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Hi Puzzling SE at the moment I am at a romantic night out in a fancy restaurant. Tonight the owner, Luigi, who is also a riddle fanatic has decided to put a little riddle on the menu. It was stated that whoever could solve it would get whatever free 3 course meal and bottle of wine for himself/herself and the partner. I really want to impress my wife tonight and I have roughly an hour here to solve the riddle before we finish our meals and pay the bills. Can you help?

Riddle:

"VVV!", said a M called C when C L on a C with a flag with a X that was not D.

Who is it?

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  • $\begingroup$ Ok, here are my workings so far. It might have something to do with roman Numerals. V=5 M=5000 C=100 L=50 X=10 D=500 $\endgroup$
    – ViviRukisha
    Nov 17, 2020 at 5:41
  • $\begingroup$ Who keeps downvoting this???? $\endgroup$
    – Prince Deepthinker
    Nov 17, 2020 at 15:27
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    $\begingroup$ @PrinceDeepthinker you cannot "keep downvoting" you can only downvote any particular question / answer once. If you are receiving multiple downvotes it most likely means that several people decided independently that your question deserves a downvote $\endgroup$
    – Andrew Savinykh
    Nov 17, 2020 at 19:58
  • $\begingroup$ Could be one person on multiple accounts... $\endgroup$
    – Prince Deepthinker
    Nov 17, 2020 at 21:40
  • $\begingroup$ I have had 5 upvotes... to the downvoters please show yourself and explain why? $\endgroup$
    – Prince Deepthinker
    Nov 17, 2020 at 21:46

1 Answer 1

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To solve Luigi's riddle we must:

Replace each Roman numeral in the sentence with a word beginning with the same letter, or - in the case of X - resembling its shape.

If we do this as Luigi intends, we will end up with:

A phrase revolving around a famous event from Roman military history (appropriately enough, since Luigi and his restaurant are (presumably) Italian, and Rome is the capital city of Italy).

It works out as:

"VENI VIDI VICI!", said a MAN called CAESAR when CAESAR LANDED on a COUNTRY with a flag with a CROSS that was not DENMARK.

Doubtless, Luigi intends this as a reference to:

Julius Caesar's conquest of England (a nation whose flag is a red cross on a white background) - the event which Veni, Vidi, Vici ("I came, I saw, I conquered") is commonly misremembered as bring connected to. It should be noted, however, that this quote of Caesar's actually refers to the outcome of the Battle of Zela in Zile in modern-day Turkey!

Now enjoy your free meal and wine and please come back to Luigi's again! Buona notte!

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  • $\begingroup$ Yeah I knew that by the way but it would not make a good riddle otherwise! $\endgroup$
    – Prince Deepthinker
    Nov 17, 2020 at 6:02
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    $\begingroup$ @PrinceDeepthinker Not a criticism of your puzzle! More intended as a remark about Luigi's misconception being a common one - will make that clearer with an edit when I can :) $\endgroup$
    – Stiv
    Nov 17, 2020 at 6:05
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    $\begingroup$ Also just in the nick of time!!! $\endgroup$
    – Prince Deepthinker
    Nov 17, 2020 at 6:05

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