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It was on the day of his 29th birthday that Lucas–while on vacation in Santiago–met the two years older bartender Isabella. They soon got married and moved back to the city of San Rafael, Argentina, Lucas’ hometown.

The next three years went by in a snap for the newlyweds, and they decided to fulfil their dream of adopting two children; an eight-year-old Greek boy named Georgios and the three years younger boy Johannes, a real South African charmer.

When the children ultimately grew up and moved out, Lucas and Isabelle were sure they’d spend the rest of their lives by themselves. However, when the priest of their local community reached out asking them to help raise the little Kazakh girl Natalya, they were unable to refuse. After all, the 22 years since they’d adopted the two boys had gone by in an instant.

How old is Natalya?

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1 Answer 1

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Natalya is ...

... seven years old.

At the time she is adopted, ...

... Isabella from Chile is 56 years old, Lucas from Argentina is 54, Georgios from Greece is 30 and Johannes from South Africa is 27.

These numbers are the international calling codes for the respective countries, so Natalya's age is the calling code for Kazakhstan, which is 7.

(Kazakhstan uses a unified numbering plan with Russia, who inherit the calling code +7 from the Soviet Union. Within that plan, the +76 and +77 numbers are used for Kazakhstan, but surely that's too old for a "little Kazakh girl". In 2023, Kazakhstan will get a new calling code, +997, but that's a very unlikely age for a little girl.)

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    $\begingroup$ I am not sure whether the Puzzle is suitable, if this is the Answer ! Why were the boys adopted when those two ( or all four ) ages were not in line with the calling codes ? Why should the ages match the calling codes when the girl is adopted but not when the boys were adopted ? $\endgroup$
    – Prem
    Oct 16, 2022 at 18:19
  • $\begingroup$ @Prem According to e.g. Wikipedia on country codes, these are in fact the country codes of the countries described. This was the intended solution (if my calculations are correct). However, as I am very new to making puzzles, I am yet to get a better feel for what is considered too vague/too much/too distracting to create a challenging but yet interesting puzzle (in this case on the form of a story). I am grateful for any feedback, looking to improve as I go :) $\endgroup$
    – ToxicOwl
    Oct 16, 2022 at 18:27
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    $\begingroup$ I think , if you add a line like this "When considering the adoption of Natalya , Isabella noticed a Pattern involving the current ages & hence decided to take that as a sign to adopt. What was the Pattern?" @ToxicOwl , then it might be a little better , but that is my thinking. $\endgroup$
    – Prem
    Oct 16, 2022 at 18:34

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