DiMono
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Schik wrote:
Was he a policeman?

A conductor?

A magician?

Nope, nope, and nope. I'll say his job is not one most people are likely to have

____________________________
Deploy the... I think it's a yellow button... it's usually flashing... it makes the engines go... WHOOSH!

Schik
Level: Legendary Smitemaster

Rank Points: 5381
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Is there blood in the room?

Was the stick directly responsible for his death?

Indirectly responsible?


____________________________
The greatness of a nation and its moral progress can be judged by the way it treats its animals.
--Mahatma Gandhi

DiMono
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I just realized that I left out a highly relevant fact, making the entire riddle now pointless and probably unsolvable. Schik, drop us your riddle, and I'll chime back in again later when I've sorted things out.

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Deploy the... I think it's a yellow button... it's usually flashing... it makes the engines go... WHOOSH!

Schik
Level: Legendary Smitemaster

Rank Points: 5381
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Arrgggh...

Okay, I'll offer a puzzle up:

There is a school with one thousand lockers and one thousand students. The principal asks the first student to go to every locker and open it. Then he has the second student go to every second locker and close it. The third goes to every third locker and, if it is closed, he opens it, and if it is open, he closes it. The fourth student does this to every fourth locker, and so on. After the process is completed with the thousandth student, how many lockers are open?


____________________________
The greatness of a nation and its moral progress can be judged by the way it treats its animals.
--Mahatma Gandhi

ClaytonW
Level: Smitemaster

Rank Points: 961
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First I'll laugh at myself for attempting to solve this by repeatedly filling in 1000 little bubbles in MSPaint. Secondly, I'll admit I still used that wonderful Windows tool to solve this.

I made 20 circles instead of 1000, and went through 20 loops of the puzzle. Once student "n" goes through, the state of locker "n" is never altered again. At the end of 20 iterations, the lockers that are still open are 1, 4, 9, and 16. I recognized those numbers immediately as being perfect squares. So, the number of open lockers at the end of the Principal's cruel, cruel, game is equal to the number of perfect squares within the 1-1000 range. The largest perfect square under 1000 is 961. And the square root of that means...

31 lockers were still open.

(The perfect squares are ~courtesy of TI-89~: 1,4,9,16,25,36,49,64,81,100,121,144,169,196,225,256,289,324,361,400,441,484,529,576,625,676,729,784,841,900,961)

Schik
Level: Legendary Smitemaster

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Very good. Without experimentation, you can also solve it by noting that the only lockers that will be toggled open/shut an odd number of times will be those that have an odd number of integral divisors. Those are obviously perfect squares...

____________________________
The greatness of a nation and its moral progress can be judged by the way it treats its animals.
--Mahatma Gandhi

ClaytonW
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Rank Points: 961
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This is one of my favorite puzzles of all time, copied directly from one of my puzzle books, Puzzlegrams:

A tramp, unable to afford cigarettes, collects butt ends. But he was once a man of substance, and therefore refuses to smoke the ends. Instead, he shreds them until he has enough tobacco to make a real cigarette. When he has collected seven ends he has enough tobacco to make one whole cigarette. One lucky day he finds four cigarette ends in the gutter, and then an additional eight in the ashtray of a parked car, three in an old paint tin and five in the lobby of a hotel. He has enough money for a drink and manages to collect fifteen more cigarette ends in the pub. He discovers four in the social security office, six more on his way home, and four in the pocket of an old coat when he gets there. How many whole cigarettes was he able to smoke that day?

Schik
Level: Legendary Smitemaster

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Okay - he collected 4+8+3+5+15+4+6+4 = 49. He makes those into 49/7 = 7 cigarettes. He smokes them all, then takes the 7 butts and makes one more. Thus he smoked 8 cigarettes.


____________________________
The greatness of a nation and its moral progress can be judged by the way it treats its animals.
--Mahatma Gandhi

ClaytonW
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D'oh! Yeah, go ahead. =( Most people forget about the 7 ends he ended with. Was it that easy? Bah, I still like it.

Schik
Level: Legendary Smitemaster

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This is an unusual paragraph. I'm curious how quickly you can find out what is so unusual about it. It looks so plain you would think nothing is wrong with it. In fact, nothing is wrong with it! It is unusual though. Study it, and think about it, but you still may not find anything odd. But if you work at it a bit, you might find out. Try to do so without any coaching!

____________________________
The greatness of a nation and its moral progress can be judged by the way it treats its animals.
--Mahatma Gandhi

ClaytonW
Level: Smitemaster

Rank Points: 961
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*Hops up and down happily* I know! I know! I'll wait though...

Mattcrampy
Level: Smitemaster

Rank Points: 2388
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My, that was an unusual paragraph. I sat and thought hard, and I think I've found out why.

There isn't a single 'e' in it.

Have you seen that one before, Clayton?

Matt

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What do you call an elephant at the North Pole?

Schik
Level: Legendary Smitemaster

Rank Points: 5381
Registered: 02-04-2003
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You got it! Your turn....


____________________________
The greatness of a nation and its moral progress can be judged by the way it treats its animals.
--Mahatma Gandhi

Mattcrampy
Level: Smitemaster

Rank Points: 2388
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I had a fractured poem in mind, but plagiarism's more fun:

To count on me you can depend,
But count me and you'll never end!

(I'm hidden in the weights, but not the scales,
I'm there amongst the stones, but not the pebbles,
I occur in this event, but not the others,
I'm in the moon in ether, but not the sun in formaldehyde.)

I'll credit this puzzle after someone gets it.

Matt

____________________________
What do you call an elephant at the North Pole?

Schik
Level: Legendary Smitemaster

Rank Points: 5381
Registered: 02-04-2003
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Mattcrampy wrote:
To count on me you can depend,
But count me and you'll never end!

(I'm hidden in the weights, but not the scales,
I'm there amongst the stones, but not the pebbles,
I occur in this event, but not the others,
I'm in the moon in ether, but not the sun in formaldehyde.)

Man, I've been looking this one over all morning. I think the highlighted parts are the clues. The answer is numbers?


____________________________
The greatness of a nation and its moral progress can be judged by the way it treats its animals.
--Mahatma Gandhi

Mattcrampy
Level: Smitemaster

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Yes sir! It's numbers.

The puzzle was shamelessly stolen from Planetarium, a puzzle/story hybrid I found a few years ago that I really liked.

Matt

____________________________
What do you call an elephant at the North Pole?

Schik
Level: Legendary Smitemaster

Rank Points: 5381
Registered: 02-04-2003
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Okay, 'tis the season and all that, so how about a Christmas puzzle:
Santa always leaves plans for his elves to determine the order in which the reindeer will pull his sleigh. This year, for the European leg of his journey, his elves are working to the following schedule, which will form a single line of nine reindeer:

Comet behind Rudolph, Prancer and Cupid.
Blitzen behind Cupid and in front of Donder, Vixen and Dancer.
Cupid in front of Comet, Blitzen and Vixen.
Donder behind Vixen, Dasher and Prancer.
Rudolph behind Prancer and in front of Donder, Dancer and Dasher.
Vixen in front of Dancer and Comet.
Dancer behind Donder, Rudolph and Blitzen.
Prancer in front of Cupid, Donder and Blitzen.
Dasher behind Prancer and in front of Vixen, Dancer and Blitzen.
Donder behind Comet and Cupid.
Cupid in front of Rudolph and Dancer.
Vixen behind Rudolph, Prancer and Dasher.

Can you help the elves work out the order of the reindeer?


____________________________
The greatness of a nation and its moral progress can be judged by the way it treats its animals.
--Mahatma Gandhi

Oneiromancer
Level: Legendary Smitemaster

Rank Points: 2936
Registered: 03-29-2003
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The order is, from first to last:

Prancer
Cupid
Rudolph
Dasher
Blitzen
Vixen
Comet
Donder
Dancer

One second while I get my own puzzle (and wait for confirmation)

Game on,

____________________________
"He who is certain he knows the ending of things when he is only beginning them is either extremely wise or extremely foolish; no matter which is true, he is certainly an unhappy man, for he has put a knife in the heart of wonder." -- Tad Williams

Schik
Level: Legendary Smitemaster

Rank Points: 5381
Registered: 02-04-2003
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Oneiromancer wrote:
One second while I get my own puzzle (and wait for confirmation)

Wait no longer, you got it!

____________________________
The greatness of a nation and its moral progress can be judged by the way it treats its animals.
--Mahatma Gandhi

Oneiromancer
Level: Legendary Smitemaster

Rank Points: 2936
Registered: 03-29-2003
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Okay, this one may be kind of old, and it's a bit like my first one, but a little more logical.

In a large house there is a basement with three rooms. In the middle of each room is a light bulb hanging from the ceiling. There are no windows in any of the rooms and no light switches.

In the attic there are three switches. Each switch controls one of the lights in the basement.

You are taken to the attic. Your task is to try to determine which switch controls which light. Once you leave the attic, you may not return. You may visit two of the rooms in the basement once, and once only. No room, or the light emanating from it, is visible from any other room. You may not call upon the help of any other persons, or use any additional apparatus.

How can you determine which light switch controls which room?

You may ask questions, but technically it is not one of the question asking puzzles, you should be able to figure it out from the clues given (and a little clever thinking)...but please ask if you think any information has been left out (which I do not believe is the case).

Game on,


____________________________
"He who is certain he knows the ending of things when he is only beginning them is either extremely wise or extremely foolish; no matter which is true, he is certainly an unhappy man, for he has put a knife in the heart of wonder." -- Tad Williams

zex20913
Level: Smitemaster

Rank Points: 1721
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Two questions: Do the switches have switch covers, and are you afraid of getting electrocuted?

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Oneiromancer
Level: Legendary Smitemaster

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You cannot remove the switch covers. If this is how you were going to get electrocuted, then I guess I have answered that question. If you were thinking of another way to get electrocuted, then please ask that more specifically.

Remember, the puzzle states that you may not use any additional apparatus. So no multimeters with 500 foot long cords.

Game on,

____________________________
"He who is certain he knows the ending of things when he is only beginning them is either extremely wise or extremely foolish; no matter which is true, he is certainly an unhappy man, for he has put a knife in the heart of wonder." -- Tad Williams

ClaytonW
Level: Smitemaster

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Mattcrampy wrote:
Have you seen that one before, Clayton?

Yah, I'v hard it. I've hard LOTS of puzzls. I'm a puzzl fanatic. I'v got 15 or so puzzl books, which I dig out now and thn whn I'v got nothing productive to do.

And about that particular puzzl, I rmmber haring somwhr that som guy wrot a good-sizd novl without a singl "E." I'd lik to rad it if anyon knows th nam of it or whr I can find it.

krammer
Level: Smitemaster

Rank Points: 904
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Oneiro - are all the lights off to begin with? Or can we ask to have them in a particular configuration?

____________________________
+++ Divide by Cucumber Error +++ Please Reinstall Universe and Reboot +++

"Oook!"

Oneiromancer
Level: Legendary Smitemaster

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Sorry, all the lights are off to begin with. Since you cannot call upon the help of another person, the starting configuration cannot be changed.

Game on,

____________________________
"He who is certain he knows the ending of things when he is only beginning them is either extremely wise or extremely foolish; no matter which is true, he is certainly an unhappy man, for he has put a knife in the heart of wonder." -- Tad Williams

mrimer
Level: Legendary Smitemaster

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I must say, these are all great puzzles!

____________________________
Gandalf? Yes... That's what they used to call me.
Gandalf the Grey. That was my name.
I am Gandalf the White.
And I come back to you now at the turn of the tide.

krammer
Level: Smitemaster

Rank Points: 904
Registered: 02-12-2003
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Okay a possible solution...

The lights have dimmer switches so you can set one to off, one on dim and one on full. Then you check any 2 rooms and can deduce which the third one is.


[Edited by krammer on 12-11-2003 at 09:15 PM GMT]

____________________________
+++ Divide by Cucumber Error +++ Please Reinstall Universe and Reboot +++

"Oook!"

Oneiromancer
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No, no dimmer switches, these are strictly on and off. And to answer your pre-edit question, there is no time limit, you can take as long as you want.

Game on,

____________________________
"He who is certain he knows the ending of things when he is only beginning them is either extremely wise or extremely foolish; no matter which is true, he is certainly an unhappy man, for he has put a knife in the heart of wonder." -- Tad Williams

ClaytonW
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Ooo! I was about ready to give up, but I think I got it!

1. Turn on the first and second switches.
2. Wait, say, a half hour.
3. Turn the second switch off.
4. Go check/touch the bulbs.

On = first switch.
Off, but warm to the touch = second switch.
Off, but cold to the touch = third switch.

That right?

Oneiromancer
Level: Legendary Smitemaster

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Very good! And actually you can still do this if you can only turn on one switch at a time: just turn on the first switch, then wait a while, then turn that off and turn another one on, then go check. Remember that you can only check two rooms, but since the light bulb associated with each switch has a different final state, as you enumerated, the third room/switch combo can be determined through process of elimination.

Your turn again!

Game on,

____________________________
"He who is certain he knows the ending of things when he is only beginning them is either extremely wise or extremely foolish; no matter which is true, he is certainly an unhappy man, for he has put a knife in the heart of wonder." -- Tad Williams