The Case Of The Stolen Diamond
January 3rd, 2009
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In the comments on The Birthday That Never Arrives, some people requested another lateral thinking puzzle. Here you go!
This one comes from Encyclopedia Brown, a series of children’s mystery books published from 1963 to as recently as 2007. These books star Leroy “Encyclopedia” Brown, the 10-year-old know-it-all supersleuth son of the chief of police. (For the members of generation Y, an encyclopedia was something like Wikipedia, but in books!)
This story has been reconstructed from what I remember.
Mr. Diamondthief is invited to a party at a friend’s house. Because the house contains things that people would like to steal, all arriving guests are frisked to make sure they aren’t carrying any weapons and such. Mr. Diamondthief is clean, so they let him in.
But Mr. Diamondthief has sinister motives. He’s really there to steal a diamond. And he’s been in this house before, so he knows exactly where it is. Upon entering the foyer, he goes up a narrow staircase, down a long hallway, into the fourth room on the left, where the diamond is. He takes the diamond.
Because he knows he’ll be frisked on the way out, he can’t just take the diamond out with him. So he looks around, trying to find some way to get the diamond out of the house. He comes across a bow and a quiver full of arrows. Perfect! He ties the diamond to an arrow, opens the window, and shoots the arrow into a tree down the street. He closes the window, puts the bow back where he found it, and wipes off his fingerprints.
He then walks out the front door. They frisk him, and he’s clean. The arrow with the diamond is stuck in a tree down the street, but he decides it’s too risky to get it now. Another party guest might see him walking down the street instead of getting into his car, or the cops might search the homes of all the party guests. He decides to come back for the diamond another time.
The next day, the owners of the house notice the missing diamond, and call the police. Police chief Brown calls all the party guests back to the house for questioning, and to search for the diamond. The assumption is that the diamond is probably still in the house, since all guests were frisked on the way out. Of course, Chief Brown takes his son Encyclopedia with him, since he’s the one with the best detective mind.
Encyclopedia thinks Mr. Diamondthief looks suspicious, but there’s no evidence against him. Encyclopedia starts exploring on his own, and finds the bow and quiver of arrows, noting that one arrow is missing. He sees the window, and realizes how the diamond was stolen.
As Encyclopedia comes down the stairs, he hears Mr. Diamondthief saying “Chief, this search is pointless. Even if the diamond is still here, this house is huge. We’ll never find it!”
Encyclopedia says, “Don’t worry, Mr. Diamondthief. The diamond is just an arrow flight away.”
Mr. Diamondthief says, “Well then, go outside and look for it.”
Encyclopedia says, “Dad, arrest him!”
How did he know Mr. Diamondthief was guilty?
As a kid, I thought the answer was a little cheesy. I actually like it much better now, though my preferred answer is slightly different from the official answer.
If you’ve heard it before, don’t blurt out the answer – let’s give a chance for other people to guess.
January 3rd, 2009 at 3:18 pm
Well I suppose the word flight could be taken to mean the feathers on the arrow and perhaps he has one on his person.
Alternatively, the fact that he didn’t say ‘pardon?’ and instead immediately suggested they look outside means he understood the cryptic statement.
Andrew´s last blog post..Tastes like chicken
January 3rd, 2009 at 5:44 pm
This is going to really irritate me now. I can’t work this out and I know it will come to me at about 4am
Dave´s last blog post..Blog makeover
January 3rd, 2009 at 7:34 pm
I will have to vote that the reason is that he suggested they look outside despite having said moments before, we’ll never find it, this house is huge.
That’s my guess.
Ryan
Ryan M Hall´s last blog post..I’m a Failure for Christmas!
January 3rd, 2009 at 9:26 pm
My small problem with the story is how did Encyclopedia Brown know that there was an arrow missing in the first place?After that the fact that the diamond thief wanted to check out side was a dead givaway, but not having the cheesy answer to how, I might just be wrong…..after all it’s a story for kids.
January 3rd, 2009 at 10:10 pm
@ Dave, you can comment at 4 AM if you like!
@ Richard, let’s say Encyclopedia knew there was an arrow missing because there was a separate slot in the quiver for each arrow. Or a feather was found by the window. Or we could even say Mr. Diamondthief left the window open. I don’t remember how the original story had it.
@ Andrew and Ryan, I agree he would have said “pardon” or something instead of immediately saying to look outside. This is what I think was missing from the official answer. But let’s ignore that for now. There’s something else to this.
Hint: we hear what we want to hear.
January 3rd, 2009 at 11:43 pm
My guess is that Mr Diamondthief gave himself away when he said “go outside and look for it”. He had to open the window when he wanted the arrow out of the house. If the window had stayed closed, the diamond would still be in the house, near where the location was lost.
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January 4th, 2009 at 11:38 am
As I take a closer look at the story there are other things that now jump out at me,
1. Why invite a Diamond thief to start with
2. If they were so worried about the Diamonds safety IE; “They invited people who like to steal” they could have taken more precautions to safeguard it.
3. We can only assume Encyclopedia knew that there was an arrow missing but we cannot assume that by the story line.
4. The window would be a perfect way to get the diamond out of the house if it was in fact out of the house.
5. Mr. Diamond thief sais “Even if the Diamond was here” implying that the Diamond was gone out of the house
6. So encyclopedia could assume that the person of interest knew that the diamond was not in the house and could put the facts together because he has a devious little mind.
7. Mr. Diamond thief gave himself away when he said in reference to “An arrow flight away” Go outside and look for it” because he would be the only one who would know that:
A. it wasn’t in the house
B. it was only an Arrows flight away and
C. it was outside and not in the house.
D. He was too impatient.
January 4th, 2009 at 11:46 am
The answer is simple, and when you hear it you’ll either say “Oh, of course!” or groan.
Hint: Did Encyclopedia say something that sounds like something else? Would an innocent person have heard him differently?
January 4th, 2009 at 11:59 am
If the answer has anything to do with a narrow flight I will be upset.
Andrew´s last blog post..Tastes like chicken
January 4th, 2009 at 12:41 pm
@ Andrew, then get ready to be upset! Yes, that’s it.
Mr. Diamondthief ratted himself out because no one ever said anything about an arrow. He just had arrows on his mind.
Encyclopedia actually said “The diamond is just a narrow flight away,” referring to the narrow flight of stairs he had just come down, the stairs which led to the diamond’s original location. (Alternatively, he said “an arrow flight,” but an innocent person would have heard “a narrow flight” in that situation.)
In the book, it said a guilty person would hear “an arrow flight” and say “Go outside and look for it,” while an innocent person would hear “a narrow flight” and say “Go upstairs and look for it.”
Whether this would actually happen can be debated, but I think it would be very interesting to test it. You’ll notice that when you say “an arrow flight” and “a narrow flight” in a sentence at normal talking speed, they sound extremely similar.
And while you guys had arrows on your mind since an arrow was central to the story, the characters had no idea an arrow was involved (except Encyclopedia). If Mr. Diamondthief were innocent, wouldn’t his thoughts immediately jump to the narrow staircase right in front of him, especially if he knew where the diamond was kept?
But Andrew, back to your first comment, “The fact that he didn’t say ‘pardon?’ and instead immediately suggested they look outside means he understood the cryptic statement.” Yes, this is important.
Even if an innocent person heard “an arrow flight” for whatever reason, they’d say “What the hell are you talking about?” They wouldn’t instantly know that the diamond was tied to an arrow and shot outside. They’d also want to know how Encyclopedia knew that.
Furthermore, an innocent person who heard “a narrow flight” wouldn’t say “go upstairs and look for it.” They’d say “What, did you find it? How do you know it’s upstairs?”
Combining the linguistic ambiguity with Mr. Diamondthief’s instant comprehension, this is how the scenario might have played out if Encyclopedia hadn’t jumped the gun.
—————————————–
Encyclopedia: “Don’t worry, Mr. Diamondthief. The diamond is just an arrow flight away.”
Diamondthief: “Well then, go outside and look for it.”
Encyclopedia: “What do you mean go outside?”
Diamondthief: “To find the arrow.”
Encyclopedia: “I said it’s a narrow flight away, meaning upstairs. Who said anything about an arrow?”
Diamondthief: “Oh sorry, I thought you said an arrow flight away.”
Encyclopedia: “What does that even mean, an arrow flight away?”
Diamondthief: “Well, naturally, I assumed that someone tied the diamond to an arrow and shot it out the window.”
Encyclopedia: “What a perfectly normal thing to assume! Why did your mind just jump to that?”
Diamondthief: “Um, well…”
Encyclopedia: “Say, Mr. Diamondthief, you were on your college archery team, weren’t you?”
January 4th, 2009 at 1:27 pm
OOOOooooohhhhhh, COME ON!!!!!!
I did NOT get that….at all. I even called a friend who is a scientist and analyst….no go. Weak. So weak. Thanks for that Hunter.
Ryan
Ryan M Hall´s last blog post..I’m a Failure for Christmas!
January 4th, 2009 at 7:21 pm
And to think – the NFL Playoffs saved me from the torture that surely would have ensued had I seen this post before now. I liked Encyclopedia Brown, but let me tell you, he’s no Nancy Drew.
Annie Binns´s last blog post..The Internet Marketer’s Christmas
January 5th, 2009 at 11:12 pm
@ Ryan, I’ve heard a couple people say “oh, come on!” I wouldn’t convict the guy based on how he heard that phrase, but I think it’s a good way to start an interrogation. But hey, no fair calling scientists and analysts!
@ Annie, I actually don’t know anything about Nancy Drew. How are those books? Are they meant for girls only?
January 10th, 2009 at 3:52 pm
I figured he could help.
Thanks for the puzzle!
Ryan´s last blog post..New Years Reso-What Now?
January 11th, 2009 at 2:15 pm
Omigosh, I remember that one! I was a big fan of Encyclopedia Brown as a kid, read them all. But that one bothered me too, because it made sense to me that someone might hear “an arrow flight.” And besides, nobody says “a narrow flight away” anyway! I mean, does anyone? Except maybe Crypic McCryptic face?
But I like your spin on it. A normal person would have said “what the hell does that mean” to the arrow one. I might have said it to either. Certainly not “then let’s go outside.”
Thanks for that trip down memory lane.
Did you ever read Einstein Anderson? (I think it was Anderson…)
Ruth´s last blog post..Baby Steps and New Year’s Resolutions
January 12th, 2009 at 5:58 pm
@ Ruth, I was wondering if I’d find someone who had heard it before!
Yeah, it used to bother me more, because I wasn’t at all convinced that someone couldn’t have heard “an arrow flight.” (I’d like to test it in real life.) But I think coupled with an immediate “go outside,” it shows he was guilty.
Nope, never heard of Einstein Anderson.