How do you reply when they haven't invested much time in solving the problem? You ask, "what have you tried?". They say XYZ. What are you going to tell them to go back, try some other things, and then come back? Sometimes I too need to brute force my way through problems. It sucks, it's how I got where I am. No one has to suffer like I did early in the career but an ounce of effort from some folks every now and then would be nice.