[WiZ] Incredibly silly

[WiZ]

Steve is a statistician with a penchant for perfect squares. One day, a savage earthquake damages his office irreparably, leaving him disconsolate.

To drown his sorrows, he goes to his local pub with Ed, Kate, Liz, Api, and Ernie. Uncharacteristically, he orders 37 beers. How much does each beer cost?

[Twilightseeker]

Perfect squares, mathematically speaking?

Does he order all 37 beers for himself? Relevant what or how many drinks his companions ordered? Is it relevant how is office was damaged? Relevant that an earthquake did it?

[WiZ]

Perfect squares, mathematically speaking? yes

Does he order all 37 beers for himself? yes Relevant what or how many drinks his companions ordered? no, other that what was established by your prior question Is it relevant how is office was damaged? Relevant that an earthquake did it? no to these

[Twilightseeker]

Is it relevant that he even had companions? Relevant what their names/genders are? Relevant that there were five of them?

[WiZ]

Is it relevant that he even had companions? yes Relevant what their names yes/genders are? Relevant that there were five of them? yes

[Twilightseeker]

Is the first letter of each of the companions' names relevant (E, K, L, A, E)? Their whole names? The syllables in their names? Do the individual letters in their names correspond to the number that is their position in the alphabet? Such as Ed = 5, 4 (either 5+4=9, or 5*4=20)?

[WiZ]

Is the first letter of each of the companions' names relevant (E, K, L, A, E)? no Their whole names? yes The syllables in their names? no Do the individual letters in their names correspond to the number that is their position in the alphabet? Such as Ed = 5, 4 (either 5+4=9, or 5*4=20)? not relevantly

[Twilightseeker]

Is the number of letters in each name relevant (2, 4, 3, 3, 5)? Are these the first names of famous people? Of mathematicians? Is the linguistic etymology of these names important?

[WiZ]

Is the number of letters in each name relevant (2, 4, 3, 3, 5)? no Are these the first names of famous people? yes Of mathematicians? no Is the linguistic etymology of these names important? not very

[Grip]

Do we need good math skills to solve this? (If so, I'm in trouble.)

[Twilightseeker]

Are all of these famous people related in some way? Are they all still alive? Some of them? Do/did they know each other? Have the same profession? Are they also into statistics? Is it relevant that our statistician's name is Steve?

[WiZ]

Grip

Do we need good math skills to solve this? (If so, I'm in trouble.) You need elementary maths skills and decent inductive reasoning

Twilightseeker

Are all of these famous people related in some way? there is a relevant connection between them Are they all still alive? no Some of them? no Do/did they know each other? Two of them did; certain others would have been aware of the existence of certain others Have the same profession? no Are they also into statistics? no Is it relevant that our statistician's name is Steve? no

[Grip]

(Like I said, I'm in trouble.)

Did all or some of these famous personages have a title? do they have numbers in their name, i.e. Henry the 8th?

[WiZ]

Did all or some of these famous personages have a title? Four of them did do they have numbers in their name, i.e. Henry the 8th? One of them does

[Grip]

Are any of them kings or queens?

[WiZ]

Are any of them kings or queens? one of them is

[jumpingjacks]

Liz = Queen Elizabeth? (II)?

[Twilightseeker]

Is Ernie Ernest Hemingway?

Is the person named Api from India, Egypt, or North Europe? Is Api male? female?

[Grip]

Does the number 37 itself have any symbolic significance?

[peter365]

Do Ed,Liz and the rest 'go with' Steve in his pockets? his wallet ? or in a bag ? Are they depicted on banknotes, coins or stamps? Book covers? Portraits? Is this something he has salvaged from his office?

Is the expression 'back to square one' relevant?

[WiZ]

Jumpingjacks

Liz = Queen Elizabeth? (II)? Yes to both (God save the Queen)

Twilightseeker

Is Ernie Ernest yes Hemingway? no

Is the person named Api from India, Egypt, or North Europe? no to all Is Api male? yes female?

Grip

Does the number 37 itself have any symbolic significance? no

Do Ed,Liz and the rest 'go with' Steve in his pockets? his wallet ? this, clever you or in a bag ? Are they depicted on banknotes yes, coins or stamps? Liz is, but irrelevant Book covers? Portraits? no to these Is this something he has salvaged from his office? no

Is the expression 'back to square one' relevant? no

[Grip]

Did he pay for the beers with New Zealand banknotes? which has those individuals likenesses on them?

[WiZ]

Did he pay for the beers with New Zealand banknotes? which has those individuals likeness on them? yes to both

[Grip]

Do we need to know the various dollar values of those banknotes? and use that knowledge to deduce how much a beer costs?

[WiZ]

Do we need to know the various dollar values of those banknotes? and use that knowledge to deduce how much a beer costs? that is the remainder of the puzzle, yes. It is a bit mathematical from this point on, I admit. But only a bit.

[Grip]

I'll give it a shot, as unmathematical as I am and lacking in knowledge of the NZD.

Api = is he worth 10? 20? 50?

Liz = 100? 500?

Ernie = 10? 20? 5? 100?

Kate = 10? 20? 500?

Ed = 50? 20? 100? 1,000? 500?

[WiZ]

Api = is he worth 10? 20? 50 this?

Liz = 100? 500? neither

Ernie = 10? 20? 5? 100 this?

Kate = 10? this 20? 500?

Ed = 50? 20? 100? 1,000? 500? none of the above

Free hint: The NZD is currently tied to the USD at a rate of 1:0.71

[Grip]

Is Ed 5? 20?

Is Elizabeth 5? 20?

[WiZ]

Is Ed 5 this ? 20?

Is Elizabeth 5? 20 this?

Truth be told, the denominations were far more important than who was what. But you have them all, now.

[jumpingjacks]

Did he use all five of his notes to pay for his beer? Does a beer cost $5?

Is the earthquake relevant at all? Richter scale relevant?

[biograd]

Did he order a number of beers such that the total cost was a perfect square? a total such that he could pay it by using a perfect square number of each denomination of bills (e.g, 1 of one kind of bill, 4 of another, 9 of another, etc.)?

[WiZ]

JumpingJacks

Did he use all five of his notes to pay for his beer? Does a beer cost $5? yes to both!


***** SPOILER *****

Steve goes to the pub with one of each kind of New Zealand banknote:

$5, featuring mountaineer Edmund Hillary
$10, featuring suffragette Kate Sheppard
$20, featuring Queen Elizabeth II
$50, featuring Parliamentarian and Maori advocate Apirana Ngata, and
$100, featuring physicist Ernest Rutherford.

The 37 beers came to the exact total - $185, or $5 each. It must have been happy hour.

Well done to JumpingJacks for the solution, Grip for a lot of the narrowing down, Peter for a key question, and everyone else for playing.

[peter365]

Cool puzzle WiZ and might I say NZ has some pretty cool banknotes.

[Tymmi]

Cool puzzle WiZ and might I say NZ and the Male Edge https://elasticss.com/male-edge-review-and-results has some pretty cool banknotes.

It took me a while but I got 185 too. Thanks for the puzzle.