c4countdown

Ok, this isn't as taxing as many of the puzzles on here but you'll perhaps be able to amuse your friends down the pub with it - it's easy enough to draw on the back of a beer mat. (That isn't me giving permission to all you children out there to go to the pub - we adults don't want you in our pubs!!)


4 men are buried up to their necks in sand, unable to move at all, 3 on one side and 1 on the other side of a solid brick wall. They can see what is front of them. The only piece of information they know is that 2 of them are wearing a white hat and 2 of them a black hat, though they cannot see their own hats.

Their captors will give them their freedom if one of them can correctly state what colour hat he is wearing. No one must speak other than to give their answer. A wrong answer means instant death for all!!

Which man gives the correct answer and why?

You can PM me the answer and I will send you a virtual pat on the head!

A 'Big Shout Out' to Kieran for the first correct response!

A 'Big Shout Out' and a side of olives to Dinos too.

I'm not gunna lie, I looked it up. Nice puzzle though

Adam Dexter wrote:I'm not gunna lie, I looked it up. Nice puzzle though

Ah shame - you could have PM'd me for a clue

3rd place to Jack Hirst. Help yourself to an extra biscuit, mate!

I've already posted this puzzle somewhere, but I can't find it, so I didn't enter.

Kai Laddiman wrote:I've already posted this puzzle somewhere, but I can't find it, so I didn't enter.

Yep, and Dinos posted it before that.

Edit: not that I'm being the fun police btw, I think it's fine to repeat puzzles given enough time for sufficiently many new people to be seeing it for the first time.

The bandits then release the prisoners, but the prisoners afterwards are all like "hey, that actually was quite fun. you wouldn't mind....erm....threatening our lives again would you?" and the bandits are like "sure!"
So they do, and luckily there were 2 other people nearby so they buried them too.
"there are now 3 whites and 3 blacks and one of you has a bobble. Say the colour of your hat to win. If you see a bobble you may not answer because it's a bobble of silencing.



Who guesses (correctly)?

Kieran Child wrote:Who guesses (correctly)?

Not me. Has anyone got this? This is genuine, right?

It is genuine. Kai knows the answer but that's cos I told him.

I look forward to the answer. And am too lazy to Google it.

It's not google-able. I made it, so as to give something new to the brigade of people who would think "I know this puzzle and the answer already."

they can still only look in the direction they are facing right?

and do they know the number of walls, and how people are situated?

Yeah sure, why not.
They saw the bandits bringing over some bricks and one of them said "my my, that's a lot of bricks" and the other one said "yeah, we're going to need two walls for this one".

Am I right in thinking that this is about one of them deducing that he has the best chance of guessing right, rather than being certain?

Nope. One of them knows, within a few moments, the colour of his hat, and is basically certain he's correct.

Oh the hats are stuck onto their heads with no more nails.

I can't see how this is going to end in a solution that I don't say "oh for fuck's sake" to.

nor do I.
Just imagine your each of the people buried in turn and soon enough you'll get it.

I start with the caveat that I am shit at these kind of physical logic puzzles anyway, so if no one else can work it out then I certainly won't be able to.
But am just putting my thoughts down (presumably so that everyone else can laugh at me for approaching it so literally).

Numbering the people from left to right 1-6:

• 1: can't see anybody at all; can't guess with no information.
• 2: can't see anybody at all; can't guess with no information.
• 3: can see one white hat; can't guess as he doesn't have enough information to place any of the other 5 hats - 60% chance he's wearing black though.
• 4: can't see anybody at all; can't guess with no information.
• 5: can see one black hat; can't guess as he doesn't have enough information to place any of the other 5 hats - 60% chance he's wearing white though.
• 6: can't guess as he can see the Bobble of Cunting Silencing (though not enough information anyone as can only see one white, so 60% chance he's wearing black).

The last puzzle was solved because it wasn't about what the person could see, but what the person could assume about what the guy behind him could see.
I presume this one isn't going to be totally different, but it does raise the question about how they could even know which direction people are facing if they can't see them (though I'm happy to assume they know where the walls are).

You haven't listed all of the things that 3, 5 and 6 can see.

Also, I must remember to set myself up with a "Bobble of Cunting Silencing". That actually made me lol, thanks.

Kieran Child wrote:You haven't listed all of the things that 3, 5 and 6 can see.

Ok, ok. This is mysterious pedantry to me until the trick is revealed (I may well hate you when this happens Kieran!), but I'll play along:

• 3 can also see a wall.
• 5 can see the despair in 6's eyes.
• And 6 can see a little crack forming in between two bricks in the wall. At least he hopes he can, he stares so deeply at the wall, so bored, so bereft of hope, he has nothing to do but stare at the small crack that he may or may not be hallucinating. It's all he has left.

Kieran Child wrote:Also, I must remember to set myself up with a "Bobble of Cunting Silencing". That actually made me lol, thanks.

My pleasure. Oh, and the term is A-lol*. With that precise capitalisation and punctuation.

* © Matt Morrison 2007

Is it cheating for them to see their own hat reflected in the eyes of the person opposite? This would apply to 5 and 6.

Number 5 sees his own colour but he doesn't notice the bobble as it's too small in the reflection so he names his hat's colour.

nice idea Gavin, but not the one I was aiming for. If their eyes are at the same level then I don't think it's possible, but you never know.

5 can see the despair in 6's eyes... and the twitch in his nose as an itch develops.... and....

When you say 'unable to move at all' I can only assume you are implying a complete paralysis of the optic muscles and cervical extensors thereby making it impossible to see the colour of the hats in front of them?

If not, it makes things VERY different.

Can people see around the people in front of them? So, in the first puzzle, can the guy at the back on the right see both hats in front of him, or only one?

Alice Moore wrote:Can people see around the people in front of them? So, in the first puzzle, can the guy at the back on the right see both hats in front of him, or only one?

Both. Everything up to the wall.

The wall is pretty well built for a couple of bandits in quick construction. I'm surprised they don't make a legitimate living that way.

Kieran Child wrote:nice idea Gavin, but not the one I was aiming for. If their eyes are at the same level then I don't think it's possible, but you never know.

5 can see the despair in 6's eyes... and the twitch in his nose as an itch develops.... and....

Is the other thing that he can "see" is that number six has remained silent?

Kieran Child wrote:Yeah sure, why not.
They saw the bandits bringing over some bricks and one of them said "my my, that's a lot of bricks" and the other one said "yeah, we're going to need two walls for this one".

I didnt really understand this as a clear answer to both my questions, could you claRIFY?

JackHurst wrote:

Kieran Child wrote:5 can see the despair in 6's eyes... and the twitch in his nose as an itch develops.... and....

Is the other thing that he can "see" is that number six has remained silent?

In my version, anyone who can see someone can see that they are silent because whoever they can see is as clueless as they and me are.

Apparently my assertion that all 6 can see is one white hat (regardless of the bobble) is incorrect according to Kieran.
But obviously I can't see how, so to answer your question without the answer to the question, TO ME number 6 remaining silent shows nothing.

JackHurst wrote:

Kieran Child wrote:

JackHurst wrote:they can still only look in the direction they are facing right? and do they know the number of walls, and how people are situated?

Yeah sure, why not.

I didnt really understand this as a clear answer to both my questions, could you claRIFY?

It's a clear yes to both questions - they can only see forward, and they know the layout of the puzzle/situation.

I was thinking along the lines of the first one, where no-one answers straight away but because no-one answers, one of them can then answer. It might be like that but with a few more layers of waiting, but currently I can't see how.

I'm with the people that are waiting to groan about this.

Imagine you're the last guy along. You can't speak because the bobble of cunting silencing is in plain view. So what to do.........

Kieran Child wrote:Imagine you're the last guy along. You can't speak because the bobble of cunting silencing is in plain view. So what to do.........

Try and communicate the colour of the bobble guy's hat with a complicated series of winks and eyelash flutters like a low-tech Stephen Hawking.

Aha!

I notice you didn't restate the original rule that they can only speak if they say their answer? This is relevant, right?

Matt Morrison wrote:

Kieran Child wrote:Imagine you're the last guy along. You can't speak because the bobble of cunting silencing is in plain view. So what to do.........

Try and communicate the colour of the bobble guy's hat with a complicated series of winks and eyelash flutters like a low-tech Stephen Hawking.

Or, you could just mouth to him "your hat is white"

Which was the intended answer.

Matt Morrison wrote:

Indeed. Such pedantry is deserving of pain. And much groaning.

I'm dead chuffed now.

Another one of these old puzzles being exploited is:



1) Can you link all the dots with 4 straight lines?
2) Can you link all the dots with 3 straight lines?
3) Can you link all the dots with 1 straight line?

Kieran Child wrote:1) Can you link all the dots with 4 straight lines?

Yes.

Kieran Child wrote:2) Can you link all the dots with 3 straight lines?

No.

edit: Or not unless I use the thing about parallel lines meeting at infinity.

Kieran Child wrote:3) Can you link all the dots with 1 straight line?

Hell no.

Alice wins. End of. Next, Kieran?

Tbh, you can do all three if you do stuff like fold or rotate the paper or whatever. I can't really be bothered to think about it too much after the last one, though.

OK, I got a hint via Google. I can do all three tasks now. My hint began with F.

The first one is known to be possible. The second one you can play on the fact that the dots are not dots but circles, and so depending on how far you draw the lines, you can always do something like this:


For the third one, you just splodge a really thick line across all the dots

Kieran Child wrote:depending on how far you draw the lines, you can always do something like this

Which is kind-of-nearly-almost the parallel-infinity thing, so I get half a point. As awarded by me.

Kieran Child wrote:For the third one, you just splodge a really thick line across all the dots

Or fold the paper so that each line of three dots overlaps to become one dot, then connect all three resultant dots.

Kieran Child is the reason no one likes logic puzzles.

I LIKE THEM

Can you let me have your address please, Kieran? So that when I've finished making this hat of Cunting Silencing, I can post it to you. Think of it as a gift from your people.

I cannot tell you my address, but what I can say is that my house is one of three, and the three are conveniently located opposite water, gas and electricity suppliers:

Much to my annoyance, they managed to link up each house with each utility without crossing any links over each other. How did they manage it? (and why did it annoy me?)

Charlie Reams wrote:Kieran Child is the reason no one likes logic puzzles.

Kieran Child is the reason no-one likes Kieran Child.

Damn, just unhappy - I was striving for the tearful emoticon. I will simply have to be much more brutal in future.

They'll be dancing in the streets of . . .
Oh no, wrong quote
The claws are out on C4C today!