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Post by tarathian123 on Apr 30, 2017 1:37:55 GMT
Correct. Give that guy a cream cookie!
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Post by Nalkarj on Apr 30, 2017 1:57:28 GMT
I'm sure this one won't be too difficult, but it reminds me (1) of a detective story I know well and (2) of a period in history that I have studied and in which I am very interested. So... Enjoy! Lucrezia Borgia invites a prospective victim to lunch. They eat a hearty, fancy meal of roast venison, with a selection of fresh vegetables, all washed down with the finest wine imported from Bordeaux, France. After the meal, they eat figs and freshly picked grapes. "Just one apple left," says Lucrezia; "I insist you have it." Now, the guest is an intelligent man, and he knows the Borgias' reputation for poisoning. "No," he murmurs, smiling; “I couldn’t." "Well," Lucrezia murmurs, meeting her guest's smile, “how about we share it?” and she promptly slices the apple in two. The guest and Lucrezia start to eat their respective halves when the guest's eyes suddenly roll towards the ceiling--and he falls over, dead. Lucrezia finishes her half and thinks to herself, Ah. Another victim successfully poisoned.How did she do it?
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Post by tarathian123 on Apr 30, 2017 2:24:47 GMT
Stabs him with the knife perhaps, regardless of reputation you didn't say she actually poisoned him.
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Post by Nalkarj on Apr 30, 2017 2:26:33 GMT
Excellent idea, tarathian123 --indeed, it's the sort of solution I would like if I were the one making up the puzzle--but that's not it. Let me clarify that she poisoned him.
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Post by tarathian123 on Apr 30, 2017 2:45:06 GMT
That's sneaky, changing the word 'dispatched' to 'poisoned'. This is a bit iffy, but... could she have poisoned just one side of the knife?
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Post by Nalkarj on Apr 30, 2017 2:50:23 GMT
That's sneaky, changing the word 'dispatched' to 'poisoned'. This is a bit iffy, but... could she have poisoned just one side of the knife? Hey, I've written detective stories. Sneakiness is our bread and butter! Yes, that is indeed the correct answer! (See, I said that it wouldn't take too long.) As for the iffiness, I quite agree, but I suppose I could be done very carefully. Maybe?
Anyone else care to have a go at it?
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Post by Nalkarj on Apr 30, 2017 2:52:59 GMT
By the way, Al, purely as a riddle, I think your solution is actually better. From a detective-story perspective, though, the solution I originally read gave me all kinds of plotting ideas.
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Post by tarathian123 on Apr 30, 2017 2:58:48 GMT
I won't comment for fear of giving the answer, but yes I can imagine it would have.
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Post by tarathian123 on Apr 30, 2017 3:31:28 GMT
Here's an easy one...
Which word in the dictionary is always spelled incorrectly?
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Post by Nalkarj on Apr 30, 2017 3:37:28 GMT
Incorrectly. Not that exact one, but I've heard something similar.
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Post by tarathian123 on Apr 30, 2017 3:41:18 GMT
Correct. Said it was easy.
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Post by Nalkarj on Apr 30, 2017 19:01:53 GMT
I'm sure this one won't be too difficult, but it reminds me (1) of a detective story I know well and (2) of a period in history that I have studied and in which I am very interested. So... Enjoy! Lucrezia Borgia invites a prospective victim to lunch. They eat a hearty, fancy meal of roast venison, with a selection of fresh vegetables, all washed down with the finest wine imported from Bordeaux, France. After the meal, they eat figs and freshly picked grapes. "Just one apple left," says Lucrezia; "I insist you have it." Now, the guest is an intelligent man, and he knows the Borgias' reputation for poisoning. "No," he murmurs, smiling; “I couldn’t." "Well," Lucrezia murmurs, meeting her guest's smile, “how about we share it?” and she promptly slices the apple in two. The guest and Lucrezia start to eat their respective halves when the guest's eyes suddenly roll towards the ceiling--and he falls over, dead. Lucrezia finishes her half and thinks to herself, Ah. Another victim successfully poisoned.How did she do it?
jervistetch? brimfin? Pete? persistenceofvision? Anyone else want to try this one?
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Post by Nalkarj on Apr 30, 2017 19:06:18 GMT
Wow. Lots to cover here. 1.) I have heard the puzzles submitted by jervistetch and the two submitted by tarathian123 years ago. They are all classics. (In fact, the fox, chicken, and grain puzzle was shown on an episode of BRAIN GAMES a few years back.) So I won't offer solutions on them but encourage others to think them through. You can get there. 2.) I notice that no one has offered a solution to the doctor problem I submitted. Perhaps I should have put it on a separate post instead of including it with my Jeremy puzzle as I did. 3.) salzmank's "Why is a raven like a writing desk?" puzzle reminded me of a couple of puzzles I ran across as a kid. The first one is "Why is a blotter like a lazy dog?" A blotter, by the way, is a piece of blotting paper used to absorb excess ink, to protect a desk top. In these days of computers, blotters are long forgotten. Anyway, I will include the answer in spoiler mode, but it's not really a serious puzzle to be solved; it's more of a clever play on words. Here it is: A blotter is an ink-lined plane. An inclined plane is a slope up. And a slow pup is a lazy dog. On a similar plane is this riddle, "Why is a fire engine red?" The Russians are red, and a fire engine is red because it's always rushin'. The funny thing is that the original answer to the fire engine one was a much longer piece of wordplay and those two lines were just the end of it. If anyone knows the full nonsensical answer please let me know. For #2, Brimfin, it's that the doctor is his mother, correct? Just want to make sure it's the same one I'd heard. I like the silly ones about the blotter and the fire engine. Quite clever, in fact.
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Pete
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@petermorris
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Post by Pete on May 1, 2017 0:04:28 GMT
Here's an old teaser and probably beneath you expert problem-solvers, but I'll stick it up anyway. Someone may not know it. A Fox, a Chicken, and a Sack of Grain: You have a fox, a chicken and a sack of grain. You must cross a river with only one of them at a time. If you leave the fox with the chicken, the fox will eat the chicken; if you leave the chicken with the grain, the chicken will eat the grain. How can you get all three across safely? Much better solution here: xkcd.com/1134/
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Pete
Sophomore
@petermorris
Posts: 111
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Post by Pete on May 1, 2017 0:09:55 GMT
I'm sure this one won't be too difficult, but it reminds me (1) of a detective story I know well and (2) of a period in history that I have studied and in which I am very interested. So... Enjoy! Lucrezia Borgia invites a prospective victim to lunch. They eat a hearty, fancy meal of roast venison, with a selection of fresh vegetables, all washed down with the finest wine imported from Bordeaux, France. After the meal, they eat figs and freshly picked grapes. "Just one apple left," says Lucrezia; "I insist you have it." Now, the guest is an intelligent man, and he knows the Borgias' reputation for poisoning. "No," he murmurs, smiling; “I couldn’t." "Well," Lucrezia murmurs, meeting her guest's smile, “how about we share it?” and she promptly slices the apple in two. The guest and Lucrezia start to eat their respective halves when the guest's eyes suddenly roll towards the ceiling--and he falls over, dead. Lucrezia finishes her half and thinks to herself, Ah. Another victim successfully poisoned.How did she do it?
She had taken the poison's antidote before starting to eat.
Or, she had built up an immunity to the poison, like Dread Pirate Roberts.
Or, the poison was in the ice. She drank her wine quickly, before it melted. Her victim drank more slowly, allowing the ice to partly melt, thus poisoning the wine.
(If he knew her reputation, why did he even accept the invitation?)
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Post by Nalkarj on May 1, 2017 0:14:41 GMT
I'm sure this one won't be too difficult, but it reminds me (1) of a detective story I know well and (2) of a period in history that I have studied and in which I am very interested. So... Enjoy! Lucrezia Borgia invites a prospective victim to lunch. They eat a hearty, fancy meal of roast venison, with a selection of fresh vegetables, all washed down with the finest wine imported from Bordeaux, France. After the meal, they eat figs and freshly picked grapes. "Just one apple left," says Lucrezia; "I insist you have it." Now, the guest is an intelligent man, and he knows the Borgias' reputation for poisoning. "No," he murmurs, smiling; “I couldn’t." "Well," Lucrezia murmurs, meeting her guest's smile, “how about we share it?” and she promptly slices the apple in two. The guest and Lucrezia start to eat their respective halves when the guest's eyes suddenly roll towards the ceiling--and he falls over, dead. Lucrezia finishes her half and thinks to herself, Ah. Another victim successfully poisoned.How did she do it?
She had taken the poison's antidote before starting to eat. Or, she had built up an immunity to the poison, like Dread Pirate Roberts. Or, the poison was in the ice. She drank her wine quickly, before it melted. Her victim drank more slowly, allowing the ice to partly melt, thus poisoning the wine. (If he knew her reputation, why did he even accept the invitation?) Pete, would mind doing me a big favor and putting your guesses in spoilers? Thanks! As for the solutions... None of those is correct, though they're some very good guesses! The first time I read this riddle, I did indeed think of Dread Pirate Roberts [Westley] in The Princess Bride (one of my favorite books and movies). Let me say that there was no known antidote to the poison, that she hadn't discovered any, that she had developed an immunity to any poison, and that there was absolutely no poison in the ice. As to why he accepted the invitation, I don't know--I didn't write the riddle! Maybe he was a Sicilian?
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Pete
Sophomore
@petermorris
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Post by Pete on May 1, 2017 0:33:26 GMT
Here's an easy one... Which word in the dictionary is always spelled incorrectly? I prefer to phrase it this way: Which word in this question is spelt wrongly: colour, center, meter?
Cue discussion about the merits of British Vs American spelling.
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Post by Nalkarj on May 1, 2017 0:35:06 GMT
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Pete
Sophomore
@petermorris
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Post by Pete on May 1, 2017 0:36:23 GMT
Pete, would mind doing me a big favor and putting your guesses in spoilers? Thanks! D'oh. Yes of course. I usually ask for the same consideration.
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Pete
Sophomore
@petermorris
Posts: 111
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Post by Pete on May 1, 2017 0:57:08 GMT
That's sneaky, changing the word 'dispatched' to 'poisoned'. This is a bit iffy, but... could she have poisoned just one side of the knife? Hey, I've written detective stories. Sneakiness is our bread and butter! Yes, that is indeed the correct answer! (See, I said that it wouldn't take too long.) As for the iffiness, I quite agree, but I suppose I could be done very carefully. Maybe?
Anyone else care to have a go at it? Just to be clear here, since the correct solution has already been posted, are you inviting alternative answers, or do you want the same answer again?
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