[Brian1976] Three letters

[Brian1976]

When Phil looked, he only saw the letters Z, X and Q, that fact helped explain the disappearing act.

[CoffeeBean]

The question that must be asked - is Phil human? Male? Age relevant? If so, 1-99?
When Phil looked...at an object? Toward a particular area? At a person? Into something? When he opened his eyes after having had them closed? After having his field of vision temporarily blocked? When he was told to look? When he thought it was safe to look?
Had Phil seen other letters at some previous point in time at the same place that he now sees the 3 letters?
Are the letters Z, X and Q that he now sees in that order? Written in that order? Does their order matter? Does he just see these 3 letters in the same vicinity?
Are the letters written? Printed? Are they 3-dimensional?
Is Phil playing a game? Is anyone else playing a game?
Is the disappearing act part of a magic show? Had an object disappeared while Phil was at a certain place? More than one object?
When Phil looked, did he expect to see more letters besides these 3? Did he assume that he would? Had someone told Phil to expect or assume to see other letters besides these 3?

[Brian1976]

is Phil human? Male? yes to both
Age relevant? If so, 1-99? he's an adult, will suffice
When Phil looked...at an object? yes Toward a particular area? yes At a person? Into something? When he opened his eyes after having had them closed? After having his field of vision temporarily blocked? When he was told to look? When he thought it was safe to look? no to rest
Had Phil seen other letters at some previous point in time at the same place that he now sees the 3 letters? yes
Are the letters Z, X and Q that he now sees in that order? Written in that order? Does their order matter? no to all
Does he just see these 3 letters in the same vicinity? yes
Are the letters written? Printed? yes to this one Are they 3-dimensional?
Is Phil playing a game? Is anyone else playing a game? no to both
Is the disappearing act part of a magic show? no, in this case 'disappearing act' is just a figure of speech, meaning something has disappeared Had an object disappeared while Phil was at a certain place? yes More than one object? yes
When Phil looked, did he expect to see more letters besides these 3? yes Did he assume that he would? yes Had someone told Phil to expect or assume to see other letters besides these 3? noish

[Westing1992]

Relevant that those three letters are some of the most uncommon in the English language?

[Brian1976]

Relevant that those three letters are some of the most uncommon in the English language? yes

[CoffeeBean]

When Phil experiences this disappearing act, is he in a place he's been in before? Once before? More times? Many times?
Does someone ask or tell Phil to look at something? Is he curious about something? Looking for something?
Are the letters printed on paper? On another kind of surface? A horizontal surface? Vertical?
So at an earlier point in time there were more letters visible along with these 3? All the other letters of the alphabet?

[Brian1976]

When Phil experiences this disappearing act, is he in a place he's been in before? yes Once before? More times? Many times? this one
Does someone ask or tell Phil to look at something? no Is he curious about something? yes Looking for something? yesish
Are the letters printed on paper? On another kind of surface? this one
A horizontal surface? this one Vertical?
So at an earlier point in time there were more letters visible along with these 3? All the other letters of the alphabet? yes to both

[GalFisk]

Are other letters stolen? Lost? Moved? Removed? Is he looking at a keyboard? At scrabble tiles? Were letters used to write something? In order to play a game?

[Earnest]

Was an object associated to any letter? Were the letters all put in alphabetic order? If so, were there blank spaces between the letters that he was able to see?

Did he look for all the time at the surface? If not was there a relevant gap between when he stopped looking and the "when he looked" of the statement?
Are variables name relevant? Name given to the sides of geometeic figures?

Can we rephrase the puzzle statement as " because he was able to see the letters X Z and Q, he realized that something has disappeared"? Was there a point in time when he was not looking? If so was he not looking at the surface? Horizontal surface in which letters are printed: a book? A display? A picture? A wall? A ticket? On labels? On a flag? On the cover of a book? A billboard? A field (e.g. they were written with fire)? Sand? On iron? On plastic? Were X Z and Q lightened? Were the other letters still present? If not had them been cancelled? Deleted? Disappeared with the something?
The something that disappeared = it was very far so that he was not able to see it? Disappered in the dark? Had been taken by someone? Had been stolen?


Are supermarkets relevant? Restaurants? Shops?

WAG --> did he want to buy those bracelets with the initials on it but he foubd just letters X Z and Q because the others, been the most common initials of names had been taken by others?

[Brian1976]

Are other letters stolen? false assumption Lost? Moved? Removed? yesish Is he looking at a keyboard? this one At scrabble tiles? Were letters used to write something? In order to play a game?[/quote]

[Brian1976]

Was an object associated to any letter? yesish Were the letters all put in alphabetic order? no were there blank spaces between the letters that he was able to see? yesish

Did he look for all the time at the surface? If not was there a relevant gap between when he stopped looking and the "when he looked" of the statement?
Are variables name relevant? Name given to the sides of geometeic figures? no to all

Can we rephrase the puzzle statement as " because he was able to see the letters X Z and Q, he realized that something has disappeared"? no Was there a point in time when he was not looking? irrelevant If so was he not looking at the surface?

Horizontal surface in which letters are printed: a book? A display? A picture? A wall? A ticket? On labels? On a flag? On the cover of a book? A billboard? A field (e.g. they were written with fire)? Sand? On iron? On plastic? Were X Z and Q lightened? Were the other letters still present? I think all of these questions are answered with my last post, it was revealed he was looking at a keyboard

If not had them been cancelled? no Deleted? no Disappeared with the something? noish

The something that disappeared = it was very far so that he was not able to see it? Disappered in the dark? no to both

Had been taken by someone? Had been stolen? no to both


Are supermarkets relevant? Restaurants? Shops? no to both

WAG --> did he want to buy those bracelets with the initials on it but he foubd just letters X Z and Q because the others, been the most common initials of names had been taken by others? no

[Earnest]

So had the keyboard just these letters? Did the other letters disappear? Were taken away from someone? Was the keyboard a qwerty? Was the keyboard an american standard keyboard for computers? Was it the keyboard of a phone? Did something disappeared from the screen? Was there a display?

Did he want to write something? To use the keyboard? Was it a touch keyboard? An analogic one? Is music relevant? Videos? Internet? Texting? Shortcuts? Help? T9? Automatic help to write words?

[Brian1976]

So had the keyboard just these letters? Did the other letters disappear? yes to both

Were taken away from someone? no

Was the keyboard a qwerty? Was the keyboard an american standard keyboard for computers? yes to both

Was it the keyboard of a phone? no Did something disappeared from the screen? no Was there a display? irrelevant

Did he want to write something? To use the keyboard? yes Was it a touch keyboard? An analogic one? it was a typical computer keyboard with keys you press Is music relevant? Videos? Internet? Texting? Shortcuts? Help? T9? Automatic help to write words? no to rest

[GalFisk]

Were the other letters worn off? Covered? Dirty? Is the disappearing act the disappearance of the letters? The disappearance of another keyboard? Was a keyboard taken in order to replace this one? Did a person disappear in order to write a lot on s keyboard? To write a book?

[Brian1976]

Were the other letters worn off? this one Covered? Dirty?

Is the disappearing act the disappearance of the letters? this one The disappearance of another keyboard? Was a keyboard taken in order to replace this one? Did a person disappear in order to write a lot on s keyboard? To write a book? so no to rest

[Brian1976]

I think most if not all of this has been figured out in one section or another, I will post the solve:

Phil bought a new computer keyboard, but after about a month of using it he noticed that all the paint had worn off the letter keys except the letters Z, X AND Q, he quickly realized two things: 1. he had bought a defective keyboard and 2. the reason those 3 particular letters had not worn off was because they were the least used letters in the English language hence he didn't use those keys often hence the paint did not wear off them.