In a fantastical kingdom governed by peculiar rules, a deadly game of wits unfolds between two poison masters – Smith and Jones. Here’s how it played out:
Within this realm, everyone knows that consuming any poison results in death within an hour. However, there’s a twist: ingesting a stronger poison acts as an antidote, instantly reversing the lethal effects of the weaker one.
Smith and Jones are the sole purveyors of poisons, each crafting several varieties with varying strengths. They operate independently, with no knowledge of their competitor’s concoctions. This potent secrecy forms the foundation of the deadly game orchestrated by the Queen.
Driven by an insatiable curiosity (or perhaps a twisted sense of amusement), the Queen announces a public challenge: Smith and Jones must each bring a vial of their most potent poison to her palace within a week. On a designated day, they will partake in a ritualistic ceremony.
First, both men will drink from each other’s vials – a potentially lethal gamble. Then, they’ll consume from their own bottles. For one agonizing hour, the court will watch as fate decides who survives and who succumbs to the toxins. The Queen makes it clear that only the manufacturer of the strongest poison can hope to live, while the loser faces certain death.
Faced with this dreadful ultimatum, Smith and Jones spend a week consumed by worry, strategizing frantically to cheat death. The appointed day arrives. They appear before the court, swallow their rivals’ poisons, and then drink their own.
To everyone’s shock, both men collapse within minutes, dead from poisoning. This wasn’t supposed to happen – if one had brought a strong poison, wouldn’t it have neutralized the weaker opponent’s brew? The Royal Coroner confirms that both succumbed to toxic assault, not an accidental double-dose.
What happened in this shocking turn of events?
A simple solution lies within the cunningly deceptive minds of Smith and Jones. They each chose to drink a weak poison shortly before the ceremony. Instead of bringing their strongest concoctions as directed, they brought vials filled with mere water. Each man, therefore, drank the other’s diluted water first, followed by their own harmless liquid – and ultimately died from the pre-consumed, weaker poison in their system.
The puzzle reveals how each man cleverly attempted to outsmart the other. Smith assumed Jones wouldn’t think of this trickery and would present a lethal antidote instead. If so, Smith’s own weak poison would be neutralized by Jones’ potent brew, ensuring his survival while condemning Jones. The same logic dictated Jones’ actions – both men played the same deadly game, leading to their tragic simultaneous demise.
This ingenious lateral thinking puzzle, originally crafted by Michael Rabin in the 1980s and resurrected by mathematician Timothy Chow, highlights how even seemingly foolproof scenarios can crumble when cunning minds engage in a dangerous battle of wits.
