Dear all,

 

Hope you are having a good week. Before I start I would like to apologise to those who wrote in with the correct answer the week before last and I didn't mention them. the reality was we had a problem with the Internet and I hadn't received them before I wrote last week's piece. So, without further ado, congratulations to Catherine, "S", Hector and Juan Carlos - and yes it was that easy!

 

I have checked and rechecked the emails replying to last week's puzzle and I haven't found any that gave the answer.

 

OK, now let's get personal. What do you believe in? Or what would you like to believe in? Google street maps has threatened to take away some of the fantasy that is still left by continually watching Loch Ness to see if Nessie is really there. Is it necessary that we know? Can't we just be left with the imagination of a possibility of something strange roaming the earth?

 

In the past technology has helped us to imagine, to believe in the extraordinary. In 1917 some photos were taken of two girls with fairies. Sir Arthur Conan Doyle- the author of the Sherlock Holmes books was among those who believed the photos to be proof that fairies were real. 

 

 

 

In 1983 the girls admitted that most of the photos were fake, except the fifth one, which one of their daughters still claims to be real.

 

 

 

 

I will leave it up to you to believe it or not. I'm not sure if google are hunting down fairies.

I think a little fantasy is nice, even if you don't really think it is true you are still left with this little nugget of perhaps.... big foot could be hiding out in the snow, mermaids could live in the unexplored depths of the oceans. Most children are eager to believe in Father Christmas and the tooth fairy- it makes things that little bit more exciting. Does that feeling ever really go away?

 

How did you do on the Singapore maths question? Here it is again with the answer:

 

 

 

It helps to put the list of 10 dates into table form:

 

Albert says:

 

I don’t know when your birthday is, but I know Bernard doesn’t know, either.

 

The first half of the sentence is obvious — Albert only knows the month, but not the day — but the second half is the first critical clue.

 

The initial reaction is, how could Bernard know? Cheryl only whispered the day, so how could he have more information than Albert? But if Cheryl had whispered “19,” then Bernard would indeed know the exact date — May 19 — because there is only one date with 19 in it. Similarly, if Cheryl had told Bernard, “18,” then Bernard would know Cheryl’s birthday was June 18.

 

Thus, for this statement by Albert to be true means that Cheryl did not say to Albert, “May” or “June.” (Again, for logic puzzles, the possibility that Albert is lying or confused is off the table.) Then Bernard replies:

 

I didn’t know originally, but now I do.

 

So from Albert’s statement, Bernard now also knows that Cheryl’s birthday is not in May or June, eliminating half of the possibilities, leaving July 14, July 16, Aug. 14, Aug. 15 and Aug. 17. But Bernard now knows. If Cheryl had told him “14,” he would not know, because there would still be two possibilities: July 14 and Aug. 14. Thus we know the day is not the 14th.

 

Now there are only three possibilities left: July 16, Aug. 15 and Aug. 17. Albert again:

 

Well, now I know too!

 

The same logical process again: For Albert to know, the month has to be July, because if Cheryl had told him, “August,” then he would still have two possibilities: Aug. 15 and Aug. 17.

 

The answer is July 16.

 

Did you get it?

 

Now for this week's, a little easier

 

Rebus brain teasers use words or letters in interesting orientations to represent common phrases.

 

Decipher this phrase:

 

FAIRY

WOLF

DUCKLING

 

Let me know your answers. Enjoy the rest of your week.

 

 

Piers

 

Langland Language Institute

 

26 de marzo 3566 Teléfono 2623 1651 email: info@langlandinstitute.com Montevideo, Uruguay