Brain Teasers

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Originally Posted by Pendragon

You are correct in thinking that you are wrong. A hint though. Follow your nose. ;)

Well, it's certain that I'll have to think about these other two riddles for a while...hmmm??? http://www.techhelpers.net/e4u/animal/927.gif

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Hmm... to follow my nose is to pay attention to scent. These are the only 2 paragraphs or sections of the story that include smell:

“When questioned, Samuel stated that it was the servants’ night off, but they had enjoyed dinner at a nearby nightclub. When they returned home, he and Jerome went into the library to play their nightly chess game and enjoy cigars and brandy. Mr. and Mrs. Horwitz retired to their room.

Here Jerome broke in and weeping, stated that he couldn’t believe Sonya was dead as he could still smell her lavender perfume. This reminded Joe to ask about an odor coming from the dead man’s clothes. Samuel came forward, sniffed, and stated that it was a special tobacco the dead man had made for him by a tobacconist on 7th Avenue, because it was rather mild.”

I assume the answer lies in those 2 sections. Maybe because before the 2 guns were heard they were enjoying cigars, and when they killed the guy with the gun, and then moved the guy to fake the suicide, the smell of the cigars stuck to the dead guy showing that the 2 brothers killed the Dead Brother. Also if they had just reported the death wouldn't they still smell the cigars they were smoking instead of the lavander perfume?(this is just a guess though, as I have never smoked before and will never intend to. So I really don't know how that works, do you still keep that smoking smell in your mouth or something?)

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Originally Posted by DigitalCrash

Hmm... to follow my nose is to pay attention to scent. These are the only 2 paragraphs or sections of the story that include smell:


Here Jerome broke in and weeping, stated that he couldn’t believe Sonya was dead as he could still smell her lavender perfume. This reminded Joe to ask about an odor coming from the dead man’s clothes. Samuel came forward, sniffed, and stated that it was a special tobacco the dead man had made for him by a tobacconist on 7th Avenue, because it was rather mild.”

Maybe because before the 2 guns were heard they were enjoying cigars, and when they killed the guy with the gun, and then moved the guy to fake the suicide, the smell of the cigars stuck to the dead guy showing that the 2 brothers killed the Dead Brother. Also if they had just reported the death wouldn't they still smell the cigars they were smoking instead of the lavander perfume?(this is just a guess though, as I have never smoked before and will never intend to. So I really don't know how that works, do you still keep that smoking smell in your mouth or something?)

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I used to smoke, but thank God I gave up the filthy habit years ago! Yes, the smell clings. The one paragraph I left holds the answer. And you're on the right track with something you said. Go back and reread the brother's statement as to how they came to find the bodies. What was so unusual about the room? No, the tobbacco smell on Moses is his own. Something else you said is correct. Good luck! On your riddles, I'm drawing a blank. Is the first one a Bird? :)

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Originally Posted by Pendragon

I used to smoke, but thank God I gave up the filthy habit years ago! Yes, the smell clings. The one paragraph I left holds the answer. And you're on the right track with something you said. Go back and reread the brother's statement as to how they came to find the bodies. What was so unusual about the room? No, the tobbacco smell on Moses is his own. Something else you said is correct. Good luck! On your riddles, I'm drawing a blank. Is the first one a Bird? :)

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Nope, not a bird... and I believe that something I said was the fact that the answer lies in both of those paragraphs. I'm kind of drawing a blank... the only thing I find unusual about the room would be the fact that everything's locked from the inside. Even though... I guess the reason why that might tip off the shadow is because if he was going to kill himself why would he bother locking himself inside.

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Originally Posted by DigitalCrash

Nope, not a bird... and I believe that something I said was the fact that the answer lies in both of those paragraphs. I'm kind of drawing a blank... the only thing I find unusual about the room would be the fact that everything's locked from the inside. Even though... I guess the reason why that might tip off the shadow is because if he was going to kill himself why would he bother locking himself inside.

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Well, you found what was unusual about the room. Now follow your nose and ask yourself some logical questions. I still think you can get this one. I've been busy and haven't really given your ridlles the attention they need need. I'll try to find time later. :idea:

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Originally Posted by DigitalCrash

I can be a house
I can be a swan
I can be a lot of things
but one thing I shall only be,
two purposes I shall always have,
and two actions I shall always do.
What am I?

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Focusing on the first two lines, a dive. The third line I think refers to a thrown fight, the last line (actions) plunge and submerge. Anyway, A Dive

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Originally Posted by Pendragon

Focusing on the first two lines, a dive. The third line I think refers to a thrown fight, the last line (actions) plunge and submerge. Anyway, A Dive

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??? a dive? a dive is can be a house or swan? oh, names of types of dives? well, that answer kind of confused me... err... confuses... anyhow, nope not a dive. Also note that a dive might be used for more than 2 purposes, survival, showing off, helping out(by grabbing something lost underwater), expeditions, etc. so it can't really be a dive due to that line. I'm still thinking about your mystery. I can't figure it out... unless it has something to do with a smell being trapped.

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Originally Posted by DigitalCrash

I'm still thinking about your mystery. I can't figure it out... unless it has something to do with a smell being trapped.

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Exactly. Now what smell is missing that should be trapped? :lol:

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Originally Posted by Pendragon

Exactly. Now what smell is missing that should be trapped? :lol:

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lol, the lavender perfume? but there has to be a gap somewhere to allow it to escape... air conditioner? or perhaps the brothers sealed the windows afterwards

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Originally Posted by DigitalCrash

lol, the lavender perfume? but there has to be a gap somewhere to allow it to escape... air conditioner? or perhaps the brothers sealed the windows afterwards

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LOL. No, no. You see, but you do not see. I said the smell was MISSING-- the lavender perfume is there.

Anyway, on to your riddle, the first one anyway.

A Constellation. A group of stars is what it shall only be, but it is a swan (Cygnus) and a house (a constellation controlling the rising or falling of a planet), it can serve navagational purposes, and is used in astronomy, It gives light and twinkles.

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Originally Posted by Pendragon

LOL. No, no. You see, but you do not see. I said the smell was MISSING-- the lavender perfume is there.

Anyway, on to your riddle, the first one anyway.

A Constellation. A group of stars is what it shall only be, but it is a swan (Cygnus) and a house (a constellation controlling the rising or falling of a planet), it can serve navagational purposes, and is used in astronomy, It gives light and twinkles.

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Oh so the lavander perfume is there... so everyone's smelling the lavander perfume but the guy's smell isn't there? I guess that's the missing smell. Now I assume the next question is why it isn't there. I've no clue on that one. Someone had to open the door to get in/out to let the smell out and the brothers did when they "got in". This doesn't explain why the lavender perfume is still there though.

As for your answer... nope not a constellation... I'm sure a constellation can be used for more purposes, story-telling?

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Originally Posted by DigitalCrash

Oh so the lavander perfume is there... so everyone's smelling the lavander perfume but the guy's smell isn't there? I guess that's the missing smell. Now I assume the next question is why it isn't there. I've no clue on that one. Someone had to open the door to get in/out to let the smell out and the brothers did when they "got in". This doesn't explain why the lavender perfume is still there though.

As for your answer... nope not a constellation... I'm sure a constellation can be used for more purposes, story-telling?

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Then I'm dead in the water on your riddles. I can't even find a place to start on number two.

OK. Here's the answer to mine. Look. The brother's testimony was that they heard the gunshots, then had to break down the door to get in. The police examination of the room, done very soon after the fact, shows the windows sealed. Thus if the door was shut and locked, you have a sealed room. Yet we are asked to believe that a gun was fired twice in that room without leaving the overpowering smell of burnt cordite, which would surely cover up lavender perfume and mild tobbacco. Ergo, the gun was NOT fired in the room, and the brothers are lying and have set the whole thing up to cover murder. As Holmes always said, "It's simple once you explain it." which I am sure will be the case for your riddles.... ;) :D :nod:

A new one, perhaps? Nightshade, you already know the answer to this one.


A note: When I wrote this one, I wrote two short cuts into the story that will give you the murderer without solving anything. One requires a knowledge of crime, the other is subtle. But with the murderer, you should have no trouble putting the other two in their proper place. And if you solve it, what were those two clues?

The Three Heirs by Jonathan Blade

Commissioner Weston turned to his good friend Lamont Cranston. “I’m glad you’re here, Lamont. This case has the entire department puzzled.”

“I read about the crime. Martha Tabram, age 93, knifed to death in her own bed. There were three persons here, but all were accounted for at the time of death. So?”

“The problem is Cardona is sure one of them is guilty, but we don’t know how, who, or why.”

“Suppose I talk to them.” Cranston suggested.

The first heir was named Nathan Times, a strongly built man in his forties.

“Aunt Martha contacted the three of us last week. She said she wanted us to help her around the place, as she felt she might die soon. I’m a trained electrician, plumber, carpenter, cabinet-maker, and so forth. Times’ Timely Repairs, over on 54th Street. I was fixing the place up for Aunt Martha. This house is very valuable, it just had become rundown.”

“Where were you when your Aunt was stabbed?” Cranston asked.

“In the Library, repairing the end shelf. I met Toby at the door when we heard the scream, and we dashed to her side.”

The second heir came in now, a thin man with a bald head. “I’m Tobias Winterspoon, Attorney-at-law. I came down two weeks ago, along with Nat and Robin at Aunt Martha’s request. She asked me to put her financial affairs in order, as she felt she might not have long to live. I was working in the Study next to the Library when she screamed horribly. I dashed out, met Nat coming out of the Library and we proceeded to Aunt Martha’s room. She was dead, a dagger in her chest. Robin was bent over her.”

The third heir was a slender woman named Robin Forester. “I am a registered nurse. I came down with Toby and Nat to nurse Aunt Martha through her final illness. She was always having hallucinations. She’d yell ‘What’s that?’ and point to various areas in her room, but there was never anything there, poor dear. On the fatal night, she yelled as usual, this time about something on the ceiling, but I just humored her and cut off the light. She screamed. I turned the light back on immediately, and she was dead with a dagger in her chest.”

“Who occupies the room above her?” Cranston asked

Times answered. “No one. It’s an unfinished garret. I was up there two days ago, getting the wiring up to code and measuring for flooring.”

“This is the weapon, Cranston.” Weston extended a dagger.

“Hmm. Damascus steel and weighted to throw.”

“But no one came past me!” protested Robin.

The Shadow thought a moment, then scribbled on a piece of paper three lines. “Here’s your solution, Weston. You’ll figure it out.”

The paper read:

“The person who provided motive for the murder was only doing a fine job and is innocent.”

“The person responsible for plunging the dagger into Mrs. Tabram is also innocent, and was unaware of it.”

“The murderer has a perfect alibi.”

WHO IS WHO?

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Originally Posted by Pendragon

Then I'm dead in the water on your riddles. I can't even find a place to start on number two.

OK. Here's the answer to mine. Look. The brother's testimony was that they heard the gunshots, then had to break down the door to get in. The police examination of the room, done very soon after the fact, shows the windows sealed. Thus if the door was shut and locked, you have a sealed room. Yet we are asked to believe that a gun was fired twice in that room without leaving the overpowering smell of burnt cordite, which would surely cover up lavender perfume and mild tobbacco. Ergo, the gun was NOT fired in the room, and the brothers are lying and have set the whole thing up to cover murder. As Holmes always said, "It's simple once you explain it." which I am sure will be the case for your riddles.... ;) :D :nod:

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Gosh, well... I don't know much about guns, so I wasn't sure whether they left a smell or not. I assumed not so that's what threw me off, even though while thinking I occasionally thought whether they left a smell or not. Guess I should've asked that... anyhow... the answer to the second one is simple. Remember, not always is the answer to a riddle something you can touch. Think, he was looking outside the window, his fist under his head. Then he did something nice to his brother. What is he? I'm sure there are more than one word that matches those 2 things, but the word I'm thinking of starts with a T and ends with an L. Perhaps it will be easier to figure it out now.

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Originally Posted by Pendragon

The paper read:

“The person who provided motive for the murder was only doing a fine job and is innocent.”

“The person responsible for plunging the dagger into Mrs. Tabram is also innocent, and was unaware of it.”

“The murderer has a perfect alibi.”

WHO IS WHO?

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The person who provided motive... is that Nat? "The house is very valuable, just rundown"

The person responsible for plunging the dagger into Mrs. Tabram... is that Robin? Obviously Nat or the murderer left a knife in the room above. Since Nat wasn't finished with the wiring, when the nurse cut off the light, something must've happened in the room above causing the dagger to move and plunge into her chest.

The last one only leaves one person, Toby. His alibi? I'm not sure... perhaps the aunt herself since she was that felt she was going to die soon... and oddly enough she did.

As for your 2 clues... I don't know... lol...

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Originally Posted by DigitalCrash

The person who provided motive... is that Nat? "The house is very valuable, just rundown"

The person responsible for plunging the dagger into Mrs. Tabram... is that Robin? Obviously Nat or the murderer left a knife in the room above. Since Nat wasn't finished with the wiring, when the nurse cut off the light, something must've happened in the room above causing the dagger to move and plunge into her chest.

The last one only leaves one person, Toby. His alibi? I'm not sure... perhaps the aunt herself since she was that felt she was going to die soon... and oddly enough she did.

As for your 2 clues... I don't know... lol...

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You got Robin right--now work backwards from there. What could cause the "dagger to move and plunge into her chest" because Robin flipped off the lights? Since you are right on this--you should get this one. Then I'll tell you the clues and you'll kick yourself over one of them! :) Meanwhile, I'm drawing a blank on both your riddles. Give me two days. Then post the answers. :confused: :confused: :confused: :confused: :confused: