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ZaX
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Poison Drinks
« on: Mar 16th, 2008, 6:30am » |
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A rich old man has died. After his death, his children are surprised to learn that he has left all of his money to his oldest son Jeremiah, who loved him dearly, and ignored his other children, who hated him.
So, the funeral is a day or two later, and the other sons and daughters have decided to kill Jeremiah and take his inheritance. Since his father's death, Jeremiah has taken to drinking, and they know that, at the wake, he's going to be gulping down the liquor like it was nectar of the gods. So they decide to poison the drinks. One of the other sons, Wallace, tends bar, and gets the poison all ready.
So Jeremiah comes up, crying and depressed, and orders a scotch on the rocks. Wallace serves him one, and he chugs it down in two seconds. "Give me another." Wallace gives him a second glass of scotch, which he also drinks in a matter of moments. The other siblings are puzzled...the poison is fast-acting; Jeremiah should be convulsing on the floor and retching his guts out. Finally, fifteen minutes later, a rather inebriated and very much alive Jeremiah orders one last glass of scotch, but as Wallace hands it to him, he changes his mind and leaves, sobbing. The other siblings come over to Wallace, and wonder what's going on. They talk about what could have gone wrong for a few minutes, and figure the poison's harmless. So Wallace sips the drink he poured for Jeremiah, and is pronounced DOA thirty minutes later.
Why did Jeremiah live? (He had no immunity to the poison, he didn't know it was coming, and the poison was obviously deadly.)
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Possible Answer: Jeremiah orders a scotch on the rocks (ice cubes). Dropping the poison into his drink, it lands on top of the ice cubes. Jeremiah downs his two drinks very quickly, not giving enough time for the poison to mix with his drink. Conversely, the brother waits a "few minutes" before drinking, allowing the ice cubes to melt and giving ample time for the poison to mix with the scotch. He is soon dead as a result!
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towr
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Re: Poison Drinks
« Reply #1 on: Mar 16th, 2008, 8:24am » |
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That very close to the standard answer (that the poison is in the ice-cubes, and he drinks too fast for the ice-cubes to melt sufficiently to poison him.)
(Also, there's an earlier thread here)
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| « Last Edit: Mar 16th, 2008, 8:25am by towr » |
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ZaX
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Re: Poison Drinks
« Reply #2 on: Mar 16th, 2008, 10:35am » |
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oops -sry-didnt see that one....
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towr
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Re: Poison Drinks
« Reply #3 on: Mar 16th, 2008, 10:45am » |
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That's probably because it's older than a year (the default age the search uses is 365 days, so for older threads you need to change it to a higher number)
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Icarus
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Re: Poison Drinks
« Reply #4 on: Mar 16th, 2008, 12:09pm » |
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I prefer ZaX's version, since the other version has Wallace knowing that the poison is in the ice cubes, but not being able to understand the consequences. With ZaX's version, Wallace just has to miss noticing that the poison didn't actually get into the fluid, which is not unlikely for a nervous would-be murderer.
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iono
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Re: Poison Drinks
« Reply #5 on: Mar 19th, 2008, 7:56pm » |
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Jeremiah was drinking quickly on an empty stomach, so it made him barf it back up? That's what happens, right?
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temporary
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Re: Poison Drinks
« Reply #6 on: Mar 23rd, 2008, 1:11pm » |
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Or maybe he didn't actually drink it because he was so drunk he spilled it all over himself, or he kept changing his mind and throwing the cup on the floor(shattering it) then wanting to drink again and re-asking for it.
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| « Last Edit: Mar 23rd, 2008, 1:11pm by temporary » |
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Godless_SOAB
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Re: Poison Drinks
« Reply #7 on: May 11th, 2008, 12:11pm » |
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It seems obvious that these ice cubes have something to do with this puzzle... Perhaps the poison is affected by temperature, and the ice neutralises the poison is some way, and the last time, the barman forgot to put ice in the glass...
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iono
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Re: Poison Drinks
« Reply #8 on: May 12th, 2008, 10:02pm » |
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on May 11th, 2008, 12:11pm, Godless_SOAB wrote:| It seems obvious that these ice cubes have something to do with this puzzle... Perhaps the poison is affected by temperature, and the ice neutralises the poison is some way, and the last time, the barman forgot to put ice in the glass... |
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even though they aren't mentioned in the riddle? 
there's also that solution with Jeremiah dying 15 minutes after leaving, but it work really well.
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Godless_SOAB
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Re: Poison Drinks
« Reply #9 on: May 13th, 2008, 12:48pm » |
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Quote:| even though they aren't mentioned in the riddle? |
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I don't want to sound like a wise guy but if you read the riddle you'll see that the victim is ordering his drinks "on the rocks". That means he wants it with ice. (Not actually served on rocks, lol)
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iono
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Re: Poison Drinks
« Reply #10 on: May 14th, 2008, 7:09pm » |
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oh
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ajfirecracker
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Re: Poison Drinks
« Reply #11 on: Jul 17th, 2010, 5:27pm » |
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The ice can be used to explain it.
Alternately, you can simply have the poison be more dense than the Scotch, but similar in appearance.
It's plausible that Wallace wouldn't notice that it wasn't mixed, and think the poison was harmless. Since Jeremiah only drank most of his way through the bottle, he wouldn't have reached the poison.
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