Watson’s Niece

Good morning pupils.

This is Holmes. Doctor Watson is always telling histories about me. Probably I don’t deserve so much attention, though my remarkable services have became notorious. Today, I’m going to propose a simple puzzle. It only requires a little bit of wit and, in addition, the main character is Doctor Watson.

Doctor Watson was telling me about his niece Anne Amelia Forsythe. He said Amelia (she preferred the name Amelia  to Anne) went to Liverpool (a city she liked better than London), where she met two men. She was attracted to David (not Keith), and made a date to meet him the following day. She preferred to meet  him at noon (as apposed to eleven, as he suggested). David then suggested a number of activities for the afternoon -punting, walking, golfing, and riding.

“Now”, said Watson confidently, “can you deduce which activity my niece chose?”

I answered correctly almost immediately. Can you do the same, pupils?

 

Soltuion to the death of Dick Powers, notorious gangster

Good afternoon my dear friends.

Here it is the solution, some of you found it. Perhaps I recommend you to Holmes as assistants in some case. Well I am forgetting the  importan thing. 

Dick Powers was 68 years old at his death. Why? Because when his youngest child was born Mr Powers was 34 and  his oldest child was 6. So if his eldest child was 40 wen he died, the  time passed was 34 years and Dick Powers was 34+34 = 68 years old at his death.

Doctor Watson

The death of Dick Powers, notorious ganster

Good afternoon, my dear friends.

I was very pleased with your comments. Holmes thinks the anterior puzzle was elemental and you need a new exciting challenge. So here it is a little problem.

Sherlock Holmes glanced up from his evening newspaper.

“Dick Powers, the gang leader who was responsible for all that touble down at the docks, has been found death,” he said to Doctor Watson.

How old was he, Holmes?” I asked.

“Well, he was 34 years old when his youngest son was born, and his eldest son, who was six years older than the youngest, was 40 on the day of his death,” Holmes answered.

Can you deduce the age of Dick Powers at his death ?

 

Doctor Watson        

 

 

                             

Sherlock Holmes and women

Irene Adler

The only woman in whom Holmes ever showed any interest simmilar to romantic one was Irene Adler. According to Watson, Holmes always referred to her as “The Woman” . Holmes himself is never directly quoted as using this term — though he does mention her actual name several times in other cases.

 Gayle Hunnicut as Irene Adler in ‘A Scandal in Bohemia’

 

She is also one of the few women who are mentioned in multiple Holmes stories, though she actually appears in person only in one, “A Scandal in Bohemia”.She is often thought to be the only woman who broke through Holmes’s reserve. She is possibly the only woman who has ever “beaten” Holmes in a mystery; this point is unclear owing to a comment with some chronological problems in one of the stories.

However, it is important to note that Watson explicitly states, “It was not that he felt any emotion a kin to love for Irene Adler.”

 

The other women

In one story, “The Adventure of Charles Augustus Milverton”, Holmes is engaged to be married, but only with the motivation of gaining information for his case. He clearly demonstrates particular interest in several of the more charming female clients that come his way; however, Holmes inevitably “manifested no further interest in the client when once she had ceased to be the centre of one of his problems.” Holmes found their youth, beauty, and energy disturb his dedication to his job.

These episodes show that Holmes possesses a degree of charm, yet, apart from the case of Adler, there is no indication of a serious or long-term interest. Watson states that Holmes has an “aversion to women” but “a peculiarly ingratiating way with [them].” Holmes states, “I am not a whole-souled admirer of womankind”; in fact he finds “the motives of women… so inscrutable… How can you build on such quicksand? Their most trivial actions may mean volumes… their most extraordinary conduct may depend upon a hairpin.”

Another point of interest in Holmes’s relationships with women is that the only joy he gets from their company is the problems they bring to him to solve.

Watson writes in “The Adventure of the Dying Detective” that Mrs. Hudson is fond of Holmes in her own way, despite his irritating eccentricities as a lodger, owing to his “remarkable gentleness and courtesy in his dealings with women.”

 

Irene Handl as Mr Hudson in “The private life of Sherlock Holmes”, directed by Billy Wilder 

 

Watson notes that while he dislikes and distrusts them, he is nevertheless a “chivalrous opponent.” However, Holmes cannot be said to be misogynistic, given the number of women he helps in his work. 

 

Solution to The Surnames

Hello again, dear pupils.

Here it is the solution to The Surnames puzzle. Your hypothesis were partially right or wrong, depending on the point of view. The profession of detective is really demanding. You have to improve your logic skills. Don’tforgot it;next time pay attention to the distracting clues. If two cousins are two sister’s sons then the can have different surname. The right answer was:

Tom Smith was the butler

John Brown was the stable boy

Jack Jones was the chef

Tim Small was the gardener

I am waiting for your comments!

 

    

 

 Doctor Watson

Solution to The Three Ladies

Good afternoon, dear friends.

Here it is the solution to the Tree Ladies puzzle. It wasn’t so complicate. Use Algebra, it is your friend not your enemy!

Three ladies have 30 fingers. The three lady were wearing 14 rings. Let x the number of rings that the second ladywas wearing. The first lady was wearing TWICE as many as other (the second for instance), 2x. The third lady was wearing y. So we have:

2x + x + y = 14, this 3x + y = 14.

The first postive solution is x =1 , but then the first is wearing 2 the send one and the third 14 -3= 11 , which is not possible because one was wearing more than the third.

So we try it with x = 2, then the first is wearing 4 = 2x the second 2 = x and the third 14 -6= 8 , which is not possible because one was wearing more than the third.

Now we try it with x = 3, then the first is wearing 6 = 2x the second 3 = x and the third 14 -9= 5 , which is possible because one was wearing more than the third.

Well done, Pope!

Doctor Watson 

Who is Professor Moriarty?

 

 Moriarty by Sideny Paget  

 

His complete name was James Moriarty. He was created by Doyle as antagonist and archenemy of Sherlock Holmes. He is at the same intellectual level as Holmes.

Moriarty is a criminal mastermind, described by Holmes as the “Napoleon of Crime”. Professor Moriarty ruled the London underworld in the late 19^th century, before (apparently) meeting his death at the Reichenbach Falls at the hands of the great detective.

 

The archicriminal

Holmes described him in the “Final Problem” as an extremely intelligent man of good birth. Moriarty was a Professor of Mathematics, who wrote a treatise on the binomial theorem which had an European vogue, lectured about eclipses, and became the celebrated author of “The Dynamics of An Asteroid”, a book so advanced that “no man in the scientific press is able to criticize it”. He had a brilliant career but his criminal hereditary tendencies,

“…instead of being modified, was increased and rendered infinitely more dangerous by his extraordinary mental powers. Dark rumours gathered round him in the University town, and eventually he was compelled to resign his chair and come down to London…”

The Final Problem 

 At first, in a manner similar to Holmes being a consulting detective, Moriarty was a consulting criminal. Later he set up his own criminal syndicate, with Colonel Sebastian Moran as his right hand.

In 1891, when Holmes disrupted his criminal activities, he pursued the detective across to the aforementioned Falls in Switzerland , where the two fought and Moriarty fell to his death, apparently, because no body was found. 

Moriarty’s weapon of choice was the “air-rifle”, a unique weapon constructed for the Professor by a blind German mechanic, von Herder, and used by Colonel Sebastian Moran, his second in his criminal organization.

 

Physical description and family

 

 Viktor Yevgrafov as Moriarty

    

 

 

Moriarty is tall and thin, and white haired. He has an ascetic appearance and solemn speaking. Moriarty was described as swinging his head from side to side like a snake about to strike.

The stories give a number of indications about the Professor’s family, some contradictory. In The Valley of Fear, Holmes says of him: “He is unmarried. His younger brother is a station master in the west of England.” In The Final Problem, Watson refers to “the recent letters in which Colonel James Moriarty defends the memory of his brother.

 

Why was he created?

Doyle’s original motive in creating Moriarty was evidently his intention to kill Holmes off. As is well known, “The Final Problem” was intended to be exactly what its name says; Doyle sought to sweeten the pill a little bit by letting Holmes go in a blaze of glory, having rid the world of a criminal so powerful and dangerous that any further task would be trivial in comparison (as Holmes says in the story itself). Moriarty only appeared in one book because, quite simply, having him constantly escape would discredit Holmes, and would be less satisfying. Valley of Fear changes this.

 

 Holmes and Moriarty fighting over the Reichenbach Falls, by Sidney Paget.   

Moriarty plays a direct role in only one other of Conan Doyle’s Holmes stories: The Valley of Fear, which was set before The Final Problem, but published afterwards.

Holmes mentions Moriarty reminiscently in five other stories: The Empty House (the immediate sequel to The Final Problem, The Norwood Builder, The Missing Three- Quarter, The Illustrious Client and his Last Bow.

This character is considered the first example of a supervillain.

 

 

 

Solution to Moriarty’s Marvellous Moustache Mixture Scam

 

 

Good morning my dear pupils.

As you can see Professor Moriarty is also a  trickster.  He was probably scarce of funds!

The answer to this problem is easy, specially if you use your knowledge on divisibility. Some of you found it.

You have to look for a divisor of 3895 greater than 50 and smaller than 100. You can factorice he number 3895 = 5·19 · 41. Each factor is smaller than 50, so you must take the product of two of them. The only solution is  95 = 5 · 19.

Then the solution is 95 people, each one lost 41 pounds.

Doctor Watson  

Solution to The Dark Dungeon Problem

Good morning my dear pupils.

Why are you so lazy/shy? Why don’t write more posts?

M. B. gave me the solution. You are clever, write on the blog!

The answer is 21 hours. The reasonament is simple. Holmes made 16 candles from 64. When they burnt down he had 16 candle subs and he made from then 4 candles. When they burnt down he had 4 candle stubs and he made his last full candle. Each candle burnt down in one hour. Adding we have:

16+4+1 = 21 hours of light

I am waiting your solutions

Doctor Watson     

 

Moriarty’s Marvellous Moustache Mixture Scam

Good  morning my dear friends.

Holmes didn’t wait  for me yesterday so I couldn’t write to you. He is extremely active and impatient. I have a simple puzzle for you:

Before being aprehended by Sherlock Holmes, Professor Moriarty had conned a number of people out of a total 3895 pounds in one particular scam. A Marvellous Moustache Mixture which provides the buyer a fashionable moustache even if he was beardless. Each person had lost the same amount of money to the evil professor. If they were more 50 people, but less than 100 involved in he scam, can you work out exactly how many people were conned by the Professor and how much they each lost?

It is easy!.  I am waiting for your messages!

 

Doctor Watson