full transcript

From the Ted Talk by Alex Rosenthal: Can you solve the secret assassin society riddle?

Unscramble the Blue Letters


Your agent is about to italifntre a life or death poker game in a hdeidn back room of the garnd cnasio. You’re on the trail of an elite society of assassins, each of whom careirs a signature plynaig card corresponding to their role.

You’ve received intel from a 100% rillebae source about how they operate. Their M.O. is to invite their victims to a high stakes game with one or more killers at the table. The game is a variant of poker played with a single, fair deck where every payelr receives two cards in secret. Each assassin immediately and clveorty sapws one of the cards they’ve been fairly dealt with their signature card. Then the robo-dealer reveals three shared cards on the table. After betting, the assassins play their signature cards as a signal that they’re ready. When the last one comes out, they go about their grim business. Today's game is no different, and your mission is to identify the asssianss and save all the victims. Everyone at the table is either an assassin or a victim, and there must be at least one of each.

Open Cloze


Your agent is about to __________ a life or death poker game in a ______ back room of the _____ ______. You’re on the trail of an elite society of assassins, each of whom _______ a signature _______ card corresponding to their role.

You’ve received intel from a 100% ________ source about how they operate. Their M.O. is to invite their victims to a high stakes game with one or more killers at the table. The game is a variant of poker played with a single, fair deck where every ______ receives two cards in secret. Each assassin immediately and ________ _____ one of the cards they’ve been fairly dealt with their signature card. Then the robo-dealer reveals three shared cards on the table. After betting, the assassins play their signature cards as a signal that they’re ready. When the last one comes out, they go about their grim business. Today's game is no different, and your mission is to identify the _________ and save all the victims. Everyone at the table is either an assassin or a victim, and there must be at least one of each.

Solution


  1. playing
  2. hidden
  3. reliable
  4. grand
  5. player
  6. covertly
  7. swaps
  8. carries
  9. assassins
  10. casino
  11. infiltrate

Original Text


Your agent is about to infiltrate a life or death poker game in a hidden back room of the grand casino. You’re on the trail of an elite society of assassins, each of whom carries a signature playing card corresponding to their role.

You’ve received intel from a 100% reliable source about how they operate. Their M.O. is to invite their victims to a high stakes game with one or more killers at the table. The game is a variant of poker played with a single, fair deck where every player receives two cards in secret. Each assassin immediately and covertly swaps one of the cards they’ve been fairly dealt with their signature card. Then the robo-dealer reveals three shared cards on the table. After betting, the assassins play their signature cards as a signal that they’re ready. When the last one comes out, they go about their grim business. Today's game is no different, and your mission is to identify the assassins and save all the victims. Everyone at the table is either an assassin or a victim, and there must be at least one of each.

Frequently Occurring Word Combinations


ngrams of length 2

collocation frequency
shared cards 3


Important Words


  1. agent
  2. assassin
  3. assassins
  4. betting
  5. business
  6. card
  7. cards
  8. carries
  9. casino
  10. covertly
  11. dealt
  12. death
  13. deck
  14. elite
  15. fair
  16. game
  17. grand
  18. grim
  19. hidden
  20. high
  21. identify
  22. immediately
  23. infiltrate
  24. intel
  25. invite
  26. killers
  27. life
  28. mission
  29. operate
  30. play
  31. played
  32. player
  33. playing
  34. poker
  35. ready
  36. received
  37. receives
  38. reliable
  39. reveals
  40. role
  41. room
  42. save
  43. secret
  44. shared
  45. signal
  46. signature
  47. single
  48. society
  49. source
  50. stakes
  51. swaps
  52. table
  53. trail
  54. variant
  55. victim
  56. victims