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I hold every single day, in my lovely picture frame.

I look a hundred years old, but I was built on the spot.

You might say I'm weak, and I'm four times over the hill.

Sometimes I take the elevator from the ground floor, not to be confused with my friends next door.

Having a look at the title will give you the conclusion, or is it there only for confusion?

Here's my friends' number 0 1 14 8 21, if you call you should find at least one.

My friends are hiding in some words, I think there's something backwards.

What am I?

HINT:

The first four lines of the riddle should direct you to some answers. The next three lines are there to reassure you that the answer you've got is the correct one. If your answer matches the meaning of the last three lines then you should be right. As an additional help, I've added ellipsis (...) to the title.

EDIT: To be fair here you are all giving me very reasonable answers. As I said in the hint, this is an ambiguous puzzle, and when I created it I didn't think that someone would solve it, that someone would come up with the solution to this problem, as it requires some knowledge and a lot of scratch work to see if your answer is indeed correct. I think I did a good job at hiding the answer nicely. So if no one finds it I will accept the closest/nicest answer :)

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6 Answers 6

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I'm not fully sure...

But is it ... ?

CALENDAR

Like...

I hold every single day...I look a hundred years old...

And...

You might say I'm weak = WEEK ( homophone ! ) ... and four times the hill...!...There are FOUR weeks in every month nearly...

As for the rest I'm not completely sure/confident...and I don't see how it deals with "scientific test..."....:/...

But as for the string of digits 0,1,14,8,21...you can find at least one...WE CAN ALWAYS FIND ONE WEEK in between 1 and 8 , 14 and 21 (as in dates)...

And...

As for the ellipsis...There's something called the ellipse calendar, the format in which it is generated.

Well, let's say, I'm not much satisfied with my answer but nevertheless it's an effort. Sorry if this was bad.

Thank You. :)

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  • $\begingroup$ @SwarnabjaBhaumik Well, this is indeed a very good try, though this wasn't the answer I was hoping for. And you can tell that as the word calendar doesn't fit in that well with the text from "Sometimes I take the elevator...next door". What are the friends? And what is the thing in the puzzle that is backwards? Nevertheless, here's an upvote :) $\endgroup$
    – Zero Pancakes
    Commented Apr 18, 2017 at 19:37
  • $\begingroup$ Also, the intended meaning of the word hold here is not grasp/keep, as an extra help. $\endgroup$
    – Zero Pancakes
    Commented Apr 18, 2017 at 19:41
  • $\begingroup$ @Michael...I know/feel it's like "hold" as in hold true...is it Induction ? ... I've been getting a feeling. $\endgroup$
    – Swarnabja Bhaumik
    Commented Apr 19, 2017 at 12:35
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    $\begingroup$ You now, like weak...as in the weak form of the Mathematical Induction Principle...and and it's friends are integers...and sometimes it takes an elevator from the ground floor...i.e. from n=0,...and we always have a least integer by the Well Ordering Principle...Also,the ellipsis signifies a sort of continuation...as pursued by Induction... $\endgroup$
    – Swarnabja Bhaumik
    Commented Apr 19, 2017 at 12:50
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Hope the evidence below is strong enough to present

a case

I hold every single day, in my lovely picture frame.

hold every - holdall
single - I won't be able to find every single case.
day - day case
frame - is a case

I look a hundred years old, but I was built on the spot.

a 100 year old case
I was built - a case is built
on the spot - a case in point

You might say I'm weak, and I'm four times over the hill.

a weak case
four times - a case of XXXX beer
over the hill - an old case

Sometimes I take the elevator ... , not to be confused with my friends ...

the friends next door being a staircase

Having a look at the title - A simple “scientific test…”

scientific test - case study
test - testcase

Here's my friends' number 0 1 14 8 21,

Counting these positions in the title gives - _ A I S T and taking 0 for R as this letter is not present

an anagram is STAIR for your friends

My friends are hiding in some words, I think there's something backwards.

these are words like holdall/ ... and I can only think set (case of) is backwards in the title

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  • $\begingroup$ Still not what I was looking for. With all this thinking all you people put into this, I haven't realized how you haven't found it yet! $\endgroup$
    – Zero Pancakes
    Commented Apr 19, 2017 at 9:51
  • $\begingroup$ You're on a very good track with your metaphorical thinking, but the word is not close at all to the answer $\endgroup$
    – Zero Pancakes
    Commented Apr 19, 2017 at 9:52
  • $\begingroup$ I will accept it in the future unless someone finds the right one. $\endgroup$
    – Zero Pancakes
    Commented Apr 19, 2017 at 10:15
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    $\begingroup$ @Michael - thanks for your intriguing puzzle, hold-out, someone can crack this one! $\endgroup$
    – Tom
    Commented Apr 19, 2017 at 10:30
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Is it:

Time?

I hold every single day, in my lovely picture frame.

A day is a derived measurement of time & time-frame

I look a hundred years old, but I was built on the spot.

Space / Time is older than 100 years but came into existence with the big bang (from a singularity) built on the spot

You might say I'm weak

Weak force of gravity?

...and I'm four times over the hill

Over the hill = 40, 4 times 40 = 160, roman numerals: CLX (Clocks show time?)

Sometimes I take the elevator from the ground floor, not to be confused with my friends next door.

Ground floor 0 - time wise, 00:00, neighbours of 0 = 1 and 2: 12, so 00:00 midnight, should not be confused with 12:00 midday

Having a look at the title will give you the conclusion, or is it there only for confusion?

The ellipsis indicates continuation, and time goes on and on and on. Also, "scientific test of Time".

Here's my friends' number 0 1 14 8 21, if you call you should find at least one.

no idea about this one?!

My friends are hiding in some words, I think there's something backwards.

Emit and Tim: Time backwards: Emit and Tim is in there too.

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  • $\begingroup$ Ok I liked your answer most, not what I had in mind though, so here's an upvote. $\endgroup$
    – Zero Pancakes
    Commented Apr 19, 2017 at 13:55
  • $\begingroup$ @Michael is it not even close? $\endgroup$
    – Tanner
    Commented Apr 19, 2017 at 13:56
  • $\begingroup$ You got some parts right, like _over the hill_=40 years. But if it's not the answer then generally it can't be close. See my new post I will edit $\endgroup$
    – Zero Pancakes
    Commented Apr 19, 2017 at 14:02
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I am not sure but puzzle is worth trying.

answer Can be a

BLUFF (A sort of fake identity)

I hold every single day, in my lovely picture frame.

people tend to wear a mask to bluff people (kind of philosophical) and pretend something which they are not.

I look a hundred years old, but I was built on the spot.

Bluffing is very old technique, but people will adapt the new one in fraction of second

You might say I'm weak, and I'm four times over the hill.

In poker, a bluff is a bet or raise made with a hand which is not thought to be the best hand, source objective of a bluff is to induce a fold by at least one opponent who holds a better hand. Wikipedia maybe this describe the scenario perfectly.

Sometimes I take the elevator from the ground floor, not to be confused with my friends next door.

this section get the answer BLUFF, as the person is creating a diversion so he/she may not get confused as friend.

Having a look at the title will give you the conclusion, or is it there only for confusion?

the title is creating a scenario where the direction of puzzle changes from philosophical section to scientific, a smart bluff.

Here's my friends' number 0 1 14 8 21, if you call you should find at least one. My friends are hiding in some words, I think there's something backwards.

answer to this both is, reverse the number. it will be a valid phone number so you will call someone.

Hope my answer is near to original answer, and if not then also it was a good question.

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Are you

Nonmetal

I hold every single day, in my lovely picture frame.

Nonmetals are a subgroup of element, so they are in the periodic table

I look a hundred years old, but I was built on the spot.

No idea

You might say I'm weak, and I'm four times over the hill.

Ametals are usually very weak compared to metals

Sometimes I take the elevator from the ground floor, not to be confused with my friends next door.

floor sounds like flourine which is a nonmetal. Friends could be other elements in the periodic table

Having a look at the title will give you the conclusion, or is it there only for confusion?

Conclusion and confusion only differ by 2 letters, while conclusion has Cl, confusion has F which are the symbols of Chlorine and Flourine, both of which are nonmetal

Here's my friends' number 0 1 14 8 21, if you call you should find at least one.

These could refer to the atomic numbers of elements, although there is no element with atomic number 0, line says you should find at least one.

My friends are hiding in some words, I think there's something backwards.

Many elements' symbols are 2 letters so many of them are in words

I honestly don't expect this to be true but I wanted to reach out to OP so maybe he can give another hint since this hasn't been solved and is 1 year and 3 months old.

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Probably wrong, but here it goes:

Quantum Mechanics/Quarks

I hold every single day, in my lovely picture frame.

Quantum Mechanics rules much about how information is handled. Quantum Entanglement keeps information between two particles simultaneously, if one does a certain action, it will affect the other, even at long distances. I don't see this part of the puzzle supporting this that much.

I look a hundred years old, but I was built on the spot.

This one is just pure confusing. I just don't see a connection here.

Sometimes I take the elevator from the ground floor, not to be confused with my friends next door.

This is the most promising of them all. Quantum fluctuations are the temporary appearance of energetic particles out of empty space, as allowed by the uncertainty principle. "The uncertainty principle states that for a pair of conjugate variables such as position/momentum or energy/time, it is impossible to have a precisely determined value of each member of the pair at the same time. For example, a particle pair can pop out of the vacuum during a very short time interval." See the page for more info.

You might say I'm weak, and I'm four times over the hill.

If you have ever seen an image visualizing quantum fluctuations, or one that visualizes quantum tunneling, it usually involves particles and "hills"

Having a look at the title will give you the conclusion, or is it there only for confusion?

This one is actually going to be my next answer (if allowed to make one). But in general, it tells you that the answer has something to do with science (from my logic).

Here's my friends' number 0 1 14 8 21, if you call you should find at least one. My friends are hiding in some words, I think there's something backwards.

I did reverse this and google the number, but nothing really came about. However the numbers do appear to be random. (You do notice that he says "friends' number", not "friend's number".

My friends are hiding in some words, I think there's something backwards.

This makes sense with the first line: I hold every single day, in my lovely picture frame. Reversing the clauses, we get this: I hold my lovely picture frame every single day. It doesn't make too much sense, but I'd think that I would point that out. Again, it doesn't get much better than my connection with the first line.

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