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        riddles >> what happened >> The will 2
        
(Message started by: Iceman on Apr 29^th, 2007, 11:48am)

Title: The will 2
Post by Iceman on Apr 29^th, 2007, 11:48am

Dean, a wealthy man, is ill and dying. He has two sons, Tom and Richard. He says to both what is in the will, that is, Richard will get everything unless Tom opens a safe day after the lawyer reads the will. And this particular safe is custom made, as it looks, actually, like four safes in one, so Tom must figure out not one, but four combinations, so it finally opens. Dean said to Tom the weirdest thing: 'Nobody knows anything, as knowledge is fragile; but one must have a guiding star to find his treasure.' So Dean dies, and Tom is in the estate, trying to figure out the combination for the safe. The nurse, who took care of his father, told him that he was almost always in his room, lying on the bed, listening to the radio, and sometimes playing Solitaire. So Tom enters this room, and sees a nightstand near the bed, on which there was a handkerchief, pills in different colors, small radio, deck of cards and alarm clock. There was nothing else in the room, but Tom manages to open the safe that day. How?

Title: Re: The will 2
Post by Grimbal on Apr 29^th, 2007, 12:30pm

- Dynamite?
- Dean forgot to lock it?
- Count the letters: 658 2927 33441 742438.

Title: Re: The will 2
Post by Iceman on Apr 29^th, 2007, 1:42pm

on 04/29/07 at 12:30:50, Grimbal wrote:

- Dynamite?
- Dean forgot to lock it?

No. It was locked, and he mustn't force it. And even if he had dynamite, he would not be allowed to use it. It is against the law, you know.

on 04/29/07 at 12:30:50, Grimbal wrote:

- Count the letters: 658 2927 33441 742438.

Is this one of your shallow answers? ??? ;)

Title: Re: The will 2
Post by Icarus on Apr 29^th, 2007, 3:05pm

Which item was furthest North?
Did any of the items have the brand name Polaris?
Were any of the items named for a different star?

Title: Re: The will 2
Post by Iceman on Apr 29^th, 2007, 3:33pm

This isn't one of those riddles when you ask yes or no questions, or any questions for that matter. In any case, I think you are headed in the wrong direction.

Title: Re: The will 2
Post by Icarus on Apr 29^th, 2007, 3:39pm

Then that makes this nothing more than a "guess what I am thinking" puzzle, which I find to usually be annoying rather than interesting.

But still I will make one more attempt:

Tom lays down on the bed, and examines the items on the nightstand. From this angle, a serial number is clearly visible on either the radio or the clock. The serial number turns out to be the combination.

Title: Re: The will 2
Post by C.S.I. on Apr 29^th, 2007, 3:43pm

I think you the not that cool Iceman, AS USUAL, are the one who is always heading at wrong directions and speaking nonsense. Different people have given the answer in different ways already and you, AS USUAL, are still hiding ur head in your riddle book looking for an exact word match for your so-called 'official answer'...

Title: Re: The will 2
Post by Iceman on Apr 29^th, 2007, 4:39pm

There are four different combinations that Tom must get right. One or two serial numbers are not good enough. Btw, it has nothing to do with serial numbers.

And no, I am not cool. If I were cool, I would've said that you don't have to think outside the box because you are the box. All evens all.

Title: Re: The will 2
Post by Icarus on Apr 29^th, 2007, 5:32pm

on 04/29/07 at 15:43:32, C.S.I. wrote:

you, AS USUAL, are still hiding ur head in your riddle book looking for an exact word match for your so-called 'official answer'...

It is obvious that Iceman makes up his own riddles, and I've known him several times to declare someone else's answer better than his own. I don't recall him ever rejecting an answer over wording if the idea was right.

Title: Re: The will 2
Post by C.S.I. on Apr 29^th, 2007, 10:04pm

I am not saying he is rejecting an answer ultimately, but only after many many times after people tell him the alternate wordings and, before that, having no guts (wisdom is just too much far reaching for a 'person' like him) to take it in the first place...ignorant and big mouth which is his only strength....the only thing you, ICeman the FXXK, will not miss is you will try your every effort to be the last man posting the thread to STUPIDLy defending yourself...now, AS USUAL, go ahead and make your comment, WTF Ignorant man...be my guest.

Title: Re: The will 2
Post by Sir Col on Apr 30^th, 2007, 12:33am

I'm sure a behavioural psycho-analysist would have much to say about these comments, C.S.I.: cruel anger towards an individual is often indicatory of a deep rooted love which you feel incapable of expressing towards them. I would encourage you to share your true feelings, but this forum is visited by people of all ages. So given that fact, and repressed love aside, if you have an issue I suggest that you keep it to yourself, use private messaging, make peace with each other, or if you can't handle it just avoid contact with Iceman's threads. Like you, C.S.I., it is clear that Iceman has a very creative mind and he continues to share an abundance of very original ideas with us. For that, the rest of us are very grateful. It would be a shame to lose either of you over a petty conflict of personalities.

on 04/29/07 at 15:33:48, Iceman wrote:

This isn't one of those riddles when you ask yes or no questions, or any questions for that matter.

I was under the impression that that is the nature of "What Happened?" lateral puzzles?

Title: Re: The will 2
Post by JiNbOtAk on Apr 30^th, 2007, 4:21am

on 04/30/07 at 00:33:25, Sir Col wrote:

Cruel anger towards an individual is often indicatory of a deep rooted love which you feel incapable of expressing towards them.

Hehehe, yeah, I noticed the strong love C.S.I. has for Icey. ;D

Getting back to the riddle, I'm just gonna post a question, regardless whether you'll answer it Icey.

When Dean played solitaire, did he play it on the computer, or with real cards ?

Or maybe, the custom made safe use phrases as its combinations. Thus :

Nobody knows anything : 1st. safe
As knowledge is fragile : 2nd safe
But one must have : 3rd safe
A guiding star to find his treasure : 4th safe

Title: Re: The will 2
Post by Grimbal on Apr 30^th, 2007, 4:46am

Here is a possibility.

Tom, listening to Dean's advice, relied on his lucky star to help him out of this situation. Now that he knew that the star was busy working on the problem, he was confident that it was just a matter of time until the solution would pop to his eyes.

He started playing solitaire with his beloved father's cards.

Suddenly he noticed a little star in one corner. He checked the other cards and found others. 12 of the cards had a clearly drawn star. 3 cards of each color. He realized that taking the numeric values of the marked cards, using 11,12 and 13 for J, Q, K, he got 4 groups of 3 numbers. That is exactly what the safe required!

Within minutes, he managed to open all 4 doors. Inside, he found a single letter. He opens it. Inside is a card telling "If you find this, you have been playing solitaire. You scum. Is that how you mourn your father? For this, you get nothing!".

Of course, for everybody but Tom, the safe was found empty.

Two days later, Tom was found dead in a bathtub, stabbed to death, in a room locked from inside. No weapon was found. Richard got all the money.

Title: Re: The will 2
Post by Iceman on Apr 30^th, 2007, 6:56am

on 04/30/07 at 04:21:29, JiNbOtAk wrote:

When Dean played solitaire, did he play it on the computer, or with real cards ?

Real cards.

on 04/30/07 at 04:21:29, JiNbOtAk wrote:

Or maybe, the custom made safe use phrases as its combinations. Thus :

Nobody knows anything : 1st. safe
As knowledge is fragile : 2nd safe
But one must have : 3rd safe
A guiding star to find his treasure : 4th safe

on 04/30/07 at 04:46:07, Grimbal wrote:

Not sure what exactly you are saying, but it looks to me that Grimbal is ready for the kill. Btw, there is no need to complicate things here, as I don't get what do you mean by the little star in the corner. What does that mean? If you are insinuating that his old man draw these stars, let me tell you right now that he didn't. So since I didn't mention a pencil in this riddle, that means that he didn't have it, or at least that he didn't use one.

Btw, serial numbers are weird: my alarm clock's serial number has letters and numbers in a weird order. Not even God could decipher it.

;)

Title: Re: The will 2
Post by Iceman on Apr 30^th, 2007, 8:02am

on 04/30/07 at 00:33:25, Sir Col wrote:

Like you, C.S.I., it is clear that Iceman has a very creative mind and he continues to share an abundance of very original ideas with us.

You're damn right about that. Right on, Sir Col.8) And just because half of my ideas originate from Hollywood movies, that doesn't reduce my value. ;D

Title: Re: The will 2
Post by denis on Apr 30^th, 2007, 9:28am

OK lets conentrate on the cards... there are 4 combinations to determine and, coincidendtly, there are 4 different suits in the deck (clubs, diamonds, hearts and spades). Seems like a good place to start.

Suppose Dean coded the combination into the deck of cards by ordering the cards just rightly: one combination per card suit.

For example if the cards were ordered 4Diamonds, 10Diamonds, 3Diamonds, 6Diamonds then the first combination would be 4,10,3,6. Same applies for the other suits.

The only question is, the cards only go up to 13, but what happens if the combination asks for a 25 or a 32? I haven't figured this yet, but if anyone wants to build on this, be my guest.

Title: Re: The will 2
Post by Iceman on Apr 30^th, 2007, 9:41am

...........and Denis wins again! 8) Somehow I am not surprised, not one bit. ;)

on 04/30/07 at 09:28:04, denis wrote:

The only question is, the cards only go up to 13, but what happens if the combination asks for a 25 or a 32?

In this case it doesn't. This riddle is sort of like a snack.
;)

Title: Re: The will 2
Post by denis on Apr 30^th, 2007, 10:03am

on 04/30/07 at 00:33:25, Sir Col wrote:

Like you, C.S.I., it is clear that Iceman has a very creative mind and he continues to share an abundance of very original ideas with us. For that, the rest of us are very grateful. It would be a shame to lose either of you over a petty conflict of personalities.

Well said Sir Col... I second that. Both CSI and Iceman contribute to this forum in their own unique way. I would hate to loose either one because of a personal conflict that can be resolved off board.

Title: Re: The will 2
Post by Iceman on Apr 30^th, 2007, 10:10am

All right, let's shake hands, no problem. Heh, I do have problems, but I don't perceive the above friction to be an elephant, rather a fly, regardless. As for resolving it off board, I don't know about that. Nobody said that I like fists, unless you are talking about private messages, even though such messages, for some reason, remind me of love letters. Like I said, I have problems. ::)

Title: Re: The will 2
Post by Grimbal on May 1^st, 2007, 3:57am

on 04/30/07 at 06:56:06, Iceman wrote:

I don't get what do you mean by the little star in the corner. What does that mean?

It is like denis's solution, except that Dean marked with a star the cards that are part of the combination instead of relying on the order.

If the combination is encoded in the card order, it cannot be for himself, because he would have to memorize the combination anyway to be able to put the cards back in the correct order after playing. And the nurse said he was playing sometimes.

If the aim is to communicate the combination to Tom, Dean is taking a risk. Someone could disturb the cards or someone else than Tom can find the combination.

But giving a clue to Tom, "one must have a guiding star to find his treasure", and marking the cards with a little star, he reduces the risk of this to happen.

BTW, when I said "4 colors", I meant "4 suits". The suits are called colors in french.

Title: Re: The will 2
Post by JiNbOtAk on May 2^nd, 2007, 10:26pm

Umm, where did the stars come into play ? Or did I miss something ?

Title: Re: The will 2
Post by BNC on May 2^nd, 2007, 11:24pm

JiNbOtAk,

on 04/29/07 at 11:48:30, Iceman wrote:

one must have a guiding star to find his treasure.'