You are on an island and you meet three people, Jeswin, Parker and Crasbo. You know that they are either liars, knights or knaves (someone who alternates between truth and lie). They have a strange religion - for one half of the year they talk in English and for the other half they talk Gambalidarian (their language). Naturally, you arrive during the latter part of the year. You know that if you ask them what they are, they either say 'Blarg', 'Grot' or 'Cloysta', but you don't know which means what out of liar knight and knave. You also know that 'Jappa' means 'is a' and 'Bokka' means 'I am a'. They give the following statements:

Jeswin : Bokka Grot. Parker Jappa Cloysta.

Parker : Bokka Blarg. Crasbo Jappa Blarg.

Crasbo : Bokka Grot. Jeswin Jappa Cloysta.

What does Blarg, Grot and Cloysta mean in English, and what are each of the people?

There is no clear solution as there are six possibilities:

Blarg Grot   Cloysta   Jeswin    Parker    Crasbo
Knave Knight Liar      Knight    Liar      Liar
Knave Knight Liar      Knave(FT) Liar      Liar
Knave Knight Liar      Liar      Knave(TF) Knight
Liar  Knight Knave     Knight    Knave(FT) Liar
Liar  Knave  Knight    Knave(TF) Knave(FT) Liar
Liar  Knave  Knight    Liar      Knave(FT) Liar

What can be deduced with some certainty is that "Blarg" does not mean "Knight", "Grot" does not mean "Liar", Parker is not a Knight, and Crasbo is not a Knave.

If given each of the natives are of a different type, then Parker is a Knave and "Grot" means "Knight", yet the types of Jeswin and Crasbo would remain uncertain as would the meanings of the words "Blarg" and "Cloysta".

Posted by Dej Mar on 2013-04-18 00:21:02