[Puzzle 009]

[hisapprentice]

[Everyone around Luke is so sad lately. Some of the things he's heard about people going home are just heartbreaking.

It's hard to be sad about people leaving when no one from the world you belong to is here, particularly not anyone close. Instead, Luke has been trying to come up with a way to pass the time.]

Would anyone like to hear a puzzle? [Aware of how similar that sounds to someone he does miss, Luke winces a little and turns the book upright instead of flat.] I'll give everybody different ones this time, so you can't overhear the right answer and have it spoiled.

Or let's play a game! ...Uhm, but it is a puzzle game. Still, if we do it right everyone could play a little if they wanted to.

I'll give everyone a puzzle, and the first person to solve it with the right answer gets to give out the next one, for someone else to try to solve. We'll have to be careful about not stealing a chance from someone if we know the answer and they don't... [We. More like Luke will need to be careful.] But I want to try it! We'll just all have to be gentlemanly with each other.

Oh. Uh. And, um, ladylike. S-Sorry.

[[ooc: LET'S DO BOTH. There will be a thread in this post for the puzzle round robin, and anyone who would like to join in can do so! Luke will start, and the first correct guesser gets to post his/her own puzzle (in a new sub-thread under the 'puzzle game' heading, to help with keeping things noticeable!) for the group to try to solve next! This can keep going on, so if you miss out on one, no worries - just try for the next one! You are not limited to wordplay either; go ahead with math puzzles or images or anything, really, that is confounding and must be solved!

Luke will do his best not to just answer them all. He's solved a lot of puzzles.

If you'd like your character to just hear a puzzle of their own (or engage Luke in some one-on-one solving competition), then bypass the puzzle game thread and tag away. Secret vessel for my love of riddles and brainteasers go.]]

Comments

Puzzle Game!

[hisapprentice]

[For playing this game. I'll put Puzzle 1 underneath this as an example/first thread.]

Puzzle 1

[hisapprentice]

I'll start with an easy one.

What is the next letter in this sequence:

E, O, E, R, E, X, N, T,...?

[video]

[chibifirebird]

Can you give me a puzzle please?

[video]

[hisapprentice]

[Oh it's a kid littler than he is. Luke grins.]

Sure! I know a lot of puzzles. You can read, right?

[video]

[chibifirebird]

Yes! And do accounting!

[Don't ask.]

[video]

[hisapprentice]

Really? [Something Luke cannot do.]

Then I can give you a number puzzle! Hold on, let me write it down.

[Written]

A soda and a pack of gum together cost 3 pounds. If the soda costs 2 pounds more than the gum, how much does the gum cost by itself?

[[ooc: I am not British myself, so I have no idea how expensive things like that are in pounds. @_@]]

[video]

[chibifirebird]

1 pound! That one's too easy! [Cocky little punk -_-']

Do you have anymore math ones?

[ooc: lol no worries, def. not that much, but Marco just mentally substituted "pound" for "currency" anyway.]

[video]

[hisapprentice]

I know plenty of math puzzles...but you've got to get the right answer first. Sorry, it isn't one pound.

[video]

[chibifirebird]

What... really?

But if one and...

Oh!

Is one half? And the soda is 2 and 1/2?

[video]

[hisapprentice]

That's right! Good job.

[video]

[chibifirebird]

Hah~! I guess that was actually trickier than I thought!

Do you have anymore? I'll be smarter next time, yoi!

[video]

[winds_voice]

[Eleytheria needs to find more ways to entertain himself in this place, so why not play at puzzles and riddles? Though he'll probably just end up confusing himself...]

A puzzle, if you would not mind.

[video]

[hisapprentice]

All right! Do you have a type of puzzle you prefer?

[video]

[winds_voice]

[He shakes his head.] Any puzzle will do. [He doesn't have much experience with any of them in fact, so they will all be a learning process for him~

[video]

[hisapprentice]

Okay then, let's see...

In front of you is a balance scale and eight coins. The coins all look identical, but one of them weighs just a little less than all the others. What is the fewest number of times you would have to weigh the coins to find the odd one out?

[video]

[winds_voice]

[He'll just be mulling it over for a while, trying to envision these coins and the scale in front of him...

One... assuming you choose the right coin in the first place.

[video]

[hisapprentice]

But then you'd have to choose properly. I want to know how many it takes to make you absolutely sure no matter what you choose first.

[ofwesternwinds]

[Sure, why not. Gives him something to do with all this rain going on.]

Sure. I'd like to hear one, if that's okay.

[hisapprentice]

[Isn't this one of the people he pulled a very unseemly prank on...

Oops.]

All right. As long as you're ready, here goes:

A man rode into town on Friday, stayed for three days, and rode out of town on Friday. How did he do it?

[ofwesternwinds]

[If it is, Rudy doesn't recognize him. Good job, Luke, your disguise was foolproof! ... Well, it's more like Rudy just doesn't remember the prank. He's already let it go, man.

Now for the puzzle! Give him a second to think this one out.]

That's a good one. [THINKS.] Um, let's see, three days from Friday would make a Monday, wouldn't it? And waiting until next Friday would be seven, so... that doesn't work.

[hisapprentice]

Nope! Seven is definitely not the answer you're after.

[ofwesternwinds]

I didn't think so.

[If it's not three days and if it isn't seven, then how does this puzzle even work? Unless... Perhaps he's not thinking outside the box here.]

... Is it because he rode out of town on Friday himself?

[hisapprentice]

"Friday himself"? What do you mean by that?

[Do you hear that bit of excitement in Luke's voice? Yeah, he really can't hide that you're onto something.]

[ofwesternwinds]

[Rudy picks up on the excitement, but is not entirely sure what it means. Was he really onto something here?]

Well, if this man "rode out" on Friday like you said? When you say that, it makes me think of riding out on a horse. [Was it a horse? He tilts his head, thinking.] Thinking about it that way, wouldn't it make sense if Friday was the horse's name instead?

[Does that make sense? He can't really think of any other answers and it's possible he might be wrong here.]

[hisapprentice]

Yep, you got it! Friday was his horse's name. What a strange thing to call a horse.