Solve Enjoyable Enigmas with Mr.E's Challenge

[consciousness]

Spoiler

Wow I can see you!

 

[CompuChip]

Spoiler

Assuming it takes the prisoners more than one second to escape the guard's line of fire: Assign the prisoners numbers 1,...,n. Then the guard announces "When the shield goes back up I will kill the prisoner whose number is lowest that is not inside the shield.

1 can't try to escape or he will die. 2 knows this, so knows he can't try to escape either. Etc.

Is this fundamentally different from what I said initially?

 

[Enigman]

Spoiler

Wow I can see you!

Sold!

 

[consciousness]

Is this fundamentally different from what I said initially?

There is a subtle difference.

Spoiler

If the prisoners decide to rush out together, a prisoner can unconsciously be the first to move. His demise is certain but the probability of his dying wasn't one when he made the decision!
Now in this solution if the prisoner numbered 1 decides to go first then he makes a conscious decision to kill himself! This starts the domino effect.

 

[Enigman]

The Enigma That Killed Homer.

I generally hate it when a movie or T.V. show 'adapts' some real world event to suit itself. But just sometimes these leave me grinning ear to ear, like the last Doctor who finale- It's prophesied that at some place (don't remember the name) a question will be asked to the Doctor and it is at this place he will die- obvious conclusion don't go to that place...well, Doctor didn't oblige and so didn't Homer (Iliad guy NOT yellow toon whose guts I hate).
It was foretold by The Oracle of Delphi that Homer would die in the island of Ios and that he should beware of a riddle posed to him by some young boys. Well obviously old Homer disregarded the prophecy and while he was walking on the banks of Ios a group of fisher boys asked him a riddle:

“What we caught, we threw away; what we didn’t catch, we kept. What did we keep?”

Unable to solve the riddle, Homer eventually died on the island, refusing to leave until he discovered the answer. So can you solve it?
(Googling is not allowed)

 

[collinsmark]

Next one-

.-- --- .-- / -.-- --- ..- / -.-. .- -. / ... . . / -- .
Google search is allowed.

[Source: http://abstrusegoose.com/255]

 

[Enigman]

It itches...

 

[collinsmark]

It was foretold by The Oracle of Delphi that Homer would die in the island of Ios and that he should beware of a riddle posed to him by some young boys. Well obviously old Homer disregarded the prophecy and while he was walking on the banks of Ios a group of fisher boys asked him a riddle:

“What we caught, we threw away; what we didn’t catch, we kept. What did we keep?”

Unable to solve the riddle, Homer eventually died on the island, refusing to leave until he discovered the answer. So can you solve it?
(Googling is not allowed)

Spoiler

Is it bait?

 

[Enigman]

Spoiler

Is it bait?

Nope, what you couldn't catch you had to keep, unfortunately...

 

[collinsmark]

“What we caught, we threw away; what we didn’t catch, we kept. What did we keep?”

Hmm. How's about this guess:

Spoiler

"Mistakes." As in, if you catch your mistake in time, you can conceivably correct it (the mistake goes away), and all is good. But if you don't catch your mistake in time, you have to live with it.

 

[Enigman]

Hmm. How's about this guess:

Spoiler

"Mistakes." As in, if you catch your mistake in time, you can conceivably correct it (the mistake goes away), and all is good. But if you don't catch your mistake in time, you have to live with it.

Hmmm...*Scratches the E head* might work but not the answer the fishermen were talking about

It itches...

 

[Enigman]

Spoiler

Lice!

 

[drizzle]

Haha!

 

[collinsmark]

Okay, here's a new one. (And back to morbid.)

A man is recently dead, alone in an empty field. He died a quick and traumatic death. The man was young and healthy immediately before the time of his death. The only belongings the man had with him are the clothes on his back and an unopened package. The man would have survived had he opened the package.

So the question is, what is in the package?

 

[Ibix]

It is a little worrying how many of these puzzles involve dead guys.

Spoiler

A parachute

 

[collinsmark]

It is a little worrying how many of these puzzles involve dead guys.

Spoiler

A parachute

Yup.

 

[consciousness]

How quickly can you find out what is so unusual about this paragraph? It looks so ordinary that you would think that nothing is wrong with it at all, and, in fact, nothing is. But it is unusual. Why? If you look at it, study it and think about it, you may find out, but I am not going to assist you in any way. You must do it without coaching. No doubt, if you work at it for long, it will dawn on you. Who knows? Go to work and try your skill. Par is about half an hour. So jump to it and try your skill at figuring it out. Good luck --don't blow your cool.

 

[collinsmark]

How quickly can you find out what is so unusual about this paragraph? It looks so ordinary that you would think that nothing is wrong with it at all, and, in fact, nothing is. But it is unusual. Why? If you look at it, study it and think about it, you may find out, but I am not going to assist you in any way. You must do it without coaching. No doubt, if you work at it for long, it will dawn on you. Who knows? Go to work and try your skill. Par is about half an hour. So jump to it and try your skill at figuring it out. Good luck --don't blow your cool.

Hmm.

Spoiler

I think I know the solution. But I don't want to blurt it out so soon. I'll just say, as a hint, that if I am right, this post maintains this "unusual" condition.

 

[Jonathan Scott]

Hmm.

Spoiler

I think I know the solution. But I don't want to blurt it out so soon. I'll just say, as a hint, that if I am right, this post maintains this "unusual" condition.

Spoiler

Apart from the word "the"

 

[consciousness]

I see that you guys have figured it out!

 

[collinsmark]

Spoiler

Apart from the word "the"

Spoiler

Oooh. My bad.

 

[collinsmark]

How quickly can you find out what is so unusual about this paragraph? It looks so ordinary that you would think that nothing is wrong with it at all, and, in fact, nothing is. But it is unusual. Why? If you look at it, study it and think about it, you may find out, but I am not going to assist you in any way. You must do it without coaching. No doubt, if you work at it for long, it will dawn on you. Who knows? Go to work and try your skill. Par is about half an hour. So jump to it and try your skill at figuring it out. Good luck --don't blow your cool.

Okay, I'll blurt it out now before moving on.

Spoiler

The entire paragraph does not contain the letter 'e'. (My previous attempt at writing a reply which also did not contain the letter 'e' failed because I looked right over the word "the" that I used. Writing a coherent paragraph without a single 'e' is harder than I thought.)

 

[collinsmark]

Back to morbid.

Two men are dead in a cabin, recently dying traumatic deaths. The cabin is in the wilderness. There are no roads to the cabin, nor nearby harbors that would allow one to reach the cabin by boat. There are no nearby runways or helicopter pads. There isn't even a footpath available to get to or from the cabin. There are no tunnels either. The two men were young and healthy immediately before their deaths. As a matter of fact, when they walked through the cabin door that morning, after having a nice breakfast and coffee, they felt bright and refreshed.

How did these men die?

 

[lisab]

Back to morbid.

Two men are dead in a cabin, recently dying traumatic deaths. The cabin is in the wilderness. There are no roads to the cabin, nor nearby harbors that would allow one to reach the cabin by boat. There are no nearby runways or helicopter pads. There isn't even a footpath available to get to or from the cabin. There are no tunnels either. The two men were young and healthy immediately before their deaths. As a matter of fact, when they walked through the cabin door that morning, after having a nice breakfast and coffee, they felt bright and refreshed.

How did these men die?

They were beat to death by a wild pack of e's!

But seriously...traumatic deaths? Hmm.

Spoiler

Did they get picked up in the cabin by a tornado and dropped from a great height?

 

[Enigman]

Spoiler

cabin was in a ship and a storm hit?

 

[lisab]

Spoiler

cabin was in a ship and a storm hit?

Ooooo you're good

 

[Enigman]

They were beat to death by a wild pack of e's!

I resent that accusation...of incompetency obviously...when $\mathcal E$ strikes, no one traces it back to M$\mathcal E$, I am that good...
$\mathcal E$

 

[collinsmark]

They were beat to death by a wild pack of e's!

But seriously...traumatic deaths? Hmm.

Spoiler

Did they get picked up in the cabin by a tornado and dropped from a great height?

There are no tornadoes necessary for this one.

Spoiler

cabin was in a ship and a storm hit?

Similarly, there are no storms necessary either. [Edit: nor did they arrive by sea. If you wish, there are no oceans or lakes anywhere near the cabin.]

There may or may not have been a storm/tornado involved, but it's not particularly relevant. All said though, the cabin is probably not in pristine condition (that's a hint).

For this riddle, I'll entertain any yes or no questions. But be warned, this riddle has high likelihood of producing seemingly contradictory answers to some yes or no questions, depending on the particular wording of the question.

 

[Enigman]

Back to morbid.

Two men are dead in a cabin, recently dying traumatic deaths. The cabin is in the wilderness. There are no roads to the cabin, nor nearby harbors that would allow one to reach the cabin by boat. There are no nearby runways or helicopter pads. There isn't even a footpath available to get to or from the cabin. There are no tunnels either. The two men were young and healthy immediately before their deaths. As a matter of fact, when they walked through the cabin door that morning, after having a nice breakfast and coffee, they felt bright and refreshed.

How did these men die?

...Attempt 2:

Spoiler

Cabin in an aircraft and it crashed?

 

[collinsmark]

...Attempt 2:

Spoiler

Cabin in an aircraft and it crashed?

Yes, that's the correct answer.

Spoiler

They are in an airplane cabin. The airplane crashed.