Name
the
ultimate
puzzler
from
fiction.
If
you
didn’t
say
Sherlock
Holmes,
then
I
need
to
read
what
you’re
reading.
In
many
depictions,
Holmes
seems
to
care
about
nothing
other
than
the
puzzles
his
cases
pose.
Beyond
the
twisty
plots
and
endearing
characters,
Arthur
Conan
Doyle’s
stories
and
the
subsequent
screen
adaptations
excel
at
clever
mechanisms
and
deductions.
This
week
you’ll
slip
into
Sherlock’s
deerstalker
and
solve
two
whodunits.
These
are
a
little
more
open
to
interpretation
than
our
typical
puzzles
here,
but
that’s
the
nature
of
detective
work.
Both
have
intended
solutions—the
simpler
the
better.
Read
carefully,
gather
clues,
and
crack
the
case.
The
game
is
afoot.
Did you miss last week’s puzzle? Check it out here, and find its solution at the bottom of today’s article. Be careful not to read too far ahead if you haven’t solved last week’s yet!
1. It was a bright Tuesday afternoon, and Sherlock and Watson approached the apartment building as the coroners hauled away the body. The Chief of Police, Henry Meanswell, approached the men and said: “I know you boys love a crime scene, but I’m afraid your services won’t be needed here. This is an open-and-shut case of suicide.”
“Do you mind indulging us with what you know took place here today?” replied Sherlock.
Meanswell glanced at his watch and sighed. “A man named Diddy Jump was found dead on the front lawn of his apartment building. It appears he jumped out of the window of his studio apartment. His landlord, a sweet old lady named Agatha, found him. She explained to us that Diddy’s wife recently left him and he’s had trouble coping—drinking to excess and causing a ruckus in the building. Poor lady seems shaken up by the whole ordeal.”
“Did you inspect his apartment?”
“Yep, Agatha used her master key to let us in about 20 minutes ago, and it was like a pit of despair in there. Pitch black, beer bottles everywhere, and a stale stench. As soon as we flicked on the light, we saw the suicide note on the bed. It said that he couldn’t continue on his path of self-destruction and he wanted to end it all. Very sad, really.”
“Sad indeed, I suspect we have foul play on our hands.”
Why
does
Sherlock
suspect
a
murder?
2. [This one was inspired by a post on puzzling.stackexchange by user Puzzlees]
Sherlock didn’t flinch when he saw Mrs. Howe’s body dangling from her dining room rafters.
“This one’s gotta be a suicide,” pled Chief of Police, Henry Meanswell. “The only reason I haven’t already booked it is because of my mishap at last week’s crime scene. Sorry to call you here so late, but I figured I should let you take a look first.”
Sherlock inspected the noose around Mrs. Howe’s neck. “She’s wearing a wedding band. It’s always the husband.”
Meanswell had an eager retort, as though he had practiced: “That was my first thought too. In fact, her kids and neighbors report that they’ve had extreme marital trouble and Mr. Howe has been violent in the past. However, he has an airtight alibi.”
“Seldom such a thing,” smirked Sherlock.
“Mr. Howe works at an automotive factory an hour and a half drive away. Security footage and multiple eyewitnesses confirm he was at work all day and he clocked out at 5:30 pm. Our forensics team analyzed the rope burns around the victim’s neck and used new high quality instruments to verify that Mrs. Howe died by asphyxiation at exactly 6:00 pm. Even if her husband raced at top speeds, there’s no way he could have made it here in time. Unless you think he trapped her in a noose and set up some contraption to drop her while he was far away? Or maybe he hired a hitman?”
“He didn’t need a contraption nor a hitman. Bring Mr. Howe in for questioning.”
Why doesn’t Sherlock view Mr. Howe’s alibi as exonerating?
I’ll
be
back
next
Monday
with
the
answer
and
a
new
puzzle.
Do
you
know
a
cool
puzzle
that
you
think
should
be
featured
here?
Message
me
on
X
@JackPMurtagh
or
email
me
at
Could
you
prove
that
Wonka’s
winning
chocolate
bars
from
last
week’s
puzzle
were
pure
imagination?
Shout-out
to
Enfy,
who
was
the
only
person
to
submit
a
correct
answer.
To
the
rest
of
you:
You
get
nothing!
You
lose!
Good
day,
sir!
In a 3x7 grid colored with two colors, there will always be a rectangle whose corners are all the same color. To argue this, note that every column of three chocolate units falls into at least one of the following categories:
The first and second units are red The first and third units are red The second and third units are red The first and second units are blue The first and third units are blue The second and third units are blueA column can have more than one of these characteristics. For example, if a column is all red, then it will satisfy conditions 1, 2, and 3. The important point is that every column falls into at least one of these six categories, because every column must have a repeated color and the above list exhausts all possible locations of the repeated colors.
Since we have seven columns, one of these six categories must repeat, and that will form a rectangle whose corners are the same color. The image below shows a 3x6 area containing each of the six categories once (and contains no rectangle with monochromatic corners). Notice that no matter how we color the seventh column, it will repeat one of these categories and force a rectangle.
Graphic: Jack Murtagh
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