Brain Teasers
Half Truthful
Three Paley brothers and three Thomson brothers operate a company that manufactures lie detectors. Three of these six men always tell the truth, and three always tell lies; neither set of brothers consists exclusively of liars. Some recent statements from the six men are recorded below. Can you find the six men's full names, and tell which men tell the truth and which tell lies?
1. Alan: "Both my brothers tell lies."
2. Boris: "Both my brothers tell the truth."
3: Chuck: "Alan and Boris are both liars."
4. Dalman: "Chuck and I are brothers."
5. Edwin: "Boris and I are brothers."
6. Finney: "Edwin tells the truth."
7. Finney: "Boris is one of the Paleys."
1. Alan: "Both my brothers tell lies."
2. Boris: "Both my brothers tell the truth."
3: Chuck: "Alan and Boris are both liars."
4. Dalman: "Chuck and I are brothers."
5. Edwin: "Boris and I are brothers."
6. Finney: "Edwin tells the truth."
7. Finney: "Boris is one of the Paleys."
Answer
Alan Thompson, LiarBoris Paley, liar
Chuck Thomson, truthteller
Dalman Paley, liar
Edwin Paley, truthteller
Finney Thomson, truthteller
Neither set of brothers consists entirely of liars (introduction), so neither consists entirely of truthtellers, either. Boris, then, can't be telling the truth (clue 2); Boris is a liar. If Alan lies, then Chuck tells the truth (clue 3), and vice versa, so between Alan and Chuck, one is a liar and one a truthteller. By elimination, Dalman, Edwin, and Finney are, in some order, one liar and two truthtellers. If Finney is a liar, so is Edwin (clue 6), which is impossible; so Finney tells the truth and so does Edwin (Clue 6); Dalman, then, is a liar. Boris is a Paley (clue 7). Edwin is a Paley (clue 5). Chuck and Dalman are not brothers (clue 4), so one is a Paley and the other a Thomson; by elimination, Alan and Finney are both Thomsons. Finney Thomson tells the truth, so Alan Thomson is a liar (clue 1) and Chuck is a truthteller (clue 3). Boris Paley lied when he said both of his brothers tell the truth (clue 2); one of his brothers is Edwin Paley, a truthteller, so the other must be a liar - and therefore the third Paley can't be Chuck, a truthteller, so must be Dalman, a liar. By elimination, Chuck is a Thompson.
...got it?
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Comments
Fantastic puzzel!
eegads man, that is truly confusing
Truly a mind-boggler. good job
got it after about an hour of taking notes and stuff. my brain hurts :-( wonderful teaser
extremely confusing but well thought ot good job.
I enjoyed it.
eegads!!!!!! LOL!
I think this one is already on this site under a different name (about 60% sure). It's a good puzzle in any case.
I thought that I had rated this one b4-like sillywilly's thinking, maybe there's a double.
boy am I glad I don't get charged by the minute for internet connection. this would have cost me a small fortune. Well done.
How do you jump to Boris being a "LIAR" with no facts?
WUT DO U MEAN U CANT PUT MY TEASER ON BOBBRT OR WUTEVER U R
Broris can only be a liar because if he was truthful, his two brothers would be truthful - making the three other brothers liars - which can't happen as stated in the question. VERY GOOD Teaser! one of my favs cuz it took me a while to solve!!
This teaser seems a lot like part of the movie "Labyrinth." She encounters two doors, each with two characters, two lie and the other two tell the truth, and she has to figure out which door leads to the castle and which one leads to certain death. Good teaser none-the-less, a logical brain-buster.
wow really confusing, lots of thinking , it takes quite a while to get it.. great one
That was one of the best on the site. If it was original, great job.
wow! that was WAY too confusing for me!! i gave up! i don't like this one, sorry!
No I don't get it! I usually enjoy your teasers, but this one bombed!!!
"neither set of brothers consists exclusively of liars" is redundant. It can be deduced from Alan's statement.
Hoe can something that at first glance make no sense, then on second thought have possibilities of a solution be fun? This Teaser is difficult, boring and possess no true answer other then-
six brothers have the capacity to lie, and six brothers have the ability to tell the Truth.
six brothers have the capacity to lie, and six brothers have the ability to tell the Truth.
This was challenging, but so fun! I love logic teasers--when I finally solve them, I feel like I really accomplished something. And my brain feels stretched!
these take time but everything fits if you read the clues carefully, Good job
If you can unscramble your brain, it becomes fairly easy.
i dont know what everyone is getting pissy about-- this was cute and actually pretty easy--
well done sweetie
well done sweetie
everything fit together perfectly.. took like 10 mins though.. was a fun way to start a wed morning :-)
Didn't get it!!!
I guess it was well thought out, but I got lost right at the start. Thanks anyways, for posting.
gawd. hard from the start til the end..
i don't get it at all it hurts my brain
Took me about 15 minutes but I got it! Good one!
It would seem that there are some liars out there.... hmmm
That was awesome! It took a long time, but definitely well worth the effort. Great work.
It made my brain work hard this morning,but it prevailed.Great mental workout. Hi to a couple of YOUNG ladies on I met on briangle.
For me the second line gave the first big clue, after that it became easy as long as you didn't become too confused. Loved it.
I don't care for these logic style. and by the way I think there is a little more deer fly too cute bug then cute bug let's on.
True, the first to points are the best hints.
Took me 3 hours to solve this, haha
Took me 3 hours to solve this, haha
first two*
this is a basic logic grid puzzle. if you like this kind of puzzle just google "how to solve a logic grid puzzle." if you draw out the grid, it only takes a minute or two to solve.
Excellent puzzle. And I'm not lying!
best liar-truth puzzle of all time.
This "answer" to this puzzle depends solely on the fact you know Alan and Chuck are brothers at the beginning which you don't figure out till after you know who tells the truth and who is lying. The whole explanation is incorrect to figure out the answer. Below is the following order of events and how you should solve this puzzle, the other way is confusing.
***If you look at all the clues after you determine Boris is a liar none are much help until you get to Finney. If you play with the idea Finney tells the truth then Edwin tells the truth too but no other information is reveled except that Edwin and Boris are brothers with the last name Paley. You know there are two more liars and one more truth teller with no way to identify them.
If you start at the top again and say Alan is a truth teller that would make both Chuck and Dalman liars and brothers which is impossible (Clue 4). So now you know Alan is a liar which makes Chuck a truth teller (Clue 3) and thus makes Dalman the final liar.
Now you come to the issue of last names. Chuck and Dalman are not brothers (Clue 4) and so by elimination Alan and Finney are both Thomsons. Boris Paley lied when he said both of his brothers tell the truth so because Edwin, who is already determined to be his brother tells the truth, Dalman must be the other brother because he is a liar. By elimination, Chuck is a Thompson.***
***If you look at all the clues after you determine Boris is a liar none are much help until you get to Finney. If you play with the idea Finney tells the truth then Edwin tells the truth too but no other information is reveled except that Edwin and Boris are brothers with the last name Paley. You know there are two more liars and one more truth teller with no way to identify them.
If you start at the top again and say Alan is a truth teller that would make both Chuck and Dalman liars and brothers which is impossible (Clue 4). So now you know Alan is a liar which makes Chuck a truth teller (Clue 3) and thus makes Dalman the final liar.
Now you come to the issue of last names. Chuck and Dalman are not brothers (Clue 4) and so by elimination Alan and Finney are both Thomsons. Boris Paley lied when he said both of his brothers tell the truth so because Edwin, who is already determined to be his brother tells the truth, Dalman must be the other brother because he is a liar. By elimination, Chuck is a Thompson.***
I got a different answer. And it seems to work.
Alan Paley - Truth
Edwin Paley - Liar
Finny Paley - Liar
Boris Thompson - Liar
Chuck Thompson - Liar
Dalman Thompson - Truth
Boris we know must be a liar. But Edwin could be a liar. In that case Finny too is a liar. Working the clues from there seems to give a different but correct answer from the one given in the teaser.
Alan Paley - Truth
Edwin Paley - Liar
Finny Paley - Liar
Boris Thompson - Liar
Chuck Thompson - Liar
Dalman Thompson - Truth
Boris we know must be a liar. But Edwin could be a liar. In that case Finny too is a liar. Working the clues from there seems to give a different but correct answer from the one given in the teaser.
I do not even bother trying these. They are so very long and boring to me. Just not the kind of teaser I enjoy, but I appreciate everyone who posts something. Better than I can do!
Confusing, but when you work it out it makes sense
This is where I excel! Thank you for a brain teaser I rock at. All logic and reasoning.
Ajabu's alternate solution almost works, but it has four liars and two truthtellers. The first paragraph of the puzzle tells us there are three liars and three truthtellers, so that's the thing (the only thing, in fact) that contradicts Ajabu's alternate solution. With the number of liars and truthtellers both being 3, though, the given answer is the only possible one.
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