[WiZ] Get better Puzzle Questions

[WiZ]

How did a handful of impressively long erections in Finland lead to a spike in the birth rate in Estonia?

BOATS. Caveat Earlispoilor.

[Westing1992]

erections: erect penises? erections lasting longer than four hours? Viagra/similar medicines involved?
Or erections as in buildings? Skyscrapers? Bridges?
Did the birth rate stay up permanently/was sustained, or was this a singular spike, similar to stories of how birth rates rise nine months after a blackout?

[LemonCurry]

Birth rate: of humans?

[peter365]

I think we can close the book on the 2019 funniest puzzle statement competition.

So many crazy thoughts running through my head but for now I'll just throw out two random things that came to mind. Is Monty Python relevant? The Eurovision Song Contest?

[invisiblemimsy]

Spike as in a raised point on a graph, and increase in numbers? Or some kind of pointy thing?

[gregoryuconn]

WAG: Is it in any way relevant that Finland and Estonia use the same tune for their national anthem?

[invisiblemimsy]

Do you mean long as in length? Height? Or as in duration?
Is this an event which took place in Finland? Multiple or single event/s? Could it have taken place somewhere else? Precise location important? Multiple or single location/s? Birth rate of humans? Other creatures, relevant which?

[Earnest]

WAG --> long walls has been build in Finland in order to slow down migration so that a raise in the birth rate of humans in Estonia raised being people forced to wait longer in order to migrate in Finland?

[WiZ]

Westing

erections: erect penises? no

This is what I love about this forum. I put a lurid double entendre in the puzzle statement and the first question is a no-nonsense disambiguation of it. Never change, LTPF.

erections lasting longer than four hours? yes (but bear in mind the answer to your previous question)Viagra/similar medicines involved? no
Or erections as in buildings? yesish Skyscrapers? Bridges? no to these
Did the birth rate stay up permanently/was sustained, no or was this a singular spike, similar to stories of how birth rates rise nine months after a blackout? yes

LemonCurry

Birth rate: of humans? yes

Peter

I think we can close the book on the 2019 funniest puzzle statement competition. WiZ "Man Farts on Snake" is back, baby!

So many crazy thoughts running through my head but for now I'll just throw out two random things that came to mind. Is Monty Python relevant? The Eurovision Song Contest? no to both

InvisibleMimsy

Spike as in a raised point on a graph yes (i.e. a sharp statistical increase), and increase in numbers? Or some kind of pointy thing? no

GregoryUconn

WAG: Is it in any way relevant that Finland and Estonia use the same tune for their national anthem? no (I can picture Donald Sobol spinning this into an Encyclopaedia Brown-style counterfactual puzzle)

InvisibleMimsy Redux

Do you mean long as in length? yes Height? yes Or as in duration? yes, but irrelevant
Is this an event which took place in Finland? yes Multiple or single event/s? both, really Could it have taken place somewhere else? Theoretically yes, but context plays a big part here Precise location important? yes Multiple or single location/s? multiple Birth rate of humans? yes Other creatures, relevant which? no

Earnest

WAG --> long walls has been build in Finland in order to slow down migration so that a raise in the birth rate of humans in Estonia raised being people forced to wait longer in order to migrate in Finland? no

[Earnest]

Did the spike last longer than 1 year? Than 10 years? Than a month? Than a week? Than an hour? Is the spike due to: an increase in the fertility of women in Estonia? An increase in sexual intercourses in Estonia? By Estonian? Also by finnish people? An increase in techonology (e.g. in vitro births)?Is the spike wuth respect to the past rate in Estonia?

Are the erections natural? Are them geysers?
Did a sort of natural phenomenon made it necessary to transfer test tubes for controlled birth temporarily in Estonia? Are the erections modification to preexisting buildings? Is cold relevant?

[Westing1992]

This is what I love about this forum. I put a lurid double entendre in the puzzle statement and the first question is a no-nonsense disambiguation of it. Never change, LTPF.

Have to make sure all possibilities are explored.

So, the buildings are long vertically, but also horizontally? Dams? Forts?
Is tourism involved? Immigration? To Finland? To Estonia?

[WiZ]

Earnest

Did the spike last longer than 1 year? Than 10 years? Than a month? Assume roughly a month (what with gestation periods varying as they do) Than a week? Than an hour? Is the spike due to: an increase in the fertility of women in Estonia? An increase in sexual intercourses in Estonia? this By Estonian? yes Also by finnish people? no An increase in techonology (e.g. in vitro births)? no Is the spike wuth respect to the past rate in Estonia? yes

Are the erections natural? no Are them geysers? no
Did a sort of natural phenomenon made it necessary to transfer test tubes for controlled birth temporarily in Estonia? no Are the erections modification to preexisting buildings? sometimes Is cold relevant? no

Westing

So, the buildings are long vertically, yes but also horizontally? no Dams? Forts? no to both
Is tourism involved? Immigration? To Finland? To Estonia? no to all

[Westing1992]

Are the buildings used as housing? Business offices? Are they lighthouses? Radio towers? Cell phone towers? Smokestacks?

[peter365]

Is travel relevant? Are they the ATC towers?

Anything to do with EU membership?

[WiZ]

Westing

Are the buildings used as housing? Business offices? Are they lighthouses? no to all Radio towers? no, but ORT Cell phone towers? no, but a little less ORT Smokestacks? no

Peter

Is travel relevant? no Are they the ATC towers? no

Anything to do with EU membership? no, but somewhat ORT

[GalFisk]

Do they transmit radio waves? Receive them? Radar relevant? TV?

[Earnest]

So I was thinking about a wonderful view they could provide, but now I am thinking about something facilitating communications among lovers...something like that? Internet connection relevant? Wi-fi? Waves? Are cables relevant? Electricity? Are the erections sources of energy (through sun/wind/water?)? Sun reflection relevant? Oil? (Kind of towers for oil extraction)? Are we talking about contemporaneous times (after 1990)?

Are facilities/advantages provided to Doctors who give birth to babies relevant? Or maybe to national agencies computing the birth rate? Are financial incentives in Estonia relevant? Did the towers allow for something it was not possible before in Estonia? Something it was banned?

Did the erections provoke: less abortions? Decline in death rates of babies? Just more sexual interactions? Is unprotected sex relevant (did the erections promote it somehow?)?

[peter365]

Are power cuts relevant?

[WiZ]

GalFisk

Do they transmit radio waves? no, but... Receive them? no Radar relevant? no TV? yes

GalFisk

So I was thinking about a wonderful view they could provide, but now I am thinking about something facilitating communications among lovers...something like that? neither is quite right, but the second is closer Internet connection relevant? no Wi-fi? no Waves? yes, of a sort Are cables relevant? no Electricity? yes Are the erections sources of energy (through sun/wind/water?)? no Sun reflection relevant? no Oil? (Kind of towers for oil extraction)? no Are we talking about contemporaneous times (after 1990)? no

Are facilities/advantages provided to Doctors who give birth to babies relevant? no Or maybe to national agencies computing the birth rate? no Are financial incentives in Estonia relevant? no Did the towers allow for something it was not possible before in Estonia? yes Something it was banned? yes!

Did the erections provoke: less abortions? Decline in death rates of babies? no to these Just more sexual interactions? yes Is unprotected sex relevant (did the erections promote it somehow?)? The 'protected' nature is not relevant - simply the frequency of Estonians gettin' it Estoni-on!

Peter

Are power cuts relevant? no

[peter365]

Did the new towers mean Estonians were able to view content they weren't able to before? Censorship relevant? Content likely to get one in the mood relevant?

[WiZ]

Did the new towers mean Estonians were able to view content they weren't able to before? yes Censorship relevant? yes Content likely to get one in the mood relevant? Why, yes

This is the crux of the thing. All the rest is detail.

***** SPOILER *****

Under soviet rule, television in Estonia was highly censored and regulated, with 'western' content particularly forbidden. A workaround was discovered when unnecessarily tall television masts were installed in Helsinki. These could broadcast Finnish television shows to the northern parts of Estonia, such as Tallinn.

One night, the erotic French film Emmanuelle was to be broadcast. The highly taboo nature of this proved to be quite a drawcard, and Estonians flocked to the capital to see what they had been missing out on.

Apparently they enjoyed it, as the birth rate spiked to an all-time high 9 months later.

Congratulations, Peter, on the solution, and thank you everyone for playing (and your patience)!

[Balin]

I appreciate the spoiler tag in the title. That Little Lytton entry made its way to TV Tropes.

[WiZ]

There's some gaming enthusiast in Canada who started a blog named Summon Erotic Man (Turn to 312). It's weird to think that I've had this influence on someone I will never meet, or likely come within a few thousand kilometres of.

[peter365]

Did you enter this year WiZ

[Acridian9]

Just discovered that in the next Magic set they'll be printing this...LOL

[WiZ]

Well, I look forward to the inevitable release of the EROTIC MAN card that will unequivocally defeat this one.

Peter: The deadline is in a week, and I'm still mulling over which of my ideas to submit. I've narrowed it down to two or three, although I'm not sure any of them hold a candle to The Anagramancer.

[peter365]

We should have our own little competition