full transcript

From the Ted Talk by Alex Gendler: Can you solve the secret sauce riddle?

Unscramble the Blue Letters


“We already know the rcipee is on the 13th floor of the bank vault, in a safe deposit box numbered between 13 and 1300. Now tell us… Is the number less than 500?”

You can’t hear the chef’s answer, but you can see that he’s lying. The interrogator, however, falls for it. He follows up by asking, “Is it a perfect sruaqe?” Again you can’t hear the answer but can tell the chef is lying, while the interrogator takes him at his word. He then asks, “Is it a perfect cube?” This time the chef answers tultuhrfly.

The interrogator tnihks for a minute and says, “Good. Now if you just tell me whether or not the number’s second digit is a one, we’ll be done here.” But as the chef starts to answer, the intretrogaor stands up, blocking your view. Within moments he rsheus out of the room, ancinonung that he’s got the answer and is sending atnegs to retrieve the recipe.

Open Cloze


“We already know the ______ is on the 13th floor of the bank vault, in a safe deposit box numbered between 13 and 1300. Now tell us… Is the number less than 500?”

You can’t hear the chef’s answer, but you can see that he’s lying. The interrogator, however, falls for it. He follows up by asking, “Is it a perfect ______?” Again you can’t hear the answer but can tell the chef is lying, while the interrogator takes him at his word. He then asks, “Is it a perfect cube?” This time the chef answers __________.

The interrogator ______ for a minute and says, “Good. Now if you just tell me whether or not the number’s second digit is a one, we’ll be done here.” But as the chef starts to answer, the ____________ stands up, blocking your view. Within moments he ______ out of the room, __________ that he’s got the answer and is sending ______ to retrieve the recipe.

Solution


  1. recipe
  2. square
  3. agents
  4. announcing
  5. truthfully
  6. thinks
  7. interrogator
  8. rushes

Original Text


“We already know the recipe is on the 13th floor of the bank vault, in a safe deposit box numbered between 13 and 1300. Now tell us… Is the number less than 500?”

You can’t hear the chef’s answer, but you can see that he’s lying. The interrogator, however, falls for it. He follows up by asking, “Is it a perfect square?” Again you can’t hear the answer but can tell the chef is lying, while the interrogator takes him at his word. He then asks, “Is it a perfect cube?” This time the chef answers truthfully.

The interrogator thinks for a minute and says, “Good. Now if you just tell me whether or not the number’s second digit is a one, we’ll be done here.” But as the chef starts to answer, the interrogator stands up, blocking your view. Within moments he rushes out of the room, announcing that he’s got the answer and is sending agents to retrieve the recipe.

Frequently Occurring Word Combinations


ngrams of length 2

collocation frequency
burger bazaar 2
chef answers 2
answers truthfully 2
interrogator thinks 2
chef answered 2


Important Words


  1. agents
  2. announcing
  3. answer
  4. answers
  5. asks
  6. bank
  7. blocking
  8. box
  9. chef
  10. cube
  11. deposit
  12. digit
  13. falls
  14. floor
  15. hear
  16. interrogator
  17. lying
  18. minute
  19. moments
  20. number
  21. numbered
  22. perfect
  23. recipe
  24. retrieve
  25. room
  26. rushes
  27. safe
  28. sending
  29. square
  30. stands
  31. starts
  32. takes
  33. thinks
  34. time
  35. truthfully
  36. vault
  37. view
  38. word