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Post by alfromni on Jan 28, 2018 19:11:36 GMT
Nalkarj 2. Which of the following names doesn’t fit the pattern? Frank Lloyd Wright Burt Ward John Smith Margaret Thatcher Jimmy Stewart William Faulkner Charles Dickens Johnny Mercer William Clark Charlie Chaplin Solon Irving Bailey Here is an extremely tenuous attempt
Occuapations of some sort.
Wright - e.g. a wheelwright Ward - warden Smith - e.g. a blacksmith Thatcher - a roofer with straw Stewart - ? Faulkner - misspelt "falconer" Dickens - slang for a cop Mercer - cloth merchant Clark - misspelt ""clerk" Chaplin - misspelt "chaplain" Bailey - ?
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Odd ones out Stewart & Bailey.
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Post by Nalkarj on Jan 28, 2018 19:49:33 GMT
alfromniYou’re very, very close, so close that you’re almost there… Look at origins rather than homophones.
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Post by alfromni on Jan 28, 2018 20:03:00 GMT
Nalkarj --- Wowee...I thought I'd be miles wide of the mark. Will delve further.
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Post by alfromni on Jan 28, 2018 21:13:40 GMT
NalkarjAre the surnames all derived from mediaeval occupations with the exceptions of Bailey (a stronghold as in Motte and Bailey) and Stewart, possibly derived from Stuart (a royal house and name)?
Another such surname is "Fletcher" (an arrow maker).
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Post by Nalkarj on Jan 28, 2018 23:46:57 GMT
Close, very close, alfromni —well, you’ve got it, just not the odd man out. However, there’s one that doesn’t fit this pattern…
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Post by alfromni on Jan 29, 2018 3:23:11 GMT
Nalkarj Wright - wheelmaker Ward - guard, warder Smith - blacksmith Thatcher - roofer with straw Stewart - stywarden [didn't know that one] Faulkner - falconer Dickens - Old German, meaning ‘powerful-brave’Mercer - wool, cloth merchant Clark - cleric Chaplin - chandler [didn't know that derivation] Bailey - bailiff [(should have guessed that!] So the odd one out presumably is Dickens, although the word has been used in slang for a cop, or someone in authority, and the Devil. But also a maker of bowls. 'I cannot tell what the dickens his name is' (Merry Wives of Windsor III, ii). What is the origin of the expression 'What the dickens'? It seems to be unconnected with Charles Dickens, as it was used by Shakespeare.
ONE explanation is that it is a euphemism for the Devil or Old Nick. This certainly fits with: 'I cannot tell what the dickens his name is' (Merry Wives of Windsor III, ii). Another explanation is that it relates to one Dickins or Dickson, a maker of wooden bowls, who appears to have had a penchant for losing money, for example: 'I was constrained to take half the money they cost mee, gaining by them as Dickins did by his dishes. Who buying them five for twopence solde six for a peny.' (1579, R Galis). Alternatively, Middleton (1599): 'No more is to be got by that than William Dickins got by his wooden dishes'. There are numerous other similar references. Anyway, it lets Charles off the hook.
John Beardshaw, Puckeridge, Herts.
So probably Tudor deriving from "what the dickens" meaning "a reprimand or expression of anger....e.g. "he gave me the dickens for being late". www.theguardian.com/notesandqueries/query/0,,-1412,00.html That said I'll go with Dickens as being the intruder.
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Post by Nalkarj on Jan 29, 2018 3:30:33 GMT
That’s it! I’d not heard of Dickins/Dickson as a maker of wooden bowls, and the majority of the sources I read didn’t have that derivation—though, if it refers only to one historical personage named Dickins, that doesn’t mean the name is derived from his profession, correct? (The name had to be already in existence for him to have it.) Also, “devil” is not (I think ) a profession, and the slang for a cop also doesn’t refer to the origin. Good work. I was talking to someone the other day who referred to some convoluted story about people with certain surnames’ having a greater tendency to go into certain professions—Smiths to being blacksmiths, for example—and, while I doubted its accuracy, it did give me this idea for this puzzle!
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Post by alfromni on Jan 29, 2018 3:36:05 GMT
NalkarjWill you tell him or will I?
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Post by Nalkarj on Jan 29, 2018 3:39:19 GMT
Nalkarj Will you tell him or will I?
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Post by alfromni on Jan 29, 2018 3:58:04 GMT
NalkarjShould have solved it ages ago. Another Eureka moment as I linked Smith, Wright, Thatcher, Mercer, Clark(clerk/cleric) as occupations, and tentatively also Faulkner. The others kinda fell into line except for two or three. What's next?
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Post by Nalkarj on Jan 29, 2018 4:07:32 GMT
alfromniWell, the one at the top of this page is a genuine riddle—kinda goofy, and really a crossword-clue, but a riddle nonetheless.
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Post by alfromni on Jan 29, 2018 4:10:38 GMT
NalkarjI looked at that. Couldn't figure out what the riddle was let alone the answer.
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Post by Nalkarj on Feb 8, 2018 22:57:30 GMT
Well, I wasn’t particularly expecting the one at the top of the page to go over well, anyway (as you said, alfromni , it’s difficult to figure out even what the question is, but I was reluctant to make it clearer lest I give it away, but I’ll leave it there just in case anyone wants to take a crack at it in the future). Here’s another puzzle, just to reinvigorate this thread again… What connects five of the following six words, and what is the odd one out?
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Post by Nalkarj on Feb 9, 2018 0:08:03 GMT
While you fine folks try your hands at that, here’s another Author! Author! problem, if you happen to be interested. Sadly, while the problem survives, the episode recording the solutions provided did not, so—if you’re interested, see what you can make of it!
I thought of this one again because of the Super Bowl the other day, but you don’t have to know anything about American football to play along; you can substitute any sport you’d like.
OK, well, then, your question: why does President Thurber want to fire the greatest coach of the age if he leads his own college to a win?
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Post by brimfin on Feb 24, 2018 19:19:59 GMT
Earlier today, I was talking to @forceghostackbar and (because I just have nothing better to do with my time than to talk in riddles) asked the following curious question: “How do you solve a problem like this reversible, human news-gathering Québec island that has Batman’s surname and plays hockey? I mean, what’s the connection?” He seriously responded, “It’s a trap!” He was right. What were we talking about? (This one’s awfully silly.) No solution here, just some deductive reasoning. I gather from this, and your later comment that it's really a crossword clue that we're supposed to take each element of the riddle (reversible, human new-gathering organization, Quebec Island, someone with Batman's surname who plays hockey) and substitute a word like something you would put for such a description into a crossword puzzle. Then you string them together and it sounds like a common word or phrase that describes some kind of a trap. You say it's awfully silly so the word or phrase is probably corny, a bad pun, or only minimally sounds like the word or phrase you're going for and has to be really coaxed into becoming it.
The only one I'm fairly certain of is the player with Batman's surname (Wayne) who plays hockey. That would be Wayne Gretzky. I don't know of any word or phrase starting or ending with Gretzky, so that's not much help. For the others, I entered them in a site as crossword clues and got beaucoup possibilities. Assuming that any of them are what you're looking for, there's still a large string of words that I would have to try and tie together and hope I could find what you are looking for. But the terms are so vague ("human news-gathering?" Well, at least I can eliminate all the animal or android news-gathering organizations.) that it would just be a waste of my time to try. Oh, maybe if you gave a bunch of clues to what you were going for, I'd eventually figure it out. But if you have to give a bunch of clues, it's not a fun puzzle. A fun puzzle is one you can figure out on your own eventually - when you have that Epiphany moment. That moment's never going to come on this one. Sorry. Not trying to be mean, just realistic.
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Post by brimfin on Feb 24, 2018 19:39:13 GMT
The Fairview College Coach question: This is the only solution I could come up with: Broun looked at Thurber slack-jawed. "Are you...are you nuts? Are you insane? You want me to lose games? Are you just plain crazy?"
"No, but you were if you expected me to fall for this prank. What were you going to do, get ready to sign and then say "April Fool!"? I overheard Larson, our legal aid, trying to whisper to you on the phone about setting up this joke. Larson thinks my hearing is worse than it is."
"Darn," sighs Broun. "I thought we really had you. I haven't pulled a good prank in a long time."
"Well, let's go in there with Larson and pretend I haven't caught on. We can turn his prank around on him."
"I'll go for that," Broun shrugged.
That weak tea was the best I could come up with. The idea of telling a coach he wasn't allowed to win a game is just beyond comprehension. I'm wondering if they really "lost" the episode with the solutions to this problem, or if their solutions episode was simply a blank screen.
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Post by CoolJGS☺ on Feb 24, 2018 19:51:46 GMT
He has to win more than a single game
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Post by Nalkarj on Feb 24, 2018 19:57:46 GMT
brimfin, I understand the frustration! I just put it here in case anyone wanted to take a crack at it—I’d also love to know what solutions the Author! Author! people came up with. CoolJGS☺, clever, very riddly solution! I like it.
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Post by brimfin on Feb 24, 2018 20:10:51 GMT
Okay, I’ve got a riddle for you now. I came across this online. There was an article asking if you could solve a second grade math problem that was stumping people. It was ridiculously easy to solve. Then they had 10 other brainteasers, most of which were also simple (though honestly, one didn’t even make sense). But there was one exception – this one. It’s a logic problem similar to the one about the hats we did way back. Here it is:
Young but smart kids Albert and Bernard meet a girl named Cheryl at their school. They tell her their birthdays and then ask for hers. She writes down a list of ten possibilities:
May 15th, May 16th, May 19th June 17th, June 18th July 14th, July 16th August 14th, August 15th, August 17th
Can you figure out which one is her birthday? Of course not; I haven’t finished the puzzle yet.
She then quietly tells Albert her birth month and Bernard the day of the month she was born on. She challenges them to solve it without telling the other their own information.
The following conversation then ensues:
Albert: Well, I don’t know her birthday. But I also know for sure you don’t know it.
Bernard: Really? Well, now that you’ve told me that, I know what her birthday is.
Albert: And since you’ve told me that, I know it too.
Indeed, they have both solved it based on this dialogue. What is Cheryl’s birthday?
I know this may look a little wonky, but if you follow the clues in the sequence they were given, you can figure it out and it all makes sense. Good luck.
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Post by Nalkarj on Feb 24, 2018 21:07:41 GMT
I like it, brimfin . Let’s see… Albert knows her birth month, Bernard knows her birth day, and neither knows her “birthday,” which here means both pieces of information, month and day. A knows that B does not know the birthday, just the day of birth. In that case, it must be one of the days that repeat, as A knows that B only knows the day—but it has to a day that is not unique, as he doesn’t know the birthday. Otherwise, if C had told B, “18th” or “19th,” he would have known the month had to be June or May, respectively. As A knows that B doesn’t know it, and doesn’t know it himself, it must be a month with a repeating day—July or August. Otherwise, if it had been May or June, A wouldn’t “know for sure” that B didn’t know it, as B could have gotten the 18th or 19th, which would point directly to a month (and to B’s knowing).
That leaves our options as Jul. 14, Jul. 16, Aug 14, Aug. 15, or Aug. 17. However, B now knows the answer just by knowing the day—which means that it can’t be the 14ths, or he’d not know it for certain because there are two. So we have Jul. 16, Aug. 15, and Aug. 17. I was stuck here for a long time and am still not completely sure if my answer is correct. OK, then: A, who knows the month, knows the birthday (month+day) because B, who knows the day, knows the birthday. If either of the August dates were the answer, though, A couldn’t know for sure; he only knows the month, and knowing that it was August wouldn’t give him the day as well. So it must be Jul. 16, as he knows the month must be July, and it’s the only choice left in July.
Now I’m sure I made a mistake somewhere—I always do with these.
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