# help - need solution to puzzle! **URL:** \ **Category:** The Game Room\ **Created:** [June 17, 2018, 5:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-need-solution-to-puzzle/816250 "2018-06-17T05:01:32Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![curwin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f05b48/32.png) [@curwin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/curwin)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2018, 5:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-need-solution-to-puzzle/816250/1 "2018-06-17T05:01:32Z")
Yesterday, my son was looking at an old book (from 1984) of brain teasers and puzzles. In it, he found the following puzzle: > [@](#): > > A charming hedonist, whom we’ll call Winston, came home one night at about 2 a.m., rather tired after the revels of the night. He went to bed directly. About twenty minutes later, he got up, opened the local telephone book, and looked up the number of one Gerald Malcolm. He called, and a sweet soprano answered. > “Hello! Is this Mrs. Malcolm?” queried Winston. > “Yes.” > “I would like to speak to Mr. Malcolm.” > “He’s asleep.” > “But it’s very important!” Winston insisted. > “Important! Well, hold the wire a moment and I’ll awaken him.” > Young Winston glued his ear to the receiver long enough to hear Mrs. Malcolm walking off spouseward. Then he deliberately hung up! > Now ruling out any hoax or wager, and hypothecating that Winston had never previously met or communicated with either Mr. or Mrs. Malcolm, and assuming that Winston acted premeditatedly and planned everything he did; > WHAT MOTIVE CAN YOU ASSIGN FOR HIS ACTION? He couldn’t come up with an answer, but when he went to the back of the book to find the solution, this is all that was written! > [@](#): > > On close consideration of the facts, it is apparent that Winston’s objective was to waken Malcolm solely for the purpose of I googled the text of the puzzle, and all I found were some Google Book snippets of the puzzle, but nothing with the answer. Is anyone familiar with this puzzle (maybe in a slightly different format) and know the answer? Or can anyone just solve it on their own? Thanks! ---
**Author:** ![Joey\_P](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/919ad9/32.png) [@Joey\_P](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Joey_P)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2018, 5:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-need-solution-to-puzzle/816250/2 "2018-06-17T05:52:41Z")
If that’s all that was written, there isn’t any missing words or anything, then I’d say the joke is on you. Mr Malcolm is all worked up now, trying to figure out who could have been calling him in the middle of the night and he’ll never get the answer. The joke book did the same thing to you. Looking his specific number is just a red herring to distract you from it being a prank call. At least that’s what I got out of it. ---
**Author:** ![curwin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f05b48/32.png) [@curwin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/curwin)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2018, 7:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-need-solution-to-puzzle/816250/3 "2018-06-17T07:05:05Z")
> [@Joey\_P](#): > > If that’s all that was written, there isn’t any missing words or anything, then I’d say the joke is on you. Mr Malcolm is all worked up now, trying to figure out who could have been calling him in the middle of the night and he’ll never get the answer. The joke book did the same thing to you. > Looking his specific number is just a red herring to distract you from it being a prank call. > > At least that’s what I got out of it. That’s a cute idea, but I don’t think so. It’s not really a joke book, but a book of puzzles - and one for kids, so it’s unlikely they would prank them like that. Also, the answer is on the bottom of the page - it looks like a printer’s error. ---
**Author:** ![Mr\_Shine](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mr_shine/32/464_2.png) [@Mr\_Shine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr_Shine)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2018, 7:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-need-solution-to-puzzle/816250/4 "2018-06-17T07:15:40Z")
I’m guessing Mr Malcolm is a snorer and his neighbour, and the walls are too thin. ---
**Author:** ![curwin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f05b48/32.png) [@curwin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/curwin)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2018, 7:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-need-solution-to-puzzle/816250/5 "2018-06-17T07:19:12Z")
> [@Mr\_Shine](#): > > I’m guessing Mr Malcolm is a snorer and his neighbour, and the walls are too thin. Interesting! ---
**Author:** ![Leaper](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/4bbf92/32.png) [@Leaper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leaper)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2018, 9:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-need-solution-to-puzzle/816250/6 "2018-06-17T09:24:34Z")
Yeah, it bears a resemblance to a similar lateral thinking puzzle I seem to remember reading with that solution. ---
**Author:** ![Andy\_L](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/c67d28/32.png) [@Andy\_L](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Andy_L)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2018, 11:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-need-solution-to-puzzle/816250/7 "2018-06-17T11:57:39Z")
> [@Mr\_Shine](#): > > I’m guessing Mr Malcolm is a snorer and his neighbour, and the walls are too thin. The only part that doesn’t fit with this solution is that we’re supposed to be “hypothecating that Winston had never previously met or communicated with either Mr. or Mrs. Malcolm” which seems to exclude the idea that they are neighbors. ---
**Author:** ![septimus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/septimus/32/410_2.png) [@septimus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/septimus)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2018, 1:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-need-solution-to-puzzle/816250/8 "2018-06-17T13:23:23Z")
> [@](#): > > hypothecating I don’t know the answer to the puzzle but _hypothesize_ that the word ‘hypothecate’ is being misused. The one time I came across this term was after taking the skins off a multi-million dollar IBM mainframe at a major insurance company. Affixed to the frame was a metal plate reading: This machine is the property of the Chase Manhattan Bank of New York. Any hypothecation of this property is prohibited. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2018, 6:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-need-solution-to-puzzle/816250/9 "2018-06-17T18:00:25Z")
Winston had an early morning sales meeting with Malcolm that he didn’t want to go to. But he didn’t want to call and reschedule it because that would annoy Malcolm. So he woke Malcolm up in the middle of the night so Malcolm would cancel the meeting. ---
**Author:** ![Thudlow\_Boink](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thudlow_boink/32/320_2.png) [@Thudlow\_Boink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thudlow_Boink)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2018, 6:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-need-solution-to-puzzle/816250/10 "2018-06-17T18:04:25Z")
[Apparently, the complete answer can be found in _The 2nd Big Book of Pencil Pastimes_](https://books.google.com/books?id=RfbAZSkKd6gC&q=%22it+is+apparent+that+Winston%27s+objective+was+to+waken+Malcolm%22&dq=%22it+is+apparent+that+Winston%27s+objective+was+to+waken+Malcolm%22&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjV9JD7o9vbAhUE94MKHdJ7Bu8Q6AEIKTAA), but unfortunately Google Books isn’t showing the complete answer. ---
**Author:** ![Skywatcher](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skywatcher/32/254_2.png) [@Skywatcher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skywatcher)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2018, 6:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-need-solution-to-puzzle/816250/11 "2018-06-17T18:27:20Z")
> [@Mr\_Shine](#): > > I’m guessing Mr Malcolm is a snorer and his neighbour, and the walls are too thin. That’s basically it. Thanks to **Thudlow** providing a source, one can get [Google](https://www.google.com/search?tbm=bks&hl=en&q=%22it+is+apparent+that+Winston%27s+objective+was+to+waken+Malcolm%22+%22big+book+of+pencil+pastimes%22) to show the complete answer in parts. Simply keep changing the first set of search terms to the last couple of sentences shown. ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2018, 7:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-need-solution-to-puzzle/816250/12 "2018-06-17T19:02:13Z")
> [@Mr\_Shine](#): > > I’m guessing Mr Malcolm is a snorer and his neighbour, and the walls are too thin. I was thinking that, and I see it’s supposed to be the answer. But then thought maybe Mr. Malcolm would end up making even more noise after being woken up at 2:30AM for no apparent reason. But the snoring would probably be unusual otherwise they would have communicated previously on the subject so Winston could think once Mr. Malcolm stops complaining about what appears to be a prank he’d go back to sleep without the loud snoring. ---
**Author:** ![Sir\_T-Cups](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ed655f/32.png) [@Sir\_T-Cups](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sir_T-Cups)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2018, 7:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-need-solution-to-puzzle/816250/13 "2018-06-17T19:47:51Z")
Given that the description for Winston immediately calls him a hedonist, I figured the phone call had no point other than to create some kind of chaos. The purpose was there was no purpose, just to be an asshole. ---
**Author:** ![Thudlow\_Boink](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thudlow_boink/32/320_2.png) [@Thudlow\_Boink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thudlow_Boink)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2018, 8:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-need-solution-to-puzzle/816250/14 "2018-06-17T20:16:14Z")
> [@Sir\_T-Cups](#): > > Given that the description for Winston immediately calls him a hedonist, I figured the phone call had no point other than to create some kind of chaos. The purpose was there was no purpose, just to be an asshole. A hedonist is a pleasure-seeker, not a trouble-maker. As I see it, the point in identifying him as a hedonist is to indicate that he was motivated by his own pleasure or comfort (or maybe just to explain why he was out late partying). ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2018, 10:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-need-solution-to-puzzle/816250/15 "2018-06-17T22:37:14Z")
> [@Thudlow\_Boink](#): > > A hedonist is a pleasure-seeker, not a trouble-maker. As I see it, the point in identifying him as a hedonist is to indicate that he was motivated by his own pleasure or comfort (or maybe just to explain why he was out late partying). Since the riddle seems a little old-timey I thought it was to explain the partying, but it does help explain his actions. ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2018, 12:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-need-solution-to-puzzle/816250/16 "2018-06-18T00:45:36Z")
> [@Thudlow\_Boink](#): > > [Apparently, the complete answer can be found in _The 2nd Big Book of Pencil Pastimes_](https://books.google.com/books?id=RfbAZSkKd6gC&q=%22it+is+apparent+that+Winston%27s+objective+was+to+waken+Malcolm%22&dq=%22it+is+apparent+that+Winston%27s+objective+was+to+waken+Malcolm%22&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjV9JD7o9vbAhUE94MKHdJ7Bu8Q6AEIKTAA), but unfortunately Google Books isn’t showing the complete answer. But, wait, continue searching each sentence at a time. I get: “The only reason that Winston could have for wishing to accomplish his apparent mischief was that Malcolm, by sleeping, was doing him a mischief. You see, Winston and Malcolm were both tenants in the same apartment house, and Winston’s …” OK, it cuts off there. Looks like it’s going to be the snoring. Lemme see if googling the last few words of that sentence helps. Ah, yes: “You see, Winston and Malcolm were both tenants in the same apartment house, and Winston’s bedroom adjoined Malcolm’s. Malcolm was snoring so loudly that Winston couldn’t fall alseep. The victim’s only chance, which he cleverly saw, …” And then I can’t Google no more without returning the same hit, but, it is clear that the answer is the snoring one. ETA: I see that I was ninja’d by **Skywatcher** to figuring out how to Google for the solution, but there’s the transcription of the lines I was able to find to save anyone the trouble. ---
**Author:** ![Skywatcher](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skywatcher/32/254_2.png) [@Skywatcher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skywatcher)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2018, 1:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-need-solution-to-puzzle/816250/17 "2018-06-18T01:00:13Z")
> [@pulykamell](#): > > “You see, Winston and Malcolm were both tenants in the same apartment house, and Winston’s bedroom adjoined Malcolm’s. Malcolm was snoring so loudly that Winston couldn’t fall alseep. The victim’s only chance, which he cleverly saw, …” Clicking on the final result brings up the end: “…was to disturb the (sic) and beat him to the snooze.” ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2018, 1:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-need-solution-to-puzzle/816250/18 "2018-06-18T01:03:07Z")
> [@Skywatcher](#): > > Clicking on the final result brings up the end: “…was to disturb the (sic) and beat him to the snooze.” :smack: Ah, yes… I didn’t bother to actually _click_ on the link, just saw the Google results summary/preview text. ---
**Author:** ![Ulf\_the\_Unwashed](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/b4bc9f/32.png) [@Ulf\_the\_Unwashed](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ulf_the_Unwashed)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2018, 1:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-need-solution-to-puzzle/816250/19 "2018-06-18T01:55:17Z")
I had the book and recall not only the puzzle but that first sentence, and can confirm from that perspective that snoring is exactly the reason given in the text. Wow, that takes me back. ---
**Author:** ![Dr.Strangelove](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dr.strangelove/32/6613_2.png) [@Dr.Strangelove](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr.Strangelove)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2018, 2:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-need-solution-to-puzzle/816250/20 "2018-06-18T02:23:24Z")
Winston and Malcolm are both members of an anonymous sex club. To prevent partners from catching on, all communications are passed on from others, and in the form of calls placed at particular times. The content of the call is irrelevant; only the time and date matter. At his last appointment, Winston was instructed to call Malcolm at approximately 2:30 am. It is advised to not write down the instructions. Winston is not very good with numbers, and had a hard enough time remembering the time, let alone Malcolm’s number. Fortunately, he was in the phone book. Ok, maybe this wouldn’t be the answer in a kid’s puzzle book…