Author Topic: [SPOILER] The Five Dimensional Puzzle  (Read 6573 times)

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Offline redyoshi49q

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[SPOILER] The Five Dimensional Puzzle
« on: March 15, 2009, 01:01:18 am »
This is the spoiler thread for The Five Dimensional Puzzle.

If you haven't already noticed, this puzzle is harder than the previous ones.  There are a few things I'll say right off the bat.

  • There is exactly one solution to this puzzle that meets all of the (*edit* insert "modified" here, see the fifth post) outlined requirements.
  • The solution is NOT a trick answer (i.e. "There was never an order because Ensign was a figment of John's imagination.", though creative, is not the correct answer).
  • It is possible (though tricky) to come to the single correct solution using only the information provided in the puzzle, the right way of thinking, and plenty of scratch paper.

I'm currently considering supplying supplementary information about this puzzle as hints.  If I end up doing so, that information will end up here in this thread.

Other than that, have fun!
« Last Edit: March 17, 2009, 01:57:50 am by redyoshi49q »
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Offline silverfox

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Re: [SPOILER] The Five Dimensional Puzzle
« Reply #1 on: March 16, 2009, 03:26:46 am »
Okay, so I took a /huge/ crack at it in one hour and came up with (what I think is) 95% of the answer.


SPOLIER: Highlight below for CSV formatted attempt

Owner,Pet Name,Species,Tag Shape,Tag Color
Dude,Ace,Echnida,Square,Blue
Alice,Doug,Cat,Ellipse Hexagon,Yellow
Forrest,Cool,Bat,Triangle,Red
Carson,Buddy,Frog, Ellipse Hexagon,Purple
Bob,Elite,Aardvark,Rectangle,Orange
Ensign,Felsite,Dog,Bone,Green



I'm sure most of it's wrong... help! ;;

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Offline redyoshi49q

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Re: [SPOILER] The Five Dimensional Puzzle
« Reply #2 on: March 16, 2009, 03:48:46 am »
Okay, so I took a /huge/ crack at it in one hour and came up with (what I think is) 95% of the answer.
...
Forrest,Cool,Bat,Triangle,Red
...
I'm sure most of it's wrong... help! ;;

There is a slight problem, as you can see...

Getting close is one thing, but getting the answer is a bit tricky.

Thanks for trying, though!  The more, the merrier!
"Perfect normality is impossible.  Be unique!"
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Offline silverfox

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Re: [SPOILER] The Five Dimensional Puzzle
« Reply #3 on: March 17, 2009, 12:26:55 am »
Well, I just solved it...

Three hours of work, one hour of success; I present to you, the end-all of spoilers:

SPOILER!!!! Don't click unless you want the mystery unraveled!!!!


Go me!  :D

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morg: whats for lunch today?
SilverFox: Pasta Roni :)
morg: XD
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Offline Arbutus

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Re: [SPOILER] The Five Dimensional Puzzle
« Reply #4 on: March 17, 2009, 01:04:09 am »
I got something slightly different, actually....

Code: [Select]

































Alice - Cat - Doug - Ellipse - Yellow
Bob - Frog - Elite - Hexagon - Purple
Carson - Echidna - Ace - Triangle - Blue
Dude - Aardvark - Buddy - Square - Red
Ensign - Dog - Felsite - Bone - Green
Forrest - Bat - Cool - Rectangle - Orange

I hit a snag right near the end, but by using hypothetical situations, I'd reasoned that Alice couldn't own a bat for some reason like the pet named Cool couldn't have a yellow elliptical tag. I'd tell you more, but I did my work in such a way that I can't reconstruct it. :P

I could be wrong, though. *shrug*

Offline redyoshi49q

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Re: [SPOILER] The Five Dimensional Puzzle
« Reply #5 on: March 17, 2009, 01:31:05 am »
We have a winner!  ...Two winners, in fact!

Unfortunately for me, the fact that silverfox's solution satisfies all criteria but doesn't match mine (which was the same as Arbutus's) brings into light the fact that I made a mistake in making the puzzle.  The way the puzzle is right now, there are exactly 2 valid solutions, including the presented one (I thought there was only one).  I accidentally marked out a solution that was still valid at the time when making the puzzle, which meant that I didn't consider (and therefore eliminate) that solution when I was checking for solvability.

Sorry about that.

I said that Cool does not have a Square tag, but should have said that the pet owned by Forrest does not have a Square tag.  This fix nukes the solution that silverfox found, but otherwise minimally changes the puzzle.

In the meantime...
(*gives nice, shiny crowns to the winners!*)

(edit) Since I wasn't expecting this to be solved so quickly, I don't have a human-readable proof for the method I used to get to the solution(s).  When I convert my list of conclusions to such a proof, it shall appear here for the curious.
« Last Edit: March 17, 2009, 01:54:58 am by redyoshi49q »
"Perfect normality is impossible.  Be unique!"
-- redyoshi49q




^ (click) Puzzle game!