Mauri’s punny lateral thinking

Mauri finds a large tarp, proclaiming that it’s “practically made” for the task. He places it on the ground and has David lie on it, and then tries to lift it up, to test whether it will hold up under the strain.

Mauri then confirms with David that the requirement is for the hammock to be at least 30 centimetres above the ground. When David agrees, Mauri suggests that the two go inside the house (the Bäst i Test house’s ground floor level is actually well above the surrounding ground-level).

Mauri and David go to the study, where Mauri spreads the tarp out on the floor, and ties one end of it to a doorknob with some rope, using a pun in his justification that he has just made a hammock (the Swedish word is ‘hängmatta’ – literally, ‘hang rug’).

Mauri briefly runs into trouble when he realises that there are no other doors in the room that he can use as his other point of connection. He solves this problem by simply tying a rope to the back of a chair.

As he and David prepare to lie on the tarp together, Mauri suddenly remembers that he needs to have the task brief with him (this surprises Mauri in the studio, who had clearly forgotten that he’d remembered this), so he runs out to the shed to retrieve it.

Mauri and David lie on the tarp together on the floor for the required amount of time (during which Johan grumbles, in the studio, that Mauri’s hammock has “no swing”).

Mauri completes the task in 11 minutes and 37 seconds, and earns first place.

(Written by Jenny R and proofread by Karl Craven)

(Illustrations collected by Jenny R and adjusted by Karl Craven)