[cousin_it]

It's more about finding buttons to push. For example, Justin Corwin won one of his games against a religious woman by telling her that she shouldn't play God by keeping him locked up for a subjective eternity (it was more involved, but you get the point). You could come up with other tactics if you know the gatekeeper is divorced, or donates to charity, or is an immigrant, etc. Really, you'll be surprised by how much progress you can make on an "impossible" problem if you just spend five minutes thinking without flinching away.