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        riddles >> easy >> Poison Drinks
        
(Message started by: ZaX on Mar 16^th, 2008, 6:30am)

Title: Poison Drinks
Post by ZaX on Mar 16^th, 2008, 6:30am

A rich old man has died. After his death, his children are surprised to learn that he has left all of his money to his oldest son Jeremiah, who loved him dearly, and ignored his other children, who hated him.

So, the funeral is a day or two later, and the other sons and daughters have decided to kill Jeremiah and take his inheritance. Since his father's death, Jeremiah has taken to drinking, and they know that, at the wake, he's going to be gulping down the liquor like it was nectar of the gods. So they decide to poison the drinks. One of the other sons, Wallace, tends bar, and gets the poison all ready.

So Jeremiah comes up, crying and depressed, and orders a scotch on the rocks. Wallace serves him one, and he chugs it down in two seconds. "Give me another." Wallace gives him a second glass of scotch, which he also drinks in a matter of moments. The other siblings are puzzled...the poison is fast-acting; Jeremiah should be convulsing on the floor and retching his guts out. Finally, fifteen minutes later, a rather inebriated and very much alive Jeremiah orders one last glass of scotch, but as Wallace hands it to him, he changes his mind and leaves, sobbing. The other siblings come over to Wallace, and wonder what's going on. They talk about what could have gone wrong for a few minutes, and figure the poison's harmless. So Wallace sips the drink he poured for Jeremiah, and is pronounced DOA thirty minutes later.

Why did Jeremiah live? (He had no immunity to the poison, he didn't know it was coming, and the poison was obviously deadly.)
________________________________________

Possible Answer: Jeremiah orders a scotch on the rocks (ice cubes). Dropping the poison into his drink, it lands on top of the ice cubes. Jeremiah downs his two drinks very quickly, not giving enough time for the poison to mix with his drink. Conversely, the brother waits a "few minutes" before drinking, allowing the ice cubes to melt and giving ample time for the poison to mix with the scotch. He is soon dead as a result!

Title: Re: Poison Drinks
Post by towr on Mar 16^th, 2008, 8:24am

That very close to the standard answer ([hide]that the poison is in the ice-cubes, and he drinks too fast for the ice-cubes to melt sufficiently to poison him.[/hide])

(Also, there's an earlier thread here (http://www.ocf.berkeley.edu/~wwu/cgi-bin/yabb/YaBB.cgi?board=riddles_easy;action=display;num=1029735794))

Title: Re: Poison Drinks
Post by ZaX on Mar 16^th, 2008, 10:35am

oops -sry-didnt see that one....

Title: Re: Poison Drinks
Post by towr on Mar 16^th, 2008, 10:45am

That's probably because it's older than a year (the default age the search uses is 365 days, so for older threads you need to change it to a higher number)

Title: Re: Poison Drinks
Post by Icarus on Mar 16^th, 2008, 12:09pm

I prefer ZaX's version, since the other version has Wallace knowing that the poison is in the ice cubes, but not being able to understand the consequences. With ZaX's version, Wallace just has to miss noticing that the poison didn't actually get into the fluid, which is not unlikely for a nervous would-be murderer.

Title: Re: Poison Drinks
Post by iono on Mar 19^th, 2008, 7:56pm

Jeremiah was drinking quickly on an empty stomach, so it made him barf it back up? That's what happens, right?

Title: Re: Poison Drinks
Post by temporary on Mar 23^rd, 2008, 1:11pm

Or maybe he didn't actually drink it because he was so drunk he spilled it all over himself, or he kept changing his mind and throwing the cup on the floor(shattering it) then wanting to drink again and re-asking for it.

Title: Re: Poison Drinks
Post by Godless_SOAB on May 11^th, 2008, 12:11pm

It seems obvious that these ice cubes have something to do with this puzzle... Perhaps the poison is affected by temperature, and the ice neutralises the poison is some way, and the last time, the barman forgot to put ice in the glass...

Title: Re: Poison Drinks
Post by iono on May 12^th, 2008, 10:02pm

on 05/11/08 at 12:11:51, Godless_SOAB wrote:

even though they aren't mentioned in the riddle? ???

there's also that solution with Jeremiah dying 15 minutes after leaving, but it work really well.

Title: Re: Poison Drinks
Post by Godless_SOAB on May 13^th, 2008, 12:48pm

Quote:

even though they aren't mentioned in the riddle? ???

I don't want to sound like a wise guy but if you read the riddle you'll see that the victim is ordering his drinks "on the rocks". That means he wants it with ice. (Not actually served on rocks, lol)

Title: Re: Poison Drinks
Post by iono on May 14^th, 2008, 7:09pm

Title: Re: Poison Drinks
Post by ajfirecracker on Jul 17^th, 2010, 5:27pm

The ice can be used to explain it.

Alternately, you can simply have the poison be more dense than the Scotch, but similar in appearance.

It's plausible that Wallace wouldn't notice that it wasn't mixed, and think the poison was harmless. Since Jeremiah only drank most of his way through the bottle, he wouldn't have reached the poison.