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Post by Poe's Coats Host Toast on Jun 21, 2014 7:58:21 GMT -5
I don't think I quite understand the Apples&Oranges one, since Polly asked the customer to sort the boxes out by opening one box, but all he did was find out which label belongs to where (to sort the boxes out he'd still have to open up all of them). I've had pretty much the same thoughts as the other ones in this thread, so the only thing I have to add would be: The Mediocre Corral is called "The Best Place To Get Murdered" - is that a hint to ATWQ #4? (of course this is kind of a rhetorical question, since we have no way of knowing until book 4) And, of course, a short list of references: 1. STORMY WEATHERAmbrose, Bartholomew, Cyril - The initials of their first names make up "ABC" (technically a reference to the alphabet?) 2. THE CASE OF THE PENCILSMrs. Vargas - Dante says: "Mrs. Vargas might be Fred Vargas, French mystery writer." thedoctororwell adds further that "the works [of] Fred Vargas strongly belong in the noir aesthetic, I'd reckon that's the intended reference." 3. TO YOUR HEALTHSenator Claude - thedoctororwell says: "Senator Claude being a poisoner is an ironic echo to the julio-claudian dynasty of Roman Emperors. Claude himself was allegedly poisoned." 4. COLD CASH"Harriet Du Maurier’s famous novel But Her Lips Aren’t Moving" - Harriet Du Maurier is a reference to English author and playwright Daphne du Maurier, whose novels "Rebecca", "Jamaica Inn", and the short story "The Birds" have been adapted into films by Alfred Hitchcock (as well as her story "Don't Look Now", directed by Nicolas Roeg). 9. UPS AND DOWNSthe Lebab Towers - reference to the Biblical tower of Babel ("Lebab" spelled backwards) Horatio Algae - reference to prolific 19th-century author Horatio Alger Jr., who, exactly oppsite to Algae ("who had once lived in a fancy apartment building and now lived in a messy one"), rose from rags to riches and whose works were characterized by such a narrative. 11. ARTIFACT, ARTIFICTIONRa, the Sun God - apart from the actual ancient Egyptian God, this is likely a reference to experimental jazz musician Sun Ra, whom Daniel Handler has often cited as an inspiration
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Post by Hermes on Jun 21, 2014 9:58:31 GMT -5
You don't think it's the first time, or you don't think it's happened before? I think i heard about Handler in an interview telling that the baudlaires were Jewish. But this is the first time we saw Christianity. I thought that what he said was that they are symbolically Jewish. (Though there is a slight clue, at least, to their being actually Jewish, when Klaus finds a long robe and says 'This looks like the sort of thing a rabbi would wear'.)
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Post by Dante on Jun 21, 2014 15:56:55 GMT -5
I don't think I quite understand the Apples&Oranges one, since Polly asked the customer to sort the boxes out by opening one box, but all he did was find out which label belongs to where (to sort the boxes out he'd still have to open up all of them). I'm not sure I understand the problem. The solution is sound if you want to know what's in all the boxes. I guess strictly speaking he didn't swap the labels to where they should be, but there's no need to once you know what each box really contains. And by the way, Mrs. Vargas might be Fred Vargas, French mystery writer.
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Post by thedoctororwell on Jun 21, 2014 16:31:25 GMT -5
Given that the works Fred Vargas strongly belong in the noir aesthetic, I'd reckon that's the intended reference. Also, Senator Claude being a poisoner is an ironic echo to the julio-claudian dynasty of Roman Emperors. Claude himself was allegedly poisoned.
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Post by Poe's Coats Host Toast on Jun 21, 2014 16:50:42 GMT -5
I don't think I quite understand the Apples&Oranges one, since Polly asked the customer to sort the boxes out by opening one box, but all he did was find out which label belongs to where (to sort the boxes out he'd still have to open up all of them). I'm not sure I understand the problem. The solution is sound if you want to know what's in all the boxes. I guess strictly speaking he didn't swap the labels to where they should be, but there's no need to once you know what each box really contains. And by the way, Mrs. Vargas might be Fred Vargas, French mystery writer. Alright, I guess it depends on whether you can easily swap the labels themselves, instead of swapping the contents. Because in the latter case the customer would have to open more than just the one box, and would lose the bet - that was what I meant. I guess I was influenced by the illustration which had the labels printed on the box, which would make them unswappable. Cool, I didn't know about Vargas, although the name rang a bell--was that name/character mentioned before in ATWQ? Also nice to know about Senator Claude, I thought it might be a reference to someone real or fictional involved with poison. If nobody minds, I'll add both references to my previous post (with due credit of course). EDIT: I've also added another reference that slipped my mind before: Harriet Du Daumier is a reference to English author and playwright Daphne du Maurier, but I don't know what "But Her Lips Aren't Moving" might allude to.
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Post by The Duchess on Jun 21, 2014 20:52:14 GMT -5
Another reference: Harley Stauking might be a reference to Stephen Hauking, the famous scientist. I'm not sure.
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Post by Poe's Coats Host Toast on Jun 21, 2014 22:41:46 GMT -5
It's Stawking and Hawking, but yeah, it also crossed my mind. Doesn't seem too much of a connection though, besides of the two names rhyming.
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Post by Dante on Jun 22, 2014 2:16:14 GMT -5
Alright, I guess it depends on whether you can easily swap the labels themselves, instead of swapping the contents. Because in the latter case the customer would have to open more than just the one box, and would lose the bet - that was what I meant. I guess I was influenced by the illustration which had the labels printed on the box, which would make them unswappable. I see your problem now. That's quite reasonable, but in fairness, Polly Partial does say "It’ll take hours to open them all and move the labels to the right boxes." So the labels can be moved. At the very least you could cross them out and rewrite them. It didn't even cross my mind to think that the novel and author weren't real. I'm not really sure why they aren't; Snicket doesn't usually just flat-out make works up if they aren't plot-related, outside of Why We Broke Up. It's Stawking and Hawking, but yeah, it also crossed my mind. Doesn't seem too much of a connection though, besides of the two names rhyming. Hawking is strictly speaking a mathematician, I think. But I agree that it feels as if there's more going on there.
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Post by gliquey on Aug 16, 2014 11:59:06 GMT -5
I apologize for bumping but I've only just discovered this thread/online-challenge-thingee. Personally, I think it's a little disingenuous that: He refers to his hair as dry, when in fact the hair does not exist and thus can be neither wet nor dry. I do think it's reasonable for both this and the later salesman challenge to operate on separate logics, though. I just wonder if the first challenge could have been reworded slightly. Actually, I have issues with the wording of a couple of the challenges, but it is a very fun exercise overall. "Bald" doesn't mean "has no hair". Cyril presumably has hair in other parts of his body, the nicest of which might be the chest. I certainly enjoyed the challenges, and the combination of some interesting riddles and Snicket-styled writing worked very well. The illustrations also worked as very nice hints for two of the challenges. I particularly enjoyed the "maths games with strangers" joke, the cannibal's speech, the "Cyril doesn't have any hands" joke and answers to riddles 11 and 13. I suppose, having experienced similar things in the past, I should have anticipated riddle 13 coming - both initials (which really gave the game away, having read TVV) and the final challenge incorporating elements from the previous ones are classic techniques. But what I loved was that you could solve it without having to annoyingly click through the twelve previous challenges, and then clicking forwards again, which could have made it more of a chore than an interesting twist. "Ventriloquist" was the only 13 letter occupation and one of two to end in "T", which you could see highlighted at the top of the challenge. I'm also feeling pretty smug, having successfully managed to solve 3, 5 (which I think was a bit of a dodgy one), 6, 7, 9, 12 and 13. And I'd only heard of two of them before. Oh, and Snicket's theme of 13 really is brilliant. If the magic number was, say, 7, we'd have only got half the challenges.
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Post by Tryina Denouement on Aug 18, 2014 8:20:28 GMT -5
The Stormy Weather question reminds me of a certain local riddle, which is roughly translated to; There was a person on a boat. The wind is blowing to the right. Which direction is the person's hair blowing?The person is bald, so the hair is not blowing anywhere.
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Post by gliquey on Aug 18, 2014 8:48:38 GMT -5
There was a person on a boat. The wind is blowing to the right. Which direction is the person's hair blowing?The person is bald, so the hair is not blowing anywhere. That sounds like something out of The Puzzling Puzzles, where some of the solutions require information you haven't been given.
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Post by Dante on Aug 18, 2014 9:33:09 GMT -5
The Puzzling Puzzles is really more of a joke book than a puzzle book.
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Post by gliquey on Aug 18, 2014 12:11:22 GMT -5
The Puzzling Puzzles is really more of a joke book than a puzzle book. I don't know about that - there are a fair few genuine puzzles. I actually worked out the ridiculously complicated math one (Olaf escaping) by hand, although didn't quite get the right answer(s) (I thought maybe the conversions aren't exact, but I was probably just wrong). These 13 "crack the case" puzzles had a slightly different tone to TPPuzzles, though. They all had answers which one could reasonably be expected to reach, even if you didn't quite get there all of the time.
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Post by Tryina Denouement on Aug 18, 2014 14:28:34 GMT -5
There was a person on a boat. The wind is blowing to the right. Which direction is the person's hair blowing?The person is bald, so the hair is not blowing anywhere. That sounds like something out of The Puzzling Puzzles, where some of the solutions require information you haven't been given. Yeah, when I read that book I thought the riddle might have fit inside the book.
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Post by bandit on Aug 18, 2014 21:16:18 GMT -5
Those are what one might call "lateral thinking" puzzles rather than the average riddle, which usually has some clue to the answer hidden inside the question. They require you to come up with an answer creatively, supplying your own information and thinking of all the possible scenarios there might be. However, most people just get pissed off by questions like "Why did the man die after moving to Sweden?"
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