Comment by tomxor

"I can't figure out" != "I'm not clever enough"

I think saying "i'm not clever enough" (one of the options presented in the article) was never a realistic option given the premise of the article, which is: "a problem somebody’s been working on for a week or a month or maybe years". In this context it's also the least likely interpretation of any other question unless you are a telepath, the limitations on the time you've spent thinking about it are implicit, it does not mean you are incapable of figuring it out...

The other person has been working on this significantly longer than you, this is the reason you can't quickly deduce everything they know. The whole point of this type of questioning is to try and extract some of the results of work the other person has already achieved, for the purpose of better understanding the problem, guide further enquiry and possibly allow you to make useful suggestions.