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        riddles >> what happened >> Crossover
        
(Message started by: maryl on Jun 4^th, 2003, 12:47pm)

Title: Crossover
Post by maryl on Jun 4^th, 2003, 12:47pm

During WWII, there was a bridge connecting Germany and Switzerland, and on the German side, there was a sentry tower with a guard in it. He would come out every three minutes to check on the bridge, and he had orders to turn back anyone who tried to get into Germany, and shoot anyone trying to escape without a pass. There was a woman who desperately needed to get into Switzerland, and she knew she didn't have time to get a pass. It would take her at least six minutes to cross the bridge, but she managed to do it. How?

Title: Re: Crossover
Post by towr on Jun 4^th, 2003, 1:53pm

[hide]walking backwards?[/hide]

Title: Re: Crossover
Post by maryl on Jun 4^th, 2003, 2:10pm

on 06/04/03 at 13:53:50, towr wrote:

[hide]walking backwards?[/hide]

Can you elaborate?

Title: Re: Crossover
Post by towr on Jun 5^th, 2003, 3:00am

[hide]she wants to get from germany to switzerland, the guard turns back people coming from switzerland to germany, so by walking backwards from germany to switzerland it looks like she's coming from switzerland (if she stand still when the guard looks) and will be told to go back there.[/hide]

Title: Re: Crossover
Post by Ronin77 on Jun 5^th, 2003, 4:38am

You are close towr. The real answer is:

She walks a little way accross then turns back after 1 1/2 minutes of walking. She is then seen as someone comeing from switzerland and is turned back thus she gets accross.
PS this my first post and not sure if thats what to do with the colour. If it isnt could someone post how to make text dissapear? TY.

Title: Re: Crossover
Post by towr on Jun 5^th, 2003, 4:48am

you can use hide tags
[hide] hidden text [/hide]

Title: Re: Crossover
Post by wowbagger on Jun 5^th, 2003, 5:43am

Of course it depends on the cleverness of the guard, but she should try to make sure by starting her walk across the bridge when the guard goes back after checking the bridge. She'll then be in the middle of the bridge after one and a half minutes. I know the guard is not expected to be very bright, but it could arouse suspicion if the woman were near the German side.

Title: Re: Crossover
Post by towr on Jun 5^th, 2003, 5:53am

Its always possible he doesn't follow the orders he was given and/or can be bribed..
Or maybe the woman gave him poisoned cookies before trying to cross. Dead people tend not to follow orders :p (unless you order them to stay where they are)

Title: Re: Crossover
Post by Zeke the Geke on Jun 12^th, 2003, 6:55am

on 06/05/03 at 05:43:54, wowbagger wrote:

... She'll then be in the middle of the bridge after one and a half minutes...

(cf: Ronin as well)

hmmm...am I the only one that sees a problem with the numbers here? It takes 6 minutes to cross the bridge, so 3 minutes to halfway, right? Not 1 1/2. Regardless, towr's got the idea as long as she stops while the guard is looking.

Title: Re: Crossover
Post by wowbagger on Jun 12^th, 2003, 8:02am

You're right, Zeke. I meant three minutes, of course - the time that passes until the guard comes back.
The main message of my previous post was in the last sentence.

Title: Re: Crossover
Post by jenniegurl on Jun 26^th, 2005, 8:19am

hey this is sammy here.

you know how they say the guard comes out to check on the bridge? is he coming out to some window balcony just to look out for anyone, or does he go walk around and patrol the bridge? cuz then my bf said if it's the 2nd one, the lady could just walk halfway as fast as she could and the guard couldn't catch up to her until she got to swiss-land and he got halfway, so then he'd have no way to prove she even came from germany...lol

the lady could run really fast. PUMP THOSE CRAZY LEGS!

but then i told him the german guard would prolly just shout at her the way germans do...you know lol

she could just cling down to the edge of the bridge until he quits yelling cuz or else he'd prolly just yell for a really long time instead of going down there and making sure she goes back, maybe he'd get tired and have to go inside to have some haggis before he has the energy to keep on yellerin'

or maybe she was a prostitute and she got away cuz she promise to impregnate the german guy's pigs (germans :|)

but anyway the real answer wazs really nice and clever.

Title: Re: Crossover
Post by Death on Aug 18^th, 2006, 11:06am

Assuming that we are working with accurate figures here (6 and 3 minutes), then the 'correct answer' wouldn't work. If it takes the lady 6 mins to cross, then after having turned once, she would walk for another 3 mins until the guard came out. And where exactly would the lady be by then? On the other side of the brridge, true, but ONLY JUST. This means that the guard would walk into her/see her on the german side. Good luck to the lady for explaining that, as I doubt that the guard would believe that 'she left her purse behind'.

Title: Re: Crossover
Post by alien on Aug 18^th, 2006, 4:40pm

She did know she didn't have time to get a pass, as stated in the riddle, but she already had the pass. So there was no need get another one, as one can be desperate with the pass too. I mean, you can have the pass and be desperate because there is something urgent you must do in Switzerland, like, to buy a Lindt chocolate. Those chocolates are really good, man.

Title: Re: Crossover
Post by Icarus on Aug 18^th, 2006, 7:34pm

on 08/18/06 at 11:06:29, Death wrote:

You seem to be thinking that the guard post is in the center. According to the riddle, it is at the German end. The lady waits just behind it until the guard finishes a patrol. Then she moves as fast as she can until the 3 minutes is almost up. There, just shy of middle, she turns around and starts running as fast towards the german end as she can. The guard comes out and sees her running towards him from Switzerland. Being a lazy and stupid guard (which he would have to be to not watch the bridge at all for 3 minutes), he didn't read the memo that went around that morning explaining that a woman would attempt to cross the bridge today, "but it takes her 6 minutes to cross, so keep her on whatever side you find her on." Therefore he doesn't know how slow she is, and simply assumes that she was fast enough to get more than halfway across in 3 minutes. So he sends her "back" to Switzerland.

Title: Re: Crossover
Post by Death on Aug 18^th, 2006, 11:46pm

Ahhhhhhh.....

My mistake, i thought the question asked how she could get across if the guard couldn't let anyone enter germany but had no problems letting people leave. The lady also started on the other side in my head :-[ :-[ :-[

Thankyou for making sence of that otherwise excedingly innaccurately historical riddle