Enigmas and puzzles

November 25, 2007

I always think they look like music," Sanguimenta said.

"Yes… what? What are you talking about?" said Innumeratus.

"Those birds sitting on the phone lines. They're a string of fat black blobs on parallel lines. They look like musical notation."

"Ah, yes. But there are only four lines here—music uses five."

"Stop quibbling. There are two birds on each of the top three wires. And they all form a pattern. If you look at the other lines, there's one bird positioned between the birds on line one.

"That's not terribly impressive, Sanguimenta."

"No—but there are also two birds between the birds on line two, and three birds between the birds on line three."

At that moment, two more birds arrived. There was a brief flurry as all the birds flew into the air and then landed again. "Now they're doing the same thing, but using four wires!" Sanguimenta said.

"You mean… there are two birds on each of wires one, two, three, and four?" asked Innumeratus.

"Yes! There are four birds between the birds on wire four, three birds between the birds on line three, two birds between the birds on line two, and one bird between the birds on line one."

What was the pattern of the birds?


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The answer

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(Or in left-right reversal.)

The winner was Dave Williams from Basingstoke