Discover Smith Mountain Lake
FALL 2016
25
24
PROBLEM:
SOLUTION:
As Assistant Editor of Discover Smith
Mountain Lake, “Gremmie” loves to get mail.
Here she is, busy at work, looking over the
entries in our puzzle competition.
If you care to drop her a line, send it to:
Gremlin the Wonder Cat,
Assistant Editor
Discover Smith Mountain Lake Magazine
40 Village Springs Dr., Suite 25
Hardy, VA 24101
Or via e-mail at:
Gremmie’s
Pages
LAST ISSUE’S BRAIN TEASER:
The SML Express pulled out of the new Bedford station late one night,
and began its winding journey up the East coast towardWashington
and NewYork under heavy darkness. Owing to the late hour, there
were only a handful of passengers aboard the small train. At the stroke
of midnight, the lights illuminating the interiors of the two cars were
suddenly extinguished.When they came back on a few moments later,
the passengers were alarmed to see one of their number lying on the
ground motionless.
The conductor phoned the local police department at the next station,
and though it was very late, the dispatcher assured the worried
conductor that they were sending their very best detective, K.C.
Jones, who had an usual methodology when it came to solving crimes.
Knowing witnesses to be often be mistaken and contradictory, Jones
made a habit of asking his witnesses to state to him only one fact they
remembered clearly and with absolute certainty from the moment the
crime took place.
K.C. Jones wasted no time upon arriving and, after taking a quick
overview of the scene, asked each of the ten remaining passengers in
turn to state one absolute fact from the moment right before lights went
out in the two train cars. His interview notes are as follows:
Ms. Saunders: I was dining with Mr. Johnson.
Mr. Gill:There were the same number of men and women in my car.
Mr. Johnson: Mr. Keefer was not in the dining car.
Ms. Lyme: Mr. Quimby had just entered my car.
Mr. Fralin: Ms.Witcher and Ms. Pitt were talking to one another in
hushed tones.
Mr. Rucker: Mr. Gill was not in the passenger car.
Mr. Quimby:There were fewer women in my car than the other.
Ms. Pitt: Ms. Lyme was not in the same car as me.
Mr. Keefer: Ms. Pitt was in the passenger car.
Ms.Witcher: Mr. Fralin was avoiding Mr. Rucker and hiding behind a
newspaper in the opposite car.
The bewildered conductor watched as Jones completed his interviews,
scribbled a few more lines in his notes, and turned to announce he had
solved the case.
“But surely you can’t have figured out the identity of a murderer simply
from a list of seating arrangements?” the conductor protested. “You
haven’t even been told in which car the victim was seated!”
“To the contrary, my good man,” the detective answered placidly. “It is
the curse of a criminal that he must answer any question regarding the
crime he has committed with a lie.The innocent tell only truths, but the
lone murderer has been betrayed by his testimony.”
Whom did Detective K.C. Jones arrest?
Jones began by assuming everyone was telling the truth about each
other’s location and came up with the following arrangement:
Saunders, Johnson, Lyme, Quimby, Gill, Rucker (4 men, 2 women)
in the dining car and Keefer, Pitt,Witcher, Fralin (2 men, 2 women)
in the passenger car. (Rucker and Fralin are interchangeable in
this scenario, but as both are men, the precise position of each is
irrelevant to this point.)This contradicted both Gill ‘s statement that
there were an equal number of men and women in his (the dining)
car and Mr. Quimby ‘s claim that fewer women were in one car than
the other.
Thus, the detective concluded that both Gill and Quimby were
telling the truth, and someone was lying about the occupancy. Jones
reasoned that only one possible configuration could make both men’s
testimonies true: Gill, 2 other men, and 3 women in one car and
Quimby, 2 other men, and 1 woman in the other.
Because Gill and Quimby had to have been in opposite cars, Jones
worked back up his witness list to find the lie that had placed
Quimby in the wrong car. He first examined Lyme’s statement
that she and Quimby shared the same car. If this alone was the lie,
it would leave Saunders, Johnson, Lyme, Gill, Rucker (3 men, 2
women) in the dining car and put Keefer, Pitt, Quimby,Witcher,
Fralin (3 men, 2 women) in the passenger car, meaning Gill’s and
Quimby’s statements still would be inaccurate.
Ms. Lyme must be telling the truth then, and Jones instead turned
to Pitt’s claim, which had placed Lyme (and Quimby by extension)
in the other car. If Pitt was lying, it would mean only Saunders,
Johnson, Gill, Rucker (3 men, 1 woman) were in the dining car and
Keefer, Pitt, Lyme, Quimby,Witcher, Fralin (3 men, 3 women) were
in the passenger car.Again, neither Gill’s or Quimby ‘s statements
are met.
K.C. Jones, now certain Mr. Gill, Mr. Quimby, Ms. Lyme, and Ms.
Pitt were all telling the truth, backtracked to Mr. Keefer next, who
had established Pitt ‘s position.Assuming Keefer a liar, Jones was
able to place Saunders, Johnson, Pitt, Gill,Witcher, Rucker (3 men,
3 women) in the dining car and Keefer, Lyme, Quimby, Fralin (3
men, 1 woman) in the passenger car.
A prudent man, Jones double checked his work by running each
remaining statement against his reasoning and stiffened his resolve
upon finding Keefer to be the only possible person whose lone lie
could make every other witness statement truthful.
Mr. Keefer was arrested and led away to the relief (albeit, slight
puzzlement) of the conductor and his passengers.
Edited by Gerald Muus
