The King and the Poison
Logic puzzles require you to think. You will have to be logical in your reasoning.
In a far away land, it was known that if you drank poison, the only way to save yourself is to drink a stronger poison, which neutralizes the weaker poison. The king that ruled the land wanted to make sure that he possessed the strongest poison in the kingdom, in order to ensure his survival, in any situation. So the king called the kingdom's pharmacist and the kingdom's treasurer, he gave each a week to make the strongest poison. Then, each would drink the other one's poison, then his own, and the one that will survive, will be the one that had the stronger poison.
The pharmacist went straight to work, but the treasurer knew he had no chance, for the pharmacist was much more experienced in this field, so instead, he made up a plan to survive and make sure the pharmacist dies. On the last day the pharmacist suddenly realized that the treasurer would know he had no chance, so he must have a plan. After a little thought, the pharmacist realized what the treasurer's plan must be, and he concocted a counter plan, to make sure he survives and the treasurer dies. When the time came, the king summoned both of them. They drank the poisons as planned, and the treasurer died, the pharmacist survived, and the king didn't get what he wanted.
What exactly happened there?
Answer
The treasurer's plan was to drink a weak poison prior to the meeting with the king, and then he would drink the pharmacist's strong poison, which would neutralize the weak poison. As his own poison he would bring water, which will have no effect on him, but the pharmacist who would drink the water, and then his poison would surely die. When the pharmacist figured out this plan, he decided to bring water as well. So the treasurer who drank poison earlier, drank the pharmacist's water, then his own water, and died of the poison he drank before. The pharmacist would drink only water, so nothing will happen to him. And because both of them brought the king water, he didn't get a strong poison like he wanted.
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Comments
maneesh
Nov 22, 2001
| Cool !!! |
tec_ocd
Dec 12, 2001
| yeah....way cool |
phatcheeks1080
Jan 25, 2002
| wow |
anneofgg14
Jan 26, 2002
| I really liked this puzzle! |
DillKill47
Feb 09, 2002
| That was cool
|
Zazzar
Feb 10, 2002
| In fact is WAS cool... reading the answer that is. For I could not solve it... and not unlike Mr. Owl, I "bit" into the chewy center after only 3 licks. |
captbob61
Mar 26, 2002
| I came up with a few different possible scenarios, but that is tough! Really good presentation of the problem too. Great job! |
rohddawg
Mar 26, 2002
| sweet!!! |
pusandave
Mar 28, 2002
| Fun and well written! |
comet16
Mar 30, 2002
| Awesome puzzle!!! |
emilymonkeymaia
Apr 11, 2002
| Wah cool! |
arij
Apr 12, 2002
| this ones so good that I just cannot tell you! |
GoldieLuvNeopets
Apr 24, 2002
| Wow great job! |
einat16 
May 02, 2002
| I really liked this one... very nice...
p.s.- me eifo ata? yesh leha shem ivri... |
SandPman
May 12, 2002
| One of the best I have seen on here - very good. |
O_wise_one
May 19, 2002
| Very long, but it was WELL worth the wait, did U see that somewhere, or did U make it up? Either way, VERY good and VERY entertaining! |
andy1608
Jun 05, 2002
| Note for potential treasurers (and pharmacists I guess!) If you take a poison which is slightly stronger than the poison you drink before going in, you'll be OK and the pharmacist will die. (as long as he still brings water.) Your slightly stronger poison will neutralise your earlier inbibed one, but still kill the sneaky pharmacist. Ha ha. So you can never be too sure! Still a superb teaser, one of my top 3 definitely. |
mavericklotus
Jun 06, 2002
| A great teaser. Yet, I feel it needs to be made clear that the 'antidote' poison loses its deadly qualities as it neutralises the prior, weaker venom.
I was hung up on the idea that to survive, one would need to continually consume stronger and stronger poison! |
odcsurferchick
Jun 16, 2002
| i thought that |
odcsurferchick
Jun 16, 2002
| i thought that 1 of them had killed the other and they all lived happyley ever after! |
Smart
Jun 29, 2002
| cool! |
doggyxp 
Jul 06, 2002
| I like this riddle is good, but sortof copfusing. |
Jasin
Jul 09, 2002
| Excellent presentation. I really enjoyed reading and contemplating this one. |
jillybean
Jul 15, 2002
| i thought the pharmasist was going to bring nothing so i was sorta close |
sk8babe
Jul 17, 2002
| Well written!!
=¬) |
pix_e_suhst
Jul 22, 2002
| Okay its not really the same but it reminded my of that scene in the princess bride... heh
|
Natalie_H
Jul 28, 2002
| Interesting! |
TatiDaPoet
Jul 29, 2002
| OKay! That teaser was soo awesome...definately one of my favs! I give you mad props on that one! It was super clever! |
DanceJiver
Jul 29, 2002
| Trae cool
I have never seen anything like that. Igot confused snd I liked it |
4sH_n_7ay_t4y
Jul 30, 2002
| Not too shabby |
(user deleted)
Aug 08, 2002
| its pretty long and confusing.. but i understood it wen i read the answer |
bmotts
Aug 15, 2002
| If there's one bad poison teaser, I haven't heard it! |
dsquared 
Aug 19, 2002
| That is one truly fantastic teaser!!! |
sackonto
Oct 11, 2002
| I must say - very cool teaser.
Great explanation of the given facts.
I was excited to see that the answer
was exactly as I had guessed. I am
rarely that close to the answer on
a teaser that's so involved. |
Ember
Oct 23, 2002
| Very well writen and pretty difficult.
~~~nice job~~~ |
the_smart_one
Nov 23, 2002
| I love how you wrote this story. It was very good in the biggest font ever. GREAT JOB!!!!!! |
stonemug
Dec 20, 2002
| good one, I've seen this one on another site. |
deekdotcom
Dec 20, 2002
| Very well done Yanivster. I would have to say that this was the best teaser that i've ever read |
rajeshwar
Jan 23, 2003
| what a wonderful logic......
|
SourGir1986
Jan 29, 2003
| That was great! |
lohki
Mar 20, 2003
| one word UBAH...very nice teaser..my fav so far |
hermdawg
Apr 04, 2003
| Awesome! |
whyme
Apr 05, 2003
| HEHEHEHEHEHEHEHEHE!  |
gladiator1442
Apr 14, 2003
| wow clever! |
desilu72
Apr 20, 2003
| I figured out that there was water involved, but couldn't quite make the connection...well done. |
delendasd
May 09, 2003
| very nice indeed, job well done! |
adoontourious
May 19, 2003
| thats a good one, made me think about it like a good brain tease should |
tangerine
May 23, 2003
| Wow ... nice job! Really liked it!  ~Tangi~ |
kara
Jun 18, 2003
| I could've used a clue or two.
|
Smithy
Jul 05, 2003
| I saw this exact puzzle, word for word, on another website. But its a brilliant puzzle so that doesn't matter.  ) |
xX_2_CuTe_Xx
Jul 10, 2003
| THIS ONE IS AWEOSME!! if there is/was an award for best riddle/puzzle this would have my vote!! |
jacintan
Aug 09, 2003
| This was very good, but at one point you called it a poison- not a potion. |
icehaven
Aug 12, 2003
| Quite confusing... |
kittycat663
Oct 16, 2003
| way cool....... i thought for some reason the king would end up with nothing but i didn't realize how til' i read the answer. Really really really smart. |
kittycat663
Oct 16, 2003
| i tihnk you mean to say they drank the POISON as planned. |
AXTON 
Jan 15, 2004
| Fantastic teaser, easily the best i have read!!!!
CONGRATULATIONS |
bbngk
Jan 15, 2004
| Great One |
CrystalScryer
Feb 09, 2004
| That was a very interesting and confusing one! I like it, it's 'cool'...  |
MasterMind90
Feb 21, 2004
| Very Clever! Iwould have never guessed!  |
crystalstar
Jun 25, 2004
| Woaaaaaaaah, that was so awesome! Great! |
agenteasy
Jun 29, 2004
| Sorry guys, but this one doesn't work...
The basic premise of the problem is that it takes a STRONG POISON to cancel a WEAK POISON. Therefore the treasurer's plan to bring water to the competition would have killed him (he would drink the water, and then drink the pharmacist's poison and then die from it).
We can't say that water is the "weakest poison" because that would imply that anything is a weak poison, and therefore no poison could ever have effect (because it would be, by definition, always following a weaker poison... and therefore an antidote)
Sorry.... |
Rashad
Jul 22, 2004
| What happened to the pharmacist after that knowing that he didn't do what the KING told him? |
twixy
Jul 23, 2004
| i liked this teaser. |
hot_chick
Jul 28, 2004
| WOW! excellent, quite long but worth the wait, keep it up! very good |
(user deleted)
Aug 09, 2004
| Outstanding teaser |
Chosh
Nov 09, 2004
| Brilliant. Absolutely Brilliant. |
Kdub
Nov 15, 2004
| I love it when a logic puzzle tests my logic like this one. Good teaser |
stormtrooper
Feb 09, 2005
| To the favorites! |
darthforman
May 18, 2005
| Sweet! I like it. |
goosh
Jul 02, 2005
| i liked it- i got the answer wrong- but it was still very good  |
mercenary007
May 04, 2006
| good teaser |
Psychic_Master
Jul 30, 2006
| Very good and well-written teaser! Definitely going on my favourites! |
Ozzoatmealking
Aug 03, 2006
| Man, that bugged me for quite a while. But it felt so good when i finally figured it out. Nice teaser |
wandering_goat
Oct 31, 2006
| I love this one. I was determined to figure this out and finally, after wracking my brain over this for a while, I got it. |
eyenowhour
Dec 18, 2006
| Great job! I couldn't figure it out until I saw the answer. Very clever. |
adiga_on_line
Jan 15, 2007
| This is the most coolest teaser I've ever seen
Good Job! |
brudork
Mar 25, 2007
| WOW!!... GREAT TEASER |
oddrey
Jun 02, 2007
| well written, fun, and i loved it. |
bfriedfischtom
Apr 14, 2008
| Great one.
Andy1608 said: If the treasurer now realizes, that the pharmacist will also bring water?
He the can switch back to poison and still win.
But what if the pharmacist realizes that the treasurer realized that he realized ... and switch back to poison as well?
Ad infinitum.
What happens, if one drinks 3 poisons in a row, weak->strong->strongest.
Will you survive?
If yes, then there is a sure solution for the pharmacist:
drink the weakest poison there is before and bring in the strongest there is to the king.
If it is a toggle: no sure way .... |
cwjakesteel
Nov 11, 2008
| If they both brought water then how could either of them die? It said that the treasurer's poison was water so he couldn't have died from that poison which was the first one. |
javaguru
Jan 03, 2009
| While it was pretty easy to figure out, I liked this one because the answer was logically tight. Some of the teasers of this style have an arbitrary aspect.
Very nice. |
Paladin
Mar 16, 2009
| Not sure why there is so much confusion over the answer... it is pretty plain and simply explained.
The treasurer expected the pharmacist to make a strong poison, so the treasurer's plan was to drink water. Since a stronger poison neutralizes a weaker poison, the treasurer would drink a very weak poison ahead of time. Thus we would have the following:
T0 = weak poison
T1 = weak poison + pharmacist's poison = neutral
T2 = neutralized poison + water
P0 = nothing
P1 = nothing + water
P2 = water + pharmacist's posion
Clearly the pharmacist would die.
The pharmacist expected this plan and knew he would drink water from the treaurer then would be killed by his own poison, so he decided to bring water as well:
T0 = weak poison
T1 = weak poison + water
T2 = weak poision + water + water
P0 = nothing
P1 = water
P2 = water + water
In this scenario, the treasurer would die, the pharmacist would live, and the king would have water thinking it was the strongest poison in the kingdom.
This is a logic puzzle, and as such you have to take the premises as fact. It may not make logical sense that a strong poison could neutralize a weaker poison, but that is irrelevant in this case as it is an assumed fact.
Very well done logic problem! |
bigmit37
Jul 08, 2009
| This was very logical and I loved it.
Couldn't solve it but I am happy with the answer. |
(user deleted)
Feb 05, 2010
| Solved it. Though, I'm not usually good at these, got lucky |
princess2007
Feb 23, 2013
| I figured it out to the point that they'd both bring water. I just never got how the treasurer could survive.  I guess I assumed that if he'd have anything before their "poison-drinking tournament", he'd die before the tournament started. Kinda arbitrary I guess. Good teaser! |
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