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It's unsolvable! (Posted on 2004-02-02) Difficulty: 4 of 5
My friend told me this complex story. Everyone in it is either a knight, knave, or liar (more than one person can have the same status). Knights always tell truths, liars always lie, and knaves always alternate every statement.

Everyone knew the status of everyone else except for my friend (he knew nothing at first). If anyone lied about what someone said, they didn’t lie about who, when, or whether they said it; they only lied about what the person said. The story goes as follows.

Aaron and Bill were talking to me.
Aaron told me what he was.
At this point, I could tell what Aaron was.
Bill told me one thing that he wasn’t.
Aaron told me that Cassie was a knight.
I then could figure out what Cassie was.
Bill told me that Cassie was a knave.
I thought about this for a minute.
I soon found that the previous thing Bill said allowed me to know for sure what the last of the three people were.

What type is everyone? The puzzle is solvable.

See The Solution Submitted by Tristan    
Rating: 4.1111 (9 votes)

Comments: ( Back to comment list | You must be logged in to post comments.)
Solution? | Comment 19 of 23 |
If your friend is a knight then: If Aaron said he was a knight he could have been any of the three things, if he said he was a knave he could have been a knave or a liar, therefore Aaron said he was a liar which can only be said by a knave whilst lying. So Aaron next statement must be true which makes Cassie a Knight. Bill is therefore either a liar or a lying knave in his statement about Cassie. So if in his first statement he said he wasn't a liar he could have been a truthful knave or a liar. If he said he wasn't a knave he could have been neither. So he must have said he wasn't a knight making him a Knave.

A=Knave
B=Knave
C=Knight
  Posted by Mark Rees on 2004-03-30 05:49:54
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