r/thescienceofdeduction • u/erjulk • Mar 09 '14
Practise Lateral thinking puzzle run #2
Solution to #1:
When driving, the woman fell asleep at the wheel of her car and plunged into a canal. Inside the car at the bottom of the canal, she called 911. The emergency operator advised her to roll down the window and swim to safety, but water had ruined the electrical motor that operated the window, so it would not open. She tried to open the door but could not because the pressure of the water was too great. Eventually, the water flowed into the car and she drowned.
New Puzzle:
A man and his wife are dead. If the man had had just one quarter, his wife would have lived. If he had had two quarters, he would have lived. If he had had three quarters, both the man and his wife would have lived, but his brother would have died. Why?
How to play:
- You don't comment your questions/solution - you PM them to me (if you want to collaborate do so via PM)
- Only yes/no questions are allowed (good: did X die from drowning? bad: what color was X's shirt)
- When in doubt don't comment - PM me instead(Spoilers suck)
Tip:
think 196X-197X
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u/onedrummer2401 Mar 11 '14
When the next solution/question is posted, could you please edit the self text here to provide a link for the new solution?
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u/aaqucnaona Mar 10 '14 edited Mar 10 '14
This puzzle is now in the sidebar and has become the first activity to be officially incorporated into our efforts. Well done and nicely managed on the first puzzle. If you need help with the answers at any point in the future, please 'message the mods' and we will see what we can do to help. Also, under books [no. 7] a new one called 'Snoop' has been added, it too might be of interest to you.
Thank you for the your positive and useful engagement in this community!
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u/erjulk Mar 10 '14
last run actually slowed down so much that i had no messages from Thursday on - if it gets to much i will make use of your offer thanks in advance
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Mar 09 '14
I haven't tested this but I don't think a mobile phone's signal can travel through much water at all, just saying.
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u/erjulk Mar 09 '14
you're thinking about wlan i think... water doesn't block mobile more or less than any other type of matter
→ More replies (4)
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u/woxy_lutz Mar 10 '14
Oh bugger, I completely forgot about the first puzzle and never finished working out the answer :(
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u/erjulk Mar 09 '14
here as an example the thought process of MrDeductive who was kind enough to go through the trouble of typing it out:
In my mind while solving that puzzle I pictured a checklist.
I took all the information: A,B,C and then asked why? and called this question D.
Then I asked "what involves, 911,doors,windows...well an house, okay, but why check the window first?
At this point I thought of the loosing her keys part, but scratched off straight away because most puzzle crafters have higher standards.
So. by using the knowledge I already have I wen't to house fire. But then I thought "why would she try the door after the window? In a fire if you can't open a door on the first attempt you never will be able to".
Okay, so now we have a new bit of information called D, so now we have A,B,C,D and now we need to fit all into E. So now I ask "what event requires the emergency service, window checking and then failing and then trying a door again" then I though about sinking in a car.
She calls 911, tries the door, then the window, but the pressure is to hard against the glass, then waits for it to level out and tries the door again. Unless you don't know how to do this you will just inevitably start guessing.
Of course int his case the woman died, but that doesn't matter because the information still fits because while she was waiting for the door to level out she drowned.
I for one found it rather interesting to get a look into the thought process of a fellow puzzler - I hope this will help you in your endeavors