Three reporters were discussing the hockey results. The TV reporter said "Either Brazil won gold, or Chile won silver, but not both." The radio reporter similarly started to say "Either Argentine won silver, or Chile won …", but a sudden noise cut him off.

The press reporter, who was lucky enough to hear the complete sentence, could reason out the final order of the three countries. What was it?

(In reply to re(7):solution by Federico Kereki)

You say "the 'similarly' implied that the second reporter would have ended his sentence with 'but not both'," but it was "similarly started to say", not "similarly said".

I would agree with Smullyan that "either ... or ..." can mean "A or B", and would find a difference in meaning by adding "but not both".

But even with either view allowed, the answer to the puzzle is still the same, Brazil, Argentina, Chile.

Posted by Charlie on 2003-10-07 14:33:07