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Which Alice?

Which Alice?

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Solutions to the Puzzles<br />

for example, he was told that A told the truth and that B and C both<br />

lied. Then whoever A accused was guilty (since A told the truth), so<br />

he might have accused B (in which case B was guilty) and B and C<br />

both lied and accused A (or maybe B accused C, and C accused A).<br />

On the other hand, it could be that A accused C and that B and C<br />

both accused A, in which case C was guilty. So if A was the only one<br />

who told the truth, then either B or C could be guilty. Similarly, if B<br />

was the only one who told the truth, then either A or C could be<br />

guilty, and if C was the only one who told the truth, then either A or<br />

B could be guilty. So if the White King had been told either that A<br />

was the only one who told the truth, or that B was, or that C was, he<br />

could never have known who was guilty. So he was not told any of<br />

these three things.<br />

Could he have been told that all three told the truth? No, this is<br />

impossible, because the guilty one certainly lied (since he accused<br />

one of the others, and both the others were innocent).<br />

This leaves only the case that exactly one lied. Well, if exactly one<br />

lied, then the one who lied must be the guilty one, because if an<br />

innocent one lied, that would make two lies—his and the guilty<br />

one's. So, therefore, the White King was told one of three things:<br />

Case 1: A lied, B told the truth, C told the truth.<br />

Case 2: A told the truth, B lied, C told the truth.<br />

Case 3: A told the truth, B told the truth, C lied.<br />

We now see how the White King knew who was guilty, but how<br />

can we know, since we don't know which of the three cases the King<br />

was told? Well, Humpty Dumpty either asked the White Knight<br />

whether any two consecutive statements were false, or he asked<br />

whether any two consecutive statements were true. The first<br />

question would have been a pointless one (since there is only one<br />

false statement), and had he asked it, the answer would have been<br />

no, and this wouldn't have enabled Humpty Dumpty to know which<br />

of the three cases held. So Humpty Dumpty asked whether any two<br />

consecutive statements were true. Had he been told "Yes," he would<br />

have ruled out Case 2, but couldn't have known who was guilty. But<br />

Humpty Dumpty did know, so he must have gotten No for an<br />

answer and then realized that Case 2 must be the one; so B is guilty.<br />

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