Ask Me Help Desk - Lateral Thinking Puzzle

Did he say something along the lines of "This is my sixteenth summer"? No, but it was something misleading. I guess that's kind of obvious. ;)

Since you celebrate your birthday at the END of the year it's marking, it could be taken to mean he's 16, when depending on the time of year he was born, he would only be 15 and some months.

Did he even say numbers in this answer?
- Or did he had to write it down?

The person he's replying to is a soldier and is the one in charge of recruitment, right?

Did he even say numbers in this answer? yes
- Or did he had to write it down? Yes :D

The person he's replying to is a soldier and is the one in charge of recruitment, right? Yes

Wow - three in a row. You are on a roll.

Two were making sure I was not making false assumptions :o

Is there the issue of for example 06/07/92?

Which can mean 6th July 1992 or 7th June 1992?

Quote:

Originally Posted by Unknown008

Two were making sure I was not making false assumptions :o

Is there the issue of 06/07/92?

Which can mean 6th July 2010 or 7th June 2010?

No, but another great thought.

Is there the issue of decimal, as using '.' versus ',' ?

Or is there an issue of writing Jn which can mean January or June?

Quote:

Originally Posted by Unknown008

Is there the issue of decimal, as using '.' versus ',' ?

Or is there an issue of writing Jn which can mean January or June?

No, neither.

Did his lie make him OLDER? Or YOUNGER?

Quote:

Originally Posted by Synnen

Did his lie make him OLDER? or YOUNGER?

Older

Was his handwriting misleading?

Quote:

Originally Posted by Unknown008

Was his handwriting misleading?

No

I went back to your question about writing it down. I want to clarify something that might be a little misleading. You asked: Or did he had to write it down? He had to write it down to carry out the lie. That doesn't mean the other man made him write it down.

Was this during a specific time? (sorry if it's already been asked)

I'm thinking of the switch from the Julian calendar to the Gregorian.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Synnen

Was this during a specific time period? (sorry if it's already been asked)

I'm thinking of the switch from the Julian calendar to the Gregorian.

No, it wasn't then. It really could have happened during any time, but the puzzle was based on stories from a specific time.

All I can think of is WWII, and the only solution popping into my brain is SAYING the wrong age, but WRITING the correct one.

Or vice versa.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Synnen

All I can think of is WWII, and the only solution popping into my brain is SAYING the wrong age, but WRITING the correct one.

Or vice versa.

Not WWII in this example, but I don't really think the war is important. It could have happened in any war. It's not either of those. It's more of a trick. He didn't out and out lie, but he knew he was lying. Haha - much clearer now. :o

Wow, I thought for sure this would've been solved by time I got on here.

Unky, you did make an assumption once: that he was answering a question asked. Of course, I made the assumption the guy was a recruitment officer. :D (Shame on me.)

And J-Lo, your comment about he had to write it was not misleading. Your answer doesn't have to established why he needed to write it so I found nothing misleading in it at all - that's our job. ;)

Quote:

Originally Posted by morgaine300

Wow, I thought for sure this would've been solved by time I got on here.

Unky, you did make an assumption once: that he was answering a question asked. Of course, I made the assumption the guy was a recruitment officer. :D (Shame on me.)

And J-Lo, your comment about he had to write it was not misleading. Your answer doesn't have to established why he needed to write it so I found nothing misleading in it at all - that's our job. ;)

I just wanted to make sure Unky understood me. It wasn't for you to read. ;)

Quote:

Was his handwriting misleading? No.

Clarification:

Was it the written answer that was misleading vs the spoken answer?

Or, was there something about the handwriting itself that was misleading (e.g. lousy handwriting)?

For that matter (don't think this is established), was it the spoken answer that was misleading?

I'm sorry - I won't read it next time. :)

Quote:

Originally Posted by morgaine300

Clarification:

Was it the written answer that was misleading vs the spoken answer? No

Or, was there something about the handwriting itself that was misleading (e.g. lousy handwriting)? No

For that matter (don't think this is established), was it the spoken answer that was misleading? Yes

Haha - I was being silly. :p I just felt like Unky was on the verge of something and I wanted to push him into more questions.

So you were cheating! :)

Did he write his age in years, in actual numbers?

(Dang, I'm supposed to be outside working while it's light. I expected this to be solved and only came to see the answer. Arg! This is almost as addicting as my computer games I play.)

Did he write his age in years, in actual numbers? No If this were Unky, I'd give him a hint. :D

(Dang, I'm supposed to be outside working while it's light. I expected this to be solved and only came to see the answer. Arg! This is almost as addicting as my computer games I play.)

It is addicting. I'll be on and off tonight if you want to do your work and come back. It's pouring rain here! The thunder and lightening have been plentiful today - I bet my poor doggy is very upset.

Was it something as simple as the recruiter asking "Are you old enough to go to war?" and the man answering "yes" but putting his actual age on the forms?

Quote:

Originally Posted by Synnen

Was it something as simple as the recruiter asking "Are you old enough to go to war?" and the man answering "yes" but putting his actual age on the forms?

Not quite that simple. Unky has identified the question that was asked. It's the trick in the answer that has to be solved.

Does it have to do with the numbers he says are NOT a birthday or year?

Quote:

Originally Posted by Synnen

Does it have to do with the numbers he says are NOT a birthday or year?

No

Gah. Every time I think I'm out of the box, I'm right back in it.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Synnen

Gah. Every time I think I'm out of the box, I'm right back in it.

I feel your pain. :D

I'm going to drive home from work now. I'll be back later. There are some clues in previous answers... usually along the lines of encouraging more questions in response to a question.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Just Looking

Did he write his age in years, in actual numbers? No If this were Unky, I'd give him a hint. :D

That was actually the answer I wanted. ;) Everyone always thinks Yes is a "good" answer. Not true. A yes would have eliminated an idea I'm working on. All sorts of things were going through my head while I was outside working. Now let's see if I can put them together into something.

And no hints!

Quote:

Is what he was telling the truth about also his age? No - good question

"About...."

OK, is what he was telling the truth about the actual age?

Or, something "about" his age, and not the age itself?

Hope you aren't here yet, so you'll catch my edit:
I should clarify that "telling" above refers to writing, not speaking, since my impression is that the written part was the truth part.

Let me see if I've got some things straight:
He spoke and he wrote.
The spoken words were in answer to a question asking what his age was. The spoken answer was deceptive. His spoken reply included numbers, but only "sorta" was his age in years. (whatever that means)
He wrote something, and this was the truth. And what he wrote was not actually his age in years.

Is all of that correct so far?

Was the writing on a form of sorts?

Did the recruiter look at the writing?

Did he write his birthday?

Is so, did it include the birth year?

Quote:

Does it have to do with the numbers he says are NOT a birthday or year? No

I forgot about this. And how I hate these "not" questions. (Never mind that I accidentally asked one.)

So does this mean the numbers he says ARE a birthday or year?

And did you take "year" to mean birth year?

"About...."

OK, is what he was telling the truth about the actual age? No

Or, something "about" his age, and not the age itself? No

Hope you aren't here yet, so you'll catch my edit:
I should clarify that "telling" above refers to writing, not speaking, since my impression is that the written part was the truth part.
Since this isn't a question, I won't comment. I did understand your meaning of "telling". :)

Let me see if I've got some things straight:
He spoke and he wrote. Yes

The spoken words were in answer to a question asking what his age was. Yes The spoken answer was deceptive. Yes His spoken reply included numbers, but only "sorta" was his age in years. (whatever that means) I don't see where I said sorta, so I'm thinking you are referring to this: Did he actually state his age as a number of years? I have to say it - yes-ish He answered the question of his age with a number, but I can't answer a full out yes to that question. I think we need to clarify this with another question to be sure I know what you are asking.

He wrote something, and this was the truth. Another tough one to answer. Needs more questions. And what he wrote was not actually his age in years. Right

Was the writing on a form of sorts? Not a form

Did the recruiter look at the writing? No

Did he write his birthday? No

Is so, did it include the birth year? N/A

Or, something "about" his age, and not the age itself? No

Can you clarify what you meant by putting about in quotes?

Quote:

Originally Posted by Just Looking

Or, something "about" his age, and not the age itself? No

Can you clarify what you meant by putting about in quotes?

Yes, I was going to ask about that anyway. I just meant anything that could have referenced the age in any way, directly or otherwise. For instance, a birthdate or year (already a no), a reference of his age to someone else's, etc. Pretty much anything that wasn't the age itself, but something that would 'indicate' or 'imply' his age in some other way.

Just trying to clarify how you took the question when you answered it. And you can still re-answer this question if necessary.

However, I also just realized this entire time I thought you said that yes, the truth was also about his age. And you said no. Freaking DUH! :rolleyes:

Quote:

Yes His spoken reply included numbers, but only "sorta" was his age in years. (whatever that means) I don't see where I said sort of, so I'm thinking you are referring to this: Did he actually state his age as a number of years? I have to say it - yes-ish

I know you didn't say "sorta." To me "yes-ish" means sort of. It's only sort of a yes, but not quite. I just take that to mean it's not quite what I said, but there's sort of something to it, and don't assume what that might mean - but rather that it's something I'll have to figure out. So no issues here.

Quote:

Originally Posted by morgaine300

Yes, I was going to ask about that anyway. I just meant anything that could have referenced the age in any way, directly or otherwise. For instance, a birthdate or year (already a no), a reference of his age to someone else's, etc. Pretty much anything that wasn't the age itself, but something that would 'indicate' or 'imply' his age in some other way.

Just trying to clarify how you took the question when you answered it. And you can still re-answer this question if necessary.

However, I also just realized this entire time I thought you said that yes, the truth was also about his age. And you said no. Freaking DUH! :rolleyes:

This is a tricky one. The written part does not indicate or imply his age, but is used to imply it. I know that is confusing, but you will get the gist when you figure this out.

I think you missed #793.

Do you know I wanted to go back to the actual posts to see something (not trusting what I copied to my wordpad file) and didn't even know where it began. Anal me did not write the post this started in! (711 by the way) This has gotten long.

Quote:

Did he reply by saying solely a number? No

So in his spoken reply, he said a number (or numbers) and also said something else?