For Extra Credit

[admin tim]

...what noteworthy event occurred exactly 2050 years ago today (March 15)?

I tried this on the allegedly highly educated engineers on my project and they all failed the test miserably. :banghead:

Can YOU make the grade? :confused:

[How Brown]

Of course...I always make the grade.

Caesar was warned to beware the Ides of March.

Next question....;)

[Adam Went]

Hi Howie,

Here's a tough, lateral thinking question for you:

If I have 3 apples, and I take 2 apples away, how many apples do I have??

Think about it! ;)

Cheers,
Adam. :cool:

[Brad McGinnis]

Youd still have three apples.

[How Brown]

Phew ! Thanks Brad ! I almost posted 5 !!!

Here's one:

A plane load of people are flying over Tasmania...

There are 10 bald headed men and 10 with hair.

The plane crashes over the desert....and 7 of the bald headed guys die. However,the survivors are found thrown from the plane in a nearby pond.

If the 7 dead bald headed guys are buried in the desert,where do they bury the survivors?

[Adam Went]

Hi everyone!

Brad:

Good work. How would have still been scratching his head about it if you hadn't answered first! ;)

How:

I didn't know there was any deserts in Tasmania.... :confused:

To answer your question:
There are no ponds in deserts, so the survivors mustn't have been buried at all!
Am I close?
Anyways, I'll set up a lateral thinking thread in the individual forums section shortly....should be interesting! :D

Cheers,
Adam.

[How Brown]

Adam:

Err...you said:

" so the survivors mustn't have been buried at all! "

Thats right. They survived. They didn't die...

Is this how you're gonna do in college?:confused:

[Adam Went]

How,

Yeah, and your point is? I got it right! They weren't buried - they're alive! ;)

Nah, college is different....then again, we all got told to "show some maturity" in Drama class today after we got into a paintbrush fight....oh well. Things will improve as the year goes on!

Cheers,
Adam. :D

[admin tim]

WHAT AM I?

The man who built me didn't want me.

The man who bought me didn't use me.

The man who used me didn't know it.

:smoker: :smoker: :smoker:

[Robert Linford]

Tim, I'd say you're a funeral hearse.

Robert

[admin tim]

Well, Robert, the original answer was a coffin, but I'd say your answer is close enough. You are on a roll these days. :thumbsupbud:

[Robert Linford]

Thanks Tim.

Robert

[admin tim]

All right, you guys have thus far failed to identify the perpetrator of a 118 year old crime, so it's obvious you all need a little practice at catching your man.

Have a close look at the animation below, counting the men before and after the move. WHERE does the extra man come from - and go? :confused:

[admin tim]

There is a common English word that is nine letters long. Each time you remove a letter from it, it still remains an English word — from nine letters right down to a single letter. What is the original word, and what are the words that it becomes after removing one letter at a time?

Note: There is more than one acceptable solution.

[admin tim]

Well, the last contest was a dud, so here we go again.

How many birds can you find in the picture below? :confused:

[Robert Linford]

Well this is probably wrong, but I see six.

Robert

[How Brown]

Timmers:

I see seven.

[admin tim]

Hard to believe, but Howard is correct; there are seven boids in the picture posted.

Well, that didn't take long. :cry:

[Debbie D]

I certainly hope that the larger of those birds doesn't find my car. I took it through the car wash last weekend and that would be devistating.

[Robert Linford]

Hope I'm not treading on Tim's toes here :

A number can be specified in two ways, e.g. the number 1 000 000 can be written as "one million". Likewise 1 260 000 can also be written "one million two hundred and sixty thousand."

Can anyone give the smallest number not specifiable in less than eleven words?

Robert

[admin tim]

What famous comedian was born in - where else? - Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, two years to the day before Mary Kelly was murdered?

[Robert Linford]

Ed Wynn?

[admin tim]

GIVE that man a cigar! Right again!!

Howard and I are really going to have to go into conclave about toughening up these competitions. Just wait'll next time......

[How Brown]

Doctor, my ass !

This guy is a savant.......

Hey "Doctor" Linford...

Go check out the new cryptogram....

[Robert Linford]

How, I've just looked at the cryptogram thread and there's nothing there.

This is the hardest one you've done, How - we have to try to guess the letters before decoding them.

Can we have the Hindustani Braille one instead?:cry:

Robert

[How Brown]

Well well....looky here...

"Doctor" Linford can't read invisible ink...;)

Yeah I know Robert....I was going to make one but then had to do something around here....I'll get one for you a.s.a.p.

[Robert Linford]

No worries, How. It's an interesting enough job decoding your posts to Miss Cellania. Some intriguing meanings are surfacing there.:)

Robert

[Chris G.]

This sounds like a repeat of the last trivia question but is not. . .

What famous comedian was born in - where else? - Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, eight years before the Whitechapel murders?

No googling!!!

Chris

[Robert Linford]

No googling?! Then I can only guess.

WC Fields?

[Chris G.]

No googling?! Then I can only guess.

WC Fields?


Yes, well done, Robert.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/W.C._Fields

Born William Claude Dukenfield on January 29, 1880 in Darby, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

Chris

[How Brown]

Fields was raised in what would be called "East Philadelphia"...except that there is no East Philadelphia to the people who live in Philly. :confused: Its funny,but thats true. No one ever says "East Philly". Its east of the center city area,running to the Delaware River....but it isn't East Philly.

Fields grew up in Kensington, one of the more depressed neighborhoods now....alongside Fishtown,its sister neighborhood....joined by Frankford Avenue.

Okay Mr.Linford.....Who named Fishtown in Philadelphia?

He was British.

[Robert Linford]

How, I can only conjecture that it was a Mr Fish.

Robert

[How Brown]

No,no,no,no,no....

You don't get off that easy without twisting in the wind,sir.

What the Dickens did you think? I was gonna let you sit there with your great expectations of guessing yet another question correctly without giving you a hard question?

I ask you again sir....who named Fishtown ?

[Robert Linford]

Well How, Wikipedia says that it wasn't Dickens at all. It says that's just a legend.

Robert

[How Brown]

Robert:

According to one source I read years ago, Dickens visited that section of the city and remarked on its odor,hence the name.

Hey...who knows,huh?

Thanks for that other information.;)

[Robert Linford]

Hi How

Well, if it was Dickens, you're lucky it wasn't called Swivellertown, Magwitchtown, Dodgertown....imagine saying "I'm just off to Mr Dicktown.":cry:

Robert

[How Brown]

Robert:

Thats exactly where I am going buddy....good old Dicktown ....(Conshohocken,Pa. )

I'm off to work at this very moment.:(

...and the plant owner's name really is Charles.

[admin tim]

Hurry up and try your hand before Robert sees this. ;)

[admin tim]

You people just gotta be quicker. :judge:

As Robert has just PM'd me, the correct answer is Thursday.

Congratulations to Robert - again.

[admin tim]

Ok, Howard's cryptograms have been a good warm-up for our resident geniuses; now it's time to get medieval.

I'll wager it takes longer than 20 minutes to solve the puzzle below. :p

Gentlemen - and ladies - start your engines. ;)

[admin tim]

Well, it's been a week and no response. Robert must have been out of town. ;)

Anyway, the solution is below. Look and be a-mazed. :eek:

[How Brown]

Timmers:

Umm..in order for me to answer puzzles you have to dumb 'em down. I had about as much chance of answering that as I did of becoming President of Latvia.

Good puzzle,for sure.:thumbsupbud:

[Night Stalker]

What am I ?

It goes in dry and comes out wet,.
the longer it's in the stronger it gets,
when it comes out it drips and sags

[How Brown]

Thats easy...

A sponge. A magnesium chloride soaked,wood particle based cellulose sponge.

:thumbsupbud:

[Night Stalker]

Not quite, How.

clue : it's typically English.

[How Brown]

Hmmm...

One of Robert Linford's home cooked sausage "bangers" ?

How about a meat faggot sandwich put out in the backyard?

You've got me here,NS :confused:

[Night Stalker]

Hey How,

answer :- Teabag :thumbsupbud:

Oh man...you sumbitch you.

I'd never have guessed that since I don't drink tea.

Isn't it amazing how few Americans drink tea and probably would never guess that?

I would have guessed a microwavable beef burrito with red hot chili peppers ( I like 'em wet and real gooey...). But I know you are a Brit.

[admin tim]

Try this one out:

12, 1, 1, 1, 2, 1, 3

What are the next 4 numbers in the series?

[Magpie]

Try this one out:

12, 1, 1, 1, 2, 1, 3

What are the next 4 numbers in the series?

1, 4, 1, 5

?

[Night Stalker]

Who or what links JTR to the Titanic ?

[Robert Linford]

NS - WT Stead?

Tim, I guess Magpie's is the best bet. Unless it's something to do with early Presidential inaugural months sliding around?

Robert

[Night Stalker]

Robert :

Nice one matey :thumbsupbud:

[admin tim]

Yes, Magpie is plumb correct. :clap:

The whole sequence is the number of times a clock chimes when it chimes on the hour and half hour.

But it took longer than 20 minutes! :p

Howard, take note. :mob:

[Magpie]

Who or what links JTR to the Titanic ?

James Maybrick and the owner of the Titanic were both members of the Liverpool Cricket Club....

[admin tim]

All right, mateys:

While Robert is busy creating new comics, this is your chance to beat him to the solution.

Answer next week.....

[admin tim]

Well, this one seems to have stumped even the indefatigible Robert Linford and Magpie. Or maybe just no one cares. Time's up, though, and you are going to be mad when you see the solution:

[Robert Linford]

Well done, Tim. That is exactly the sort of puzzle that I'd never get in a month of Sundays.:flame:

[How Brown]

Good one Tim. Had no clue.

Trying to quit smoking here. Gotta steer clear of stressmakers.

[Robert Linford]

Good luck with the cigarettes, How.

[Tom_Wescott]

Linford, that was a good one. Ha ha.

Howard,

How are you going about quitting? I hope not just 'cold turkey'.

Yours truly,

Tom Wescott

[How Brown]

Hey Tom...thanks for the thought...:kiss: ...you too Bob.





I'll tell ya..I actually made it through one complete day for the first time in almost 42 years without a cigarette. Celebrated by lighting one up,puffing it and tossing it away. Hell of a buzz too. I did pretty good today...only light up three,but tossed them down after taking one drag.



I'll tell ya....if I had lost my Ripper files and material as poor Tom mentioned...I would have leaped through a window. When I read about that,it made my stomach turn upside down.

[admin tim]

On the island of Numeria each of the natives is one of two types: Truth-Tellers who always tell the truth, or Liars who never tell the truth. The island is governed by a Council of Elders who will only answer questions that have numerical answers. In fact the only answers they give are whole numbers, either zero or positive. Furthermore, they will never give an answer greater than the current number of council members. This number can vary daily, but is never less than 4 or more than 40. Also, the Council will only answer questions whose correct answer is independent of who is asked (e.g., no questions such as "How old are you?").
One day three native students, Ann, Bob, and Cal, were given an assignment by their teacher to question the council. They each asked a question, which was answered by every council member. Afterward they reported to their teacher and made the following statements:

(1) Ann: I asked the council how many of them were Truth-Tellers.
(2) Bob: I asked the council how many of them were Liars.
(3) Cal: Those statements are not both true!
(4) Ann: All of the answers I received were different (no two equal to each other).
(5) Bob: All of the answers I received were different (no two equal to each other).
(6) Cal: At least two of my answers were different (not equal to each other).
(7) Ann: The sum of my answers is a palindrome.
(8) Bob: The sum of my answers is a palindrome.
(9) Cal: The square root of the sum of my answers is not less than the number of council members.

What was the number of council members on that day?

[Robert Linford]

I make it 11 council members.

[admin tim]

Curses; foiled again!

[admin tim]

In an ancient land there existed a secret society whose beliefs were a strange mix of mathematics, logic, and mysticism. Potential new members had to undergo the Trial of the Gods.

Six of the Elders met with the applicant and each Elder made five statements, of which four were true and one was false. The statements referred to the Divine Qualities, the Sacred Numbers, and the Number of the Gods. The applicant had to logically determine the Number of the Gods. The applicant was confined to a prison cell with water, light, and writing materials. After three days he was brought before the Elders and asked for the Number of the Gods. If he answered correctly he was admitted to the society; if not he was executed. Here is a record of the statements, with the Elders designated by letters, and all Numbers are positve integers:

(A1) No two Sacred Numbers are equal.
(A2) The sum of the Sacred Numbers is not a perfect cube.
(A3) The Number of the Gods is a perfect cube.
(A4) All Sacred Numbers have the same Digital Sum.
(A5) Each Sacred Number has at least 2 digits but less than 5 digits.

(B1) At least 2 of the Sacred Numbers have the Divine Quality of being Palindromes.
(B2) At least 2 of the Sacred Numbers have the Divine Quality of having their digits in Strictly Increasing order (no 2 digits equal).
(B3) At least 3 of the Sacred Numbers have the Divine Quality of having their digits in Strictly Decreasing order (no 2 digits equal).
(B4) The total number of digits of all of the Sacred Numbers is less than 22.
(B5) All of the Sacred Numbers have Digital Sums greater than 18.

(C1) At least 1 of the Sacred Numbers has the Divine Quality of being Square.
(C2) At least 3 of the Sacred Numbers have the Divine Quality of being Triangular.
(C3) At least 3 of the Sacred Numbers have the Divine Quality of being Prime.
(C4) At least 2 of the Sacred Numbers possess 3 of the 6 Divine Qualities.
(C5) None of the Sacred Numbers has 4 digits.

(D1) The number of Sacred Numbers is not Square.
(D2) The number of Sacred Numbers is not Triangular.
(D3) The number of Sacred Numbers is not a perfect cube.
(D4) The sum of the Sacred Numbers is a perfect cube.
(D5) At least one of the Sacred Numbers has 2 digits.

(E1) No two Sacred Numbers have the same Digital Product.
(E2) Exactly 1 Sacred Number has a Digital Product which is Prime.
(E3) Exactly 1 Sacred Number has a Digital Product which is Triangular.
(E4) Exactly 3 Sacred Numbers have Digital Products which are Square.
(E5) No Sacred Number has a Digital Product which is less than 8.

(F1) Each Sacred Number has at least 3 digits.
(F2) The Number of the Gods is not a perfect cube.
(F3) The sum of the Sacred Numbers and the Number of the Gods are not both perfect cubes.
(F4) The Number of the Gods possesses none of the 6 Divine Qualities.
(F5) The Number of the Gods is equal to the sum of the Digital Products of all of the Sacred Numbers.

What was the Number of the Gods?

[admin tim]

No response yet? Are Robert and Magpie on vacation?

While we're waiting, here is an amazing little bit of trivia for you to research:


WHO is the Patron Saint of prostitutes? First correct response wins an original autographed Red Meat cartoon from our vault!!

[How Brown]

Timmers:

Well...it might depend on whom you talk to.

Saint Valentine is considered the Patron Saint of Prostitutes to some....while Mary Magdelene is to others...while St.Nicholas is to a few more.

I'd say St. Valentine

[Magpie]

No response yet? Are Robert and Magpie on vacation?

While we're waiting, here is an amazing little bit of trivia for you to research:


WHO is the Patron Saint of prostitutes? First correct response wins an original autographed Red Meat cartoon from our vault!!

St Nicholas--Patron saint of prostitutes and young brides...

edit: the Index of Saints does indeed list Mary Magdalene (along with Mary of Egypt and Margarite of Cordona) as the patron saint of reformed prossies. They don't offer a patron for active working girls though.

St Nicholas is a pretty darned busy patron saint. Here's his CV:
http://www.stnicholascenter.org/Brix?pageID=45

[Magpie]

No response yet? Are Robert and Magpie on vacation?



Hi Tim--I'm on a chemical vacation of painkillers and antibiotics that render logic problems darned near impossible.

On the other hand they are adding a whole new dimension to the kung fu movies I'm watching:wacko:

[admin tim]

Magpie be da man - again.

Saint Nicholas, commonly associated with Santa Claus, is said to have aided the poor father of three marriageable girls who could not afford their dowries. To save them from a life of prostitution (a common fate for unmarried women in third-century Asia Minor), he dropped three sacks of gold down their father’s chimney late one night. (Sound like another St. Nick we know?) Thus, he is known as the patron saint of prostitutes.

[How Brown]

I lose again?

Oh I see...thats why Santa Claus,a.k.a. St.Nicholas says...

"Ho, ho ,ho...."

Well someone had to say it.

[How Brown]

Timmers:

I said we would get to 80 yesterday. Don't doubt The Kid.:eyebrows:

So there.:kev:

[Tom_Wescott]

Magpie be da man - again.

Saint Nicholas, commonly associated with Santa Claus, is said to have aided the poor father of three marriageable girls who could not afford their dowries. To save them from a life of prostitution (a common fate for unmarried women in third-century Asia Minor), he dropped three sacks of gold down their father’s chimney late one night. (Sound like another St. Nick we know?) Thus, he is known as the patron saint of prostitutes.

He's checking his list, checking it twice, gonna find out which girls are naughty and nice...and you can keep the nice ones. :)

Yours truly,

Tom Wescott

[Magpie]

St Nick was the founder of the international charity organization "Prezzies for Prozzies", which started strong but somehow never caught on....

[How Brown]

Good one Tom ! I hear ya.

Maglington:

What affliction have ye,sor? Antibiotics and painkillers at the same time sounds serious. I hope you are feeling better pal.

[Magpie]

Good one Tom ! I hear ya.

Maglington:

What affliction have ye,sor? Antibiotics and painkillers at the same time sounds serious. I hope you are feeling better pal.

Hey How

Some minor emergency surgery over the weekend that was painful but responding well, thanks ...

:faint:

[How Brown]

Magpie:

I'm glad to hear that pal. When I had my leg operation,they pumped so much antibiotic in me,I was like a new man....bag after bag..after bag. I also had to take painkillers (morphine ain't a bad buzz..but I started making moves on the nurses after a week on that stuff. They weaned me off it so I could get back to "normal".)

Which is where I be now.

Seriously...I'm glad you made out okay.

[Magpie]

Yeah, they threw a couple of bags of the antibiotics in me while I was there too.

No morphine though :(

The anti-biotics they have me on at home are like the Agent Orange of anti-biotics. They seems to be doing the trick though:)

[How Brown]

Being told you might have gangrene or worse, gas gangrene...is a serious mood swinger,lemme tell ya.

I "dipped" big time for the first week until I ran out of my prescription. Then I b.s.'ed my doctor...he's like 40 pounds soaking wet...and convinced him that my story of "misplacing" the percs was true. So I got a reup on the percs...

But you can't live on those things. They'll get to you and after the second prescription,I was and am done with 'em.

A lot of people complain about the diarrhea ( which is what some get for months after using antibiotics )....but my complaint was that lovey dovey feeling. I started liking everything...hippies,Rosie O'Donnell,Dharma And Greg,rap music. Oy,was it awful !

[Robert Linford]

Hi Magpie

I wish you a speedy recovery.

Tim, I give up on that one. I got part of it done, but decided the rest was too much work!

Robert

[admin tim]

Well, I did finally stump our panel of experts, but only because the one has become uncharacteristically lazy and the other is ailing. Hardly a fair fight, considering the complexity of the solution:


Answer: The Number of the Gods was 117.

-------------------------------------------------------------

Full Solution:

(a) Suppose (A2) is false. Then (A3) is true (since only one of the A's can be false) and so (F2) is false. This means (F3) must be true (since only one of the F's can be false), but this contradicts (A2) false and (A3) true. So our assumption is wrong and (A2) is true.

(b) Since (A2) is true, (F3) is also true. Furthermore, (D4) must be false and so (D1), (D2), (D3) and (D5) are all true.

(c) Now since (D5) is true, (F1) must be false. And so (F2), (F3), (F4), and (F5) are all true.

(d) Now since (F2) is true, (A3) is false. And so (A1), (A2), (A4), and (A5) are all true.

(e) Also, since (D5) is true, at least one Sacred Number has 2 digits, and since the largest digital sum any 2-digit number can have is 18, this makes (B5) false. And so (B1), (B2), (B3), and (B4) are all true.

(f) Now consider (C4). Now 3 of the Divine Qualities are Palindrome, Strictly Incrasing and Strictly Decreasing. Note that no number can have more than one of these 3 properties. Also, no number can have more than 2 of the properties Square, Triangular, and Prime (and if so the 2 must be square and triangular). So for a number to have 3 of the 6 Divine Qualities it must be both square and triangular, and also have one of the first 3 properties. Now by (A5) all Sacred Numbers have either 2, 3, or 4 digits. The only numbers in this range which are both square and triabgular are 36 and 1225. But 1225 does not have any of the first 3 properties. So only one number, 36, posseses 3 of the 6 Divine Qualities. This means (C4) is false. And so (C1), (C2), (C3), and (C5) are all true.

(g) Now consider (E2). If a number has a prime digital product it must have exactly one digit which is prime and all other digits must be 1. This means that the digital product must be 2, 3, 5, or 7. This means that (E2) and (E5) cannot both be true. So one is false and the other is true (don't know which yet). This also means that (E1), (E3), (E4) are all true.

(h) Now we know that the Sacred Numbers all must have 2 or 3 digits, by (A5) and (C5). There must be at least 7 of them by (B1), (B2), (B3). There are at most 10 of them by (B4), (11 times 2 digits is 22, but there are less than 22 digits). But by (D1), (D2), (D3) there cannot be 9, 10, or 8 of them, so there must be exactly 7 of them. And no two are equal by (A1), but they all have the same digital sum by (A4). Now by (C2) and (C3) at least 3 of them are Triangular and at least 3 of them are Prime. So find the digital sum of all numbers from 10 through 999 and group them by equal digital sums. Eliminate any group that does not contain at 3 Triangular numbers and at least 3 Prime numbers. The only digital sums remaining are 10 and 19. Find the digital product of all these numbers. You will find that none of the numbers with a digital sum of 19 has a triangualr digital product, contradicting (E3). So the common digital sum must be 10. Also notice that none of these has a prime digital product so that (E2) is false and so (E5) must be true. So no digital product is less than 8. Eliminate these (all are 0) and there are only 45 candidates for Sacred Numbers left.

(i) Since we now know there are exactly 7 Sacred Numbers, the quantities in (B1), (B2), (B3) are exact since these 3 properties are mutually exclusive. The same holds for (C1), (C2), (C3) since these 3 are also mutually exclusive (since 36 does not appear among the 45 candidate numbers). So the 7 Sacred Numbers must include exactly 2 Palindromes, 2 Strictly Increasing numbers, and 3 Strictly Decreasing numbers, and also exactly 1 Square, 3 Triangular numbers, and 3 Prime Numbers, the 7 numbers in the first set each being one of the 7 in the second set. We can eliminate any numbers which does not have at least one of the properties: square, triangular, prime. This leaves only 21 numbers. Of these we can eliminate any which does not have any of the properties: palindrome, strictly increasing, strictly decreasing. This leaves only 12 numbers.

(j) Of the 12 remaining numbers, 1 is square, 4 are triangular, and 7 are prime. Also, 2 are plaindromes, 5 are strictly increasing, and 5 are strictly decreasing. Now form all sets of 7 of these 12 numbers so that each set contains 1 square, 3 trianglular, 3 primes, 2 palindromes, 2 strictly increasing, and 3 strictly decreasing. There are 21 such sets. Find the digital products of all numbers in each set. Now by (E1) eliminate any set which has 2 or more numbers with the same digital product. This leaves 9 sets. By (E3) and (E4) eliminate any set which does not have exactly 1 triangular and 3 square digital products. This leaves 3 sets.

(k) For each of the 3 remaining sets find the sum of the digital products, which is the Number of the Gods by (F5). The 3 possibilities are 123, 121, 117. Now by (F4) it must not have any of the 6 Divine Qualities. But 123 is strictly increasing and 121 is a palindrome. So only 117 meets this condition. So the 7 Sacred Numbers are 28, 55, 64, 73, 91, 127, 181, and the Number of the Gods is 117.


I can hear Howard's head spinning from all the way down here......;)


The next will be a mite less complex.

[Robert Linford]

Well, thanks for that, Tim. Did you get all that, How?:)

[How Brown]

Duh...nope.

I..uh..I...er..Oh,.I ain't got time for these baby puzzles.

I could get 'em...if I had...er..the time...yeah,thats it...its a time thing.

Plus..I wanna see other people answer them to make them feel good. I could uh..I could get 'em all..but I care about people and their people needs.

I swear.

[admin tim]

Try this one and see if it is a mite easier: :boink:


As I was going to St. Ives
I met a man with seven wives
Each wife had seven sacks
Each sack had seven cats
Each cat had seven kits
Kits, cats, sacks, and wives
How many were going to St. Ives?

[How Brown]

One...eine...Uno...une...una...O-N-E.

I one..I mean,I won.

I saw the flick too.:thumb:

[admin tim]

Try this one, gents - it's diabolical.

[Robert Linford]

Well, I'll have a bash. Is it that you make two diagonal cuts from the top two corners downward to the centre point, thus giving you a second square, then turn the square through 45 degrees and it will fit down exactly onto the first one?

[How Brown]

Thats some pretty good spatial observatin' there,Robert. You is correct.

[admin tim]

Close, but no cigar (yet). :smokin:

Better have Valerie cut you out a facsimile to try there, Howard.

[admin tim]

Man, so close, and everyone gave up. I blame Howard for this, as he feels the same way about the Eagles. Anyway......

[How Brown]

Timmers:

Oh,I knew Robert was wrong..I was just..ehh..kidding.

I was busy...so I didn't try to figure it out. I could have.:lie:

[admin tim]

Okay, maybe our resident eggheads forgot all about this thread.

To make amends, post what you think the next number is in the following sequence: :evil:

4, 3, 3. 5, 4, 4. 3. 5, 5, 4, 3, ?

[admin tim]

Et tu, Robert?

C'mon folks - it's really easy. Honest.

[Magpie]

3 would be a logical choice, although probably not the logic you are looking for :yield:

I'll say "3" for now, and hopefully I'll understand where I went wrong when you reveal the answer:)

[Robert Linford]

I'll go for 5, Tim, but it's pretty desperate.

[Mr.Invisible]

Its 6

should i say why?

mart

[admin tim]

,,,and it's Mr. Invisible!! All hail to thee, good sir. :peace:

Yes, please post your reasoning as to why the next number in sequence is 6, and I'll be listening for the sound of Robert and Magpie kicking themselves.

[Mr.Invisible]

the list is the number of letters present in the numbers from zero to ten, the next number being eleven hence 6

Mart

[admin tim]

Excellent, my dear sir, excellent.

What's that thumping noise I hear off in the distance? :banghead:

[How Brown]

Tim:

Yes,Marty is right...thats the answer I got as well.:lie:

[Robert Linford]

Well done, folks. I knew it was non-mathematical but didn't think of the numbers.

Thank you for confirming the answer, How.:hail:

Robert

[admin tim]

25, 27, 3, 12, 6, 15, 9, 30, 21, 19

WHICH of the above numbers can be added to give a sum of 50? Give it a try - it's as easy as 3.14159.......

[How Brown]

25,19,and 6........

[Magpie]

Yes, please post your reasoning as to why the next number in sequence is 6, and I'll be listening for the sound of Robert and Magpie kicking themselves.

My reasoning was that the pattern was a single digit, followed by a different digit repeated twice (X, Y, Y), in which case the 4=X, the 3=Y, so the next digit would also be Y, or 3.

Not as elegant as the true pattern, I grant you, but of equal validity :playball:

[admin tim]

Well, I guess we have to give Magpie at least partial credit for his logical explanation. A good defence.

:second:

[admin tim]

And the winnah is..... Mr. Invisible (again), whose PM to me with the correct answer beat Howard's post by 4 minutes.

Well, that one was easy; I'll see if the next can be ramped up a bit. :biggrin1:

[admin tim]

As promised. This is a good one - have fun.

[Robert Linford]

1, 2, 3, 4, 5.

[Sam Flynn]

Robert, I make it: 5,1,3,2,4

We can't both be right! ;)

[How Brown]

Looks like its time for the sites' resident genius to show up and set youse two straight. Since she ain't here...let me handle this.

You are both correct.

It works in any way you move the numbers around.

[admin tim]

I don't think the ink was even dry on this one before Robert posted the answer.

Looks like I'll have to get medieval......

[How Brown]

Excuse me...technical genius...unless you are working on the registration page problem that you get paid for fixin' and well too I might add....why not tell Sammy he was correct as well?

You and Debbie and Robert are the triangular configuration of the definitely ascertainable conspiracy on this site to win,win,win,win all the time...while overlooking input by good men,sound and true,like Sam and Shlomo.

[Robert Linford]

Not sure Gareth would want to be bracketed with Shlomo.:shocked:

[How Brown]

Heh heh...using the old "divide and conquer" routine,are we,Lee Harvey Linford??? Or is it Robert Ruby?

[admin tim]

What event significant to British history occurred exactly 300 years ago this week?

[admin tim]

A man owns a number of pets. All but 2 of them are tarantulas, all but 2 of them are parrots, and all but 2 of them are chinchillas.

How many pets does he own altogether?

[How Brown]

Answer to number 1:

Manchester United won their 9th F.A. Cup in trouncing Liverpool F.C. 5-nil....

[Magpie]

A man owns a number of pets. All but 2 of them are tarantulas, all but 2 of them are parrots, and all but 2 of them are chinchillas.

How many pets does he own altogether?

I'm guessing 3.

[admin tim]

Magpie is correct! :peace:


However, Howard's effort.....:violin:



Now, who will step up to the plate for #1?

[Magpie]

What event significant to British history occurred exactly 300 years ago this week?

That would be Scottish parliament accepting the Treaty of Union that brought Scotland into the United Kingdom, am I right?

[admin tim]

King George, that is. Now THAT is impressive!

A tip of the top hat to Magpie tonight, who is on a roll but def.
:jaw:

Kinda ironic that after 300 years the Scots are now wanting out of the deal.

[How Brown]

I hate to tell youse,but I did post three before anyone else.....you just didn't see it.

My post simply must have gotten lost in some sort of mixup...but trust me,because you can....I had 3 too.

[admin tim]

All right, a bunch of folks who write articles, books, commentary, etc. on a regular basis should have little trouble with this one.

There are at least 4 words in the English language that contain "uu". One is 'vacuum'. Name three more. :eyebrows:

[Magpie]

According to the Oxford Dictionary, the most commonly used are vacuum and continuum. Less common are menstruum, residuum and triduum. Downright uncommon are duumvir and duumvirate.

:pop2:

[How Brown]

Uhh...I knew that, I knew that.

A "duumvirate" is when you get three Hungarians standing around discussing what the theory of relativity is or how to boil water.

A "duumvir" is the way Scandinavians pronounce "Denver".

How about some hard questions Tim....quit duuming it down for people like Tommy and Sammy.
:whistle:

[admin tim]

I should have stipulated NO Oxford dictionaries! Oh well; well done, old fruit.

Heh - try looking this one up in your Funk and Wagnalls.....


Which time is missing from the following sequence?

1:38, 2:44, 3:49, 4:55, 7:05, 8:11, 9:16, 10:22, 11:27, 12:33

OH - and please also explain WHY you think your answer is correct. I.E., the right answer may be obtained for the wrong reason - what is the right reason?

[Magpie]

I would say the missing time is 6 o'clock.

Although my logic is probably seriously flawed, here goes:

Each time increases by 1 hour and either 5 or six minutes (alternating). There's a huge gap between 4:55 and 7:05 so the missing time is probably in there somewhere--if we add 1 to the hour and 5 to the minutes (satisfying the pattern) we get 5:60, which is of course impossible so it must be 6:00


I should have stipulated NO Oxford dictionaries! Oh well; well done, old fruit.

Heh - try looking this one up in your Funk and Wagnalls.....


Which time is missing from the following sequence?

1:38, 2:44, 3:49, 4:55, 7:05, 8:11, 9:16, 10:22, 11:27, 12:33

OH - and please also explain WHY you think your answer is correct. I.E., the right answer may be obtained for the wrong reason - what is the right reason?

[admin tim]

near-winner.

Both Magpie and Mr. Invisible (via PM) have deduced the correct answer - 6:00 - but for the wrong reason, or, more accurately, NOT for the reason I am looking for. No, there is a very good reason why 6:00 is the missing time, and I expect that one of our panel of experts will soon nail it, hands down.

[Magpie]

Is it because the times one be represented on an analog clock as a straight line?

[admin tim]

The times given are those 12 times on the clock where the hour and minute hands form a straight line. Hence, 6:00 was indeed the missing time.


As I said, one of our experts was going to solve it soon, 'hands' down. I thought that was a Maybrickesque hint.....

Congratulations to Magpie - again!! :first:

[How Brown]

Oh do you need the right answer,Tim?

That...ahem...is because there is a sequence of 65 minutes,then 55 minutes,12 times to equal the 24 hours in a day. Each two numbers equals 2 hours...I stun myself with my brillyance.

Thats the right answer...and there's no need to show us an alternative. I'm right...Magpie got it right. End of story.

[admin tim]

It's puzzle time again.


90 ripperologists go to a pub. 3 have a pork pie, beer, and spotted dick. 24 have a pork pie; 5 have a pork pie and beer; 33 have beer; 10 have a beer and spotted dick; 38 have spotted dick; 8 have spotted dick and a pork pie. How many had nothing?

[How Brown]

Ha ha ha !! The answer is me. One.

I ain't eating anything with that "d" word in it....I cannot drink beer and eat food at the same time....and I quit drinkin' anyway for a very special lady...and I have become a vegetarian. For 26 days now. Never felt better. Au revoir,les meats.

Give us a hard one....like how many celery stalks does it take to fill my ( former ) fat ass up with.

[Robert Linford]

24

Robert

Good one Robert !

Mr. Meatless

[admin tim]

...but not yet.

Robert is kinda close, Mr. Invisible (via PM) is a bit further out, and Howard, well, :violin:. But the solution can be reached by logic, so keep 'em coming.


P.S. WHERE did all the captioners go? :confused:

[Nina Brown]

24

Nina :)

[Nina Brown]

I can't edit my last post.

My answer should have read 24 the same as Robert's.

[How Brown]

Excuse me,lady....

You can now edit your posts...

:kiss:

[Nina Brown]

Thank you Sir

:kiss:

[How Brown]

:faint:

[admin tim]

Not yet - try again.

The solution will be posted on Friday, and it is a humdinger.

[Nina Brown]

My final answer is 15.

Nina :)

[Stan Russo]

what's the riddle?

Stan

[admin tim]

...and it's Nina! Yes, 15 is the correct answer to the following puzzle:

90 ripperologists go to a pub. 3 have a pork pie, beer, and spotted dick. 24 have a pork pie; 5 have a pork pie and beer; 33 have beer; 10 have a beer and spotted dick; 38 have spotted dick; 8 have spotted dick and a pork pie. How many had nothing?

Congratulations to Nina! :first:

[admin tim]

It's puzzle time again already!

[How Brown]

Nach ! This is a piece o' cake...all I gotta do is ask Nina for the answer.

Its good to be the King...

This is a good one Tim....good find.

[Robert Linford]

Tim, I'll sit this one out. You're talking to someone who'd be capable of getting lost in his own home town.

Robert

[admin tim]

Well, if even the indomitable Robert gives up, I may as well post the solution now. :banghead:

[Robert Linford]

Er - yeah, yeah, I knew that. I was just giving Howard a chance to shine.

Too bad you couldn't solve it, How. Tut, tut.

[admin tim]

Would you believe that it's already puzzle time again?


After a 'spirited' diary discussion on Casebook, 70% of the ripperologists suffer from broken bones, 75% are fatigued, 80% have stomach aches, and 85% have fevers.

What percentage of the ripperologists must have all four ailments?

[How Brown]

Actually, zero percentage must have all four ailments.

Scratch that....

70 percent.

[admin tim]

You're moving in the right direction, anyway. :thumbsupbud:

WHERE are our indefatigible puzzlers? :confused:

[admin tim]

Well, our puzzle experts must all be on holiday. The correct answer is at least 10%.

[admin tim]

No one ever responded to this last time I tried, but we have more and better puzzlers now.

Look closely at the men before and after the move. WHERE does the extra man come from - and go? :confused:


http://www.jtrforums.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=483&stc=1&d=1146846316

[Caroline Morris]

I worked that last one out to 10% but figured I must be completely wrong because you said How was moving in the right direction by going from 0 to 70.

:boink:

Love,

Caz
X

[Note to self: have more confidence next time]

[Robert Linford]

The extra man is the guy who has all the ailments, so he comes from the sick room.

[How Brown]

I demand to know how you came to the conclusion of 10 percent,Tim.

'Splain yourself,sir.

[admin tim]

http://www.comics.com/comics/ripleys/archive/images/ripleys2004073370606.gif

Sorry, Caroline, if I misled you.

[How Brown]

Ummm....I gotta accept Ripley's ( born in Philly ) word.

.......but who does that bride look like at first glance !!!

:nod:

Hail Bathmat !

[admin tim]

Here's another for our resident puzzlers:

[How Brown]

Piece of cake for the resident geenius....

The Pillsbury Dough boy with the pins is 5

The magazine/book is 2

The shrunken head is 4

The turtle is worth 3

The hat is equal to 1

and the total ( ? ) is 9

What did I win?

[admin tim]

...but only complete answers may be considered. :nono:

[How Brown]

Mr.Torquemada....

The other ? is 14.

Send the Jaguar to

How Brown
Wissahickon,Phila.Pa.

[admin tim]

...but only correct answers may be considered. :violin:

[Caroline Morris]

Yes.

Yes I can work it out.

Oh, I see. I have to tell you what the answers are too. :)

Right, gingerbread man = 5

book = 2

head = 4

turtle = 3

hat = 1

Therefore, line down = 15

line across = 9

Love,

Caz
X

[admin tim]

...for Howard to find enough fingers and toes to determine his final answer:

As of this writing, WHICH forum on these message boards has been the most active?

And, since the reincarnation of jtrforums.com, what is the record for the number of messages posted in one day in here?

[Caroline Morris]

Yes.

Yes I can work it out.

Oh, I see. I have to tell you what the answers are too. :)

Right, gingerbread man = 5

book = 2

head = 4

turtle = 3

hat = 1

Therefore, line down = 15

line across = 9

Love,

Caz
X

Ahem - knock knock :boink:

WHAT ABOUT ME :confused:

Love,

Caz
X

[How Brown]

I think the record for posts is 142.

The caption contest is the big "draw" on the site....or second only to wherever I happen to be posting at the moment.

[admin tim]

The record for one day is 144 posts, set in June last year.

Yesterday's tally was 143 posts.

And, yes, the Weekly Caption Contest forum has thus far been the most active, which is incredible when you review its early history, when after a week of exposure, as few as two entries were posted. (Howard used to win regularly back in those days but he has conveniently forgotten all that.)

Had I been asked to name the busiest forum, I would have guessed the 'Epiphany' forum. Who'da thunk it? Of course, if a certain authoress were still a member here, I expect that this WOULD have been the busiest forum.

[admin tim]

Caroline Morris! :first: who managed to slip by a surprisingly moribund How Brown at the last turn

Runner up is :second: How Brown, who somehow managed to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory. You had it in the bag, man, you had it in the bag. :censored:

[admin tim]

Another puzzle for our experts. To be fair to Howard, would everyone please hop on one leg and hold one hand behind your back?

[Robert Linford]

Put the 4 pigs in the middle space?

[Caroline Morris]

Put two extra pigs in two of the middle pens:

2 4 2
2 X 2
2 4 2

Now move two pigs from opposite corner pens into the remaining two middle pens:

0 4 2
4 X 4
2 4 0

Hey presto! 6 piggies on each side, making 20 piggies in total.

Don't know if that's allowed, but it seems to work!

Love,

Caz
X

[Robert Linford]

Well I'll be jiggered!

But I knew I wouldn't solve that one.


:flypig:

[Caroline Morris]

Hi Robert,

Well my mother was a maths teacher but oddly I never asked her for any help. I just learned by myself what numbers add up to twenty. :bolt:

Anyway, I don't know if I got it right yet. No good if you can't move the piggies around - before serving them up with apple sauce. :hungry:

Love,

Caz
X

[admin tim]

And it is Caroline Morris (again)! :first:

Dunno what happened to Howard. :noidea:

Caroline is plumb correct, although the answer given was for 1 to be in each corner, with 4 in the middle of each side. But there is no denying the veracity of her answer.

Congratulations to Caroline!

[admin tim]

Since Caroline handily defeated even Robert this last time, we'll try another.

[Donald Souden]

Tim,

Remove the 8 matches from the inside that all pwependicular with the outer matches, leaving a small square inside a larger square.

Supe.

[Caroline Morris]

Hi Don,

That was quick as lightning! :)

Love,

Caz
X

[admin tim]

Donald is correct! All hail to thee, good sir. :first:

[Donald Souden]

Caz,

Yeah, but it just jumps out. With nine cells, the only way to get two non-contiguous, same-size squares means removing way too many lines. But, the question didn't say anything about size, there is a square within a square and voila!--with nine cells the two squares are connected by eight lines.

On the other hand, in my haste I couldn't spell perpendicular.

Don.

[Caroline Morris]

Hi Don,

It doesn't just jump out at you if it's posted at 1 o'clock in the bloomin' morning where you are.

I wasn't pwependicular at the time. ;)

:sleep:

Love,

Caz
X

[Donald Souden]

Caz,

It doesn't just jump out at you if it's posted at 1 o'clock in the bloomin' morning where you are.

True enough. In this instance I must have wandered in right after it was posted. Maybe Tim should post a puzzle and the answers PMed to him rather than posted, so over the course of 24 hours we all have a fair shot on our own and then the names of those who were right posted along with the solution.

There was a similar problem with Howard's old online trivia contests. It was late at night in the UK and Europe, morning in the antipodes, still working hours in the western USA, but like the third bowl of porridge just right in places like West Conshohocken, Penn.

Don.

[Caroline Morris]

Hi Don,

I was only pulling your leg. Now if Tim was offering big prizes... :clap:

:)

Love,

Caz
X

PS BTW looking forward to meeting you in October, along with a few others from across the pond.

[How Brown]

Good going,Supe....

By the way,thanks for the email from a couple of weeks ago. I hear ya,buddy. Sorry to not have replied at that time.

You know,Supe used to be the perpetual champ in trivia. Oh sure,others would try to whup him....but Supe usually came through.

Maybe I can devise a weekly posted trivia contest....and using Supe's idea that the answers be p.m.'ed in ( in this case,to me....) and not posted on the same thread....

Or...if people wanted to....we could hold a trivia in the chat room we have here on the site.

Those extraordinary hills they call streets over in West Conshy are still as steep as ever,Don.:D

Let me know if there is any interest in either the trivia idea here on the boards....or in "live" chat and I will get busy.

[admin tim]

It's about time, too.

[Robert Linford]

One skull = nine gems.

[Caroline Morris]

Not fair Robert - I was doing the washing up when you posted your answer. :boink: :lol:

Love,

Caz
X

[Robert Linford]

Well Caz, the equation for my washing up is

One frying pan = big mess

[admin tim]

And the winnah is Robert Linford, who seems to have missed his life's calling.

[admin tim]

It was either that or an off-colour joke. :yield:

If B + W = G,
and B + Y = G,
and R + B = P,
and R + W = P,

then what does R + Y equal? The choices are:

L, M, N. O, or P


Good luck, and may the canniest ripperologist win (if not the earliest). :high5:

[Raven]

R+Y=O

[Caroline Morris]

I make it P

Love,

Caz
X

[Robert Linford]

I make it P, too.

[How Brown]

Yeah..umm...what Caz and Bob said..its P

[Caroline Morris]

O

I need a P

Then I'll make some T

F. I. NE. T?

S. I. F. T.

[admin tim]

Finally! A competition with some competition!


The :first: is Mr. Invisible, who PM'd me the correct answer a mere 15 minutes before Raven posted.

The :second: is Raven, who was almost :first:.

The rest of youse didn't qualify. Sneaky and devious Illuminati that I am (source: http://karenkpoulin1.spaces.live.com/), I took advantage of your trusting natures. The original puzzle was:

If B + W = G,
and B + Y = G,
and R + B = P,
and R + W = P,

then what does R + Y equal? The choices are:

L, M, N. O, or P


And the solution is:

If Black + White = Grey,
and Blue + Yellow = Green,
and Red + Blue = Purple,
and Red + White = Pink,

then R + Y equals (O)range.

Hence the suitably subtle mention of an 'off-colour joke' in the opening narrative. You just can't trust an Illuminati. :croc:


Congratulations to Mr. Invisible and Raven!

[WRITEFX]

Very clever, I had a few goes but was of course, was way off base as I was thinking numbers.

[admin tim]

30 ripperologists are standing in a circle, but only one of them will win a prize. Starting from the topmost person (at 0°), and moving clockwise, every 3rd person is removed from the circle.

WHICH Ripperologist (#1 - #30) will be left to claim the prize?

[admin tim]

Here be another....

[Robert Linford]

Tim, 8 will go in the middle and the other numbers 1 to 7 and 9 can then be placed in any circles you wish.

[admin tim]

Robert Linford is correct in his solution of the puzzle immediately above, and Mr. Invisible has PM'd me the correct answer (#29) for the puzzle before that,

Congratulations to both! :clap:

[admin tim]

If a set of scales balances with:

2 swords
3 pith helmets

on one side, and 20 fruits on the other, and with

1 sword

on one side, and

3 pith helmets
4 fruits

on the other, then

how many fruits would it take to balance one sword?

[Magpie]

What kinds of fruits are they?

[admin tim]

Patagonian Breadfruits, of course

[Robert Linford]

I make it 8.

[admin tim]

:first: Mr. Invisible, who came up with the correct answer 24 hours before
:second: Robert Linford

Congratulations to both!

[admin tim]

WIN 2 AIRLINE TICKETS ALL EXPENSES PAID TO THE 2008 OLYMPIC GAMES IN
BEIJING, CHINA.

To participate is very easy, just view the attached photo, correctly
answer the following questions and send your answers to the
International Olympic Committee:

1. Which student seems to appear tired / sleepy?
2. Which ones are male twins?
3. Which ones are the female twins?
4. How many women are in the group?
5. Which one is the teacher?

Good Luck!!!!

[How Brown]

Hey Tim....how about an easier contest....like how many bass are there in Lake Waxahachie,Texas?

You know the Welsh all look alike...this ain't fair.

[Robert Linford]

Back row is Yoko Ono giving the peace sign.

Front row is How Hi and next to him, How Lo.

The long jump has been renamed the Mao Tse Tung Great Leap Forward. And as it's the Olympics, the whole thing's a load of anabolics.

[Sam Flynn]

Howard, you ain't far wrong! Here's a photo from our latest family outing:

http://i908.photobucket.com/albums/ac287/HowieNina/welsh.jpg

(That's me, third from the left, between my uncle and my grandmother)

[Robert Linford]

My God! It's John Wyndham's Village of the Damned.

Tell me why I don't like Mondays...........

[How Brown]

Sammy:

Thats the good thing about the Welsh...you date one of 'em,you dated 'em all. :)

[admin tim]

and it is a doozy.

"What is so special about these three words: ion, hawk, plume?"

Go ahead - google away - the answer ain't there. :biggrin1:


The winner, if there is one, will receive a SPECIAL PRIZE by post! Contest ends on January 4, 2008, so take off those tinfoil hats and put on those thinking caps!

[Mike Covell]

They comprise the 12 letters of the Hawaiian alphabet:rockon:

[Sam Flynn]

and it is a doozy.

"What is so special about these three words: ion, hawk, plume?"
"kwah"... "wakh"... "pelum"... "mulpe"... "ino"... "noi" - it's hopeless! In other words, is it because one can't make intelligible English anagrams out of them?

[WRITEFX]

I've been trying all sorts of anagrams with them - you can get some good ones starting with How!

[Sam Flynn]

I've been trying all sorts of anagrams with them - you can get some good ones starting with How!
...but you have to lump them all together to do that! On their own, they're bloody useless ;)

[Robert Linford]

Mike, I sent that to Tim at 8.08:laser:

[admin tim]

Well, it seems that Robert and a few others called my bluff and DID find the answer, and rather quickly too.

I'll have to get medieval with you guys. From now on, these little contests will be taken from OLD puzzle books, where you don't have a snowball's chance of googling the solution.

Still, Robert DID have the correct answer, and he WAS first to submit it. He thus wins as a prize one of our new JTRForums-branded keyring/bottle openers.

Robert - PM me with a mailing address and I'll send you your :censored: prize.

[admin tim]

Google this one, Linford. :evil:

What is the significance of the following word string?

circular. arcsine, diskette, approximate, equatorial, indefinite


They be clues hidden herein.
- The Illuminati:flame:

[Robert Linford]

Er - it's the code which when entered on a computer sets off nuclear Armageddon.

Robert (from inside mushroom cloud)

[admin tim]

Well, we've heard from Robert and Mike thus far, but both responses are wrong. :biggrin1:

Could it be that this puzzle is a real stumper? I thought it was as easy as pie, but that's just me. Of course, that was before I substituted all words in the original puzzle. :evil:

Put your backs into it lads; this contest closes Friday or whenever Howard sells a keyring/bottle opener, whichever comes first.

[Sam Flynn]

What is the significance of the following word string?

circular. arcsine, diskette, approximate, equatorial, indefinite
This is really lame...

Is it that, if one adds the suffix "-us" to the first syllable of each word, one comes up with another - "circus, arcus, dis[c]us, apus, equus, Indus"?

[Robert Linford]

Well, I'll pitch in. The last two letters of each word are the symbols for chemical elements. Unfortunately, you have tellurium three times but need that be a stumbling block?:tape2:

[admin tim]

Well, since Howard has now sold a keyring/bottle opener, I guess the contest is over.


Devious Illuminati that I am, I seem to have fixed it where there wasn't a winner. I guess I shoulda offered another bottle opener as a prize after all.

Lame, Sam? Now that hurt (and wait until I judge your caption contest entries). I search the world over to find puzzles for youse guys and what thanks do I get? :hurt: Not much thanks, but the satisfaction sometimes compensates for it. :evil:

Now to business. I confess that I AM disappointed that no one picked up on the myriad of clues left here. No wonder you guys are still looking for Jack after 120 years. Let's look at the word string and then at the original puzzle:

circular. arcsine, diskette, approximate, equatorial, indefinite
circle. arc, disk, around, equator, interminable

Google the original and you will quickly find the solution. But my substitutes are essentially equal in meaning. Here we have a few mathematical terms, references to circular things, and references to something approximate and interminable and indefinite. What could that be?

Hmmm...

The first letter of each word are clues, as are the words themselves. Look at the letters of the alphabet.

A - 1
B - 2
C - 3
D - 4
E - 5
F - 6
G - 7
H - 8
I - 9

Now taking the numbers corresponding to the first letter of each word, we get 314159. I don't suppose that anyone noticed that that is a period after the first word and not a comma. This might give us 3.14159, which definitely has something to do with circles, mathematics, and is interminable in itself. Top it off with the fact that I had said the solution was as easy as pi(e) and you have more clues than Howard has unsold bottle openers.

You just can't trust an Illuminati.

[Robert Linford]

Very clever, Tim. I completely missed the period, taking it for a comma.

Underhand, sneaky, devious it may be - but clever.

[Sam Flynn]

Lame, Sam? Now that hurt.
I was referring to my lame answer, Tim, not your lame question ;)

[admin tim]

Heh - this one has two correct solutions, but one is easy and the other is not. Guess which I am looking for. :evil: And yes, there are clues.

What do these words all have in common?

ripper, aided, brush, darned, easter, funny, jeepers, kicked, mails, nuts

[admin tim]

HEY! Where's all the puzzlers? If you are googling, forget it - I changed the words from the original puzzle. :fish:

[Mike Covell]

It's just too hard, i have tried everything, and cannot get it¬:blah:

[admin tim]

Well, this is interesting,

No sign of the usual suspects (et tu, Robert?) and only a white flag from one of the regular puzzlers.

Anyway, I said there were clues, and so there are. Let's look at the words:

ripper, aided, brush, darned, easter, funny, jeepers, kicked, mails, nuts

Hmmm, they all appear to be in ascending alphabetical order, except for the first, but that is understandable given the nature of this site.

And why words like aided and darned, or mails and nuts, when a simpler form exists? Obviously, they were altered to prevent googling.

One peculiar characteristic, and the easier of the two solutions, is that by replacing the first letter of each word with another letter, one can make new words. Ripper becomes zipper, kicked becomes picked, and so on.

Why were they in ascending alphabetical order? It seems that by replacing the first letter of each word with the next in alphabetical sequence, one can also make new words, as we see here:

ripper = sipper
aided = bided
brush = crush
darned = earned
easter = faster
funny = gunny
jeepers = keepers
kicked = licked
mails = nails
nuts = outs

It wasn't that hard, was it? Just ungooglable.

[Robert Linford]

Sipper is a bit artificial, isn't it, Tim? And I confess I had never heard of gunny.

Robert

[admin tim]

From Merriam-Webster online:

sipper

One entry found.

sip[1,verb]
Main Entry:1sip http://www.merriam-webster.com/images/audio.gif (javascript:popWin('/cgi-bin/audio.pl?sip00001.wav=sip'))Pronunciation: \ˈsip\ Function:verb Inflected Form(s):sipped; sip·pingEtymology:Middle English sippen; akin to Low German sippen to sipDate:14th century intransitive verb : to take a sip of something especially repeatedly transitive verb 1 : to drink in small quantities 2 : to take sips from
— sip·per noun

Anyway, those who attend the University of Texas here are known as T-sippers, so it is a familiar term.


Gunny as in gunny sack (burlap)? Surely that is a familiar term in English.
Gunny

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Jump to: navigation (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gunny#column-one), search (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gunny#searchInput)
Gunny may mean:

An Anglo-Indian term for a coarse fabric, often used to make sacks (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gunny_sack), derived from goney, from Hindi (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hindi) goni, from Sanskrit (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sanskrit) goni ("sack").
Gunnery Sergeant (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gunnery_Sergeant)
In some online forums, the term "Gunny" is used to quickly indicate agreement with a post.
Hey, I never said it was gonna be easy. :evil:

[Robert Linford]

Boo! Hiss!

Spitter.

:spit:

[Mike Covell]

That one was pretty hard,

I have to say I have heard of Sip, everytime my heart goes crazy, i always get someone saying, "Get a glass of water but take little sips"

never heard of "Sipper" though.

As for Gunny!
I thought that was a baby rabbit armed to the teeth:laser::target:

[admin tim]

Verily, thy bellyaching has smitten my sinful heart and I have assembled a new puzzle for you. As before, don't bother googling to look for the answer - I made it myself. :evil:

What characteristic do the following words have in common? As usual, there are clues.

house chapel nose coat heath stone char

Put your backs into it, lads (and lasses).

[admin tim]

No posts yet? Colour me surprised. Wherefore art thou, Robert?

Et tu, Sam?

Now Howard's silence I can understand, but these others? A black day, indeed.

[WRITEFX]

Too many clues. I know the answer and pm ing you.

[WRITEFX]

I may have been a bit premature with my answer but not given up yet.

Edit -Mind you, I've just looked back at the previous puzzle and see that it would have been impossible to guess what you were after. So this one is probably much harder that I originally thought.

[WRITEFX]

You've got me hooked today - I've been spending time on it instead of getting on with things I needed to do.

Now tried -

Bible
Old English
Heraldry
Colours
Masonic ciphers
changing letters
word associations
tv

Still nothing :) Answer is probably really obvious.

Anyone else having a go?

[Robert Linford]

Is it that they can all be preceded with a colour? White House, Whitechapel, Blackheath, redcoat, Yellowstone (National Park). Don't know about char and nose.

[WRITEFX]

Hi Robert, I was told that it wasn't.

[admin tim]

What WRITEFX said by PM was

Colours in front of the words e.g. Whitechapel, Blackheath

And what I replied was

Are you sure this is the case? Please show your hypothesis for all words listed.

So you both could be on the right track. Maybe. :whistle:

[WRITEFX]

I think I'm going a bit loopy. Just got out of bed as I was thinking about my PM from Tim. Did I misinterpret his reply when I told him it was colours ? I interpreted that as the answer was not colours hence my post to Robert.

So I just came up with this -


Greenhouse or White House
Whitechapel
blue nose (whale) or 'to brown nose'
redcoat or bluecoat
Blackheath
Yellowstone
charRED represents the comment made in the post 'a black day'

Is any of this right Tim?

[admin tim]

YES. By George, she's got it.

Except all words are just one word, as follows (what I had in mind, given the site ownership)

brownnose

One entry found.

brownnose
Main Entry:brown·nose http://www.merriam-webster.com/images/audio.gif (javascript:popWin('/cgi-bin/audio.pl?brownn01.wav=brownnose'))Pronunciation: \ˈbrau̇(n)-ˌnōz\ Function:transitive verb Etymology:from the implication that servility is equivalent to having one's nose in the anus of the person from whom advancement is soughtDate:circa 1939 : to ingratiate oneself with : curry favor with
— brownnose noun



But there is also

bluenose

One entry found.

bluenose
Main Entry:blue·nose http://www.merriam-webster.com/images/audio.gif (javascript:popWin('/cgi-bin/audio.pl?blueno01.wav=bluenose'))Pronunciation: \ˈblü-ˌnōz\ Function:noun Date:1903 : a person who advocates a rigorous moral code

But I could hardly expect anyone here to know that.

And I see our gal picked up on some of the clues I had been strewing about - excellent work that. I had thought that the ripper references would have been enough - maybe next time.

Congratulations to WRITEFX! All that and brains too!

[WRITEFX]

Thanks Tim.

I had started wondering if there was some sort of specific sequence required for the colours.

[Magpie]

bluenose

One entry found.

bluenose
Main Entry:blue·nose http://www.merriam-webster.com/images/audio.gif (http://javascript<b></b>:popWin('/cgi-bin/audio.pl?blueno01.wav=bluenose'))Pronunciation: \ˈblü-ˌnōz\ Function:noun Date:1903 : a person who advocates a rigorous moral code

But I could hardly expect anyone here to know that.

Bluenose is also the common Canadian vernacular for a native of Nova Scotia.

Apropos of nothing, just thought I'd feign making an contribution...

[admin tim]

Gotta be quick here....

What do these three sentences have in common? "I noticed his glazed pompadour had acquired a killer swoop; a foxy wave befitting a jester."

"Strike with prejudice against laziness, that quixotic devil procrastination—but maybe tomorrow."

"Coitus interruptus—often exactly at the wrong moment, quite bedeviling kenetic zest—just happens."

[Donald Souden]

Tim,
It would seem each contains all 26 letters of the English alphabet.
Don.