# Three Minute Mysteries, or How Come? Chapter III

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/three-minute-mysteries-or-how-come-chapter-iii/15322>\
**Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\
**Created:** [March 30, 2000, 7:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/three-minute-mysteries-or-how-come-chapter-iii/15322 "2000-03-30T19:00:00Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 4\
**Page:** 7

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**Author:** ![Bricker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/977dab/32.png) [@Bricker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bricker)\
**Post date:** [March 30, 2000, 8:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/three-minute-mysteries-or-how-come-chapter-iii/15322/121 "2000-03-30T20:12:00Z")

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Better than the one-armed men killing the doctor, aschrott? 🙂

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**Author:** ![aschrott](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/aca169/32.png) [@aschrott](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aschrott)\
**Post date:** [March 30, 2000, 8:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/three-minute-mysteries-or-how-come-chapter-iii/15322/122 "2000-03-30T20:20:00Z")

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well, the other was a much cooler solution, but this one is nicely streamlined without compromising any difficulty. I like the fact that all of the elements of the puzzle are provided in very few words.

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**Author:** ![Bricker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/977dab/32.png) [@Bricker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bricker)\
**Post date:** [March 30, 2000, 8:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/three-minute-mysteries-or-how-come-chapter-iii/15322/123 "2000-03-30T20:31:00Z")

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What I continually find amazing is how the exact same puzzle will last twenty minutes with one group - and ten seconds with another.

This one, for example, was solved by a frined of mine in less than two minutes. She just seemed to intuit that the guy had placed the paper there, and got the answer without even getting that it was money on the cactus. On the other hand, I’ve had people spend an hour on the Barbara and Edward thing.

Oh, well - that’s what makes it interesting. 🙂

- Rick

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**Author:** ![aschrott](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/aca169/32.png) [@aschrott](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aschrott)\
**Post date:** [March 30, 2000, 8:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/three-minute-mysteries-or-how-come-chapter-iii/15322/124 "2000-03-30T20:40:00Z")

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I may end up talking to myself here, but…

It seems to me that all of these puzzles are a matter of getting off on the right foot. If you take the wrong mental path (one false assumption, etc.) it’s hard even to know what questions to ask. I enjoy the challenge of coming up with the right questions almost more than solving the puzzle.

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