Riddles

[The Holy Saint, Grand High Poobah, Master of Monkeys, Ehlers]

so then, 3 cuts, right? Why is my scenario wrong where cutting the center link, taking it out, (leaving 1 link and two sets of 3 links) and then doing the same to the two sets (cutting hte middle one and removing the other two off of it) wrong?

[Firemeboy]

It is not wrong.  It is just not right enough...    You can do it with fewer cuts.

[The Holy Saint, Grand High Poobah, Master of Monkeys, Ehlers]

well, then, I give up. I'm looking at this paper clip chain and the fewest i can do it in is 3. I don't see how a cut on the second or third link would improve anything at all

[Firemeboy]

If nobody else has a guess by end of day, I'll give a hint, and then if nobody has solved it by tomorrow, then I'll give the answer.  

And Jade, feel free to post yours, we can be working on more than just one puzzle at a time...

Maybe we could even lobby for a puzzle section?  With each puzzle in it's own thread?

[The Holy Saint, Grand High Poobah, Master of Monkeys, Ehlers]

I think we'd have a ton of threads at 1 or 2 posts each in that case. I think one thread for it is more effective.

[Legion]

OK assuming that the chain is a circle you can cut it in half.  This gives you a chain of 2 and a chain of 3, plus to links that are in half.  You give the guy the 2 that are together for the night you already spent there and the current night (day 1 and day 2 paid for).  On the next 2 nights you give him the cut chains (days 3 and days 4 paid for).  Now if you cut the center one off the 3 linked chain you have left you can now pay for all 7 days if need be

[The Holy Saint, Grand High Poobah, Master of Monkeys, Ehlers]

the problems with that are a) he already said it wasn't a circle, just a chain.
b) the idea is to give him one link at a time, not two at a time.

[The Jade Knight]

Here's my pseudoriddle:

What makes a good riddle?

(Not puzzle, mind you.  Riddle)

[Legion]

Here's my pseudoriddle:

What makes a good riddle?

(Not puzzle, mind you.  Riddle)

the question?

[Firemeboy]

the idea is to give him one link at a time, not two at a time.

Sorry, never got around to posting my hint.  You are correct in the above statement, but it could be worded a different way.  The idea is for the hotel manager to have one link the first night, two links the second night, three links the third night, etc. etc. etc.  

[The Holy Saint, Grand High Poobah, Master of Monkeys, Ehlers]

So, what, you get him to trade back? give him one, then give him two and get the one back, then give him the one again, then give him a set of four and get back teh two and one, then give him the one. Something like that? You'd still need three cuts. I think


I suppose with two cuts you could do a chain of 4, a chain of 2, and a "chain" of 1.



with trades backs. Each of those numbers represents a chain of that many links that the hotel guy has. Of course, this counts on him being cooperative and actually giving you links back. but still.
                                   
edit: my ascii layout looked bad, so I made a pic of it.

[Firemeboy]

You got it, except you can do it with one cut.  Cut the third link in.  That leaves you with two links on one side, the link you cut, and the four links on the right side.

Then you do exactly as you say.

Well done.

[The Jade Knight]

Fold the chain the right way, or cut it the right way, and you could get all of them separated with one cut.

Silly people.

[The Holy Saint, Grand High Poobah, Master of Monkeys, Ehlers]

but if you do that, you entirely miss the point of making "as few cuts as possible." which is to damage as few of the links as possible.

[Firemeboy]

What e said...