Very hard logic puzzle

"your answer"

u9y

Reply to Hermeticus Not the intended answer. I've edited the questions to better lock-in on the solution.

Reply to DavidJohnson

Okey I am thinking for like half an hour what I am supposed to answer in this puzzle.
Am I forced to answer something related to abc?

Because what I was thinking is: púrpura (purple)
So, my answer:

"r6p"

Reply to javi2541997 Not the intended solution. abc was just an example and isn't related to the actual answer. Also, your answer is only three characters so it would be "r3p" and not "r6p".

Quoting DavidJohnson

Below you will find three questions. Answer each question in order with no spaces between them. So if the answer to the first question is a, the answer to the second question is b, and the answer to the third question is c then the solution is abc. There is no "trick", by the way. You can arrive at the solution through pure logic.

What is the third character (number, letter, or symbol) you will type to solve this?

How many different characters will you type to solve this?

What is the first character you will type to solve this?

a2a

Reply to Michael Not the intended solution. Your answer is logical but you're missing something. Your answer could just as well be "b2b" or "323" or anything else where the first and last characters are the same.

111

Quoting DavidJohnson

Your answer could just as well be "b2b" or "323" or anything else where the first and last characters are the same.

Yes. Your questions don't entail a single possible answer.

Reply to jamalrob Not the intended solution. Also logical and follows Michael's train of thought as well. You're missing a clue.

Reply to DavidJohnson

Sorry, what do you mean as characters? Syllables?

Reply to Michael You're missing something that would make the answer distinct.

Quoting DavidJohnson

Not the intended solution. Also logical and follows Michael's train of thought as well. You're missing a clue.

If it's correct but not "the intended solution", then there's a problem with the puzzle.

Reply to javi2541997 Characters are single letters, numbers, or symbols. Some examples are "a", "7", "<", "r", and "2".

Reply to jamalrob It's not correct.

Quoting DavidJohnson

You're missing a clue.

There is no way we can know what kind of answer you are looking for, given that you reject correct answers.

Quoting DavidJohnson

It's not correct.

...where "correct" apparently just means "the answer I want".

Reply to jamalrob I haven't rejected any correct answers. This problem has also been solved by over ten people so I know it's not impossible.

There is one correct, logical, complete answer. Anything else is incorrect. It's not about the answer I'm looking for or not. You're missing something.

Quoting DavidJohnson

Characters are single letters

Then, why you said there are only three characters in "púrpura"
I clearly see seven characters: p (1), ú (2), r(3), p (4), u (5), r (6), a (7)

Quoting jamalrob

111

Quoting jamalrob

There is no way we can know what kind of answer you are looking for, given that you reject correct answers.

I'm with Jamalrob. And welcome to the forum.

Quoting DavidJohnson

I haven't rejected any correct answers. This problem has also been solved by over ten people so I know it's not impossible.

There is one correct, logical, complete answer. Anything else is incorrect. It's not about the answer I'm looking for or not. You're missing something.

Someone here is a buffoon. I'm not ruling out the possibility that it's me, but I don't think so.

Quoting jamalrob

Someone here is a buffoon. I'm not ruling out the possibility that it's me, but I don't think so.

I didn't think we were allowed to imply new members are buffoons till they've submitted 20 posts.

Quoting jamalrob

Someone here is a buffoon. I'm not ruling out the possibility that it's me, but I don't think so.

A couple of thoughts:

• There is no reason you both can't be buffoons.
• You might be a buffoon, even if you are correct on this issue.

I feel I got catfished in this puzzle

Quoting T Clark

You might be a buffoon, even if you are correct on this issue.

Good point. I just remembered that I am a buffoon, and thereby ill fit to judge of buffoonery.

Quoting jamalrob

Someone here is a buffoon.

:point: Agent Smith. AI, buffoon, what's the difference? :rofl:

Quoting DavidJohnson

What is the third character (number, letter, or symbol) you will type to solve this?

How many different characters will you type to solve this?

What is the first character you will type to solve this?

1. I can't answer the first question yet.
2. Assuming all questions ought to be answered. I can answer this one: 3
3. That gives me the answer to the third question, which will also be 3.
4. That leaves the first question open

So, my answer 33?

My best shot.

General solution: [math]x3y[/math], where [math]x[/math] and [math]y[/math] are a character/number/symbol!

Examples: 13I [there a 3 distinct characters: 1 and 3 are different Arabic numerals and I is a Roman numeral]

There's a hole in my bucket dear Liza, dear Liza!

Quoting DavidJohnson

There is one correct, logical, complete answer.

Sorry, no. @jamalrob is right.

Reply to javi2541997 Your answer, "r6p", only has three characters though, and the second question is asking how many characters are typed in your solution and not how many characters are in some word you're thinking of.

I interpreted the puzzle to refer to words, hence

"ofouro"

When someone solves it I'll comment to congratulate that person and let them know they got it right.

Rest assured that there is only one correct answer and that everyone has thus far missed something which would lead them to it.

Reply to sime The smartest answer by far but something is still being missed.

Reply to DavidJohnson

But it is impossible know the characters previously the word though.
Púrpura comes firstly and then the characters

a2a (not looking at all the other answers...)

edit, I see this has been provided by Jamalrob but rejected by the poster... well I was never any good at logical puzzles.

Quoting javi2541997

Púrpura comes firstly and then the characters

Where does Púrpura come from?

Quoting Michael

Púrpura

What is the third character (number, letter, or symbol) you will type to solve this?

I was thinking about Púrpura because it was the first word that came to my mind

Another chance @DavidJohnson
I guess you are just asking for the headings
a [...]
b [...]
c [...]

Quoting javi2541997

I was thinking about Púrpura because it was the first word that came to my mind

Why would that be relevant to the puzzle? It doesn't ask you to think of a word.

Reply to Michael

It is relevant because he is asking for a character in the first question. Where I get the character then? This is why I thought about an adjective. Trying to be original

Quoting javi2541997

It is relevant because he is asking for a character in the first question. Where I get the character then? This is why I thought about an adjective. Trying to be original

He is saying that there is a single answer, let's say "xxx".

The first character is an answer to the question "What is the third character (number, letter, or symbol) you will type to solve this?"

The second character is an answer to the question "How many different characters will you type to solve this?" (although this could be more than one character)

The third character is an answer to the question "What is the first character you will type to solve this?"

esevene
333

@DavidJohnson

You need to clarify what you mean by different characters. Is the number 22 two different characters or 1 repeated character?

symbol2symbol

Reply to Michael

I think the OP has to clarify what is the extension in our "answers"
You put three digits (xxx) in your example, but I thought we were free to think whatever. That's why I typed "Púrpura"

I've refused to solve it, so I've solved it, just like everyone else who hasn't participated.

I've typed no characters to solve this, there are therefore zero characters I've type in response to it, and there wasn't a first character in my non-response.

To those who say my refusal to respond is a response, I say I'm not responding, but I'm just talking about stuff that I'm thinking about and not trying to solve this puzzle.

Mine is a good response, but not the response anyone was looking for, so there's that problem of course.

Reply to Michael "Different" means distinct here so if the first and last characters were "3" then the answer to the second question would be "2" (the 3s are the same and the 2 is because it's distinct from the 3s).

This user has been deleted and all their posts removed.

*

13I

1 & 3 are Arabic numerals!

I is a Roman numeral!

There, 3 distinct characters. Eureka!

333

000

None of the characters are different from one another, so there are 0 "different" characters.

Reply to DavidJohnson

*

The first is the third character and the third is the first character. Thus any x2x is solution with x<>2.

Or the special solution 111.

Reply to DavidJohnson

Letter5Letter

Except if you mean different characters as the letters in general and numbers. Then

Letter2Letter

2

The first and third characters are the blank character.

Hamlet2Hamlet

or

Hamlet7Hamlet

"Hamlet" is a string not a character.

Quoting Hanover

I've refused to solve it, so I've solved it, just like everyone else who hasn't participated.

I've typed no characters to solve this, there are therefore zero characters I've type in response to it, and there wasn't a first character in my non-response.

To those who say my refusal to respond is a response, I say I'm not responding, but I'm just talking about stuff that I'm thinking about and not trying to solve this puzzle.

Mine is a good response, but not the response anyone was looking for, so there's that problem of course.

Man. Wtf? I felt awkward reading this. It was a damn strange post.

Reply to SolarWind

Hamlet is a character in a famous play.

Reply to TonesInDeepFreeze
:up:

OP, a logic puzzle should only have one solution. The way you've typed this, there is more than one solution, period. This means it is not a logic puzzle. Go back and carefully re-read your problem. If you got it from somewhere else, then make sure its accurately reposted. If you made this up yourself, it is either not conveying accurately what is intended, or you made a mistake in your formulation.

Let me point out a few flawed specifics.

First, there are only 3 questions, not four. You say "the answer" would be abc. The answer to what? Clearly state what the fourth question is for this answer. Is the fourth question, "What is the non-spaced answer to all three questions?"

Next, the other three questions need clearer reference. What is "this"? Is this intended to be the answer to the fourth question? So if I typed 1 for the first question, its the first number I will type to answer question four? Or is "this" in refence to the question itself, in which case it would be any number I chose.

Please look at this again and amend it to be clear, and ensure there can only be one solution.

Quoting pfirefry

333

This is the only “logical” answer. First, we type 3 to answer the second question, then we type 3 to answer the first question, and then we type 3 to answer the first question.

Here is a more detailed breakdown. [hide]

Quoting DavidJohnson

What is the third character (number, letter, or symbol) you will type to solve this?

How many different characters will you type to solve this?

What is the first character you will type to solve this?

We start with three questions. We don't know the answers yet. I'll use the character '?' to mark unknown answers.

???

Q1. The answer is unclear
Q2. The answer is 3. There are three questions, and three characters to answer them
Q3. The answer is unclear

The only question we can answer right know is Q2. Let's go ahead and type the answer to it. According to the question, '3' is a valid character (number, letter, or symbol).

?3?

Q1. The answer is unclear
Q2. The answer is 3
Q3. The first character that we typed to solve this was 3

Now we have an answer to the question Q3. Let's go ahead and type it.

?33

Q1. We know that answer to Q3 is 3. If we typed them in order 1-2-3, we would type it the last
Q2. The answer is 3
Q3. The answer is 3

Now we know the answer to Q1. It's 3.

333

Let's double-check. The proposed answer is 333. First, we typed 3, then we typed 3, and then we typed 3.

Q1. What is the third character (number, letter, or symbol) you will type to solve this? - 3
Q2. How many different characters will you type to solve this? - 3
Q3. What is the first character you will type to solve this? - 3

Everything matches. The puzzle is solved.[/hide]

This user has been deleted and all their posts removed.

Reply to tim wood Ah, it says "different". Good catch. Back to the drawing board.

Reply to Philosophim The questions were part of an old online puzzle game. The website's no longer up but I've saved the original pages and translated these three questions as best as I can to work in a stand-alone setting. Maybe I should upload the previous pages/puzzles so people have more context and are better able to lock-in a solution. I doubt it will help but who knows.

Even the right answers are wrong for no reason and for all I know the wrong answers are right. This puzzle is too much like real life.

Reply to DavidJohnson How about just posting the solution at this point so that we can see if the solution provided is truly the only answer entailed by the question?

Quoting dimosthenis9

Man. Wtf? I felt awkward reading this. It was a damn strange post.

Tnx!

noneplussevenn

I wrote

n
oneplusseven
n

first character = n
third character = n
different characters = eight = one plus seven

Perhaps the puzzle was a psychology experiment given to unsuspecting students in 1956 to determine whether they were undercover communists. I can think of no other solution.

Quoting DavidJohnson

The website's no longer up but I've saved the original pages and translated these three questions as best as I can to work in a stand-alone setting. Maybe I should upload the previous pages/puzzles so people have more context and are better able to lock-in a solution. I doubt it will help but who knows.

It might. Its really appreciated that you want to give us a nice logic puzzle, I just think something is missing.

Reply to Philosophim I just changed the original post so everyone can see what the pages used to look like.

Reply to DavidJohnson

What is not correct here?:

noneplussevenn

I wrote

n
oneplusseven
n

first character = n
third character = n
different characters = eight = one plus seven

Quoting DavidJohnson

How many different characters will you type to go to <3> from here?

Does “different” mean “unique” here? Would aaa count as 1 or 3 characters?

Reply to pfirefry

1

Reply to pfirefry Distinct. aaa would count as 1 and not 3.

Quoting sime

ofouro

Quoting DavidJohnson

?sime The smartest answer by far but something is still being missed.

“ufourf”, perhaps?

Quoting pfirefry

ufour

The third character is 'o' not 'u'.

It's a good thing that whoever determined the solution to this puzzle is not among the referees of the P v NP contest. Someone would give a correct solution and the referees would say, "Sorry no million dollars, not even a cigar, it's not what we had in mind."

Ok, I'll take a stab at it now. Knowing a little bit about how urls work, I would make this guess.

/2/

Why?

The previous url is still in there. It specifically states, "to go to <3> from HERE. The way a url structure works is every page has an address, and because this is an old website, we can conclude it is not a single page application. As such, each / divides the location.

So taking the previous answer of /r17h, your first character would need to be a /. Questions 1 and 3 necessitate they are the same character. That leaves 2 as the only answer for the number of distinct characters. The final url would then be /r17h/2/

Is this correct?

Reply to Philosophim

It can't have anything to do with URLs, because the original post, before it was edited, described the puzzle without mentioning URLs and supposedly solvable by "pure logic alone"..

Quoting TonesInDeepFreeze

It can't have anything to do with URLs, because the original post, before it was edited, described the puzzle without mentioning URLs.

Unless of course the OP missed that point. They'll let me know soon enough.

He would be tarred and feathered if he left that out though it's relevant. He wouldn't have.

Reply to Philosophim The forward slash is already there so there's no reason to delete it and then re-type it. The previous answer wasn't "/r17h". It's just "r17h".

Reply to TonesInDeepFreeze Well there's always the possibility that I did leave something out that prevented people from finding the solution originally (which is why I re-uploaded the original post) but it's definitely not related to a forward slash, haha.

Reply to DavidJohnson

So you contend that previous answers, though correct, do not suffice because they have variations, while the desired answer has no variations, and that there is a "clue" that has been missed.

In what line of your edited version is the clue?

Quoting DavidJohnson

The forward slash is already there so there's no reason to delete it and then re-type it. The previous answer wasn't "/r17h". It's just "r17h".

Just to be clear, I'm not stating to delete and retype the /. The .com/ is still there, as well as the r17h. Because it states "from here", I'm assuming nothing is deleted. Thus r17h/2/. But, you've noted there is no / in the answer, so that eliminates that.

That does mean that it will be r17hsomethingElseHere without a /. I'll think on it some more.

Reply to TonesInDeepFreeze That's not what I'm saying. There's only been one correct answer this whole time but it may have been impossible to find it before for whatever reason. I think it's been possible to solve this whole time but for the benefit of the readers I've included the original pages for context just in case it helps.

It's like if someone asked, "what is 1+1?". The answers, "it's an even number" or "it' >1" are true but not the actual answer, "2".

Reply to Philosophim The previous answers aren't included in the new URL. So if the previous URL was "funpuzzlegames.com/answerstopage1" then the next URL would be "funpuzzlegames.com/answerstopage2" and not "funpuzzlegames.om/answerstopage1answerstopage2".

Quoting DavidJohnson

That's not what I'm saying.

That's exactly what you said.

Reply to DavidJohnson

How is it not misleading to talk at all about URLs now when URLs have nothing to do with it?

If URLs were relevant and not merely incidental, then you would have mentioned them the first time. I understand that you are now quoting verbatim just in case there is any shading of the wording that might be relevant, but surely it has nothing to do with URLs, right?

Anyway, I'd like to know at least in what passage of your old version or new version is the clue you mentioned.

Quoting DavidJohnson

It's like if someone asked, "what is 1+1?". The answers, "it's an even number" or "it' >1" are true but not the actual answer, "2".

If someone answered it is "1+1" (everything is itself) or "4-2" or "sqrt(4)" then those would all be correct answers. But not correct if the question is what single numeral represents 1+1.

But with this puzzle, it's open ended.

Reply to DavidJohnson
Thanks for the clarification. I'm going to assume it has nothing to do with url logic then. I think its pretty obvious at this point the middle number is 2, and the first and last must be the same character. There simply needs to be some logic that implies what that first and last character is.

If there is nothing dealing with the url, my final stab is that its some ambiguity with the phrase itself, such as "you will type to go to <3> from here" meaning litterally typing 'to go to <3> from here". Which I hope not, because that wouldn't be logical, just ambiguous. I really hope you're sitting on an answer that will be clear as the sun once its revealed, with no ambiguity or phrase interpretation needed.

Quoting Philosophim

the middle number is 2, and the first and last must be the same character

The puzzle doesn't stipulate that "how many" must be answered with a numeral.

Quoting Philosophim

some ambiguity

He said there are no tricks. I don't know whether ambiguity should be taken as a trick.

Quoting TonesInDeepFreeze

the middle number is 2, and the first and last must be the same character
— Philosophim

The puzzle doesn't stipulate that "how many" must be answered with a numeral.

I was going to double check the OP, but noticed he's removed it entirely. DavidJohnson, if there was an issue or a mistake in the post, no worry, it happens.

Quoting Philosophim

I was going to double check the OP, but noticed he's removed it entirely. DavidJohnson, if there was an issue or a mistake in the post, no worry, it happens.

I posted his question in my post: Reply to Michael

The poster has deleted any form of the puzzle from his original post

This is my answer:

thefirstcharacter10t

So what's the answer to the puzzle? Is @DavidJohnson still around?

Quoting L'éléphant

So what's the answer to the puzzle? Is DavidJohnson still around?

We still waiting for the answer! This puzzle was funny but the author of the OP disappeared

Reply to javi2541997
But why delete the OP.

Quoting Philosophim

There simply needs to be some logic that implies what that first and last character is.

Re-read the questions. There are 3 questions, in order of appearance:

What is the third character (number, letter, or symbol) you will type to solve this?

How many different characters will you type to solve this?

What is the first character you will type to solve this?

Reply to L'éléphant

I guess he felt overwhelmed because he did not expect to have a lot of answers or people taking part in it

Reply to javi2541997 Okay. But he still owes us an answer.

You could also respond by typing:

thefirst8t

Reply to L'éléphant

Definitely, yes!

Quoting L'éléphant

There simply needs to be some logic that implies what that first and last character is.
— Philosophim
Re-read the questions. There are 3 questions, in order of appearance:

What is the third character (number, letter, or symbol) you will type to solve this?

How many different characters will you type to solve this?

What is the first character you will type to solve this?

Later he posted the original question off of the website, and it was found to have some different wording. Also, the answer to all three were to be combined to be placed into a URL. Meaning there was only one answer. He was communicative up until the point we started questioning if the answer had anything to do with url functionality, like /2/ or #2# (as part of the question was how to get to the next page from the current page).

I think he took a look again at it, and realized he missed something important, because the questions as they are have no logic which shows what the first and last letter must be. I believe he was embarrassed and pulled the questions.

Quoting Philosophim

I think he took a look again at it, and realized he missed something important, because the questions as they are have no logic which shows what the first and last letter must be. I believe he was embarrassed and pulled the questions.

That was probably the case.

Reply to Philosophim
Okay, thanks for the input.
So why didn't he just correct it? He said 10 people had solved it. And "there's no correct answer" but follow the logic. So he lied.

I don't understand people. Why get embarrassed about posting stupid logic puzzle with the title "Very Hard Logic Puzzle"? Some people take a picture of their dick and text it to other people. They should be embarrassed by that behavior -- it's a like taking picture of a secret pet and showing it to people. What do you feed it? And they're not even interesting to look at.

My advice -- puzzles should only be posted by people who know what they're doing. If it's not published yet, and you decide to publish it to get paid for it, then don't show it on public forums then later retract it.

Quoting SolarWind

"Hamlet" is a string not a character.

:up:

Quoting TonesInDeepFreeze

Hamlet is a character in a famous play.

:up: