Riddle me this.. Riddle me that.

[fuzzygeek]

No, No, and No.

Solving these is a process, which is why I don't think they qualify as riddles.

[Candiru]

All of my answers were plausible :p You need to give slightly more than a "no" otherwise we'll never get them.

I mean, any number of things can kill a man in the wilderness.

Did they die of anything man made?

Did the bell ringing cause the man to die?

Did the man get very drunk and go to the wrong hotel? (Where his daughter wasn't)

[Santcuff]

The men in the cabin died from a plane crash

[fuzzygeek]

The men in the cabin died from a plane crash

Someone's heard this one before!

But yes, that's why I mentioned the process -- a series of yes/no questions -- earlier. These puzzles don't contain enough information to come to the "correct" answer in and of themselves. And you didn't ask any questions -- you proposed solutions, which were all incorrect.

What sets a great riddle apart is that it a) has all the data you need, and b) the answer is the best, simplest solution.

But again, these three particular ones are more "mysteries" than riddles; and the other recently posed questions are logic puzzles.

[Xenix]

1)The three light puzzle

1. There is a room with three light bulbs in.
2. There is a switch room with three light switches.
3. All the lights start off.
4. You have to determine which switch controls which light.
5. You start in the switch room, you are allowed to fiddle with the switches to your hearts content, before progressing to the light room and can examine the state of the lights before announcing which switch controls which light.
6. You only get to visit each room the once.

Assuming the lights aren't LED ones (in which case you're screwed), flip the first switch and leave it on for a while, turn that off and flip the second one on. Then, quickly go into the light room, and touch the two dark light bulbs. The hot one is the first switch, the one that's on is the second switch, and the cold one is the third switch.

I've heard the princess one before (read a book where that happened to a guy), so I'll leave it for someone else.

[Candiru]

Correct! Its amazing how some very clever people can't solve the light bulb one, as they think too abstractly of lights as on or off and don't consider the actual physical reality!

Which book had the three princess puzzle in?

[Torias]

2) The three princess puzzle
The king has a huge treasure vault which only his daughters know how to access. His eldest daughter only tells the truth, his youngest daughter always lies and his middle daughter is mischievous and answers as she sees fit. You have managed to gain the right to marry one of these daughters.

1. The three of them will be presented to you in a room, but you do not know which one is which.
2. You are allowed to ask one of them one yes or no question, and can then choose which of the three to marry after hearing the answer.
3. If you ask a question which a princess cannot answer with a yes or no you are executed for causing embarrassment to the princess.
4. You need to either marry the eldest or the youngest daughter, as once you are married you can question them to your heart's content to find out how to access the king's treasure vault. The middle daughter will not answer your questions in a useful way for this purpose.

How should you go about choosing which daughter to marry?

Normally I hate riddles because they all too often function by leaving out some vital piece of information that you're some how supposed to fill in from your imagination. But I love logic puzzles. Been puzzling about this one for a while and I think I have a complete answer, but I might have missed something (not seeing the forest for the trees, so to speak).

Choose one of the daughters, call her X. Call the other two daughters Y and Z. Ask X if Y is older than Z. If she answers "Yes" marry Z, if she answers "No" marry Y. I'm not going to explain my logic so as not to spoil it for other people but is that correct? (I need closure! )

[Xenix]

I don't recall what book it was - something along the lines of the Retief! or Stainless Steel Rat series.

@Torias: Correct. You could also ask any one of them if one of the other two was more likely to lie to you and safely marry whichever one was more said to be likely to lie.

[fuzzygeek]

Did the bell ringing cause the man to die?

Did the man get very drunk and go to the wrong hotel? (Where his daughter wasn't)

Forgot to address these -- No, and No.

[Skye1013]

The men in the cabin died from a plane crash

Someone's heard this one before!

But yes, that's why I mentioned the process -- a series of yes/no questions -- earlier. These puzzles don't contain enough information to come to the "correct" answer in and of themselves. And you didn't ask any questions -- you proposed solutions, which were all incorrect.
What sets a great riddle apart is that it a) has all the data you need, and b) the answer is the best, simplest solution.

But again, these three particular ones are more "mysteries" than riddles; and the other recently posed questions are logic puzzles.

Weren't you the one who posted the passage about the sphinx? It was a correct answer within the confines of the question, even if it wasn't YOUR answer.

[fuzzygeek]

Weren't you the one who posted the passage about the sphinx? It was a correct answer within the confines of the question, even if it wasn't YOUR answer.

Hence the difference between a "mind teaser" and a "riddle." A teaser is all about the process and the questioner's ability to play Sherlock Holmes. A riddle doesn't offer the opportunity for more clarification, as it should be completely self-contained.

[Fivelives]

What can be held by any, but owned by none?

[bldavis]

petition to ban dihydro-monoxide is passed to you.
claims it is the leading cause of burns in children, has lead to the sinking of hundreds of ships, is a main component of acid raid, and is worse than CO2 as a greenhouse gas in gas form.

should you sign?
(ok i know this is easy if anyone knows basic chemistry but in one city they actually voted to ban this)

[Skye1013]

petition to ban dihydro-monoxide is passed to you.
claims it is the leading cause of burns in children, has lead to the sinking of hundreds of ships, is a main component of acid raid, and is worse than CO2 as a greenhouse gas in gas form.

should you sign?
(ok i know this is easy if anyone knows basic chemistry but in one city they actually voted to ban this)

I love the Bull$hit episode they did with this petition getting a bunch of "green" hippies to sign the petition

[Passionario]

Correct! Its amazing how some very clever people can't solve the light bulb one, as they think too abstractly of lights as on or off and don't consider the actual physical reality!

This reminds me of a joke problem from my student days at MIPT:

"There is a cube-shaped room with the ceiling height of 3 meters. At the exact center of the room hangs a single lightbulb. Taking into account thermal radiation, light pressure and other adverse factors, calculate the minimum power of the lightbulb that would make it impossible to enter the room."