Maverick puzzles

I came across these puzzles while I was reading (and living!). These are not classical riddles with specific answers, but yield themselves to any number of correct interpretations. I would like to invite anyone with their thinking caps on to attempt them.

1. A man is sunbathing on a beach with a newspaper covering his face. Three women walking by have the following discussion:

Woman A: That looks like my husband lying over there.
Woman B: That is certainly not your husband.
Woman C: That man certainly doesn't live in this village.

What do you think is the most likely explanation of what is going on?

2. An individual faces a firing squad, and fifty expert marksmen aim their rifles (at this individual) to carry out the deed. The order is given, the shots ring out, and somehow all the bullets miss and the condemned individual walks away unscathed.

How can this remarkable  event be explained?


Happy thinking!

LOL, Ika.

My thoughts:

Q1. Since it is not said that the man is naked, I am free to assume that he is wearing clothes. If this is so, then woman A is his new wife of less than 24 hours, hence her inability to tell whether or not the man is her husband. Woman B is his ex-wife/girlfriend of several years, who knows the man very well. Woman C is the village masseuse, hence her ability to tell that the man does not live in the village (I can also assume that it is a very small village!)    .


Q2. In addition to Ika's well thought-out options:

5. Another person stood in front of the man and took his bullets.
6. A big bird flew down just as the men were going to fire the bullets and carried him up, putting him down immediately the shots had been fired so he could walk away by himself.
7. There was an earthquake and all the marksmen fell into a big ditch and fired their bullets upwards, while the man was not affected.
8. All the bullets somehow missed their mark - this is to be expected as there is a degree of probability that each of the fifty men could have missed the target.