Here is the answer for those who want to peak:

I had to look this up myself, cause I wondered if walking was considered "work." They are permitted to walk but only within a limited distance and we do not know the distance. It's about the purse. I don't know if the purse itself is allowed - I've not found anything saying a purse in and of itself is a problem - but it's about money. They aren't supposed to be carrying money, buying things, conducting business, etc. It appears to be based on the assumption that a purse would have certain prohibited items in it, like money. This is, in fact, one of the reasons they aren't allowed to drive - cause they'd have to have the purse/wallet for license, money, buy gas, etc.
That's what I read anyway. Someone can correct that if they find otherwise.

Does the book provides this solution?

The book didn't say much - the basic solution is there yes, but not the details. (My guess was about the walking, but no. I know the basics behind the Sabboth and even the strictness of the Orthodox Jewish religion. I just didn't know if walking was considered "work" but apparently not.) All the details I found in research cause I wanted the why's behind the answer and not just an answer.

Why, did you find something different?

No, it's just that this culture is strange XD

I would never have guessed the answer.

Orthodox Jew is pretty strict. They take the Sabboth pretty darn seriously, and food as well. I understand the whole clean/unclean food thing from the Old Testament but not sure where the kosher food idea comes from. And turning on a light switch being considered "work" is a little outlandish to me, but...

In the U.S. we're used to the religion - it's just not that "odd" to me, but I've grown up with its existence around me. Not to mention that it's the forerunner of Christianity. However, I don't know any Jews that are Orthodox, or even that Conservative. At least, not around my neck of the woods.

So the answer is that the guy trying to lure her away may have stolen the purse, but it wasn't stolen THAT day, because her cousin wouldn't have been carrying money or anything. Instead, what he probably found was a letter or note from her to her cousin that got her information and where she'd be, and so on.

Right?

You were much closer the first time, very close. :) You tried to change your basic premise. I'm not sure if anyone else is still trying to solve this, so I'll just say SPOILER... and anyone who wants can stop reading.

You were right that she didn't have a purse, but the answer does not give any detail about it, nor does it give any information about how the guy got information about her. It says about nothing really. So as I told Unky, I researched it, and I simply didn't find anything about carrying a purse as being "work," so the "why" part of your answer doesn't seem to fit. You were otherwise right.

If you want the "why" I found looking it up, that's up in post #41.

I must say this does have me curious, just because I happen to be a very curious person. I might have to look into this more.

I'm still confused on the answer, I guess. Is the answer you gave in #41 the answer to the puzzle? Or just the answer to the Sabbath rules for orthodox Jews?

Maybe I need more coffee.

I didn't mean for it to get this confusing. :o The answer in the book merely mentions the purse itself, and nothing about WHY she wouldn't have a purse, nor anything about how the guy got info about her or any of that. Merely said she wouldn't have the purse.

I took it upon myself to research what the rule was behind that. It didn't make much sense to me to tell us she wouldn't have a purse and not explain the rules behind it. I found their answer lacking. So I tried to research it. And that's what's in #41.

You went off on a completely different direction, so I'm wondering if you didn't see my answer in the white print where I said the purse was right, but that I didn't think it was the correct reasoning??

I think I just misread.

I thought #41 was part of a discussion as to why she wouldn't have a purse, so I thought I must have missed something entirely.

I really did need more coffee :)

Lack of coffee is always a good excuse for everything. :) (Though I don't drink it - at least not much and not caffeinated - so I can't use that excuse. Only lack of sleep.)

I'm juggling too many things right now. Work is hectic, gramma is very ill, and I'm in school too--I spent most of my weekend skipping sleep to be on the phone with family or doing homework.

So... yeah. I still need coffee.

Yeah, I'm rather juggling too much as well - it's not fun. This place has been my one diversion.

And I can't do coffee cause it does weird things to me, and I don't just mean giving me the jitters - just seriously weird things that are not good. So if I'm half asleep, too bad.

8. Winnie-the-Pooh, Skyjacker

Stewardesses moved up and down the narrow aisles of the jetliner, collecting the last of the dinner trays. Sara Hull leaned back in her seat, hoping to nap a little before the plane landed in another hour. She was hardly aware of the tall, dark-haired man who stood up, pushed his way past the nearest stewardess, and held up two stuffed Winnie-the-Pooh bears.

"Your attention, ladies and gentlemen," he said, smiling triumphantly. "As those nearest to me can see, each of these little Pooh bears has been cut open and sewn up again. In one there is only what all true and authentic Pooh bears should contain-- a candy heart that reads 'I love you.' Remember that from your childhood? But in the other, there is also a little device I have placed, a little device that the unscientific among you would probably call a bomb. It is very sensitive. If I drop it at just a certain angle, an angle that I know very well, it will go off and all of us will go to our reward. However, if you prefer, only I will receive a reward. Young lady--" he half turned to the stewardess "--please go into the pilot's cabin and tell the captain what I have just told all these good people. Tell him I want the plane to put down in London, where I will be provided with a parachute and three hundred thousand dollars in cash--unmarked, of course. I'm not greedy. I could ask for more, couldn't I? When I have my supplies, the passengers can leave the plane. The pilot and one of you pretty stewardesses will stay with me until we find a suitable spot over Italy, where I will leave you -- after setting Winnie-the-Pooh down very, very carefully. And tell that husky young copilot not to try to jump me from behind -- Pooh Bear will drop at the touch of a hat, to coin a phrase. Go on, now, dear. And you--" he beckoned to another stewardess "--come up and stand close to me while your friend is gone."

The second stewardess moved forward. As she passed Sara Hull's seat, the librarian pulled at her sleeve.

"It's a hoax," she told the girl in a low tone. "Tell the captain this as soon as you can-- it's his decision, but I'm sure there's no bomb in that Pooh Bear." She continued whispering in the stewardess's ear.

The stewardess didn't get a chance to tell the captain until the plane had put down in London and the passengers were allowed to file off, while the skyjacker, bear still in hand, counted green bills in a suitcase with the other hand. But then the captain took his chance. He grabbed the bear from the skyjacker's hand and hurled it through the open door of the aircraft, into an area the police had cleared of people. It bounced harmlessly on the ground, as Scotland Yard men closed in.

Sara Hull stood in the airport lounge as the plane's crew appeared, and the captain kissed her in front of a TV camera and the world. "I wouldn't have had the nerve," he said, "if what you told the stewardess hadn't made me remember my little sister."

Well, I'm not sure... but that's my 2 cents.

He was talking too much about " If I drop it at just a certain angle, an angle that I know very well, it will go off and all of us will go to our reward" and later said that "Pooh Bear will drop at the touch of a hat, to coin a phrase" those two are contradictory.

I don't think that the little sister of the captain has something to do with it unless Sara knew the captain.

This one might be a culture thing, I don't know:

The sister relates indirectly, just because the captain knew of her toys. How familiar are you with Winnie the Pooh?

And the real truth is that a female would also be more likely to know this one. And hate to say it, but you also might be too young. (The book is from 1973, and some of the puzzles require knowledge that us old folks know. Will someone please tell me how I started getting so old?)

Ah... I might try something else then. If you say that this might be a culture problem, then I think I know what it could be about.

And... what did you mean by 'T'? It doesn't fit to a 'T'? :confused:

The Pooh bear never contains any 'candy heart that reads 'I love you.'. As such, the man couldn't have opened any plushie and inserted a bomb there. Though I find it strange that he would open up both and put a bomb in one of them, and mend them back, meaning he did nothing to the one without bomb...

The T was part of a word - that was white stuff and I missed a letter. And I don't know that this is "cultural." There are some things I know and some things I don't - just like I didn't know horseshoes was mostly a U.S. game. :p

Anyway, as to your answer:

You know a bit about Pooh bears, do ya? :) You're correct there was no heart in them. Those were in Raggedy Ann dolls. I had one of those when I was a kid but I don't think they're around anymore (and probably worth a lot). So ... there was no bomb. If he'd opened one to put a bomb in, he'd know there wasn't any candy heart, so he didn't open it.

Again, the puzzle doesn't say this (these answers are usually pretty short), but I'd speculate that he simply cut a slit into them and sewed them back up to look like he'd actually cut them open, or he simply put sewing on it so that it looked like they'd been stitched back up. But he was bluffing. It doesn't say why he had two bears, but my guess is that no one would know which had the "bomb" and if they made a grab for one, they'd take the chance of grabbing the wrong one and he could still set off the bomb with the other. Seems reasonable.

Obviously the pilot wasn't totally sure, cause he still thew it off to a safe place in case it went off.

Lol it's only now that I see your spolier :p

No, I don't know about it, but something compelled me that it was it. I never even imagined that plushies could have food in them, lol. I know that for some occasions, people would stuff some hanging thing with candy and one child would try to hit it open to get the candies. But apart from that, nothing.

That's a piñata.
Piñata - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Ooh! Right! :p

Bah, missed this one. I didn't remember the Raggedy Ann thing, but I was really puzzled by the phrase relating to Pooh--I couldn't figure out what he was talking about!

I didn't remember the Raggedy Ann thing either, even though I had one. (And a Raggedy Andy.) I did know that no such thing existed in a Pooh though. After all, he's only "stuffed with fluff." :)

And personally, I don't think they're that well written. I need to find my 2-minute mystery book - I seem to recall those were better.

Ya know, I wonder whatever happened to my trolls. Had a whole collection and a little house for them and everything. I don't recall getting rid of that stuff - I can only imagine my mom must've dumped all my old toys. And the wood Lincoln logs as well.

I bought a box of wooden Lincoln logs this summer--for $5.

It doesn't have any of the plastic roof pieces or any of the short pieces, but still! It's a whole box of wooden Lincoln logs!

For $5?? Wow. The last I looked those were hard to find and expensive.

Garage sales are your friend :)

9. The Confession of Barrymore Yorick

"Sara Hull, I have a confession to make -- to the press." Barrymore Yorick's white head was held high. "This morning's paper says that Edmond Edgerton is near death at the Old Actors' Home. Before he dies, I must clear his name -- and only I can do so."

Sara looked puzzled. "Edmond Edgerton -- the silent film star?" she said. "He was accused of murdering his wife, wasn't he? But he was acquitted, as I remember. I don't understand."

"How could you?" Yorick made a dramatic gesture. "Let me speak. Then you will understand. And, I trust, help me to purge my conscience.

"In 1920 Babette Lamere was the most beautiful and adored actress of the silver screen. Edward Edgerton was her husband, her great romance--but not her equal in fame. One dawn, after a night of partying alone, Edgerton returned to the London hotel suite he shared with his wife, and found her -- he said -- strangled with a scarf. No one had seen an intruder. There was no sign of robbery or forced entry. Edgerton himself was accused and tried. Professional jealousy, the prosecutor cried. But evidence was too slight. He was acquitted, as you say. But not by the public who had loved Babette. His career waned, and now he is dying, old, poor, still in the shadow of doubt and disgrace.

"I could lift it. I could, perhaps, have saved him from it. You see, in 1920 -- more than fifty years ago -- I was an aspiring but impoverished young actor in London. On the afternoon of the murder I was walking in a little park near the Edgertons' hotel, looking up at the windows, wishing I might meet them in the flesh -- I had seen them only on the screen. Suddenly, from an isolated bench, I heard a woman's voice -- a voice I knew, the unmistakable, gentle, lisping, innocent voice of a thousand roles -- the famous voice of Babette Lamere. And it was pleading, 'No, no, spare my marriage, my dearest husband -- spare my career. I will pay you what you ask.' A course, rough, unfamiliar male voice replied, 'That's sensible of you. I'll come to your hotel room tonight at about eleven. Get rid of Eddie -- tell him you've got a headache -- he can go out alone. And remember -- if you don't fork over the full amount, I go to the papers with a bit of information, and the proof I won't give you without the money.'

"Miss Hull, I was thunderstruck. But what could I do? I watched the blackmailer leave the park from one direction, the lovely girl of my dreams walk slowly away in the other. That night I guess she thought better of buying whatever vileness he had to sell, and, in a rage, he strangled her. At least I could have told Scotland Yard that she was expecting someone that night so that suspicion would not have fallen upon poor Edgerton alone. But I was afraid for my own safety, if the evil blackmailer knew of my presence in the park. I remained silent. But now, long overdue though it is --"

"My Yorick, please," Sara Hull interrupted. "I know you'd like some publicity -- it might help get you a character part or two, or you might even be paid for this story now that film libraries are showing Babette Lamere films again. But your memory can't be as good as it was when you played Iago. You've forgotten something -- your story can't be true."

What did Yorick forget?