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Assassin is a popular game on college campuses. The game consists of several players trying to eliminate the others by means of squirting them with water pistols in order to be the last survivor. Once hit, the player is out of the game. Game play is fair play at all times and all locations, and tends to last several days depending on the number of participants and their stealth. At Troyhill University, 5 students participated in a game that only lasted four days. Can you determine each player's first name, their color, their assassin alias, how they were eliminated, and their major?
Names: Liam, Anabel, Bella, Oliver, Ethan
Colors: Red, Green, Blue, Purple, Black
Alias: Captain Dawn, Night Stalker, Dark Elf, McStealth, Billy
Capture: Caught at weekly study group, Caught helping friend with car trouble, Ambushed during sleep, Caught on the way to class, Winner
Major: Economics, Biology, Art History, Sociology, Psychology
MONDAY: Liam, the girl named Captain Dawn, and the person in purple avoided any action that day. The psychology major was able to easily catch Ethan because she already had a study group meeting with him that day. Since it was a weekly engagement, he didn't suspect a thing. Goodbye red player.
TUESDAY: Everyone tried to get in on the action today. The girl masquerading as the Dark Elf (who was wearing either black or red) and the sociology major lived to see another day. The purple player was able to catch the obliging yet naive green player by calling her and pretending he had car trouble.
WEDNESDAY: The biology major (who was still "alive") was surprised to hear that the Psychology major, who wasn't Anabel the art history major, ambushed Night Stalker as he slept in his dorm.
THURSDAY: The black player was declared the victor after luckily spotting "Billy" on his way to Mammalian Physiology, a class required by his major.
Names: Liam, Anabel, Bella, Oliver, Ethan
Colors: Red, Green, Blue, Purple, Black
Alias: Captain Dawn, Night Stalker, Dark Elf, McStealth, Billy
Capture: Caught at weekly study group, Caught helping friend with car trouble, Ambushed during sleep, Caught on the way to class, Winner
Major: Economics, Biology, Art History, Sociology, Psychology
MONDAY: Liam, the girl named Captain Dawn, and the person in purple avoided any action that day. The psychology major was able to easily catch Ethan because she already had a study group meeting with him that day. Since it was a weekly engagement, he didn't suspect a thing. Goodbye red player.
TUESDAY: Everyone tried to get in on the action today. The girl masquerading as the Dark Elf (who was wearing either black or red) and the sociology major lived to see another day. The purple player was able to catch the obliging yet naive green player by calling her and pretending he had car trouble.
WEDNESDAY: The biology major (who was still "alive") was surprised to hear that the Psychology major, who wasn't Anabel the art history major, ambushed Night Stalker as he slept in his dorm.
THURSDAY: The black player was declared the victor after luckily spotting "Billy" on his way to Mammalian Physiology, a class required by his major.
Hint
All names are conventional for their gender.Mammalian physiology is a course that biology majors would take.
Answer
Liam, Blue, Night Stalker, Ambush, SociologyAnabel, Green, Captain Dawn, Car, Art History
Bella, Black, Dark Elf, Winner, Psychology
Oliver, Purple, Billy, Class, Biology
Ethan, Red, McStealth, Study Group, Economics
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Comments
So hard!!!
Not overly difficult, but enough to make it fun.
Really enjoyed this, thanks!
this was really fun you know really tested your mind with only some difficulty
Good one! Thanks.
This was quite hard for me, and I couldn't get it (I discovered I'd made a mistake about halfway through and gave up), but it was certainly fun!
Very confusing ... but very good!!
I love the game Assassins. I wish it would work to play in other places other than college. Thanks for the great teaser, it made my brain work.
a very nice puzzle! thanx.......
got confused with the pronouns in the last clue
nice job!!
nice job!!
Loved this one, my favourite one so far. It has a great story and is not confusing.
Dec 23, 2011
Yeah the last sentence was confusing. I took it to mean that the black player was on his way to Mammalian Physiology, not Billy.
I am convinced that you cannot figure this out, completely.
I have Anabel, Bella and Ethan completely figured out (correctly, based on the answer), along with the other relationships between alias, elimination method and major, as well as the color of each person, but I cannot tie Liam (Blue) or Oliver (Purple) to either combination of Night Stalker/Ambush/Sociology or Billy/Class/Biology. What could I have missed?
I have Anabel, Bella and Ethan completely figured out (correctly, based on the answer), along with the other relationships between alias, elimination method and major, as well as the color of each person, but I cannot tie Liam (Blue) or Oliver (Purple) to either combination of Night Stalker/Ambush/Sociology or Billy/Class/Biology. What could I have missed?
Mar 26, 2012
^^I agree, I get to the same spot. It looks like you need to assume that each day's clue will mention each player once, and only once. With this assumption, tuesday's clue will make the distinction between the two of them.
Sep 29, 2012
I actually figured it out! I guess watching all those crime investigation shows really paid off. Hehe, it took a lot of thought but I did it nonetheless!
I was stuck in the same place for a bit, (had two players left with their colors figured out, had two remaining nicknames to assign which I knew the majors associated with the nicknames as well as the way they were caught, but not their color), but from there, it is still solveable, just takes a closer look.
i didnt get it hard, it's a simple teaser, but i got a little trouble with my vocab. i'm not an english/british and i'm not good in english language. ;)
Hi
I also got stuck with the Liam/Oliver conundrum, but thanks to Timmay's suggestion that each character is only mentioned once in each paragraph, that fixed my problem. Is that the right way to approach this teaser? if so I think there should be a hint or something, as the convention is usually that you don't assume anything.
A very entertaining puzzle, well done.
I also got stuck with the Liam/Oliver conundrum, but thanks to Timmay's suggestion that each character is only mentioned once in each paragraph, that fixed my problem. Is that the right way to approach this teaser? if so I think there should be a hint or something, as the convention is usually that you don't assume anything.
A very entertaining puzzle, well done.
I got everything up until it was between the two girls, which I mixed up since I thought whoever was eliminated wouldn't be mentioned in the following days. (The green player who was matched with car trouble got eliminated on Tuesday but is also Anabel who was mentioned on Wednesday)
^^ could not have said it better myself, brainhealth! Fun though
I still didn't understand how to make choice between liam and oliver.. can anybody help?
Great puzzle! Finally got through the 'Liam and Oliver' roadblock to get the answer. Well done to the maker.
Great puzzle! Finally got through the 'Liam and Oliver' roadblock to get the answer. Well done to the maker.
Great puzzle! Finally got through the 'Liam and Oliver' roadblock to get the answer. Well done to the maker.
Great puzzle! Finally got through the 'Liam and Oliver' roadblock to get the answer. Well done to the maker.
Great puzzle! Finally got through the 'Liam and Oliver' roadblock to get the answer. Well done to the maker.
The puzzle is flawed due to ambiguity here:
"the sociology major lived to see another day. The purple player was able..."
It is not safe to assume that these are two different people based on how it is worded. But to overcome the "Liam/Oliver" problem, you need to assume that.
"the sociology major lived to see another day. The purple player was able..."
It is not safe to assume that these are two different people based on how it is worded. But to overcome the "Liam/Oliver" problem, you need to assume that.
Great puzzle! Took me a while though, but I'm happy I could answer it correctly. If I were in the game, I'm probably going to name myself Stealthy McStealthface lol
I had to reload the grid a few times before I finally figured it out!
Now I want to go play Assassin on a campus somewhere!
Now I want to go play Assassin on a campus somewhere!
Sorry, but this is a flawed game. There are THREE males in this game, and only 2 CONVENTIONAL male names.
We are told Liam is a girl. Anabel and Bella are girl names. This means once you eliminate Ethan with the first day's clue, all you have left with a male name is Oliver.
However, a male is caught in the car and a male is caught "Billy" on the way back from his biology class.
We are told Liam is a girl. Anabel and Bella are girl names. This means once you eliminate Ethan with the first day's clue, all you have left with a male name is Oliver.
However, a male is caught in the car and a male is caught "Billy" on the way back from his biology class.
^^
I was kinda confused too! I thought they meant that Liam was captain dawn, but they mean Liam and captain dawn and the person in purple avoided action today. Commas can be used to state someone again as a different position or role, like: I know the king, ruler of the world, and his fine army. That's what I though they were doing with Liam; making it known that Liam was captain dawn. Unfortunately that in not the case. Commas can also be used to list over two things in a list, like: I know the king, his army, and the queen. That is the case for this problem. The king and his army are two different people just used in the same sentence, meaning Liam and captain dawn are two different people.
Also, for the last part on Thursday: Billy takes Mammalian Physiology, not the black player. It was unclear which one actually took the class; the black player could have found Billy while going to the class or the black player could have found Billy while Billy was going to the class (the class being Mammalian Physiology, if you forgot) so it's unclear but I've checked the answers and done them both ways and the problem only works if you just assume that Billy takes Mammalian Physiology.
Sorry if it's still confusing. I recommend you give the problem a second chance, as it's actually super fun (depending on the person) and rewarding when completed.
Hope my explanation helped, and good luck!
I was kinda confused too! I thought they meant that Liam was captain dawn, but they mean Liam and captain dawn and the person in purple avoided action today. Commas can be used to state someone again as a different position or role, like: I know the king, ruler of the world, and his fine army. That's what I though they were doing with Liam; making it known that Liam was captain dawn. Unfortunately that in not the case. Commas can also be used to list over two things in a list, like: I know the king, his army, and the queen. That is the case for this problem. The king and his army are two different people just used in the same sentence, meaning Liam and captain dawn are two different people.
Also, for the last part on Thursday: Billy takes Mammalian Physiology, not the black player. It was unclear which one actually took the class; the black player could have found Billy while going to the class or the black player could have found Billy while Billy was going to the class (the class being Mammalian Physiology, if you forgot) so it's unclear but I've checked the answers and done them both ways and the problem only works if you just assume that Billy takes Mammalian Physiology.
Sorry if it's still confusing. I recommend you give the problem a second chance, as it's actually super fun (depending on the person) and rewarding when completed.
Hope my explanation helped, and good luck!
!!SPOILERS!!
to those of you struggling with the Liam/Oliver problem, here's some tips/hints.
the first two hints don't really give anything away, they're there to help you think a little more about clues given. The last hint does reveal something, so just be aware of that.
The information you (should) know:
Oliver is the purple player.
Liam is the Blue player.
The Sociology major was ambushed and is Night Stalker.
The Biology major was in class when he "died" and is Billy.
Since everything is tied up like this, as long as you can find out one characteristic about Liam and Oliver (besides their color) you have everything figured out.
HINT ONE: something I did that helped me figure who a lot of people were was I would figure out who everyone else was first. What do I mean by that?
If you know who everyone is in one day but one person, you can figure put that one person by process of elimination.
NOTE: MY EXAMPLES ARE NOT THE ACTUAL ANSWER. JUST BECAUSE I USE THE SAME NAMES GIVEN IN THE PROBLEM AS I DO IN MY EXAMPLE DOES NOT MEAN THE ANSWERS ARE RIGHT FOR THIS PROBLEM. THE EXAMPLE IS ONLY USED TO DEMONSTRATE AND UNDERSTAND THE STRATEGIES I USED, NOT TO GIVE YOU THE ANSWER. THE ANSWER SHOULD BE GOTTEN BY USING THE STRATEGIES/HINTS, SO THEY CAN LEND A HELPING HAND IF YOU'RE A LITTLE CONFUSED.
Example(not acurrate): the green player died today. Captain dawn survived. Bella and the person in blue hid. So if you knew who the green player, Bella, and the blue player was, you could find out who captain dawn is by process of elimination.
to those of you struggling with the Liam/Oliver problem, here's some tips/hints.
the first two hints don't really give anything away, they're there to help you think a little more about clues given. The last hint does reveal something, so just be aware of that.
The information you (should) know:
Oliver is the purple player.
Liam is the Blue player.
The Sociology major was ambushed and is Night Stalker.
The Biology major was in class when he "died" and is Billy.
Since everything is tied up like this, as long as you can find out one characteristic about Liam and Oliver (besides their color) you have everything figured out.
HINT ONE: something I did that helped me figure who a lot of people were was I would figure out who everyone else was first. What do I mean by that?
If you know who everyone is in one day but one person, you can figure put that one person by process of elimination.
NOTE: MY EXAMPLES ARE NOT THE ACTUAL ANSWER. JUST BECAUSE I USE THE SAME NAMES GIVEN IN THE PROBLEM AS I DO IN MY EXAMPLE DOES NOT MEAN THE ANSWERS ARE RIGHT FOR THIS PROBLEM. THE EXAMPLE IS ONLY USED TO DEMONSTRATE AND UNDERSTAND THE STRATEGIES I USED, NOT TO GIVE YOU THE ANSWER. THE ANSWER SHOULD BE GOTTEN BY USING THE STRATEGIES/HINTS, SO THEY CAN LEND A HELPING HAND IF YOU'RE A LITTLE CONFUSED.
Example(not acurrate): the green player died today. Captain dawn survived. Bella and the person in blue hid. So if you knew who the green player, Bella, and the blue player was, you could find out who captain dawn is by process of elimination.
Let's say the green player is Liam and the blue player is Oliver. Ethan has already died previously. That means the remaining people are Liam, Anabel, Bella, and Oliver. Since the blue player is Oliver, the green player is Liam, and Bella is Bella, the only person that has not shown up is Anabel, making Anabel Captain dawn.
HINT TWO: The only thing you need to do is confirm that Oliver or Liam did or did not have a certain role.
That might sound confusing, but I'm just kind of terrible with wording things.
What I mean is that you don't exactly need to figure out whether or not Liam/Oliver is Billy or Night Stalker, just as long as you figure out what they're not.
Example(not accurate): if you know either Anabel or Bella was the winner and the other lost because they were ambushed at night, try looking for clues that say what they're not, instead of what they are.
Let's say we just found out that Anabel did not win. Just because we did not hear that she was ambushed at night doesn't mean she wasn't, you just have to fill in the blanks.
I know this sound obvious, but try it!
HINT THREE:
Okay, last one!
As I said before this one isn't really a tip or strategy, it's.. just kinda a hint.
Try doing this for yourself before looking at the hint because it'll be too easy to guess once you know it.
This is just for people who are really struggling and need it.
You can solve the Liam/Oliver hint by looking at the day Tuesday. Good luck.
Hope this helped a little!
(Also sorry if there are some spelling mistakes it's currently 3 A.M where I'm at and I just wanna go to bed now. Sorry.)
HINT TWO: The only thing you need to do is confirm that Oliver or Liam did or did not have a certain role.
That might sound confusing, but I'm just kind of terrible with wording things.
What I mean is that you don't exactly need to figure out whether or not Liam/Oliver is Billy or Night Stalker, just as long as you figure out what they're not.
Example(not accurate): if you know either Anabel or Bella was the winner and the other lost because they were ambushed at night, try looking for clues that say what they're not, instead of what they are.
Let's say we just found out that Anabel did not win. Just because we did not hear that she was ambushed at night doesn't mean she wasn't, you just have to fill in the blanks.
I know this sound obvious, but try it!
HINT THREE:
Okay, last one!
As I said before this one isn't really a tip or strategy, it's.. just kinda a hint.
Try doing this for yourself before looking at the hint because it'll be too easy to guess once you know it.
This is just for people who are really struggling and need it.
You can solve the Liam/Oliver hint by looking at the day Tuesday. Good luck.
Hope this helped a little!
(Also sorry if there are some spelling mistakes it's currently 3 A.M where I'm at and I just wanna go to bed now. Sorry.)
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