# Gurth's Games (for fun)



## gurthbruins (May 12, 2010)

*Game No c1:*

This is a 20 Questions sort of game.
The question here is "What do the 3 words 'the', 'an' and 'director' have in common?"

How to play: Submit any yes/no type of question you like (the usual type of question in 20 Questions). At 1 - 2 pm (South African time) tomorrow, i.e. 24 hours from NOW, I will choose what I think is the most helpful question (for you!) as 1st question and answer it.

The non-chosen questions will be forgotten, but there is no rule against resubmitting them on future days.

Only one question per player per day, please. Have fun!


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## Chris (Jun 1, 2010)

Is the director of the entertainment (film / theatre) sort?


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## emiellucifuge (May 26, 2009)

Is it a mathematical relationship?


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## Polednice (Sep 13, 2009)

So it's going to take 3 weeks to find out the answer?! :O :O


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## gurthbruins (May 12, 2010)

*Chris* and *emiellucifuge*,

Both your questions are good enough to demand answers, if I aim to be helpful as I do.
So the state-of-the-game is:

*Q1: Is the director of the entertainment (film/theatre) sort? -Chris
A: I don't know or care (this reply could be a big help!)

Q2: Is it a mathematical relationship? -emiellucifuge
A: No.*

*Polednice*,

You don't have to take 20 questions: it is permissible (and possible) to do it in one.
If you are in a hurry. It might be more fun to spin it out, however. That's if this is your sort of game, which appears doubtful as you have not hazarded a participatory question.


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## Chris (Jun 1, 2010)

Are the meanings of the three words relevant, or is the important thing the letters that constitute them?


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## gurthbruins (May 12, 2010)

For reasons that will become apparent, I'll have to take that as two questions, both so important I'll have to answer them both.
*Q3: Are the meanings of the three words relevant? -Chris
A: No.*

And now it's emiellucifuge's turn.


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## Weston (Jul 11, 2008)

gurthbruins said:


> *Game No c1:*
> 
> "What do the 3 words 'the', 'an' and 'director' have in common?"


I have it. They all contain both vowels AND consonants. What did I win?


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## gurthbruins (May 12, 2010)

Unfortunately there are some hidden rules in this game, which I thought too obvious to spell out.
One doesn't want to clutter up the place with needless garbage, but well, you asked for it.

Such as that you have to find out what *I* see them as having in common. There are literally millions, no zillions of other things they have in common, but you won't win anything for those.

But it's not as hard as choosing from millions of possibilities. As it is I who am setting the puzzle, the solution will probably be an elegant one, maybe even much more than that, and will give much satisfaction to the honest solver.


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## Polednice (Sep 13, 2009)

Weston said:


> I have it. They all contain both vowels AND consonants. What did I win?


Hahahahahahahahahahaha!! 

My question is: "Don't I have better things to do with my time?" But I already know the answer


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## Chris (Jun 1, 2010)

Polednice said:


> My question is: "Don't I have better things to do with my time?" But I already know the answer


If Polednice was at Butlins and the redcoats announced it was plastic antlers day, I'll bet he'd scowl and keep his hat on.


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## Polednice (Sep 13, 2009)

Chris said:


> If Polednice was at Butlins and the redcoats announced it was plastic antlers day, I'll bet he'd scowl and keep his hat on.


Hahahahahahahaha!! Almost! No one will be able to force me to wear any kind of headgear


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## Huilunsoittaja (Apr 6, 2010)

Does it have to do with *an* awesome(or... alcoholic?) *director* of *the* St. Petersburg Conservatory (1905-1928)?


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## Serge (Mar 25, 2010)

gurthbruins said:


> The question here is "What do the 3 words 'the', 'an' and 'director' have in common?"


I don't know… could be many things. For instance, along the line taken by Mr. Weston above, they all appear to be the English language words, and they all are in lowercase, and none of them are verbs or adjectives, etc… But, I must say, with all this crazy anticipation build-up, I'd be very disappointed if the actual answer didn't blow my socks off.


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## gurthbruins (May 12, 2010)

... and now it's Chris's turn again, for the second part of his question, yes it wasn't really an either/or question, because the answer to both halves is No...

*Recap: What do the three words 'the', 'an' and 'director' have in common?

Q1: Is the director of the entertainment (film/theatre) sort? -Chris
A: I don't know or care (this reply could be a big help!)

Q2: Is it a mathematical relationship? -emiellucifuge
A: No.

Q3: Are the meanings of the three words relevant? -Chris
A: No.

Q4: ...or is the important thing the letters that constitute them? 
A: No. The letters that constitute the words are not important, the words themselves have properties, other than their meaning. Of course the words depend on their letters to be what they are, but the qualities of the individual letters in the three words are not important. Only the combination of letters as a whole in each word is important. And that combination does Not depend on the qualities of the individual letters in the word.*

- and now it's anybody's turn again.


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## Almaviva (Aug 13, 2010)

Is the answer related to some property or characteristic that these words *do not* have?


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## Chris (Jun 1, 2010)

Does it still work if the words are translated into a different language?


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## gurthbruins (May 12, 2010)

I'm relaxing some of the rules a bit, people may ask questions, and I might take more than one per player per day...

*Huilunsoittaja*, sorry I didn't accept your question, it _might_ have been on the right track, but it wasn't, so I let it go.

*Recap: What do the three words 'the', 'an' and 'director' have in common?

Q1: Is the director of the entertainment (film/theatre) sort? -Chris
A: I don't know or care (this reply could be a big help!)

Q2: Is it a mathematical relationship? -emiellucifuge
A: No.

Q3: Are the meanings of the three words relevant? -Chris
A: No.

Q4: ...or is the important thing the letters that constitute them? 
A: No. The letters that constitute the words are not important, the words themselves have properties, other than their meaning. Of course the words depend on their letters to be what they are, but the qualities of the individual letters in the three words are not important. Only the combination of letters as a whole in each word is important. And that combination does Not depend on the qualities of the individual letters in the word.

Q5: Is the answer related to some property or characteristic that these words *do not* have? -Almaviva
A: No. You are looking for a simple property shared by all three words. By 'simple' I mean that the property can be defined without using the concepts AND, OR or NOT.

Q6: Does it still work if the words are translated into a different language?
A: No, definitely not, not for any different language. A junior school knowledge of English should be enough though.*

- and now it's anybody's turn again.


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## Huilunsoittaja (Apr 6, 2010)

gurthbruins said:


> *Huilunsoittaja*, sorry I didn't accept your question, it _might_ have been on the right track, but it wasn't, so I let it go.


lol  I know, it was just a distracter.

Here's a real question: has it something to do with "an," "the," and "director" as all articles that come before a noun(person/place/thing)?


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## Chris (Jun 1, 2010)

Huilunsoittaja said:


> Here's a real question: has it something to do with "an," "the," and "director" as all articles that come before a noun(person/place/thing)?


Or, the answer is you can put 'y' at the end of them and make a new word


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## Almaviva (Aug 13, 2010)

Chris said:


> Or, the answer is you can put 'y' at the end of them and make a new word


Kind of disappointing. I was expecting something really bombastic.


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## Huilunsoittaja (Apr 6, 2010)

Chris said:


> Or, the answer is you can put 'y' at the end of them and make a new word


Ah! That's probably it.


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## HarpsichordConcerto (Jan 1, 2010)

I should have had carrot sticks and plain water for lunch today while I read the solution.


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## gurthbruins (May 12, 2010)

Game over. Well done, *Huilunsoittaja* for setting a breakthrough question and *Chris* for nailing it.


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## gurthbruins (May 12, 2010)

*Game No c2: Another guessing game.*

In this game there is no chance to cheat, whereas in the previous game cheating was possible and indeed permissible.

You are required to answer this question directly (not via exploratory questions):

*What do the three words Michael, Thomas, Edward have in common?*

Read my mind. By now you know how it works. Post your answer (just one per player), as soon as I've answered it in the negative you can post another.

Nail this one and I will be impressed!


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## emiellucifuge (May 26, 2009)

They are all names.


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## gurthbruins (May 12, 2010)

emiellucifuge said:


> They are all names.


No. Brave guess, all the same. (Not what was in my mind, and not bluffing, although I am a poker player)


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## Almaviva (Aug 13, 2010)

gurthbruins said:


> Game over. Well done, *Huilunsoittaja* for setting a breakthrough question and *Chris* for nailing it.


But when I asked if it was something that they didn't have, you said no. They didn't have the letter y.


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## gurthbruins (May 12, 2010)

Nor did they have the letter x, *Almaviva*.
The common property they all had was NOT that they did not have y, but that they COULD attach a y.
Objection overruled.


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## Almaviva (Aug 13, 2010)

gurthbruins said:


> Nor did they have the letter x, *Almaviva*.
> The common property they all had was NOT that they did not have y, but that they COULD attach a y.
> Objection overruled.


Fair enough.


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## Serge (Mar 25, 2010)

A letter a?

But could you please explain how that entry by H. was a breakthrough question? Are you sure you didn't read too much into it?


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## gurthbruins (May 12, 2010)

Serge said:


> A letter a?
> 
> But could you please explain how that entry by H. was a breakthrough question? Are you sure you didn't read too much into it?


It was the first time the necessary leap beyond the boundaries of the word was made.


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## Serge (Mar 25, 2010)

gurthbruins said:


> It was the first time the necessary leap beyond the boundaries of the word was made.


Right... 

Anyhow, you didn't comment on my answer. Trying to make sense out of that now...


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## Chris (Jun 1, 2010)

My guess is...the Tank Engine Thomas books. I'm not sure these are known outside UK, but they feature anthropomorphised steam engines with cheerful faces. There are engines called Thomas and Edward. Maybe there is also a Michael...it was a long time ago.


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## Serge (Mar 25, 2010)

Chris said:


> My guess is...the Tank Engine Thomas books. I'm not sure these are known outside UK, but they feature anthropomorphised steam engines with cheerful faces. There are engines called Thomas and Edward. Maybe there is also a Michael...it was a long time ago.


That's a good one. I concur.


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## gurthbruins (May 12, 2010)

Sorry, *Serge*, I didn't understand your answer, the two games combined in your reply confused me. I should have done better to start a new thread for the new game, and let the old thread continue for the old game. Next time...

But no, to your question. That's not it.

And no, *Chris*. You are getting colder out there. No knowledge of literature is required, junior school English will be more than enough. And it's another non-complex property: no AND / OR / NOT needed to define it.


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## gurthbruins (May 12, 2010)

Seems the difficulty of this problem has paralysed everybody's brains. That happened on another forum too - nobody could do this one. I don't know why. It's really very easy, easier than the last one i think.
For every day that passes without a sensible guess, I'm going to lengthen the list. Let's see how long it can get!

*Michael Thomas Edward Owen*


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## Serge (Mar 25, 2010)

Reverse alphabet order of the letters that they start and end with?


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## gurthbruins (May 12, 2010)

Serge said:


> Reverse alphabet order of the letters that they start and end with?


You've nailed it!!
Well done.

Game over.


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## gurthbruins (May 12, 2010)

*Cryptic Crossword Clues*

While I try and think up a worthy successor to Game #c3, here are a couple of Cryptic Crossword Clues for solvers of Crossword puzzles to tackle.

Instead of posting solutions here, I suggest you email them to me at [email protected] , that will give more people a chance to solve it. I will report emails received after 3-4 days.

1. *Able to produce successive kings for the country (7)*
2. *Unfinished game (3)*


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## gurthbruins (May 12, 2010)

Everyone has now had about equal time to see these C C Clues, and nobody has posted me any email.
So I think, forget about emailing and just post your best guesses here.


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## gurthbruins (May 12, 2010)

*Unfair Game #c7*

This game gives you more to do.

Each player submits 6 words per round - all words must be 5-letter words in an English dictionary, in my POD preferably. There will be 4 - 8 rounds.

Words are either correct or incorrect. But this can change with changing circumstances. Each correct word scores 1 point. But you are not told which words are scoring the points, only the number of points per round. What makes a word correct or incorrect? That's for you to try and figure out. It's very simple, a large child could do it.

To make the game more interesting, I am going to participate as an entrant, and you'll be able to see how my score progresses. Having knowledge too grossly unfair, I will be disqualified at the end.

Words may be repeated, and you may use and/or repeat the words of other players.

Please start now, submit your list for Round 1: I'll leave a few days for the round. :tiphat:


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## gurthbruins (May 12, 2010)

Round 1: my list:
*anvil brass cavil deign elope frail*


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## chillowack (Jul 16, 2009)

............


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