full transcript

From the Ted Talk by Edwin Meyer: Can you solve the demon dance party riddle?

Unscramble the Blue Letters


When your friends arrived, the demon put masks on their faces and faorbde them from canociinmumtg in any way. No one at any point could see their own masks, but they stood in a circle where they could see everyone else’s. The deomn told the logicians that he distributed the masks in such a way that each person would eventually be able to frugie out their mask’s coolr using logic alone. Then, once every two minutes, he rang a bell. At that point, anyone who could come to him and tell him the color of their mask would be admitted.

Here’s what happened: Four logicians got in at the first bell. Some number of logicians, all in red mksas, got in at the second bell. Nobody got in when the third bell rang. Logicians wearing at least two different colors got in at the frtouh bell. All 23 of your friends played the game perfectly logically and eventually got inside. Your challenge, the demon explains, is to tell him how many people gained entry when the fifth bell rang.

Open Cloze


When your friends arrived, the demon put masks on their faces and _______ them from _____________ in any way. No one at any point could see their own masks, but they stood in a circle where they could see everyone else’s. The _____ told the logicians that he distributed the masks in such a way that each person would eventually be able to ______ out their mask’s _____ using logic alone. Then, once every two minutes, he rang a bell. At that point, anyone who could come to him and tell him the color of their mask would be admitted.

Here’s what happened: Four logicians got in at the first bell. Some number of logicians, all in red _____, got in at the second bell. Nobody got in when the third bell rang. Logicians wearing at least two different colors got in at the ______ bell. All 23 of your friends played the game perfectly logically and eventually got inside. Your challenge, the demon explains, is to tell him how many people gained entry when the fifth bell rang.

Solution


  1. figure
  2. fourth
  3. demon
  4. masks
  5. communicating
  6. forbade
  7. color

Original Text


When your friends arrived, the demon put masks on their faces and forbade them from communicating in any way. No one at any point could see their own masks, but they stood in a circle where they could see everyone else’s. The demon told the logicians that he distributed the masks in such a way that each person would eventually be able to figure out their mask’s color using logic alone. Then, once every two minutes, he rang a bell. At that point, anyone who could come to him and tell him the color of their mask would be admitted.

Here’s what happened: Four logicians got in at the first bell. Some number of logicians, all in red masks, got in at the second bell. Nobody got in when the third bell rang. Logicians wearing at least two different colors got in at the fourth bell. All 23 of your friends played the game perfectly logically and eventually got inside. Your challenge, the demon explains, is to tell him how many people gained entry when the fifth bell rang.

Frequently Occurring Word Combinations


ngrams of length 2

collocation frequency
bell rang 2
fourth bell 2
people wearing 2


Important Words


  1. admitted
  2. arrived
  3. bell
  4. challenge
  5. circle
  6. color
  7. colors
  8. communicating
  9. demon
  10. distributed
  11. entry
  12. eventually
  13. explains
  14. faces
  15. figure
  16. forbade
  17. fourth
  18. friends
  19. gained
  20. game
  21. logic
  22. logically
  23. logicians
  24. mask
  25. masks
  26. minutes
  27. number
  28. people
  29. perfectly
  30. person
  31. played
  32. point
  33. put
  34. rang
  35. red
  36. stood
  37. told
  38. wearing