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Endarire
2018-02-05, 01:22 AM
Intro
Greetings, all!

Next Sunday, we share our answers to these riddles. Correct answers mean progress. Wrong answers mean bad stuff. We may be able to use skill checks in place of 'real answers,' but having these right answers (with an explanation for each) would help greatly.

Riddle 1: Drunk Dwarf Drinking Contest
The drinking contest:

Clan Hammerfall is known for its exquisite drinking contest. The "Prince of Ale" Title is amongst the worthiest of all to be carried under the mountain. In order to become the Prince of Ale, one must outlast the competition, the last man standing or the one with the most consumed ale after a whole night wins.

Unfortunately, last year's event ended in a bit of a black-out. Most of the competitors were lying on the floor, but a handful remained still standing. One is unsure about, who was the true Prince of Ale. The official notes of this evening show:

Marrian Hammerfall beat Tom Stonehand and Jarlaqusel Rench.
Krensh Bigfingers lost to Graham Goodfellow and Marrian Hammerfall.
Peltasar Piper beat Jarlaqusel Rench, Tom Stonehand and Alan Ardman.
Zach Oremaster beat Frodo Lightmantle.
Graham Goodfellow beat Tom Stonehand
Graham Goodfellow lost to Frodo Lightmantle and Peltasar Piper.
Tom Stonehand beat Brian Brick.
Brian Brick beat Krensh Bigfingers.
Alan Ardman beat Zach Oremaster, Krensh Bigfingers and Graham Goodfellow.
Marrian Hammerfall lost to Alan Ardman and Zach Oremaster
Frodo Lightmantle beat Tom Stonehand, Marrian Hammerfall and Brian Brick.
Tom Stonehand lost to Jarlaqusel Rench and Alan Ardman.
Jarlaqusel Rench beat Graham Goodfellow and Brian Brick.

In which order did the dwarfs finish and who won the title of the 'Prince of Ale?'

Riddle 2: Dwarf Traders
NOTE: The tags of (dwarf 1), (dwarf 2), and (dwarf 3) are used to help people understand which dwarf said what.

Three dwarfs used the great halls to trade their goods. Hammer (dwarf 1) says to Jarlqusel (dwarf 2): "I'll hand you 6 iron ore for one of your gold ores. Afterwards you will have twice as many pieces of ore here compared to me."

"Screw ya business," said Dandalow (dwarf 3) to Hammer (dwarf 1), "Me offerz ya not less than 14 of me finest tin ore for a gold ore, and then you will have three times as much ore compared to me."

"Well, I want to make you a better offer friend," said Jarlqusel (dwarf 2) to Dandalow (dwarf 3); "I will give you 4 silver ore for one gold ore, hence you'll have 6 times as many pieces of ore as I've got here."

The real question everyone was asking was. How many pieces of ore were altogether at that market?

Riddle 3: Refunds
Yarr! Three of the finest travelers came to our Inn in Hammerfall. They shouldn't be waiting.

As usual they needed to pay a fine rent of 30gp for the night - altogether.

Farlin Bonefindler, the drunken thickhead forgot about that the king under the mountain told him to lower the prices during the Moonfest, so more customers were coming. He should have only charged them 25gp.

Ashamed of his mistake, Farlin goes to his wife Shantal, the maide of the Inn and tells her to please give back 5gp to these three travelers. On her way to the strangers, she reasons that 5gp can never be split evenly amongst them, so she decides to pocket 2gp herself, as a good dwarf would do, and gives back 1gp to each traveler.

Well now, there seems to be a problem:

Now each traveller paid 10gp and received a refund of 1gp.

That means they each paid 9gp - a total of 27gp. Shantal has only 2 gp, the remaining gp seems to be lost. What happened?

Personal Guess: The innkeeper collected it but never refunded it. (I don't claim this is accurate.)

Riddle 4: Order of Eating Operations
Two ogres captured a bunch of dwarfs during their sleep. Of course our brothers could have bested free from their entanglement, but they wanted to know firstly what the Ogres would be up to.

So they heard their discussion and tried to make sense of the words. After they figured out the cruel intentions of the Ogres, who planned to eat them, of course they were forced to lay these beasts to rest. But the story of the Ogre dialog continues until today:

Armin, the dwarf shouldn't be eaten first or last. He tastes rather bitter they said.

The selected dwarf to be eaten raw needs to be eaten after Iridor, however before Armin - the robust-.

Cucumber needs to be used with the dwarf, who is to be eaten in 4th place. It is strictly forbidden to use it with the grilled dwarf however.

Ormus - the wise dwarf - is to be grilled or steamed, because of his massive beard. The ogres refused to use ginger however.

Iridor needs to be eaten two places ahead of the dwarf, who is to be cooked with fine garlic.

Etna - the huge - is not to be eaten fried or raw, she appears to be poisonous and might splatter when being fried - and because she is acidic, she is not to be eaten in 4th place.

Melon aroma, the delicious sweeterner, is to be eaten directly prior to the coriander.

The dwarf, who is eaten in third position needs to be baked, the fine taste of it will make the following dwarfs go down easier, but as every good Ogre knows, baking shouldn't happen with coriander or ginger.

And what happens with Sharnor, their leader?

State each of the five dwarfs, their cooking method, and the used herbs.

Khedrac
2018-02-05, 02:08 AM
Intro
Greetings, all!

Next Sunday, we share our answers to these riddles. Correct answers mean progress. Wrong answers mean bad stuff. We may be able to use skill checks in place of 'real answers,' but having these right answers (with an explanation for each) would help greatly.
Fun logic puzzles, however, it would be slightly unfair just to give you answers, so I think the best help we can give is solution methods...

Riddle 1: Drunk Dwarf Drinking Contest
The drinking contest:

Clan Hammerfall is known for its exquisite drinking contest. The "Prince of Ale" Title is amongst the worthiest of all to be carried under the mountain. In order to become the Prince of Ale, one must outlast the competition, the last man standing or the one with the most consumed ale after a whole night wins.

Unfortunately, last year's event ended in a bit of a black-out. Most of the competitors were lying on the floor, but a handful remained still standing. One is unsure about, who was the true Prince of Ale. The official notes of this evening show:

Marrian Hammerfall beat Tom Stonehand and Jarlaqusel Rench.
Krensh Bigfingers lost to Graham Goodfellow and Marrian Hammerfall.
Peltasar Piper beat Jarlaqusel Rench, Tom Stonehand and Alan Ardman.
Zach Oremaster beat Frodo Lightmantle.
Graham Goodfellow beat Tom Stonehand
Graham Goodfellow lost to Frodo Lightmantle and Peltasar Piper.
Tom Stonehand beat Brian Brick.
Brian Brick beat Krensh Bigfingers.
Alan Ardman beat Zach Oremaster, Krensh Bigfingers and Graham Goodfellow.
Marrian Hammerfall lost to Alan Ardman and Zach Oremaster
Frodo Lightmantle beat Tom Stonehand, Marrian Hammerfall and Brian Brick.
Tom Stonehand lost to Jarlaqusel Rench and Alan Ardman.
Jarlaqusel Rench beat Graham Goodfellow and Brian Brick.

In which order did the dwarfs finish and who won the title of the 'Prince of Ale?'
This one isn't a simple answer and I am not sure of the best solution method - I may come back and post one later when I have had a chance to think on it.

Riddle 2: Dwarf Traders
NOTE: The tags of (dwarf 1), (dwarf 2), and (dwarf 3) are used to help people understand which dwarf said what.

Three dwarfs used the great halls to trade their goods. Hammer (dwarf 1) says to Jarlqusel (dwarf 2): "I'll hand you 6 iron ore for one of your gold ores. Afterwards you will have twice as many pieces of ore here compared to me."

"Screw ya business," said Dandalow (dwarf 3) to Hammer (dwarf 1), "Me offerz ya not less than 14 of me finest tin ore for a gold ore, and then you will have three times as much ore compared to me."

"Well, I want to make you a better offer friend," said Jarlqusel (dwarf 2) to Dandalow (dwarf 3); "I will give you 4 silver ore for one gold ore, hence you'll have 6 times as many pieces of ore as I've got here."

The real question everyone was asking was. How many pieces of ore were altogether at that market?
Ignore the types of ore, this is three equations in three variables (H, D & J):
2 × (H - 6 + 1) = J + 6 - 1 --> 2(H-5) = J+5
3 × (D - 14 + 1) = H + 14 - 1 --> 3(D-13) = H+13
6 × (J + 4 - 1) = D - 4 + 1 --> 6(J+3) = D-3

From this you should be able to work out what the three values are.


Riddle 3: Refunds
Yarr! Three of the finest travelers came to our Inn in Hammerfall. They shouldn't be waiting.

As usual they needed to pay a fine rent of 30gp for the night - altogether.

Farlin Bonefindler, the drunken thickhead forgot about that the king under the mountain told him to lower the prices during the Moonfest, so more customers were coming. He should have only charged them 25gp.

Ashamed of his mistake, Farlin goes to his wife Shantal, the maide of the Inn and tells her to please give back 5gp to these three travelers. On her way to the strangers, she reasons that 5gp can never be split evenly amongst them, so she decides to pocket 2gp herself, as a good dwarf would do, and gives back 1gp to each traveler.

Well now, there seems to be a problem:

Now each traveller paid 10gp and received a refund of 1gp.

That means they each paid 9gp - a total of 27gp. Shantal has only 2 gp, the remaining gp seems to be lost. What happened?

Personal Guess: The innkeeper collected it but never refunded it. (I don't claim this is accurate.)
This one is not a riddle, it is a trick question, and for that reason I will give you a more complete answer - the barmaid is on the wrong side of the equation.
3 dwarfs each pay 10gp to innkeeper so 3 × (-10) Dwarfs balance Innkeeper +30
Inkeeper gives 5 gp to wife so 3 × (-10) Dwarfs balance Innkeeper +25 and wife +5
now when you move 3gp from wife to dwarfs you will see why there is no missing gold.


IntroRiddle 4: Order of Eating Operations
Two ogres captured a bunch of dwarfs during their sleep. Of course our brothers could have bested free from their entanglement, but they wanted to know firstly what the Ogres would be up to.

So they heard their discussion and tried to make sense of the words. After they figured out the cruel intentions of the Ogres, who planned to eat them, of course they were forced to lay these beasts to rest. But the story of the Ogre dialog continues until today:

Armin, the dwarf shouldn't be eaten first or last. He tastes rather bitter they said.

The selected dwarf to be eaten raw needs to be eaten after Iridor, however before Armin - the robust-.

Cucumber needs to be used with the dwarf, who is to be eaten in 4th place. It is strictly forbidden to use it with the grilled dwarf however.

Ormus - the wise dwarf - is to be grilled or steamed, because of his massive beard. The ogres refused to use ginger however.

Iridor needs to be eaten two places ahead of the dwarf, who is to be cooked with fine garlic.

Etna - the huge - is not to be eaten fried or raw, she appears to be poisonous and might splatter when being fried - and because she is acidic, she is not to be eaten in 4th place.

Melon aroma, the delicious sweeterner, is to be eaten directly prior to the coriander.

The dwarf, who is eaten in third position needs to be baked, the fine taste of it will make the following dwarfs go down easier, but as every good Ogre knows, baking shouldn't happen with coriander or ginger.

And what happens with Sharnor, their leader?

State each of the five dwarfs, their cooking method, and the used herbs.
Search the web for "Einstein's puzzle" or similar and follow the solution method swapping the variables for the ones used here - it's the same puzzle.

Endarire
2018-02-05, 04:05 AM
Thankee! That was a pleasant help!

Buufreak
2018-02-05, 09:50 AM
Riddle 3: Refunds
Yarr! Three of the finest travelers came to our Inn in Hammerfall. They shouldn't be waiting.

As usual they needed to pay a fine rent of 30gp for the night - altogether.

Farlin Bonefindler, the drunken thickhead forgot about that the king under the mountain told him to lower the prices during the Moonfest, so more customers were coming. He should have only charged them 25gp.

Ashamed of his mistake, Farlin goes to his wife Shantal, the maide of the Inn and tells her to please give back 5gp to these three travelers. On her way to the strangers, she reasons that 5gp can never be split evenly amongst them, so she decides to pocket 2gp herself, as a good dwarf would do, and gives back 1gp to each traveler.

Well now, there seems to be a problem:

Now each traveller paid 10gp and received a refund of 1gp.

That means they each paid 9gp - a total of 27gp. Shantal has only 2 gp, the remaining gp seems to be lost. What happened?

Personal Guess: The innkeeper collected it but never refunded it. (I don't claim this is accurate.)


As stated, this is a trick question, and a rather old one at that. I first heard it in JH, to be totally honest.

That said, the simple answer is "there isn't another dollar (or in this case, gp)." The extended answer, which actually took my college math professor explaining, was its a matter of counting the wrong thing. They were charged 30 gp. That is accounted for. They were supposed to get a refund of 5. That is also accounted for, 1 to each traveller, and 2 to the maide. But when you try counting the two values together, things get messy, and thus the trick question exists.

Fun fact, the same professor explained where the quadratic equation came from as he proceeded to solve ax2+bx+c=0, and solved for x by completing the square. Fun times...

Jormengand
2018-02-06, 07:24 AM
This one isn't a simple answer and I am not sure of the best solution method - I may come back and post one later when I have had a chance to think on it.

I believe that you can start by working out who won and who lost, and placing the others in order from there becomes simpler.

Khedrac
2018-02-06, 07:59 AM
I believe that you can start by working out who won and who lost, and placing the others in order from there becomes simpler.

I think so too, the best method I have come up with so far (admittedly I stopped trying) is:
1. List the contestants (I think there are 10).
2. Cross off every one who lost to someone.
This gives the winner
3. Remove the winner from the list.
4. Repeat 2 discounting losses to the winner.
Repeat until done.

It's the easiest puzzle in many ways - no tricks needed, just patience.

Zexionthefirst
2018-02-06, 09:53 AM
Clan Hammerfall is known for its exquisite drinking contest. The "Prince of Ale" Title is amongst the worthiest of all to be carried under the mountain. In order to become the Prince of Ale, one must outlast the competition, the last man standing or the one with the most consumed ale after a whole night wins.

Unfortunately, last year's event ended in a bit of a black-out. Most of the competitors were lying on the floor, but a handful remained still standing. One is unsure about, who was the true Prince of Ale. The official notes of this evening show:

Marrian Hammerfall beat Tom Stonehand and Jarlaqusel Rench.
Krensh Bigfingers lost to Graham Goodfellow and Marrian Hammerfall.
Peltasar Piper beat Jarlaqusel Rench, Tom Stonehand and Alan Ardman.
Zach Oremaster beat Frodo Lightmantle.
Graham Goodfellow beat Tom Stonehand
Graham Goodfellow lost to Frodo Lightmantle and Peltasar Piper.
Tom Stonehand beat Brian Brick.
Brian Brick beat Krensh Bigfingers.
Alan Ardman beat Zach Oremaster, Krensh Bigfingers and Graham Goodfellow.
Marrian Hammerfall lost to Alan Ardman and Zach Oremaster
Frodo Lightmantle beat Tom Stonehand, Marrian Hammerfall and Brian Brick.
Tom Stonehand lost to Jarlaqusel Rench and Alan Ardman.
Jarlaqusel Rench beat Graham Goodfellow and Brian Brick.

In which order did the dwarfs finish and who won the title of the 'Prince of Ale?'

You would solve like a logic puzzle. Think of it like Sodoku
https://i.imgur.com/2t3g1GR.png

Endarire
2018-02-07, 07:19 PM
Garryl provided additional explanations and answers here (http://minmaxforum.com/index.php?topic=18350.0).

Thank you, GitPers, for your aid with this! BuuFreak , Khedrac, and Zexionthefirst provided the most thorough explanations in this thread so far.

Rijan_Sai
2018-02-08, 12:30 PM
Garryl provided additional explanations and answers here (http://minmaxforum.com/index.php?topic=18350.0).

Thank you, GitPers, for your aid with this! BuuFreak , Khedrac, and Zexionthefirst provided the most thorough explanations in this thread so far.

Garryl did make one mistake that I could see:


FL > PP > AA > ZO > MH > JR > GG > TS > BB > KB

------------------------

Frodo Lightmantle beat all other named competitors, so unless it's a trick question where there were more participants than named, Frodo is the "Prince of Ale", followed by Peltasar Piper, Alan Ardman, Zach Oremaster, Marrian Hammerfall, Jarlaqusel Rench, Graham Goodfellow, Tom Stonehand, Brian Brick, and finally Krensh Bigfingers in last place.
Your clues state that Frodo lost to Zach, so the order I found was
PP > AA > ZO > FL > MH > JR > GG > TS > BB > KB

Of course, I could have easily made some mistake in there, too. The basic premise is certainly correct, though!

On the other hand, his results did show me where I was making a mistake with the second riddle (the traders! (I was trying to calculate the second trade off of D+J, instead of D+H.)