Thursday, November 18, 2010

First Assignment

This puzzle is celebrating our master solver Wang who recently turned his 20th puzzle.

Government of Canada (where Wang lives) observed his brilliant puzzle solving skills and hired him to join the Canadian Security Intelligence Service. It is so cold up there that even terrorists are trying their best to avoid this country. So, CSIS is busy monitoring the drug dealers. On his first assignment, Wang has bee sent to arrest a man living in an apartment 4A on the PrairieDog street. Neighbor pointed Wang to the apartment where the man and his wife live and warned that it is hard to tell who is who. Upon entering the apartment, Wang confronted two people. Both had long hair, ruggy clothes and were of unclear gender. "Who is the man in this house?" asked Wang authoritatively.
"I'm a woman," said the person on his left.
"I'm not a woman," said the person on his right.
The super new static lie detector in Wang's pocket beeped signifying that at least someone here is lying. Whom do you think he should arrest?

Answers accepted all day long on Friday, on our Family Puzzle Marathon. They will be hidden until Saturday morning (EST) and everyone who provided a correct solution will get a puzzle point.

10 comments:

Anonymous said...

The person on his right is the man.

Katrina with Dennis said...

The one on the left. Both can't be talking the truth so both are lying. Therefore the one who says they are the woman is the man.

Wang said...

Thanks Math Mom! I was very happily surprised this Friday when I saw a puzzle about me =)

If the person on the left is a woman then the person on the right is a man and given their statements, both of them would be telling the truth. Since the lie detector beeped, it means that this is not the case and that if I am to arrest the man, I will be arresting the person on the left. Both of them are lying.

Donna said...

If either one of them is lying, then they must both be lying. If the person on the left is lying, then that person is actually a man, which would make the person on the right a woman, which would mean she is lying as well, since she said she was not a woman. If the person on the right is lying, then that person is actually a woman, which would make the person on the left the man, which meant he lied when he said he was a woman. Therefore, since both are lying, he should arrest the one who said he was a woman.....the one on the left.

Lynnet said...

They are both lying. He should arrest the person on his left.

Left lies right lies
therefore left is a man therefore right is a woman

Maria said...

That is right - both are lying and therefore the person on the left from Wang is the men who should be arrested. Wang himself submitted a correct answer and therefore will probably be accepted into the Canadian Intelligence Service.

In addition to him, Katrina&Dennis, Donna and Lynnet - each get a puzzle point.

Katrina&Dennis - we have had another husband&wife couple here recently. I think the wife's name was Yogini. Hope they will be back so that you can meet them in a puzzle.

anne-marie said...

The one saying:"I am not a woman" because the question was who is the man of the house. The answer was defensive.

anne-marie said...

Oops, next time, I will look at your answers first!

Kevin said...

Take them both in... the man is presumed guilty of dealing and the woman is interfering with the judicial process by lying...

Tom said...

Tom, way late (was on vacation), wonders how Wang can be SURE there is one man and one woman there; or that the right suspect is there. I know this is supposed to be a logic problem. But it is also a real police problem.

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