Kogorous Riddle Thread and eworms Deduction Thread

[dumytru]

Haha, I'll try so solve this when I have some time.

I'm also working on an awesome case for this thread.
Though it may take a while to get it done, because of the way I'm doing it.

[Togop]

Well, well, there are some questions you absolutely should have asked by now... OK, I'll ask and answer them for you.

1) What would Kamada say if inspector Takagi asked her why did she come back?
2) What is going to happen to the company, according to Kamada and Smith?

"Kamada-san," - asked inspector Takagi - "why did you return to the headquarters around half past midnight?"
"As I told you, we had an argument in Sakamoto-san's office, and I left in a hurry. Soon after I got home, I realized that I had forgotten my purse and umbrella at the headquarters and went to get them back. It was late, but I wasn't sleepy yet and wanted to take a walk. That's when I found Sakamoto-san dead."
"By the way, now that Sakamoto's dead, what will happen to the company?"
"He has a son who will inherit his share, but the son doesn't plan to involve himself at all with the company. So the next CEO will be either me, or Mr Smith." - her answer was practically the same as the one Mr Smith had given earlier, when asked the same question. [note: Sakamoto was the CEO]

Takagi rapidly took down her answers, then approached Sakamoto's son, who confirmed that he would participate in choosing the next CEO, but doesn't plan to involve himself any further in his father's business, and that the next CEO would most likely be Kamada or Smith.
"You plan to choose one of them? Aren't you going to consider the bad relations they had with your father?"
"I didn't like talking business with him, and I cut him short every time he tried, so I don't know anything about his business relations. Besides, my share of the company isn't large enough to decide the CEO on my own, while both of them want to be CEO themselves."

[Togop]

Nobody seems to be actively trying to solve this, so I suggest somebody post a new riddle. Of course, I will keep answering questions until someone solves it. It's not hard - in fact, the harder part is finding the evidence (because I've hinted about, but withheld a relevant fact that you'll have to find out with a question).

[dumytru]

There are still many possibilities, and we have no idea which one is right exactly because we don't have evidence.
We should find evidence to get us on the right path, not to find the right path and then find evidence.

Hmm, maybe that's a little wrong. Once we find the right *red* path with little evidence (indirect), then we should find solid evidence.

Anyway I've been working on a case for this thread, and once it was ready I planned to solve this case, but I got really busy.
And Togop, this thread usually is advancing slow, but steady

Now, I still think Date-san did it, so I'm going to "investigate" this assuming he is the murderer.
Of course, I may find out he is innocent

[Togop]

There are still many possibilities, and we have no idea which one is right exactly because we don't have evidence.

I'm not going to list the possibilities for obvious reasons. Some of those possibilities can be excluded based on deductions from the information given. But there are several possibilities that are plausible in the situation given. You need to figure out how to verify them (and what information do you need for that), which is the main part of the riddle - and which is why I allowed questions. Trust me, all evidence is foreshadows; and if you keep asking the wrong questions, I'll be mixing more foreshadowing between the answers.

[sstimson]

fine a few questions.

1) Is there only one person involved in the killing.

Why I ask that? if there is more then one, then the helper might appear as the victim to give the illusion that the victim is still alive when they are already dead. This could give the killer a false alibi

2) Are some of the guards of similar builds to others characters?

3) Are any of the guards in financial trouble and might be bribable?

4) how friendly are the guards to each other?
If friendly enough, one might lie to protect the other.

[Togop]

fine a few questions.

1) Is there only one person involved in the killing.

Why I ask that? if there is more then one, then the helper might appear as the victim to give the illusion that the victim is still alive when they are already dead. This could give the killer a false alibi

2) Are some of the guards of similar builds to others characters?

3) Are any of the guards in financial trouble and might be bribable?

4) how friendly are the guards to each other?
If friendly enough, one might lie to protect the other.

1) I can only answer questions that are possible for the in-riddle police to check.
I can say that, according to the guards, they are absolutely sure it was Sakamoto who came down with Kamada to the lobby when she was leaving. They saw his face clearly and heard him talk.

2) Mr Smith is a strong and stocky man, and naturally, there are several guards of similar builds to him.

3) They are all well-paid - after all, they guards Sakamoto Kensetsu's headquarters. The police finds that none of them is in financial trouble serious enough to get involved in murder.

4) The security company tries not to assign guards that are very close to each other to the same location to ensure professionalism. Of course, they don't have 100% success rate and there are two pairs of close friends amongst the guards. However, nobody left the headquarters together with a close friend, so their alibies should be reliable.

[sstimson]

Fine a few questions:

Spoiler: to save space

1) Is there only one person involved in the killing.

Why I ask that? if there is more then one, then the helper might appear as the victim to give the illusion that the victim is still alive when they are already dead. This could give the killer a false alibi

2) Are some of the guards of similar builds to others characters?

3) Are any of the guards in financial trouble and might be bribable?

4) how friendly are the guards to each other?
If friendly enough, one might lie to protect the other.

1) I can only answer questions that are possible for the in-riddle police to check.
I can say that, according to the guards, they are absolutely sure it was Sakamoto who came down with Kamada to the lobby when she was leaving. They saw his face clearly and heard him talk.

Which means it is possible that a guard might have been in on it. They could have dressed like him and faked his voice. It is possible that at the time the other guard saw him, he was already dead. After all you did allow that there might be close friends among the guards. So one guard tell another that they are going to play a joke on some of the other guards and not to give the game away. It is possible that the killer hear about this or even started it and used it. The Conan Canon has KID who does this (act and sound like someone else).

2) Mr Smith is a strong and stocky man, and naturally, there are several guards of similar builds to him.

3) They are all well-paid - after all, they guards Sakamoto Kensetsu's headquarters. The police finds that none of them is in financial trouble serious enough to get involved in murder.

4) The security company tries not to assign guards that are very close to each other to the same location to ensure professionalism. Of course, they don't have 100% success rate and there are two pairs of close friends amongst the guards. However, nobody left the headquarters together with a close friend, so their alibis should be reliable.

I guess I got another question:

Did any of the guards make another guard mad at them? This would allow either lying to get back at another guard or they feel sorry and want to protect the other.

What are the rules? I understand at far as evidence how it works and what kind of information might be asked. But generally you seem to leave a lot open. Example, we are in a universe where magic exist and so a few Conan characters come to visit and thus the rules are different. The killer in this example magically appeared, created the weapon out of thin air hit the victim by moving the weapon without touching it. Then made the weapon and themselves vanish. They were never seen by anyone as they used other means then normal.

Maybe the above while "crazy" (I did not believe it happened that way) might leave you to understand what I mean when I ask what are the rules.

what are the entries to the room? Is there a secret room or wall? Is there an air shaft in the room? Are there windows? Is the room on the ground floor, and if not what floor is it on? Is there any way to enter the room without being seen? (using normal ways. In my above example there are definitely way to enter and not be seen.) Beside the three you talked about, is there anyone who might want the victim dead? Is there anyone who stands to make a lot of money by their death? Is there anyone who might want vengeance on the victim? Was the victim of SO having an affair? Were they blackmailing or being blackmailed? What is on the floor of the room? Was it cleaned before the body was found?

Enough question for now for you to answer

[Togop]

Sorry for the late reply. This is the only topic here I follow, and it's not very active, so I don't log in every day...

Which means it is possible that a guard might have been in on it. They could have dressed like him and faked his voice. It is possible that at the time the other guard saw him, he was already dead. After all you did allow that there might be close friends among the guards. So one guard tell another that they are going to play a joke on some of the other guards and not to give the game away. It is possible that the killer hear about this or even started it and used it. The Conan Canon has KID who does this (act and sound like someone else).

Several guards claimed they are sure they saw Sakamoto's face and heard his voice. Keeping in mind that they are supposed to be well-trained guards, they either actually saw the real him or are all lying.

To specify how many, four guards claim they are sure they saw his face and heard his voice.

I guess I got another question:

Did any of the guards make another guard mad at them? This would allow either lying to get back at another guard or they feel sorry and want to protect the other.

No.

What are the rules? I understand at far as evidence how it works and what kind of information might be asked. But generally you seem to leave a lot open. Example, we are in a universe where magic exist and so a few Conan characters come to visit and thus the rules are different. The killer in this example magically appeared, created the weapon out of thin air hit the victim by moving the weapon without touching it. Then made the weapon and themselves vanish. They were never seen by anyone as they used other means then normal.

Maybe the above while "crazy" (I did not believe it happened that way) might leave you to understand what I mean when I ask what are the rules.

It is a completely realistic case and could be done in the real world today by people without access to special technology. There are no voice-changing bowties or Kid-level disguising techniques.

what are the entries to the room? Is there a secret room or wall? Is there an air shaft in the room? Are there windows? Is the room on the ground floor, and if not what floor is it on? Is there any way to enter the room without being seen? (using normal ways. In my above example there are definitely way to enter and not be seen.) Beside the three you talked about, is there anyone who might want the victim dead? Is there anyone who stands to make a lot of money by their death? Is there anyone who might want vengeance on the victim? Was the victim of SO having an affair? Were they blackmailing or being blackmailed? What is on the floor of the room? Was it cleaned before the body was found?

Enough question for now for you to answer

The room can be entered through the door and through the window. To enter through the door, you'd need to go through the main entrance of the building and past security, but once you are past security, you can enter unnoticed. Climbing the walls unnoticed would have been impossible for anyone, and the window is on the fourth floor. There are no other ways to enter the room.

I have to go now, I'll answer the rest soon (I think I already answered about what is on the floor in one of my previous posts).

[Togop]

OK, to answer the rest of your questions:

Before I was asked

Are there any other clues that can be found near the chairs or on the floor, perhaps?

and the answer was:

Well, Sakamoto has fallen to the left and is lying on the two chairs - his and Kamada's. Obviously blood has come out of the wound and has covered a small part of the floor. One could observe that the leftmost chair hasn't been moved since the blood was spilled.

But well, that is not exactly an answer to what is on the floor.
The floor is covered with a carpet. There are three chairs, facing the door. Sakamoto is lying on the two leftmost of them. Blood has come out of his shot wound and made a puddle on the floor, which has already dried. There is a small table in front of the chairs, which has been pushed slightly away. According to Mr Smith, he pushed it away before he punched Sakamoto in the chest.
The floor has not been cleaned. There are no footprints in the blood, and the carpet is such that no footprints would be left elsewhere anyway.

For the sake of simplicity, let's say that nobody who hasn't been mentioned so far would want Sakamoto dead, however unrealistic that might be.
Sakamoto's son would inherit Sakamoto's share of the company and would probably get his hands on any money Sakamoto embezzled from the company.
Employees that have found out about the embezzlement which threatens the well-being of the company, could lose a lot if they lose their job, and have reasons to believe Sakamoto was the one doing the embezzlement could have a grudge on him. Note that even his partners claim they didn't know he was the one embezzling before he implied it at their meeting.

Sakamoto hasn't remarried after the death of his wife, so he hasn't had any affairs. He wasn't seeing anyone recently either.

Addition to the previous post. I made a slight mess up, saying that someone trying to climb the wall would be recorded on camera. This would imply that the place where the gun was found is also in the sight of a camera, which would make the riddle pointless. So I'll say that that cameras only cover the immediate surroundings of the building (2 meters), the gun is, of course, further away, and it would have been obvious to anyone that the place where the gun was found would not be covered by cameras.

[sstimson]

I request a transcript of the guards statements, all of them. Also you mentioned cameras. Do they show any signs of tamering? Is it possible that a loop recording was playing before, during, or after the murder? In addition of the guards, is the place set up so camera see all the rooms, and hallway?

[sstimson]

Looks like a dead thread. So how about a very simple puzzle. Instead of a Goat, Fox and a Tin can, we got a computer, a virus, and an antivirus. One boat which can only carry two across. Can you get the computer, user, antivirus and virus(computer kind) over the river without the virus getting on the computer, or the antivirus killing the virus?

[bash7353]

Could you give us some more rules for this puzzle? So, the boat can carry two things. I suppose it can't go alone? Can it go with one thing as well? Can the virus go across alone on the boat or is the user the only one who can control it? I guess we have to prevent antivirus and virus (or computer and virus) being in the same place at the same time. But is it okay when the user is around to protect everybody (or everything)?

[sstimson]

The Person must row the boat. If the person (user) is there, then it is ok, but that only happens at the beginning and end.

[bash7353]

Here's my solution:

Spoiler:

First the user transports the virus across and comes back alone. Then it looks like this:

Code: Select all

User
Computer     Virus
Antivirus

Afterwards the user brings the antivirus to the other site and brings the virus back.

Code: Select all

User
Computer     Antivirus
Virus

The user transports the computer and returns alone.

Code: Select all

User         Computer
Virus        Antivirus

Then the user takes the virus across and... Done.