| Author | Message | ||
| Jenburdoo (Jenburdoo)
New member Username: Jenburdoo Post Number: 21 Registered: 5-2003 |
I've noticed it seems okay to have a couple puzzles running at once, so here's a second: A soldier was surprised to be awarded a medal, but he angrily refused to accept it. Why? | ||
| Enjay (Enjay)
New member Username: Enjay Post Number: 1022 Registered: 4-2007 |
The general guidelines are that you can have up to three puzzles on the go at once...any more than that and they get difficult to keep up with Was he awarded the medal for bravery? For a specific achievement? Was the medal actually meant for him? Was the soldier fighting in a war? Did he refuse it because he felt he didn't deserve it? Because he felt that being awarded it was an insult? Is the soldier human? adult? male? (I think I once heard of a medal being awarded to a dog, so you never know...) | ||
| Jenburdoo (Jenburdoo)
New member Username: Jenburdoo Post Number: 22 Registered: 5-2003 |
Was he awarded the medal for bravery? Yes For a specific achievement? probably, but irrelevant Was the medal actually meant for him? Yes Was the soldier fighting in a war? Yes Did he refuse it because he felt he didn't deserve it? No, he wasn't just being modest Because he felt that being awarded it was an insult? Yes Is the soldier human? adult? male? All three (I think I once heard of a medal being awarded to a dog, so you never know...) The Dickin Medal AKA "the animals' VC" is a British medal awarded to military and civil animals, mostly carrier pigeons but also dogs, and one ship's cat | ||
| Peter365 (Peter365)
New member Username: Peter365 Post Number: 1006 Registered: 1-2007 |
Were some of his comrades in arms accused of cowardice during the same battle? Was his refusal in someway a protest against the treatment of the other soldiers? Against war in general? Is his rank relevant? True story? Fiction? FYOI? Is the particular war relevant? 20th century? WWI ? WWII? Vietnam? Korea? Gulf? Falklands? Is it necessary to ascertain which country he was fighting for? | ||
| Jenburdoo (Jenburdoo)
New member Username: Jenburdoo Post Number: 23 Registered: 5-2003 |
Were some of his comrades in arms accused of cowardice during the same battle? No Was his refusal in someway a protest against the treatment of the other soldiers? No Against war in general? No Is his rank relevant? No True story? Fiction? FYOI? True story -- it happened several times. If FYOI means "From Your Own Information," I got this from history and obfuscated it myself. Is the particular war relevant? Yes 20th century? WWI ? WWII? This one Vietnam? Korea? Gulf? Falklands? Is it necessary to ascertain which country he was fighting for? Yes | ||
| Peter365 (Peter365)
New member Username: Peter365 Post Number: 1008 Registered: 1-2007 |
German? English? French? Russian? Italian? US? other? Was he directly involved in a battle? Was the war still on when he was awarded the medal? is that relevant? Is the medal itself relevant? VC? Iron Cross? FYOI stands for "From Your Own Imagination" and welcome to the forum | ||
| Jenburdoo (Jenburdoo)
New member Username: Jenburdoo Post Number: 26 Registered: 5-2003 |
German? English? French? Russian? Italian? US? other? Other Was he directly involved in a battle? Probably Was the war still on when he was awarded the medal? Yes is that relevant? Yes Is the medal itself relevant? Yes VC? Iron Cross? This one | ||
| Peter365 (Peter365)
New member Username: Peter365 Post Number: 1009 Registered: 1-2007 |
Was he Russian ? Polish? Austrian? Scandanavian? Benelux? The Iron Cross is a german medal so was he angered at being offered a german award given that he wasn't german. Is his religeon relevant? Jewish? Holocaust relevant? | ||
| Beccaann (Beccaann)
New member Username: Beccaann Post Number: 2051 Registered: 6-2006 |
Japanese? | ||
| Jenburdoo (Jenburdoo)
New member Username: Jenburdoo Post Number: 27 Registered: 5-2003 |
Was he Russian ? Polish? Austrian? Scandanavian? This Benelux? The Iron Cross is a german medal so was he angered at being offered a german award given that he wasn't german. No Is his religeon relevant? Yes Jewish? Yes! Holocaust relevant? Yes! Japanese? No Spoiler Finland fought alongside Germany on the Russian Front, but they were not Fascist, just anti-Soviet, and their army did include Jews. Many Finns were awarded the Iron Cross; the Jewish ones declined. I considered naming this "The Irony Cross," but thought that would give it away even quicker. Any comments on how the puzzle might be improved? | ||
| Peter365 (Peter365)
New member Username: Peter365 Post Number: 1012 Registered: 1-2007 |
Difficult to say . There's no magic formula for making a puzzle last a long time. I suppose with this one given the fact that we knew he was a soldier would lead us to the WWII and the holocaust quite quickly so maybe you gave too much away in the puzzle statement. Maybe phrasing the puzzle as "He refused their offer" or something similar would have made it last a bit longer. I'm no expert but when setting a puzzle i always ask myself what are the 10 questions that are likely to be asked first and then i guage how close it will be to being solved at that stage. I've had several ideas for puzzles which i thought would be great but i binned them when i realised that establishing the subject's profession would give away the answer. Someone ran a puzzle recently on this theme saying that they had rejected an idea for a puzzle because the answers to the question H? A? M? would have given the solution away. Finally don't get discouraged there are amazing minds on this forum so you have to get used to puzzles being solved much more quickly than you had expected. | ||
| Grainbeer (Grainbeer)
New member Username: Grainbeer Post Number: 293 Registered: 4-2002 |
I wouldn´t worry too much about fast solving. It is, in my opinion, much better to have a puzzle solved than to have it going stale with no one asking questions. If a puzzle dialog becomes too lengthy, people seem to lose the threads and give up solving the riddle. Frequent recaps are recommended. |
