The answer to last week’s Lateral Thinking challenge was. Q: A man hijacks an aircraft transporting both passengers and valuable cargo. After taking the cargo, the man demands two parachutes, puts one of them on and then jumps leaving the other behind. Why did he ask for two?

A: If the officials thought he was jumping with a hostage they would not be tempted to sabotage one of the parachutes.

This week’s challenge is.

Q: At a recent birthday party, Jo challenged the formidable intellect of Rupert to cut the birthday cake into the maximum number of pieces possible, using only 4 straight cuts. With little ado Rupert picked up the knife and did so. How many pieces did he manage to cut it into and how?

For those wanting to earn to think more laterally at work and in private life join us for our Six Thinking Hats Training on Dec 6.

The answer to this along with a new Mental Floss will appear next week.

Good Luck!