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Post by alfromni on Oct 3, 2017 17:09:42 GMT
Salzmank House mystery The very first plot which comes to mind is one of an episode in the George Gently series, namely "Gently with the Innocents", in which a wealthy girl intends to buy ('through the nose' if necessary) a house and demolish it, and on which land she intends to profit by building new houses. But making a profit wasn't her real reason. The house used to be a private school/orphanage in which many of the children had been abused, both sexually and mentally, she being one of them. She wanted the memory of the place, and the place itself to be removed from existence. www.imdb.com/title/tt1432608/?ref_=ttep_ep1It's one of my favourite TV episodes of any series which is why it came so quickly to mind.
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Post by Salzmank on Oct 3, 2017 17:23:27 GMT
alfromniAs usual, I forgot a very important detail... Sorry about that, I was writing quickly. Simply put, he has no sentimental or emotional connection whatsoever with the house. I'll change the post.
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Post by alfromni on Oct 3, 2017 17:48:44 GMT
SalzmankRe House: Is this a riddle, or an "Author! Author!" type puzzle?
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Post by Salzmank on Oct 3, 2017 17:50:13 GMT
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Post by alfromni on Oct 3, 2017 18:23:01 GMT
SalzmankRe House:
Is the old man an investor in a building company who wanted the land to build on, but was short of capital to buy it for the price asked for? So even being a skin-flint the old guy chipped in as he would probably be making a bigger profit on the land eventually by doing so.
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Post by Salzmank on Oct 3, 2017 18:29:17 GMT
alfromniNo...  He has no connection with any company (anymore, at least), and he sells it to a man he has never met and with whom he also has no connection.
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Post by alfromni on Oct 3, 2017 18:36:54 GMT
Salzmank Re House: Is he perchance the same guy who thought his birthday was in the middle of March, but was actually on Dec 15?
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Post by alfromni on Oct 3, 2017 18:49:54 GMT
SalzmankHouse -- Beats me. With such business practices one wonders how he got to be wealthy in the first place
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Post by alfromni on Oct 3, 2017 19:17:44 GMT
Salzmank Re House: Tax dodge? If it is, I'm not au fait with the bizarre workings of the US tax system.
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Post by brimfin on Oct 4, 2017 1:33:29 GMT
brimfin For #2: well, gee whiz. As you once told me, "I frankly can't think of any explanation that anyone could come up with that wouldn't have flaws in it. I just did it for the fun and the challenge. If I were writing a novel or short story with this premise, then I'd want to delve into how I could change the narrative until it was something as plausible as I could get." It's just a puzzle, and all puzzles ask for some degree of suspension of disbelief, especially in solution; certainly, every single one posted on here has done so. And, by the by, I've worked with kids that age, and--in my experience--they would try something very similar. They've certainly tried it before on me. "Oh, no, we never did that... You've gotta be remembering it wrong." I didn't do what the teacher did, of course, but the point stands. Correct on #3. Well argued, my friend. Chalk last night up to frustration of having little time to post. I wrote my three responses, hit post, got an error message and lost the post. I had to retype the whole thing with even less time on my hands, so I ended up sounding more cranky and critical than I meant to. While I thought that premise was a little over the top, admittedly one of my guesses (about the kids breaking into the teacher's office) was more based on TV shows kids than real life. I don't doubt that kids would try to con the teacher on some points; I just thought they would know that trying such a con on an important assignment like that was doomed to failure. But then, according to your riddle, that exactly what happened to them. I also grant that since you were a teacher once that does give you some insight I wouldn't have in the matter. Maybe it wasn't as far fetched a premise as I thought.
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Post by Salzmank on Oct 4, 2017 2:49:09 GMT
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Post by alfromni on Oct 4, 2017 13:21:31 GMT
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Post by Salzmank on Oct 4, 2017 13:39:18 GMT
Salzmank Re House: Tax dodge? If it is, I'm not au fait with the bizarre workings of the US tax system. No, not that, bizarre though it is... |
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Post by DanaShelbyChancey on Oct 4, 2017 14:10:22 GMT
Salzmank Lorda Mercy. Does it have something to do with where he wants to be buried? Is the "house" a mausoleum or something like that, or he wants someone else buried there? To deplete his wealth so some heir of his won't inherit anything? Those things might qualify as an emotional connection but it is what I thought.
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Post by alfromni on Oct 4, 2017 14:33:46 GMT
Salzmank House mystery... I think a hint in a spoiler is called for. 
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Post by Salzmank on Oct 4, 2017 14:58:01 GMT
alfromni Yes, regularly I would give one, but DanaShelbyChancey is very close... I still insist it's not an emotional attachment, though.
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Post by alfromni on Oct 4, 2017 15:20:59 GMT
Salzmank
Sold the land to a landscape gardener to devise a memorial garden or some such, perhaps for a recently deceased relative....or himself? But again that smacks of emotion not usually displayed by a skinflint.
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Post by Salzmank on Oct 4, 2017 15:29:04 GMT
alfromniNo, not that... No emotion--in fact, to the contrary, unless one counts "self-interest" as emotion.
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Post by Salzmank on Oct 4, 2017 15:35:18 GMT
alfromniI suppose we can't have any hints for the mathematical puzzle without giving it away? I have thrown my anti-math caution to the wind and tried to solve the damn thing without much luck thus far...
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Post by alfromni on Oct 4, 2017 15:38:19 GMT
SalzmankSequence hint...
Just one hint: It has to do with an uncommon property between the digits in the number and the number itself.
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