The Lemon Fool

Thanks to Stooz and Clariman for setting up this board. I still can't quite believe how quickly the LemonFool was created.

1) Re-arrange the letters of NEW DOOR to make one word.

2) Arrange 16 touching pennies in a square formation as shown, alternating heads and tails. By touching no more than two pennies, rearrange the matrix so that each horizontal row of four is either all heads or all tails.

,
   ---      ---      ---      ---   
 /     \  /     \  /     \  /     \
| HEADS || TAILS || HEADS || TAILS |
 \     /  \     /  \     /  \     /
   ---      ---      ---      ---   
   ---      ---      ---      ---   
 /     \  /     \  /     \  /     \
| TAILS || HEADS || TAILS || HEADS |
 \     /  \     /  \     /  \     /
   ---      ---      ---      ---   
   ---      ---      ---      ---   
 /     \  /     \  /     \  /     \
| HEADS || TAILS || HEADS || TAILS |
 \     /  \     /  \     /  \     /
   ---      ---      ---      ---   
   ---      ---      ---      ---   
 /     \  /     \  /     \  /     \
| TAILS || HEADS || TAILS || HEADS |
 \     /  \     /  \     /  \     /
   ---      ---      ---      ---

3) In the following line of letters, cross out six letters so that the remaining letters, without altering their sequence, will make a familiar English word.

B S A I N X L E A T N T E A R S

Happy Christmas.

Cinelli

These are so easy I will let someone-else give the answers.
1. has a two-word answer.
2. Note that "touch" and "move" mean different things.
3. Read the question carefully.

Julian F. G. W.

I'm surprised that this thread has had 92 views but no answers.

1. NEW DOOR, rearranged, makes ONE WORD.

2. Place your finger on the first "tails" coin and slide it down so that it is in line with the second row. This will push the other coins in that column down one row too. Do the same with the second "tails" coin in the top row.

You actually only need to touch one coin. Just slide this around (or pick it up if you like) and use it to push the other coins around. You could create four rows of all heads/tails using this method.

3. B S A I N X L E A T N T E A R S

Julian F. G. W.

jfgw wrote:3. Read the question carefully. [and]

3. B S A I N X L E A T N T E A R S

Julian F. G. W.

The question commenced "cross out six letters so that the remaining letters, without altering their sequence, will make a familiar English word".

Well done!

PinkDalek wrote:The question commenced "cross out six letters so that the remaining letters, without altering their sequence, will make a familiar English word".

Which just means that it's another example of punctuation altering meaning - had it said "cross out 'six letters' so that the remaining letters, without altering their sequence, will make a familiar English word", the solution would actually obey its instructions - and unfortunately, also be blindingly obvious!

Gengulphus

Gengulphus wrote:Which just means that it's another example of punctuation altering meaning

Or, possibly, removing ambiguity.

Does "cross out six letters" mean, unambiguously, "cross out a number of letters, this number being six" or is the answer that I gave a literally correct answer to a question involving an instruction with more than one possible meaning?

Do we need a poll?

Julian F. G. W.

PinkDalek wrote:

jfgw wrote:3. Read the question carefully. [and]

3. B S A I N X L E A T N T E A R S

Julian F. G. W.

The question commenced "cross out six letters so that the remaining letters, without altering their sequence, will make a familiar English word".

Well done!

Thank you PinkDalek.

jfgw wrote:

Gengulphus wrote:Which just means that it's another example of punctuation altering meaning

Or, possibly, removing ambiguity.

Does "cross out six letters" mean, unambiguously, "cross out a number of letters, this number being six" or is the answer that I gave a literally correct answer to a question involving an instruction with more than one possible meaning?

I'd say that if it's a written instruction, yes, the presence or absence of the quotation marks determines its meaning. If it's a spoken instruction, there's no punctuation clue, and it's ambiguous unless there's something else to supply the information, such as intonation or a suitable 'quotation marks' gesture. And by the way, phrasing such a puzzle as reported speech can be a good way to present it with the ambiguity - e.g. "My friend presented me with this string of letters and told me 'cross out six letters to leave the remaining letters forming a common English word without changing their order'. I can't see how to do this - can you help?"

Not worth an extensive debate in this case, of course - but there are cases where it might make a major difference. E.g. the following two sentences have very different meanings!

* Jonathan said he was going to assassinate the Prime Minister.

* Jonathan said "He was going to assassinate the Prime Minister."

Gengulphus

Gengulphus wrote:* Jonathan said he was going to assassinate the Prime Minister.

You don't have to change the punctuation at all to give that sentence a different meaning:

"I am worried about what Trevor is up to. Jonathan said he was going to assassinate the Prime Minister."

While not entirely unambiguous, the "most likely" meaning is clear.

Julian F. G. W.

Looking at question 2 again, it says, "rearrange the matrix" so the final arrangement of coins, presumably, needs to be the same shape as the original square array.

One way is to pick up the top left coin, place it at the bottom of that column and push it up so that there are four rows of four again, then do the same with the top coin in the third column. Obviously, other similar methods exist.

Julian F. G. W.

Well done to Julian for the correct answers. Yes, they were relatively easy - but it was Christmas day! Time for a little light relief I think.

Cinelli