Re: Riddles (was: Lateral Thinking)

From: Damien Broderick (d.broderick@english.unimelb.edu.au)
Date: Fri Jan 05 2001 - 20:45:20 MST


At 09:19 PM 5/01/01 -0000, Dale re-wrote:

>> There are two locked boxes, an old and younger brother;
>> The keys to each, are inside the other;
[...]
>> Now all that remains, is for me to ask;
>> How do I open each box, and complete the task?

Lockpicking pickety pick:

1. My grandfather, the second of identical twins, died in his 80s. He was,
toward the end of his long life, an old and younger brother (and as it
happens the genetic key to each was locked within the other, although my
natural modesty precludes me from describing how it might be obtained).
Perhaps you meant to write < an older and a younger brother >

2. < The keys to each, are inside the other; > is an ill-formed phrase in
English. Unless this ungrammatically hides a clue (such as `each box
contains both keys'), perhaps you meant to write < The key to each is
inside the other; >, a quite different claim.

3. < How do I open each box, and complete the task? > Task, what task? You
haven't mentioned any task. But I dare say Eliezer will patiently explain
to me that in the traditional riddle form, the task is to solve the riddle. :)

Damien Broderick



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