2/3/2012 9:54:16 AM
Amy Lowenstein
Posts: 543
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In the Logic Lover's Logic Problems put out by Dell, I take exception to the way Clue 6 is worded in the captioned puzzle. It says "In an alphabetical list
of first names, the name of the class-B captain does not come ***TWO AFTER*** that of the one who had a faulty neutron ray (who is from a
different planet than the Class-B captain." I highlight the wording which gives me a problem.
Given the answer in the back of the book, I think the clue ought to read "...does not come ***TWO BEFORE OR TWO AFTER*** ... neutron ray ..."
When a clue reads "does not come two after ... neutron ray" I try to see what happens if the Class-B Captain is two BEFORE the neutron-ray person,
and I got a sort of solution when I did that. (Admittedly, my solution, while not being "knocked out" and proved untrue by anything that I noticed, did
leave me with several possible alternatives after I had tried to get the Class-B captain to be two before the Neutron-Ray person.)
I don't see how the clue, as written, logically leads to the answer in the back of the book which states in part "If the class-B pilot were Q..., the captain
... with the neutron ray wouldn't be ... or Zuzzyx (clue 6)." When I tried Zuzzyx as the neutron-ray-person, and Q as the class-B pilot, Q is two before Z
in the alphabet, but not 2 after Z, so I don't see how clue 6 as written, makes it obvious that Q can't be Class B and Z can't be neutron-ray.
Am I missing something? Is there something in clue 6 the way it's actually written, which does lead to it being impossible for Z to be the one with the
faultry neutron-ray if Q is the Class B captain? Or should the phrase read the way I suspect it should, "two before or two after" rather than just
"two after?"
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Amy
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