|
Post by brimfin on Jun 9, 2017 19:18:36 GMT
The poem puzzle: A whale - All the animals were made before Adam, but he then named them all. The living soul that was put in him was Jonah. He has no hands or feet and is seldom seen on land. Club password: It's the number of letters in the number he says. Twelve has six letters. Six has three. So does ten, so he should have said three. (Your clue helped greatly.)
|
|
|
Post by tarathian123 on Jun 9, 2017 19:42:47 GMT
brimfin --- The poem puzzle: Correct Nalkarj --- None of those, but you're very close. Which one?
|
|
|
Post by Nalkarj on Jun 9, 2017 20:04:26 GMT
Perhaps burning at the stake is the closest—though, whereas that is archaic, the solution is...
That may do it.
|
|
|
Post by tarathian123 on Jun 9, 2017 20:13:33 GMT
Still can't connect burning with "shot to death". Is this an Americanism perhaps?
|
|
|
Post by Nalkarj on Jun 9, 2017 20:15:50 GMT
Still can't connect burning with "shot to death". Is this an Americanism perhaps? Nope. What was shot?
|
|
|
Post by tarathian123 on Jun 9, 2017 20:18:42 GMT
Nalkarj --- "What was shot?" The puzzle is "How was a man shot to death in a country without guns, bows-and-arrows, or cameras?"
|
|
|
Post by Nalkarj on Jun 9, 2017 20:24:35 GMT
Yes, but think of that projectile. What is it? I can give a major hint (in spoilers) if you'd like.
|
|
|
Post by BATouttaheck on Jun 9, 2017 20:29:45 GMT
Yes, but think of that projectile. What is it? Something to do with a slingshot ? Does an icicle come into the equation ? Should I worry about all this "how to kill people" expertise being demonstrated around here ?
|
|
|
Post by Nalkarj on Jun 9, 2017 20:33:03 GMT
Bat, I write detective stories, with a dozen different murder methods, and a buddy of mine and I have frequently joked that, if the NSA ever looked at my search history...
|
|
|
Post by Nalkarj on Jun 9, 2017 20:39:40 GMT
No icicles and no slingshots, unfortunately...
|
|
|
Post by BATouttaheck on Jun 9, 2017 20:42:59 GMT
NSA and search histories:
That's why you need to do a Daily History and Cache Purge. Plus it is said to clear up those unsightly screen glitch thingies !
So that's a NO on my spoilered figure-ings, then ?
edit : your reply just caught up with me .. dang !
|
|
|
Post by tarathian123 on Jun 9, 2017 20:44:06 GMT
Nalkarj --- "think of that projectile" But you said it wasn't the projectile that kills but the act of shooting the projectile. ?
|
|
|
Post by Nalkarj on Jun 9, 2017 20:51:50 GMT
Nalkarj --- "think of that projectile" But you said it wasn't the projectile that kills but the act of shooting the projectile. ? Yes—but I also wrote that the projectile was very important nonetheless. If you figure that out, you'll figure out what killed him, though the projectile was not itself what did the deed.
|
|
|
Post by jervistetch on Jun 9, 2017 21:02:54 GMT
Did he die from drinking too many shots, the projectile being booze down his throat?
|
|
|
Post by tarathian123 on Jun 9, 2017 21:03:09 GMT
Nalkarj You wouldn't be thinking of the suicide bomber who uses vehicles and/or him/herself as a weapon? I couldn't relate that to "shot to death". Also they would have guns etc available. Grabbing at straws here.
|
|
|
Post by BATouttaheck on Jun 9, 2017 21:14:49 GMT
See ? Nalkarj , this is why I don't usually TRY these things! AAARRRRGGGGHHHHH ! Gonna go do something simple, like alphabetize some lists of names and movies.
|
|
|
Post by Nalkarj on Jun 9, 2017 23:45:26 GMT
Nalkarj You wouldn't be thinking of the suicide bomber who uses vehicles and/or him/herself as a weapon? I couldn't relate that to "shot to death". Also they would have guns etc available. Grabbing at straws here. Close, but not there yet. Here's the hint: We agree that a cannon would, for our purposes, count as a "firearm," no? But think of someone's shooting himself out of a cannon, and then what is one thing a government does that is similar?
|
|
|
Post by Nalkarj on Jun 10, 2017 2:52:10 GMT
OK, fellas ( tarathian123 , jervistetch , BATouttaheck ), sorry about the "man shot to death" puzzle, but I think that last clue will do it. I hope the solution will satisfy. Correct on the "club password" puzzle, brimfin ! Ah, and Brimfin ... The mean old Barnaby Weste puzzle: We know 2 things from the setup for this puzzle:
1. Barnaby Weste is mean. 2. Billy Weste is a gambler, and a bad one if he owes $100,000.
Therefore, my theory is this: Contrary to what people thought - that Barnaby did one nice thing in his life by willing his money to Billy Weste to pay his gambling debts - he wasn't being nice at all. He set up this choice between taking the money or a seemingly empty envelope. Most people would go for the safe bet, the money. But Billy, the gambler, does not. He sees it's an empty and blank envelope with no stamps or writing, but bad gamblers take chances all the time. He figures his mean grandpa would want him to take the money only to then have the attorney reveal that the envelope was more valuable - perhaps with instructions written in invisible ink to a goldmine or something like that. (You said there was no invisible ink on it, but that wouldn't mean he couldn't think that there was.) So he takes the envelope. After hearing nothing from the attorney, he takes the letter home and checks it for invisible ink, has it x-rayed, maybe even examined by a scientist, before he realizes he traded away enough money to pay off his gambling debts for a worthless, empty envelope.
So, Barnaby scores one more wicked deed from the grave. But wait, it gets better. Now there is no one to claim the money. So, as predicted, the other heirs fight it out in court for years to get their hands on the money - with the one assurance that the man who needs it most, Billy Weste, won't be able to get a dime because he legally forfeited his claim to it. Barnably Weste was a mean man, but no one could say he wasn't clever. Oh, and what if Billy had taken the money instead? What difference would it make to a dead man? Barnaby was the one with nothing to lose in that deal. As I wrote, this is an excellent solution, Brimfin. It's very satisfying in its ironies and nuances, especially to my mind, which loves those kinds of things. With that said, I'll be somewhat mean (though not as much so as old Barnaby Weste, I hope!) and note some nitpicks I had (not really major criticisms, I hasten to add, but real nitpicks, to be honest). 1. While the fact that Billy Weste is a bad gambler is a given, is he so much a gambler that he would rather take that chance than be sure about paying off his debts? To be sure, we may claim that he let the concept of the gamble override his rational instinct. But is that consistent with what we've set forth before? We know that Bill Weste checked the envelope and was able to find nothing--but the very act of checking seems to indicate some level of care and, indeed, rational thought on his part. I can see Weste, the bad gambler, taking the chance if he definitely got something out of the exchange, even if it were less than the $100,000. But it seems unlikely, based on the (admittedly limited) information we have in the set-up, that he is that bad of a gambler.
1a. With that said, you seem to pre-empt this objection by adding, "...perhaps with instructions...to a goldmine or something..." That is another means by which I can see Bill Weste's gambling impulses overriding his rational ones: that Barnaby Weste had, in the past, hinted [falsely] to his grand-nephew that there was a map to a goldmine or something, in the form of that envelope.
1b. Either way, the point is this: why did Bill assume that the envelope was a map/code/secret/etc.? It seems quite a leap in logic. Given that he's a gambler, he's also probably greedy, and in that small amount of time in the set-up, there is little opportunity for him to come up with the assumption required.
2. While Barnaby Weste's meanness and nastiness is--again--a given, there must be a motive for his torture in this manner other than "he was mean"--a motive that may work for his post mortem torture of all his heirs, but why of Billy in particular? Did he really hate gambling or something?
3. While Bill's gaining the money would indeed "make no difference to a dead man," we know that Barnaby wants to "...score one more wicked deed from the grave." If Barnaby set this whole complicated plan in motion (not that I have any animus against complicated plans, let me add!), he definitely wanted to inflict some kind of psychological torture on his nephew (for reasons unknown, as noted in 2). But he couldn't be sure that, after his death, Billy would choose the envelope--which would make a difference to his setting up the plan before his death! Was he so much of a gambler, too, that he went to his grave hoping that Bill would choose the envelope?
Again, apologies if I come off as nitpicking too much, especially as your solution is so brilliant, but its brilliance is exactly why I've been so deeply thinking about it. Many thanks, Brimfin.
|
|
|
Post by tarathian123 on Jun 10, 2017 6:09:31 GMT
Nalkarj"How was a man shot to death in a country without guns, bows-and-arrows, or cameras?"I''m finding it difficult to think of a country that doesn't have guns, bows-and-arrows, or cameras, but yet is sophisticated enough to have a government (I jest of course).
|
|
|
Post by Nalkarj on Jun 10, 2017 14:08:50 GMT
Nalkarj "How was a man shot to death in a country without guns, bows-and-arrows, or cameras?"I''m finding it difficult to think of a country that doesn't have guns, bows-and-arrows, or cameras, but yet is sophisticated enough to have a government (I jest of course). Of course. But do you know what I mean by the hint?
|
|