[peter365] West of the Fields

[peter365]

Hi there practitioners of puzzling . A silly quickie to chase my puzzlers block away.

Famer Peter has a large flock of sheep in a field that is few miles from his main farm. On hearing that there's some sheep stealing going on he arranges a roster with his farm hands whereby one of them will check on the remote flock at least once an hour. He assigns the daylight hours for all 7 days in the week to them except Wednesday afternoons which he leaves blank.

He has no intention of going to the field himself at that time so why does he do that?

This is daft so spoil away

[Balin]

Oh boy...

Is it relevant how many farmhands Farmer Peter employs? The time of year this takes place? The year? The country?
Farmer Peter = H/A/M? Farmhands = H/A/M?
Do the farmhands cover multiple shifts (for lack of a better word) in a week? The same shift(s) over multiple weeks? Relevant?

[JenBurdoo]

Is a pun involved?

Is the farmer certain that no one will steal his sheep on a Wednesday? Is the time of year relevant? Astronomical phenomena? Are the sheep shorn? Relevant? Are they "sheeple?"

[WiZ]

Are they looked after by the soccer team Sheepfield Wednesday?

[peter365]

Balin

Oh boy...

Is it relevant how many farmhands Farmer Peter employs? No The time of year this takes place? No especially The year? No The country? It's England, it's relevant but not in so far as this couldn't occur elsewhere
Farmer Peter = H/A/M? Farmhands = H/A/M? Yes to both, I'm wracking my brain to try and remember if I've ever run a puzzle where the protogonists weren't human.
Do the farmhands cover multiple shifts (for lack of a better word) in a week? Assume yes The same shift(s) over multiple weeks? Yes Relevant? It's relevant that every daylight hour is rostered except Wednesday afternoon, who does what shift is not relevant

[peter365]

Jenburdoo

Is a pun involved? No , I knew ewe would ask that !

Is the farmer certain that no one will steal his sheep on a Wednesday? No Is the time of year relevant? Not really Astronomical phenomena? No Are the sheep shorn? Relevant? Irrelevant Are they "sheeple?" No and to my shame i had to look that up

[peter365]

WiZ

Are they looked after by the soccer team Sheepfield Wednesday? I'm afraid not


Can I check your availability to run a football team in Sheffield ? Well I can't manage Wednesday ,

[wolfier]

does Wednesday stand out among the other days of the week in terms of the number of sheep in the field at risk of being stolen, or the number of people in the field? Is the likelihood of theft different from say Tuesdays or Thursdays?

[JenBurdoo]

Are the sheep protected by something other than the farmer and farm hands on Wednesday afternoons? Does the farmer suspect someone relevant? Is something the sheep do relevant? Is there a relevant sheep dog? Relevant activity nearby?

[Solong]

Is the field used for some other purpose on Wednesdays? e.g. for games? Perhaps a band or other musical group practices there?
WAG: train schedules relevant?

[peter365]

Wolfier

does Wednesday stand out among the other days of the week in terms of the number of sheep in the field at risk of being stolen, or the number of people in the field? No Is the likelihood of theft different from say Tuesdays or Thursdays? No

[peter365]

Are the sheep protected by something other than the farmer and farm hands on Wednesday afternoons? Not really Does the farmer suspect someone relevant? Is something the sheep do relevant? Is there a relevant sheep dog? No to these Relevant activity nearby? Yes

[peter365]

Solong

Is the field used for some other purpose on Wednesdays? No, the sheep are there all the time. e.g. for games? No but don't discount this notion Perhaps a band or other musical group practices there? No
WAG: train schedules relevant? No but I can see where you were headed with this.

[Balin]

Are there other farmers nearby? Other fields? Other sheep? Other non-sheep animals?

[JenBurdoo]

Significant noise or disturbance at that time? Will it be crowded? Will the sheep be effectively protected from theft?

[peter365]

Balin

Are there other farmers nearby? Probably but that's not the reason Other fields? Yes Other sheep? Not relevantly Other non-sheep animals? yes

[peter365]

Jenburdoo

Significant noise or disturbance at that time? No Will it be crowded? Do you mean the field? if so no but........ Will the sheep be effectively protected from theft? It maybe that a theft is less likely but there's more to it than that.

[Doriana]

Dogs relevant? Are there dogs near the field on Wednesday afternoons? If so, dog races relevant? hunting? obedience school?

[JenBurdoo]

Is there a relevant crowd? Nearby? Does it surround the field? Is the field blocked in some way? Would prospective thieves be able to reach the field? Remove sheep? Be easily recognized? Easily caught?

Is there a Renaissance Faire or similar gathering? (music, meeting, speech...)

[peter365]

Doriana

Dogs relevant? No Are there dogs near the field on Wednesday afternoons? No If so, dog races relevant? no but very much OTRT hunting? obedience school? No to rest

[peter365]

Jenburdoo

Is there a relevant crowd? potential to mislead , there is a relevant crowd but there presence alone doesn't mean he doesn't have to check on his sheep Nearby? Yes Does it surround the field? It's adjacent Is the field blocked in some way? No Would prospective thieves be able to reach the field? Remove sheep? Yes both Be easily recognized? Yes Easily caught? Somewhat

Is there a Renaissance Faire or similar gathering? (music, meeting, speech...) There's a gathering but there's more to it.

Just to clarify the purpose of the hourly visit is to count the sheep to make sure there hasn't been a theft since the last check. Obviously they'd hope to catch the thieves in the act . Lets assume the the nature of the theft is a quick grab of one or two sheep and not a truck being loaded with the whole flock.

[Doriana]

Horse races relevant?

[peter365]

Doriana

Horse races relevant? Indeedy do

[Doriana]

Does the farmer think the sheep thieves will be at the horse race? Or are his farm hands at the horse race and can keep an eye at the sheep? Or is he at the race himself?

[peter365]

Doriana

Does the farmer think the sheep thieves will be at the horse race? No Or are his farm hands at the horse race and can keep an eye at the sheep? No Or is he at the race himself? and no again I'm afraid.

[Balin]

Do the horse races take place on Wednesday afternoons?

[peter365]

Balin

Do the horse races take place on Wednesday afternoons? Yes they do

[Balin]

Do the farmhands attend the races? Does the farmer? Do the sheep? (why not...)

[peter365]

Balin

Do the farmhands attend the races? Does the farmer? Do the sheep? (why not...) No to all

[Balin]

Does anyone at all watch the sheep on Wednesday afternoons? Does the track overlook the field, so spectators can see any sheep shenanigans?

[wolfier]

Is the race track around the field?

[peter365]

Balin

Does anyone at all watch the sheep on Wednesday afternoons? Yes Does the track overlook the field Yes , so spectators can see any sheep shenanigans? They may but that's not the solution.

[peter365]

Wolfier

Is the race track around the field? No, the field is adjacent to the track and is on a slope therefore affording a view of the entire field from the track.

Just one detail that has yet to be mentioned will solve this .

[Balin]

Do the sheep remain in the field during races?

[wolfier]

So there is another group of people watching over the sheep in Wednesday afternoons and this group of people is not mentioned yet. Are these people exclusively watching over the sheep? By accident? Are they paid? Do the races make use of the field for race-related purposes? Sound during the races relevant? *West* of the field relevant? e.g. is the track the direction the sun will set? Does the track and the field share an entrance?

[peter365]

Balin
Do the sheep remain in the field during races? Yes

[peter365]

Wolfier

So there is another group of people watching over the sheep in Wednesday afternoons and this group of people is not mentioned yet.
No that's not correct Are these people exclusively watching over the sheep? By accident? Are they paid? No to all based on an FA Do the races make use of the field for race-related purposes? No Sound during the races relevant? No *West* of the field relevant? No , my puzzle titles are rarely of any help e.g. is the track the direction the sun will set? Does the track and the field share an entrance? No

[Balin]

Just to clarify: does anyone at all watch the sheep on Wednesday afternoons?
Does anyone relevantly not watch the horse races?

[GalFisk]

Will any thievery be seen from the races if it occurs? Will any thief be suspiciously absent from the races? Does he want to find out if the thief goes to the races or not?

[peter365]

Balin

Just to clarify: does anyone at all watch the sheep on Wednesday afternoons? Yes
Does anyone relevantly not watch the horse races? No

[peter365]

Galfisk

Will any thievery be seen from the races if it occurs? It may be but there's a chance anyone seeing it would not recognise it as a theft , they might think it's just the farmer putting a sheep in a trailer Will any thief be suspiciously absent from the races? No Does he want to find out if the thief goes to the races or not? No

This is dragging a little , think about the farmer and what's he doing and the next post should solve this.

[Doriana]

Does the farmer watch the races on TV?

[peter365]

Doriana

Does the farmer watch the races on TV? Hallelujah , well done Doriana, I'm amazed that this took so long for someone to guess


******************SPOILER********************

While indulging in my passion for horse racing from the confines of my sofa I was struck, while watching one race, that the TV cameras as they followed the each race afforded a view of the entirety of a field adjacent to the track . The field was on a slope so every blade of grass could be seen and there were about 50 sheep in the field. I remember thinking how easy it would be for the farmer to simply pause the channel and count his sheep each time the horses passed by. This got me thinking that I might be able to shoehorn this idea into a puzzle.

Not sure it worked too well but thanks for sticking with it.

[Doriana]

That took us way too long indeed. Nice puzzle nevertheless!

[Balin]

It worked very well - as seems habitual with your puzzles, we danced around the key question for too long. In my mind that's a sign of a good puzzle, and this was one of them.

[peter365]

Thanks guys

[JenBurdoo]

Of course! So many good puzzles are like that - an obvious answer in hindsight. Good one, Peter.