Brain Teasers
The Case of Henry's Prison Messages
Situation
Situation puzzles (sometimes called lateral thinking puzzles) are ones where you need to ask lots of yes or no questions to figure out what happened in the situation. These are good puzzles for groups where one person knows the puzzle and answers the questions.Situation
Henry is in federal prison on a charge of tax fraud. He is actually innocent and was framed by his dishonest accountant. He has been in prison for five years and is growing very weary of prison life. He is up for parole in 2 years. He has even thought about escaping over the years, but only one prisoner has ever made it out successfully. That person used to be his cellmate. Henry is still angry that the other guy didn't take him with him. At the time of his cellmate's escape, Henry had been sick in the prison hospital.
Each month, he gets to send 10 letters and postcards to anyone he chooses. He has used all of his quota for the month except for one. The mail-metering machine is broke, and the prison is passing out stamps to the prisoners instead. Officials always censor all outgoing mail and inspect it before mailing. Henry hates this and usually tries to hide messages in his mail that the prison officials are sure to miss.
He writes the following postcard to his wife:
I miss you so much.
Love you very much.
You are the best.
See you very soon I hope.
You are so wonderful.
Very much miss you and the kids.
Soon, I will be outta here on parole.
(If the board gives their stamp of approval)
Love, Henry
Henry has included two hidden messages on his postcard. What are the messages and where can they be found?
Each month, he gets to send 10 letters and postcards to anyone he chooses. He has used all of his quota for the month except for one. The mail-metering machine is broke, and the prison is passing out stamps to the prisoners instead. Officials always censor all outgoing mail and inspect it before mailing. Henry hates this and usually tries to hide messages in his mail that the prison officials are sure to miss.
He writes the following postcard to his wife:
I miss you so much.
Love you very much.
You are the best.
See you very soon I hope.
You are so wonderful.
Very much miss you and the kids.
Soon, I will be outta here on parole.
(If the board gives their stamp of approval)
Love, Henry
Henry has included two hidden messages on his postcard. What are the messages and where can they be found?
Hint
You probably found the first message very quickly. Now, the second is far more tricky, or even the prison officials would have found it.Read Henry's message carefully. He has provided his wife a clue to one of his messages.
Answer
The first message is "I Love You See You Very Soon." This message is found by simply taking the first word from each of line of the message to his wife.The clue for the second message is in Henry's very last line to his wife. He is not up for parole for 2 more years, so she knew the last line was a clue and not what it appeared. The second message is hidden under the stamp. You will not be able to solve what it says because it is hidden. Henry wrote, "Escaping on 4/15 Pick up at Grand Central Station 8AM under the clock"
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