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Bob smashes the taillights of a stranger's car. But the cops arrest the car's owner, not Bob.

Why didn't they arrest Bob?

Beastly Gerbil
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FumbleFingers
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    I know the intended solution for this, but I can't stand this type of lateral thinking questions, as they are simply too broad IMHO. Why wouldn't for example bribery be a valid answer? Or maybe the driver was a known criminal who killed 42 people and Bob just tried to smash his car so he can't drive away. –  Oct 30 '16 at 17:56
  • @Lukas Rotter: Fair enough. I didn't know the intended solution, but it struck me as similar to the kind of "lateral thinking" puzzles that used to fascinate me back in the 60s. Not that I knew the word back then, but it always seemed to me the "right" answer would be the most "parsimonious" one (i.e. - the one depending on the smallest number of "non-default" assumptions). Bribery would entail both Bob and the cops being corrupt, foiling a getaway is unconvincing because broken taillights just wouldn't work, etc. Should I just delete the question, then? – FumbleFingers Oct 30 '16 at 18:21
  • Not sure if you should delete it, I personally wouldn't do it, even though it might be closed as "too broad". I can see your point with the most parsimonious answer, but until that one is found (which is a bit subjective) many other valid answers might be posted. That's the primary problem I see with these types of questions on this site. –  Oct 30 '16 at 18:26
  • Might be in the minority here, but I very much enjoy the creative nourishment from a variety of solutions to "too broad" puzzles. (It also adds to the interest in finding out which one was intended.) – humn Oct 30 '16 at 18:55
  • @FumbleFingers after posting, I pasted this into google and the answer that came up was the same as mine. Generally you should check online for puzzles like these, they can usually be found there... – Beastly Gerbil Oct 30 '16 at 19:05
  • Well, luckily SO gives me a bonus 100 rep on this site, so I can afford for this to be downvoted quite a bit before I lose the ability to post comments. In the face of 6 downvotes so far and closure by a mod, there's obviously no point in me trying to argue for this question. I'll see if I can't find something more in keeping with the site's preferred style. But I seriously doubt I'll come up with anything as good as Is this Tetris puzzle solvable? (that's what sold me on this site in the first place! :) – FumbleFingers Oct 30 '16 at 19:08
  • @Beastly Gerbil: I did think about "disguising" it by changing Bob's name (and using different words, such as back lights, police instead of taillights, cops), but I figured that wasn't really "sporting". If people want to look the answer up rather than reason it through, who am I to place obstacles in their way? – FumbleFingers Oct 30 '16 at 19:12
  • @FumbleFingers If I may, personal puzzles are usually a better choice than already existing puzzles, probably even more than the difficulty of the puzzle itself. New is good. :D And welcome to the site! – Alenanno Oct 30 '16 at 19:26
  • @FumbleFingers I voted to close as too broad, but did not downvote. I've heard the puzzle before, and it's not a bad puzzle in my opinion; it's just puzzles here should have one identifiably correct solution (or be of a form that means people can post incrementally better ones). Don't be put off - I hope you can come up with some fun puzzles! – Jonathan Allan Oct 30 '16 at 19:32
  • @Lukas, humn, Beastly, Alenanno, Jonathan,... Many thanks for all those constructive comments. I will work harder. – FumbleFingers Oct 30 '16 at 20:53
  • I wanted to suggest that maybe Bob was the victim of an accident when a drunk driver smashed into him, shattering the headlights along with Bob's head. Obviously Bob could not be arrested. – Xenocacia Oct 31 '16 at 02:43

3 Answers3

7

Because

He was being kidnapped

So

He smashes the lights while he is inside the boot to either alert someone or to try and make the cops pull the car over. They find Bob and the cops arrest the kidnapper.

Beastly Gerbil
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7

Because

Bob just got a fine which he duly paid. The car's owner was arrested for totally unrelated reasons.

hexomino
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7

Bob is

a police officer himself

and he smashed the taillights because

he was doing a PIT maneuver on the car in question to stop it fleeing an earlier hit-and-run.

Rubio
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