Lateral Thinking Puzzles

12. German Spies

hans and fritz are geman sies during world war 2. they try to enter america, posing as returning tourists. hans is immediatly arrested. Why:?:

Submitted by x_kill_me_bby_x · Added 23 April 2009

Solution:

Hans was immediately arrested because he was the only one of the two who had never been to America before, making it impossible for him to convincingly pose as a returning tourist. Additionally, he may have written his date of birth in the European format, which would have revealed his non-American status, while Fritz, born on a date that appears the same in both formats, avoided suspicion.


Comments (6)

Callyst 25 July 2009

fritz is a double agent

x_kill_me_bby_x 30 July 2009

no!

Callyst 11 August 2009

hans was the first to exclaim "hail hitler" lol

rj82330 13 August 2009

First I thought that they might have walked on the wrong side of the road (based on various true stories of British spies caught out in Germany), but that doesn't work as both Germany and the US drive on the right.

However, what if..

Their customs forms required a numerical date of birth, eg 01/01/1910.

Both instinctively write in the European format - dd/mm/yyyy, forgetting that an American date reads mm/dd/yyyy.

So, why is only Hans arrested?

Fritz has the good fortune to be born on, say, the 5th of May, 1910. So, whichever format he writes in, he will always write 05/05/1910.
Hans is born on, say 20th of December (the month is immaterial, as long as he is born AFTER the 12th day in that month). He mistakingly writes 20/12/1910, instead of the American form 12/20/1910, betraying his non-American status.

(Of course, its equally possible that Fritz' surname is Smith, whilsts Hans' is Goebbels: this would also give him away).

Callyst 14 August 2009

i would have liked it better if the question included some information such as "2 german spies posing as tourists arrive in america on hans' birthday, December 20" or something to make it not so far fetched because nothing clearly states hans' birthday wasn't also the 5th of may.

x_kill_me_bby_x 18 August 2009

yea thats rite!!!

Add a Comment or Suggest an Answer


Rate this puzzle

No votes yet — be the first! ❤️ 👍 🔧 👎 💀

Vote totals refresh periodically.



« Back to Lateral Thinking Puzzles


Puzzles

Site Map | Contact Us