hisapprentice | [Puzzle 014]

[Sometimes, in the wake of a foundation-shattering event, all anyone can do is stare at what remains.

That is not true for Luke this time, and hasn't been in the entire two weeks since all of himself came rushing back. All things considered, he's been as upbeat and energetic as ever. Helpful, too - so many others seemed devastated in the aftermath, he felt and still feels like he ought to make up for it somehow.

The first thing he does with the free time in his Monday is go to the bakery and get a dozen of something. Donuts or cupcakes or similar things, anything sweet and delicious. Those treats are going to people he knows, if he can find them, especially the ones that haven't shown their faces of late.

Then it's time for the real substance of his day.

A puzzle.

He handwrites it out first, then reads it out for the benefit of anyone stymied on the writing front.]

A family gathers in a room for a party. In this family, there is a mother, a father, a son, a daughter, a brother, a sister, an auntie, an uncle, a niece, a nephew, and 2 cousins. However, there are only 4 people in the room. What are their relations to each other?

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

That's right! I don't think any of this would work out otherwise.

If they aren't parents and children, then it has to be something else...

[Thinkthinkthink.]

They've got to be parents and children in some combination, though, don't they? Or there wouldn't be a mum and a dad and everything.

Wait, you mean they could be parents, but not the parents of the kids in the room?

No, I meant that in the room there have to be related parents and children or the puzzle wouldn't work.

[Cue a lengthy stretch of silence on Emil's end while he tries to figure this out.]

[There are enough people struggling with this that Luke thinks he would have been better off giving out a simple arithmetic problem.]

Are you still there?

... I don't think I'm very good at this kind of thing.

A true gentleman never gives up! So you shouldn't.

What does being a gentleman have to do with giving up?

You don't want to be a gentleman? I guess not everybody does, but what else is there to be that might even match that caliber of person?

No, it's not that, it's just... I didn't realize that solving puzzles had anything to do with being a gentleman. I thought it was just about having good manners and dressing nicely.

Puzzles aren't the only part of being a gentleman, but being a gentleman includes solving puzzles!

I never knew that. Maybe I'm not cut out to be a gentleman after all...

What? Of course you are! You've just got to work on it, that's all.

Which means I need to be able to solve this riddle, right?

I could give you a different one.

... that definitely means I'm dumb.

[He didn't say an easier one! Just different.]

Why do you keep saying that? There are so many different sorts of puzzles, everyone's got to have a favorite and one they dislike the most or aren't really good at.

But if I just give up on this one and try a different one instead, that would feel kind of like cheating. Like taking the easier way out or something.

Well, you could always come back to this one later. A little warm-up exercise puzzle can't hurt, right?

I guess so... just as long as I don't give up on this one completely.

Heh, all right then. Something to get you ready for the challenge!

"Eight people are playing a unusual game. In this game, one person has to get a message across to seven other people.

It takes one minute to pass along the message, and each time the message is spoken, it can only have one recipient. Using these rules, what's the shortest amount of time in minutes for the message to pass to all seven other players?"

Um...

[Give him a few moments here while he starts scribbling a few things down on paper. This one is a lot easier to envision in his head...]

... three minutes?

I don't know why you're so hard on yourself about the first one, because you got that one exactly.

[Voice]

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