P 1

From thread: W8/30

"What did Cinderella say when she found her carriage had turned into a pumpkin?"

SUGGESTIONS: Nick Dean: "I blame David Cameron. He should never have called a referendum." Nice try Nick. With all due respects to Nigel, you're looking for a boom-boom groanable (my favourite kind of Joke). Here's a cryptic crossword type clue: "Initially, old Michael Gove expresses shock." Think cucurbit! Alan Pyle: "I am shocked to the marrow." Well, the groan factor's going up but you've some way to go. Nick Dean: You mean something like, "We'd butter nut tell my sisters about this, Buttons." ? That's too good - you're out of our class there, Nick! Jas Cowen: "Never mind, Buttons. It was already too much of a squash in there anyway." Boom! Boom! Another great attempt but so far you've all ignored my cryptic clue. Roger Nolan: "Oh my Gourd!" ✔ At last - a cryptic crossword fan! Well done, Roger!

P 2

From thread: none

A man dies and passes through the Pearly Gates. He then sees two doors in front of him. One is the door to Heaven and the other the door to Hell. The doors are identical and looking at them, it is impossible to tell which is which. In front of each door stands an angel. One is a good angel who always tells the truth. The other is a bad angel who always tells a lie. Each angel could be standing in front of either door. The man is allowed to ask only one question of only one of the angels and can only receive the answer yes or no. He asks his question, receives his reply and goes through the door to Heaven. How does he do it?" SUGGESTIONS: Nick Dean: Presumably, he could simply ask either of them if he (she?) is an angel. The good one will say "yes" and the bad one, "no". How would that help? - "Each angel could be standing in front of either door". Nick: Because once you know who the good angel is, you can simply hang around and follow him through the door Heaven, where he would obviously reside. There's no indication that either angel goes through either door, so that can't be the solution. THE SOLUTION (from Roger, who set the puzzle): "There are only two possible scenarios. Either: The good angel stands in front of the door to heaven and the bad angel stands in front of the door to hell or The bad angel stands in front of the door to heaven and the good angel stands in front of the door to hell If you ask the question ‘is the good angel standing in front of the door to heaven?’ you would get the following answers: In the first scenario, the good angel (who always tells the truth) would answer yes and the bad angel (who always tells a lie) would answer no. In the second scenario the bad angel would answer yes because he always tells a lie and the good angel would answer no because he will always tell the truth. Therefore the man asks either angel the question ‘is the good angel standing in front of the door to heaven’ and if he receives the answer yes, he will go through the door behind that angel and if he receives the answer no he will go through the other door. There are two interesting aspects to this puzzle: 1) you will never find out which is the good angel and which is the bad - you don’t need to know. and 2) the principle holds good even if you change the question to say - 'is the good angel standing in front of the door to hell,' in which case you go would go through the door with the no answer." Roger says he has always loved this puzzle, which he has known for most of my life. He thinks he must have learnt it from his father who was very keen on puzzles, mathematical and otherwise.