I will never, ever, not show our work ever again. @.@

Awh...And the inspector and I were getting so close...I wanted some alone time.

Nothing could be worse then the answer Silver Legends gave after much discussion. We didn't even name a suspect. LOL BUT we did give an answer in true Silver Legends form. Hope there is points for that. :) smiles sweetly

You didn't have to. It was actually the suspect you chose that determined your score. The reasoning only helped in one case, because one team went totally outside the box.

Well, you'll get another chance, and he is still looking at you with....you know....

oh good my inspector love is not lost. :) LOL

I want to see this answer, if the team doesn't mind. Also, I do wonder why the Inspector clearly withheld information from us, as to the murder weapon!

The weapon was very key in this one, and, as soon as I finish typing up the judges comments and explanations, I'll post, and hopefully, you won't be as annoyed and upset as you are now. That isn't the intention. :)

Oh, I'm frustrated with myself, not you. Was the weapon key? Hm, I only used that to help fill in the grid. shrugs I was teasing about the Inspector. ^.^

Weapon didn't matter, but it was a great red herring. The Inspector was/is definitely frustrating.

Now, as to the scoring: While all our judges separately did come up with the correct solution, they also gave a lot of credit to those teams who arrested poor Sir Squeaker. (Never believe a Cheesy woman.) They also gave a nod to Four Seasons who went outside the box and set the clock ahead of 9:05 as the first time. (If only they hadn't believed Ms. Cheesy when she said she didn't do it!)

(Please note they are all huge puzzle solvers of one kind or another, and my Math professor loved the missing info twist. ;) )

So. with scoring on a 100 point scale, here are your rankings:

Nailed It! 100

League of Whovians Webby's Watsons Mischievous Misfits

So Close! 80

Four Seasons Nightowls Meddlesome Madams Cosmic Sleuths

On the Right Track, But...60

Raider's Folly

Dang, Dang, and...Dang! 40

The Fellowship Team Sparrow

Legends Still to Come! 20

Silver Legends

we could have just not sent anything in but I still think we nailed it. grins

Your math professor is in on this? That's great! And yes, the missing info was a good twist, but I couldn't figure out the grid. Is there a possibility of obtaining a walkthrough of the solution based on the clues for those of us that are still scratching our heads?

we could have just not sent anything in but I still think we nailed it. grins

Dang Subeta gave me a WITCHY moment with multi posting. Although either I am super tired or something cus this made me LMAO!

Give me a chance to care and feed for hubby who got home late and is still getting over that nasty strep things and I'll give you what they gave me in an organized form. :)

shames for spamming

Seems to me we're right on track.. if we did everything the way we were supposed to, we wouldn't be the Silver Legends!

Thanks! Also, moving the other post here from the IC thread:

Actually, the inspector said that the uncle was /killed/ at 10:30...but a coroner wouldn't really have been able to determine that, without first figuring out that the poison was the killer, and how long it would take to work. He'd only be able to nail down time of death.

I MADDER FLIPPIN KNEW IT WAS SQUEAKER!!! Ugh. I am off to rest my poor head again.

Agreed. Totally right on track for Silver Legends. Im surprised we are never asked how we come to the conclusions we do on things. Although I think the judges fear the response we give would be more confusing then our original answers. LOL

That should be our strategy.. confuse them into victory for us! Let's work on that.

Okay, let's break that mystery down some more.

Starting with obvious facts, we can fill in: the revolver with Ms. Scratchy, Ms. Cheesy leaving a hair while Lord Buckteeth left a fingerprint. Sir Squeaker was in the room for MORE than 35 minutes, and Ms. Cheesy's method was jealousy.

For the "never/not's": Mr. Ratso didn't leave a fingerprint or carry poison, Ms. Scratchy's motive wasn't revenge, or rage, or blackmail; Lord Buckteeth didn't have a lead pipe; Sir Squeaker wasn't using blackmail or greed.

Now, combining all these with the gender clues and suspect's statement, we can deduce such things as Ms. Scratchy leaving a footprint and Mr. Ratso having blackmail as a motive.

Moving down those lines, we end up with this:

Mr. Ratso: ???, Blackmail, ??? Ms. Cheesy, Poison, Jealousy, Hair Sir Squeaker, Lead Pole, Revenge, Blood Ms. Scratchy, Revolver, Greed, Footprint Lord Buckteeth, Rope, Rage, Fingerprint

The Inspector then provided us with an extra clue which we didn't need and a semi-red herring. That gave us:

Mr. Ratso: Dagger, Blackmail, Note Ms. Cheesy, Poison, Jealousy, Hair Sir Squeaker, Lead Pole, Revenge, Blood Ms. Scratchy, Revolver, Greed, Footprint Lord Buckteeth, Rope, Rage, Fingerprint

And now the ugly missing times factor kicks in, leaving us with three possible scenarios, or even a fourth by going outside implied parameters (see below--provided by League of Whovians):

Scenario 1 Mr Ratso 9.05 Ms Cheesy 10.30 Sir Squeaker 10.45 Ms Scratchy 11.25 Lord Buckteeth 11.55

Scenario 2 Mr Ratso 9.05 Ms Cheesy 10.15 Sir Squeaker 10.30 Ms Scratchy 11.05 Lord Buckteeth 11.40

Scenario 3 Mr Ratso 9.05 Ms Cheesy 9.40 Sir Squeaker 9.55 Ms Scratchy 10.30 Lord Buckteeth 11.05

Scenario 3, which puts Ms. Scratchy as the murderess isn't feasible, since Sir Squeaker was in the room for MORE than thirty-five minutes, which means he would have to have still been there at 10:30.

So, looking at the two "best" scenarios, we see that the murder had to have been committed by either Sir Squeaker or Ms. Cheesy.

And here's where the "odd piece" kicks in. With two/three suspects entering after the murderer, and considering their states of mind, it would be beyond baffling that they all interacted with a corpse and said nothing. Even alerting the others upon entering would have established innocence, so it's just not viable. The uncle must have still been alive.

So now, we come to the weapon. What could have killed him, but only after a delay? The only possibility is poison, placing the accusation rightly on Ms. Cheesy and saving poor Sir Squeaker from a horrid ordeal.

Provided by Webby's Watsons

(Note: There was, however, an alternate possibility, and that is that the first suspect went in before 9:05. The Four Seasons put Ms. Scratchy in the lead followed by Ratso at 9:05. None of my judges, or me, thought of this timeline, but it works. In the end, though, it also led to the choice between Ms. Cheesy and Sir Squeaker, and they chose to believe Ms. Cheesy when she said she didn't do it. Great thinking on their part, and they're not the first detectives to be fooled by a lying woman. :D )

PS In point of fact, the Inspector was right--the victim was killed between 10:30 and 10:45, even though time of death was after that. I'm not sure what more could have been done with that without handing over the whole solution and rendering the puzzle useless...

Thank you, lovely Ms. Rowan! It was nice to be in your head over that one.