his execution. All you guys are real dumb.

Except 1 guy all r ladies. Sp they caught John

Before i saw the answer, i figured it was something,... Smart.. like, the firefighter wasn't on duty when he was supposed to and someone died in a fire because of it or something on those lines..

In some small towns the police and firemen would know each other by name

they were in a firehouse

carpenter (no), a lorry driver (no), a car mechanic (no), fireman playing cards (yes) don't do the right job.

Internet Poker? :) naybe the fireman was the only person in the house, but was playing online with those 3 other people

If they raided his "home", the firehouse, it couldn't be the other 3.

Its obvious..
the fireman got scare and show his fear to the officers while the others do not know what is going on.

that is normal human reaction after commiting something wrong.
the ans by fireman is the only male..
is so lame

well every1 els could be a woman the fireman was not a fire woman

The fireman is john and i know this because my tutor confirmed this. The other three proffessions are not gender specific, they are all female. john is a fireman not a firewoman. Lateral thinknig excercises are all like this, a little play on words

your answer doesnt make any sense, its a lateral thinking excercise, the police just know it is him cause "fireman got scare and show his fear" learn english as well as who to think laterally. The answer is in the text. You can't just go around making up random assumptions lol.