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Post by Nalkarj on Apr 20, 2017 22:43:37 GMT
One of my favorite riddles, used to illustrate a point on the "Billy Wilder and the Puzzle Plot" thread. If anyone here is interested and hasn't already heard this one...go at it! (Please, put your guesses in spoilers--and don't write an answer if you've heard this one before, please! Keep up the fun for everyone.) A man is running home when he sees a masked man running towards him, carrying an identifiable object in his hand. At this time, the (unmasked) man turns around and runs back in the direction from which he came. What was the masked man holding in his hand?
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Post by jervistetch on Apr 21, 2017 1:23:41 GMT
Hi Salzmank, Thank you for bringing us a puzzle. I promise I've never heard this one and I've been struggling with it for over an hour but I think I have it. They are baseball players and the masked man is the catcher with the ball in his hand.
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Post by Nalkarj on Apr 21, 2017 1:34:46 GMT
Hi Salzmank, Thank you for bringing us a puzzle. I promise I've never heard this one and I've been struggling with it for over an hour but I think I have it. They are baseball players and the masked man is the catcher with the ball in his hand. Excellent, Jervistetch--got it in one! (Wish I had a prize to give you--so many people haven't been able to figure it out.) Anyone else want to have a go at it?
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Post by jervistetch on Apr 21, 2017 1:51:22 GMT
It was good to exercise the brain. It's been too long since Pete's puzzle and the triumph of your and brimfin's solution. I'll see if I can find one but don't wait up.
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Post by brimfin on Apr 21, 2017 20:01:48 GMT
When I saw your name associated with this, salzmank, I thought I'd check it out. I was puzzled at first when looking at it because running away from a masked man did not seem like unusual behavior. If I saw a masked man holding a gun, I'd turn and run too. But I knew it couldn't be that simple, so I thought it over for a while and then it finally made sense and yes, it was very clever. With your permission, I'll give a clue for other people who might be frustrated looking at it. I'll put my answer too, just for the record. I'm not surprised jervistetch figured it out. He's been able to solve some of the most complex questions in the TV trivia quizzes I've been posting, not to mention coming up with the last piece of Pete's puzzle. Clue: Go over the puzzle word by word; that's how I got the answer. You might be concentrating on "masked man", but there's another pair of words that will set the scene for you better. Solution: I kept thinking about why the person was wearing a mask, but then I asked myself why he was running home, and it hit me. He's a baseball player. The masked man is the catcher and he's holding a ball. In that case, I'd run in the opposite direction too. To third base.
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Post by Nalkarj on Apr 21, 2017 20:09:13 GMT
When I saw your name associated with this, salzmank, I thought I'd check it out. I was puzzled at first when looking at it because running away from a masked man did not seem like unusual behavior. If I saw a masked man holding a gun, I'd turn and run too. But I knew it couldn't be that simple, so I thought it over for a while and then it finally made sense and yes, it was very clever. With your permission, I'll give a clue for other people who might be frustrated looking at it. I'll put my answer too, just for the record. I'm not surprised jervistetch figured it out. He's been able to solve some of the most complex questions in the TV trivia quizzes I've been posting, not to mention coming up with the last piece of Pete's puzzle. Clue: Go over the puzzle word by word; that's how I got the answer. You might be concentrating on "masked man", but there's another pair of words that will set the scene for you better. Solution: I kept thinking about why the person was wearing a mask, but then I asked myself why he was running home, and it hit me. He's a baseball player. The masked man is the catcher and he's holding a ball. In that case, I'd run in the opposite direction too. To third base. Thanks, Brimfin! It remains one of my favorite riddles. And a clue is just fine. By the way, sorry I'm not participating in the TV trivia quizzes, but I'd be far, far out of my depth!
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Post by persistenceofvision on Apr 24, 2017 18:44:35 GMT
A cowboy rides into town on Friday, stays for six days and leaves on Friday. How?
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Post by Nalkarj on Apr 24, 2017 18:52:52 GMT
A cowboy rides into town on Friday, stays for six days and leaves on Friday. How? That's an oldie but goodie, POV, but I'll leave it to anyone who might not have heard it already.
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Post by Nalkarj on Apr 24, 2017 20:45:40 GMT
Here's another one if anyone's interested.
It's also an object lesson in what I meant on the Wilder thread, because it's not a riddle (as the "man is running home" and the "cowboy rides into town" ones are) but rather a logic puzzle. In other words, the answer provides inevitability ("yes, that's what the answer must be") but not surprise ("what! I never saw that coming"). Of course, logic puzzles, unlike riddles, aren't aiming for anagnorisis (the unification of inevitability and surprise), so it's not failing to achieve its goals; it just has different goals. Anyway, I still think it's clever; in my first year of college, my roommate, who was more mathematically minded than I, tried to stump me with it: I was able, after some thought, to get most of the solution except for one little piece.
Still, if you haven't heard it, I hope you'll enjoy it. (Oh, and be careful not to have it spoiled by mistake if you don't know it: the answer is all over the Internet.)
Three wise men are told to stand in a straight line, one in front of the other. A hat is put on each of their heads. They are told that each of these hats was selected from a group of five hats: two black hats and three white hats. The first man, standing at the front of the line, can’t see either of the men behind him or their hats. The second man, in the middle, can see only the first man and his hat. The last man, at the rear, can see both other men and their hats.
None of the men can see the hat on his own head. They are asked to deduce its color. Some time goes by as the wise men ponder the puzzle in silence. Finally the first one, at the front of the line, makes an announcement: "My hat is white."
He is correct. How did he come to this conclusion?
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Post by Deleted on Apr 24, 2017 21:04:14 GMT
A cowboy rides into town on Friday, stays for six days and leaves on Friday. How? That's an oldie but goodie, POV, but I'll leave it to anyone who might not have heard it already. I wish posters here would provide the solutions in spoilers for those of us whose minds aren't inclined well toward solving puzzles but who appreciate them anyway, especially considering that a thread like is easily forgotten and ignored by those who post puzzles.
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Post by Nalkarj on Apr 24, 2017 21:19:37 GMT
That's an oldie but goodie, POV, but I'll leave it to anyone who might not have heard it already. I wish posters here would provide the solutions in spoilers for those of us whose minds aren't inclined well toward solving puzzles but who appreciate them anyway, especially considering that a thread like is easily forgotten and ignored by those who post puzzles. Just read your post in more depth, and I can't quite say I agree. Part of the very joy of riddles (unlike detective stories) is solving them on your own. If for some reason, despite that, you really want solutions, they're all over the Internet.
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Post by Deleted on Apr 24, 2017 21:32:16 GMT
I wish posters here would provide the solutions in spoilers for those of us whose minds aren't inclined well toward solving puzzles but who appreciate them anyway, especially considering that a thread like is easily forgotten and ignored by those who post puzzles. Just read your post in more depth, and I can't quite say I agree. Part of the very joy of riddles (unlike detective stories) is solving them on your own. If for some reason, despite that, you really want solutions, they're all over the Internet. Then this thread is exclusive and useless to people like me, isn't it? And, if solutions aren't part of the "joy" then why are they supposedly all over the internet which you imply I am not already aware of? Thanx alot.
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Post by Nalkarj on Apr 25, 2017 0:48:16 GMT
Well, gee, @gottaluvafriend , that's not really nice, is it?
I just tried to explain my reasoning behind not revealing every solution. I don't think that exactly implies exclusivity: it's not useless, because you can read the riddle, try to figure it out, and then, if not, look it up.
No, not every answer is provided for you, but then, if one reads a detective story (which have similarities to riddles in spite of that one difference I articulated above), one may not find every solution on a detective story forum either. A closer parallel: the magic trick. A magician is not going to explain the trick to you. If you truly want to know the answer, however, you can usually "Google" it. And, even there, you may not find the solution to every single trick. That's not because of some kind of hypothetical discrimination against non-mystery readers or non-magicians but rather because there's no real need to explain everything. Indeed, in the second case it defeats the very purpose of the trick.
I continue to believe that solving a riddle on its own is a central factor of riddles. My online dictionary gives this as the definition: "a question or statement intentionally phrased so as to require ingenuity in ascertaining its answer or meaning, typically presented as a game." Whose ingenuity? Not the person who poses the riddle (that would render the rest of the definition meaningless) but rather the people to whom said riddle is posed.
Thus, the very essence of the riddle is for the person reading/hearing the riddle to find the answer on his own. Sometimes, of course, we cannot find that answer, and we are annoyed, so we may search for it. All well and fine. It's a different story, however, to ask me or anyone else here to reveal to you every secret.
And it's utterly unwarranted to be sarcastic about it when I have explained my reasons. You may disagree, but then mount an argument rather than fall back on snickering sarcasm. I have given my reasons, and I stand by them.
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Post by Nalkarj on Apr 25, 2017 0:55:21 GMT
One more thing, @gottaluvafriend. I'm not going to reveal the secret to anyone else's riddle unless I haven't heard it, am guessing at it, and have put my guess in spoilers. So, if persistenceofvision or anyone else here wants to reveal the secret to his own riddle, he's got a right to do so. But I'm not going to be the one to tell everyone the solution to the riddle he posed. That would be innately unfair to him.
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Post by brimfin on Apr 25, 2017 1:27:54 GMT
Okay, here is my possible solution to the persistence of vision puzzle Friday is the name of his horse. And here is my possible solution for salzmank's puzzle: The key here is the long pause before man #1 makes his answer. Man #3 can see both hats in front of him. If both of them were black, he would know his hat was white. Since he remains silent, then at least one of the hats in front of him must be white. Man #2 reasons this. Therefore, if the man in front of him had a black hat, he would announce that his hat was white. Since he doesn't, then logically the hat on the man in front of him must be white. Man #1 realizes this, and then announces his hat is white. Now, here are a couple of quizzes that I like. The first one I heard on a mystery show, but unfortunately they announced the answer almost immediately afterward. So I never knew if I would have solved it on my own. I give you all the chance to see if you can: Jeremy is dead. There is an iron bar across his neck, and some uneaten food in front of him. Who is Jeremy? Here is another classic: A doctor goes fishing with his son. As they return to the dock, the doctor suffers a heart attack, and when his son tries to steady him he collapses and the son strikes his head on the dock. A man nearby sees this and calls an ambulance and they are both rushed to the hospital. As the son is wheeled into the operating room, the doctor looks at him and says, "I can't operate on this boy. He's my son!" The boy is not adopted. How is this scene possible? Enjoy.
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Post by Nalkarj on Apr 25, 2017 1:53:25 GMT
Okay, here is my possible solution to the persistence of vision puzzle Friday is the name of his horse. And here is my possible solution for salzmank's puzzle: The key here is the long pause before man #1 makes his answer. Man #3 can see both hats in front of him. If both of them were black, he would know his hat was white. Since he remains silent, then at least one of the hats in front of him must be white. Man #2 reasons this. Therefore, if the man in front of him had a black hat, he would announce that his hat was white. Since he doesn't, then logically the hat on the man in front of him must be white. Man #1 realizes this, and then announces his hat is white. Now, here are a couple of quizzes that I like. The first one I heard on a mystery show, but unfortunately they announced the answer almost immediately afterward. So I never knew if I would have solved it on my own. I give you all the chance to see if you can: Jeremy is dead. There is an iron bar across his neck, and some uneaten food in front of him. Who is Jeremy? Here is another classic: A doctor goes fishing with his son. As they return to the dock, the doctor suffers a heart attack, and when his son tries to steady him he collapses and the son strikes his head on the dock. A man nearby sees this and calls an ambulance and they are both rushed to the hospital. As the son is wheeled into the operating room, the doctor looks at him and says, "I can't operate on this boy. He's my son!" The boy is not adopted. How is this scene possible? Enjoy. [I'd like to emphasize, @gottaluvafriend, that brimfin did something different here from what you were suggesting. He was guessing at puzzles he'd never heard before and to which he thinks he knows the answer. That's different from someone who already knows the answer, who's just telling it to those who don't know the answer.] Brimfin, I'll let persistenceofvision tell you the answer to his riddle, but you're absolutely correct about my puzzle! Excellent reasoning there! I have heard the "doctor goes fishing..." riddle before, so I'll remain silent on that one, but I'll give some thought to your first. Thanks!
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Post by jervistetch on Apr 25, 2017 1:55:26 GMT
I've actually heard all of these except for salzmank's hat riddle. I'm working on that one but my brain isn't cooperating. I'll throw in another classic that you've probably heard but maybe not.
Max walked into a hardware store and asked the price of some items. The salesman said: One costs $1. Eight costs $1. Seventeen cost $2. One hundred four costs $3. One thousand seventy two costs $4. What was Max buying?
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Post by Nalkarj on Apr 25, 2017 2:07:17 GMT
I've actually heard all of these except for salzmank's hat riddle. I'm working on that one but my brain isn't cooperating. I'll throw in another classic that you've probably heard but maybe not. Max walked into a hardware store and asked the price of some items. The salesman said: One costs $1. Eight costs $1. Seventeen cost $2. One hundred four costs $3. One thousand seventy two costs $4. What was Max buying?Hm, I haven't heard this one, Jervistetch. Could it be that he's buying numbers, in the sense of digits, like the number plaques or stencils that go on houses and mailboxes? That way, a plaque of "1" would cost $1 because it's one digit, whereas (e.g.) a plaque of "104" would cost $3 because it's three digits? It would be $1 for each digit, then. I hope that makes sense--I don't know exactly what those things are called.
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Post by jervistetch on Apr 25, 2017 2:12:27 GMT
Yes! Good work. Child's play to the Master.
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Post by Nalkarj on Apr 25, 2017 2:13:40 GMT
Oh, gee, I'm no master, jervistetch. But thanks for the kind words!
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