I would so hire the person that answered as follows to this brain-teaser question during an interview:
During a screening interview, I was asked how I would design a bike fit for someone visually impaired. I responded something to the effect of, “What, like, for blind people?”, and she answered yes.
I thought for a moment and then I responded, “Well.. a blind person riding a bike doesn’t sound like a very safe idea, so I would make the bike stationary, maybe with a fan blowing in the person’s face. He probably wouldn’t even know the difference.”
She was speechless.
I think it’s a great answer. It avoids anything impractical, and it’s entertaining to boot!
I agree with the general thrust of the article: as much as I love riddles, I don’t think they’re much help in finding a good candidate. Maybe early on when the concept was novel it was a good way to see into a candidates thinking processes, but when the candidate studies possible questions and when the interviewer is interested in the answer, not the thought process, it’s nothing more than a silly memory test.