The Official Riddle Thread (Full Version)

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Kamui -> The Official Riddle Thread (7/14/2009 20:58:44)

Welcome to the OOC Official Riddle Thread!


An OOC institution, the official riddle thread has been bending brains since 2009!

You may:

  • Ask riddles in this thread
  • Answer riddles in this thread
  • Discuss the riddles in this thread
  • Collaborate with each other to try to solve the riddles in this thread
  • Exercise your mind and have some fun in this thread


To make things uniform, please post in the following format:
Your riddle
[spoiler]Your riddle's answer in spoiler tags[/spoiler]
The final result will look like this:

What is it that, after you take away the whole, some still remains?
spoiler:

The word "wholesome."

Riddles not posted in this format may be deleted without notice.




N0085L4Y3R -> RE: The Official Riddle Thread (7/14/2009 21:02:20)

100 Years ago, a man walked from Paris to Seville. He averaged around 1 mph. He was not the first to walk that length, nor the fastest. Why is this so significant?

spoiler:

He walked on his hands.


A boy goes to the library because he's going to a date. He picks up a book called How to Hug for references because he's never hugged a girl before. He read it and found out it had no useful information whatsoever, why?

spoiler:

How to Hug is part of the Encyclopedia




sean.2 -> RE: The Official Riddle Thread (7/14/2009 21:19:15)

*cracks knuckles* Here we go...
As you grow up you learn that to accomplish everything in life you will need to be immortal. You therefore seek the knowledge of the wise one on the steepest of mountains. Past dangerous mountains and vicious beasts you finally made it! You greet the wise one as you kneel before him. You tell him you seek the knowledge of immortality. The wise one requires you to answer 2 riddles to be granted the knowledge of how to become immortal. He gives you the instructions as follows: I will tell you three riddles, the first riddle must be solved first as it will give you a very important clue to the next riddle, the second riddle is not a clue to the third riddle.

1 - I is a very important letter, it comes before everything. C is not as important, nor is R. But the X always marks the treasure of a treasure map. What is my lucky number?
spoiler:

9. Is referring to Roman numerals and saying that I comes before X making IX or 9



Note - you need the answer to the first riddle to get the answer to the second riddle.


2 - 32171029 1224212427 1828 1829 3025 17142714? (232429 3217182914)
spoiler:

Number sequence decodes to - What color is it up here? (not white)



3 - Note: you need to have solved the second riddle to get the third riddle. See the bolded part in above spoiler for riddle.
spoiler:

Simple answer. Blue, referring to the colour of the sky in contrast the the white mountains.




Sir Dorigo III -> RE: The Official Riddle Thread (7/14/2009 21:23:03)

Another way to solve Sean's firs riddle:

spoiler:

I just figured out Sean's first riddle by seeing what # letter I was. Amazingly, also the right answer.

Also one thing:

quote:

The wise one requires you to answer 2 riddles to be granted the knowledge of how to become immortal. He gives you the instructions as follows: I will tell you three riddles, the first riddle must be solved first as it will give you a very important clue to the next riddle, the second riddle is not a clue to the third riddle.


Contradictory?




sean.2 -> RE: The Official Riddle Thread (7/14/2009 21:30:26)

^ not at all. He requires you to answer riddles 1 and 3. 2 is just riddle 3 encoded, but is not required to be solved. Its a good idea though to solve though it as it gives you riddle 3 in English, not gobbly-goop :D




Sir Dorigo III -> RE: The Official Riddle Thread (7/14/2009 21:31:40)

Ah ok. Thouh I dont understand how you solve 2.




sean.2 -> RE: The Official Riddle Thread (7/14/2009 21:33:39)

Thats why its a riddle =P
Its quite annoyingly simple to work out 2...you just gotta think 'outside the box'




Wilderock -> RE: The Official Riddle Thread (7/14/2009 21:35:16)

Each number represents certain letters. Take a look at the combination of "wh" from 'white' and 'what'. I could probably waste my time decoding it after I see the answer first ... but I don't see how you could solve that random sequence of numbers without a much bigger clue first.




sean.2 -> RE: The Official Riddle Thread (7/14/2009 21:37:14)

Trust me, everything you need to solve it is there.




Sir Dorigo III -> RE: The Official Riddle Thread (7/14/2009 21:58:49)

spoiler:


32 17 10 29-12 24 21 24 27-18 28-18 29-30 25-17 14 27 14? (23 24 29-32 17 18 29 14)
23 8 1 20- 3 15 12 15 16- 9 19
w h a t - c o l o r - i s


Etc.

How I did it:
-The key=9
-Every number must be >9.
-Split into pairs
-subtract 9 from pairs.

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26

a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z




Gundisalvus -> RE: The Official Riddle Thread (7/14/2009 23:41:05)

This is probably a rather well known riddle.

- In a street there are five houses, painted five different colors.

- In each house lives a person of different nationality.

- These five homeowners each drink a different kind of beverage, smoke different brand of cigar and keep a different pet.

My question is this: Who owns the fish?

Necessary clues:

1. The British man lives in a red house.
2. The Swedish man keeps dogs as pets.
3. The Danish man drinks tea.
4. The Green house is next to, and on the left of the White house.
5. The owner of the Green house drinks coffee.
6. The person who smokes Pall Mall rears birds.
7. The owner of the Yellow house smokes Dunhill.
8. The man living in the center house drinks milk.
9. The Norwegian lives in the first house.
10. The man who smokes Blends lives next to the one who keeps cats.
11. The man who keeps horses lives next to the man who smokes Dunhill.
12. The man who smokes Blue Master drinks beer.
13. The German smokes Prince.
14. The Norwegian lives next to the blue house.
15. The Blends smoker lives next to the one who drinks water.
Answer:
spoiler:

The German owns the fish.




1wingangel -> RE: The Official Riddle Thread (7/15/2009 0:57:54)

The dreaded...

BLUE EYES LOGIC PUZZLE

quote:

From xkcd.com/blue_eyes.html

A group of people with assorted eye colors live on an island. They are all perfect logicians -- if a conclusion can be logically deduced, they will do it instantly. No one knows the color of their eyes. Every night at midnight, a ferry stops at the island. Any islanders who have figured out the color of their own eyes then leave the island, and the rest stay. Everyone can see everyone else at all times and keeps a count of the number of people they see with each eye color (excluding themselves), but they cannot otherwise communicate. Everyone on the island knows all the rules in this paragraph.

On this island there are 100 blue-eyed people, 100 brown-eyed people, and the Guru (she happens to have green eyes). So any given blue-eyed person can see 100 people with brown eyes and 99 people with blue eyes (and one with green), but that does not tell him his own eye color; as far as he knows the totals could be 101 brown and 99 blue. Or 100 brown, 99 blue, and he could have red eyes.

The Guru is allowed to speak once (let's say at noon), on one day in all their endless years on the island. Standing before the islanders, she says the following:

"I can see someone who has blue eyes."

Who leaves the island, and on what night?


There are no mirrors or reflecting surfaces, nothing dumb. It is not a trick question, and the answer is logical. It doesn't depend on tricky wording or anyone lying or guessing, and it doesn't involve people doing something silly like creating a sign language or doing genetics. The Guru is not making eye contact with anyone in particular; she's simply saying "I count at least one blue-eyed person on this island who isn't me."

And lastly, the answer is not "no one leaves."

I've done my best to make the wording as precise and unambiguious as possible (after working through the explanation with many people), but if you're confused about anything, please let me know. A word of warning: The answer is not simple. This is an exercise in serious logic, not a lateral thinking riddle. There is not a quick-and-easy answer, and really understanding it takes some effort.


HINTS
spoiler:

1. What is the quantified piece of information that the Guru provides that each person did not already have?
2. Each person knows, from the beginning, that there are no less than 99 blue-eyed people on the island. How, then, is considering the 1 and 2-person cases relevant, if they can all rule them out immediately as possibilities?
3. Why do they have to wait 99 nights if, on the first 98 or so of these nights, they're simply verifying something that they already know?


ANSWER
spoiler:


The answer is that on the 100th day, all 100 blue-eyed people will leave. It's pretty convoluted logic and it took me a while to believe the solution, but here's a rough guide to how to get there. Note -- while the text of the puzzle is very carefully worded to be as clear and unambiguous as possible (thanks to countless discussions with confused readers), this solution is pretty thrown-together. It's correct, but the explanation/wording might not be the best. If you're really confused by something, let me know.

If you consider the case of just one blue-eyed person on the island, you can show that he obviously leaves the first night, because he knows he's the only one the Guru could be talking about. He looks around and sees no one else, and knows he should leave. So: [THEOREM 1] If there is one blue-eyed person, he leaves the first night.

If there are two blue-eyed people, they will each look at the other. They will each realize that "if I don't have blue eyes [HYPOTHESIS 1], then that guy is the only blue-eyed person. And if he's the only person, by THEOREM 1 he will leave tonight." They each wait and see, and when neither of them leave the first night, each realizes "My HYPOTHESIS 1 was incorrect. I must have blue eyes." And each leaves the second night.

So: [THEOREM 2]: If there are two blue-eyed people on the island, they will each leave the 2nd night.

If there are three blue-eyed people, each one will look at the other two and go through a process similar to the one above. Each considers the two possibilities -- "I have blue eyes" or "I don't have blue eyes." He will know that if he doesn't have blue eyes, there are only two blue-eyed people on the island -- the two he sees. So he can wait two nights, and if no one leaves, he knows he must have blue eyes -- THEOREM 2 says that if he didn't, the other guys would have left. When he sees that they didn't, he knows his eyes are blue. All three of them are doing this same process, so they all figure it out on day 3 and leave.

This induction can continue all the way up to THEOREM 99, which each person on the island in the problem will of course know immediately. Then they'll each wait 99 days, see that the rest of the group hasn't gone anywhere, and on the 100th night, they all leave.

From xkcd.com/solution




The Extinguisher -> RE: The Official Riddle Thread (7/15/2009 1:17:37)

Argh. I hate that puzzle. I almost had it, I couldn't just get the right details about when the leave.

>.>




Poetic Melody -> RE: The Official Riddle Thread (7/15/2009 10:04:00)

Wait, if there on an island and a ferry can come get them, wouldn't there be water? And you can see your reflection in the water, therefore there would have to be a reflecting surface. So that riddle is messed up if you think about it.




penguin moglin -> RE: The Official Riddle Thread (7/15/2009 10:17:08)

it says
quote:

There are no mirrors or reflecting surfaces, nothing dumb. It is not a trick question, and the answer is logical.

or its a magical flying ferry[:)]




Pizzaboi -> RE: The Official Riddle Thread (7/15/2009 14:38:45)

@jomin that is true,but water isnt at 100% clarity at oceans,so green may seem blue and an orange may seem a little lighter so it may reflect but not like a mirror.
But very good thinking :3
And very tricky riddle you put up 1wingangel.
But after lots of thinking i got it.




Reaper Sigma -> RE: The Official Riddle Thread (7/15/2009 18:09:15)

quote:

100 Years ago, a man walked from Paris to London. He averaged around 1 mph. He was not the first to walk that length, nor the fastest. Why is this so significant?


Easy. A straight route from Paris to London takes you right through the atlantic ocean.

@onewing:The guru, of course. I feel I answered this already....

Here's one:

There are three identical looking umbrellas in an umbrella stand. The umbrellas belong to three women. Assuming that none of them look at the label, what is the percentage that two out of the three women will walk off with their umbrella. You don't need a calculator for this....


spoiler:

100%





Sir Dorigo III -> RE: The Official Riddle Thread (7/15/2009 18:14:27)

its 0




Frozt -> RE: The Official Riddle Thread (7/15/2009 18:17:38)

@Reaper: The chance that only two of them will walk of their own umbrella is 0%...
3-2=1 and since there's only one woman left, there is no chance that she will walk away with her own umbrella...
Unless of course she walks home without an umbrella, but that would'nt be stupid...




Reaper Sigma -> RE: The Official Riddle Thread (7/15/2009 18:21:36)

Straight answer, Doringo. Answers that pop up in your head aren't all right.

@Frozt:Wrong.




Captain Kidd -> RE: The Official Riddle Thread (7/15/2009 18:25:02)

Forwards I'm heavy, backwards I'm not, what am I?

spoiler:

a 'ton'.


~CaptK




Reaper Sigma -> RE: The Official Riddle Thread (7/15/2009 18:41:08)

The word "heavy". I'm probably wrong, but it's the best I can come up with




Pizzaboi -> RE: The Official Riddle Thread (7/15/2009 21:48:14)

@ Reaper.
is this riddle one of those wording tricks?
or is it just a plain riddle?




Reaper Sigma -> RE: The Official Riddle Thread (7/15/2009 21:51:58)

@Pizza:I think it's a plain riddle. It has nothing to do with wording.

@Kidd:Figured it out. The answer is "ton".




Sir Dorigo III -> RE: The Official Riddle Thread (7/15/2009 21:55:45)

reaper.. it is 0%. if 2 take them, 1 is left, 1 person is left. either all 3 tke the right one, or only 1. no chance for only 2. you can argue, but this is the only logical answer you can procure with the info given.


Now my riddle:

There are 3 light switches outside the room, and 3 lightbulbs inside the room. the room is completely closed(exept for a door), and you can't see inside the room when you're standing outside. Once you go inside the room , you can't come out. And you have 2 hours to figure out which light switch goes to which lightbulb...
How do you do it ?


spoiler:

1. Turn on Lightswitch A for one hour and fifty minutes
2. Turn off Lightswitch A
3. Turn on Lightswitch B
4. Enter the room

The lighbulb that is hot belongs to lightswitch A
The lightbulb that is on belongs to lightswitch B
The other lightbulb belongs to lightswitch C




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