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Hell is where a little old lady named Mrs. Dunham lives.
Mrs. Dunham is a very old-fashioned lady.
Mrs. Dunham has a bit of a drinking problem.
Three times a day, every day, she drinks.
What times of the day does she drink, and what does she drink?

 (thanks for viewing my first puzzle! I promise you, everything you need to solve it is here, have fun!)

Notes: The drink is not water, and Mrs. Dunham is surprisingly healthy for an old lady and does not take any medicine nor need any vitamins. The drink in question is in addition to any drinks served at breakfast, lunch, and dinner (or whatever terms you use for regular meals). There are no hospitals in Hell, that I know of, so you can safely count that out of your potential answers.

Okay, to add to the riddle to help it not be too "broad" (I hope that term isn't being used to disparage poor Mrs. Dunham), let me say this:

Mrs. Dunham is a bit used to warmer climates and has to have her drink imported because it's not as popular in Hell as it was in her hometown.

The three times of the day are directly linked to the drink, for very old reasons

The drink in question is much more popular in this southern state where it is made

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    $\begingroup$ I hope it was only water, because of how thirsty the heat would make her...(I have the same problem) $\endgroup$
    – Mark N
    Commented Jun 24, 2015 at 13:14
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    $\begingroup$ @Kingrames To add to Mark N's warning, you have thrown on the lateral-thinking tag. That tends to attract every answer imaginable under (and sometimes not so under) the sun. $\endgroup$
    – Aggie Kidd
    Commented Jun 24, 2015 at 13:44
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    $\begingroup$ I wonder, who will be the first person to read the mind of the OP and post the answer he expects, rather than all the possible answers which will fit the clues. $\endgroup$
    – Prem
    Commented Jun 24, 2015 at 14:11
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    $\begingroup$ My point in asking if it's a yes / no game is that those are, by design, extremely open-ended. Therefore, they are best suited as car games and not the strictly question / answer format of SE. As others have warned, this is awfully broad. Why don't you try adding some additional information? Don't just create a list of "it's not these things". Rather, try to add to the riddle to narrow down the possible answers. $\endgroup$
    – Engineer Toast
    Commented Jun 24, 2015 at 14:15
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    $\begingroup$ @Kingrames , you say somebody has "deduced" that Hell refers to a city. Can you elaborate on the "clues" which lead to the "Deduction" ? Maybe you mean , somebody has correctly & accidentally "guessed" what was on your mind ? $\endgroup$
    – Prem
    Commented Jun 24, 2015 at 19:00

5 Answers 5

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Mrs. Dunham drinks a Dr. Pepper every day at 10:00 am, 2:00 pm, and 4:00 pm. Mrs. Dunham's hometown is Waco, Texas, where Dr. Pepper was created. Its old slogan was: "It's good at ten, two, and four." Since those are the times when it's good, those are the times when Mrs. Dunham drinks it. enter image description here

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  • $\begingroup$ Correct! Feel free to add a picture so that everyone can see the old logo. $\endgroup$
    – Kingrames
    Commented Jun 25, 2015 at 15:22
  • $\begingroup$ I'll add one this evening, unless someone else wants to. $\endgroup$
    – dennisdeems
    Commented Jun 25, 2015 at 15:26
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    $\begingroup$ @Kingrames , Puzzle would have been better if it had somehow referred to Waco, not Hell, which is unrelated to the final answer. "Deducing" that Hell is a city is of no use. Initially, it was not said that she moved cities. "Import" is used for items bought from a "foreign" country, not from other cities of the same country. Reading the first 5 lines of your Puzzle, this answer does not really make sense. It was your first attempt at making Puzzles, so it is okay & you got useful feedback. Refer puzzling.stackexchange.com/questions/5880/… $\endgroup$
    – Prem
    Commented Jun 25, 2015 at 16:41
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    $\begingroup$ Yeah, Hell was a bit of a red herring, I wanted to establish that it was a real world location but didn't want it to be too obvious. Waco specifically might have even confused some people because Dr. Pepper is a drink popular throughout Texas, with it almost being a stereotype that people here tend to addiction. It's difficult to hint without giving away too much, especially when you're talking about a brand name that advertises heavily. Sorry if you felt cheated. I tried! $\endgroup$
    – Kingrames
    Commented Jun 25, 2015 at 17:07
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Mrs. Dunham drinks:

an Old Fashioned because Mrs. Dunham is a very old-fashioned lady

And she drinks it at :

Midnight, 1 am, 1 pm because Mrs. Dunham has a bit of a drinking problem. And a bit is most commonly represented as either a 0 or 1. So 0 is midnight and 1 is 1 am and 1 pm.

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  • $\begingroup$ Very clever! Not at all what I was expecting, and not the intended answer, but I'll give you an upvote for your efforts nonetheless! er, um, I guess I'll have to upvote you later, it won't let me yet because I only have a guest account. $\endgroup$
    – Kingrames
    Commented Jun 24, 2015 at 15:19
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I get the distinct impression that Mrs. Dunham drinks

Tea, which she obviously drinks at the three teatimes throughout the day (afternoon tea, high tea and evening tea).

Reasoning:

Hell is where a little old lady named Mrs. Dunham lives.

As others have mentioned, there are cities/towns named Hell throughout the world so this likely refers to one of those. I don't it matters which one. Dunham is also a traditionally British surname, implying that Mrs. Dunham is British. At the very least, she is married to a British man and it is not too far a stretch to assume she may have adopted some of his habits.

Mrs. Dunham is a very old-fashioned lady.

I know this is a racial stereotype but it also happens to be generally true that most old-fashioned British folk drink tea regularly throughout the day. At the very least, it implies that she observes older customs and drinking tea would certainly fall into that category.

Mrs. Dunham has a bit of a drinking problem.

I got nothing of value from this statement so I'm assuming it's thrown in as misdirection to make people think she's drinking alcohol.

Three times a day, every day, she drinks.

There are three teatimes during the day: afternoon tea, high tea and evening tea. Being old-fashioned, she probably observes all of these.

Mrs. Dunham is a bit used to warmer climates and has to have her drink imported because it's not as popular in Hell as it was in her hometown.

Teatime is not nearly as popular outside the UK as it is in it so wherever Hell is, chances are the locals don't drink tea as religiously as she does. It's not unreasonable to conclude that her variety of choice is not produced locally and would need to be imported.

Other reasons:

Tea is generally considered to be quite healthy and I'm not aware of any health issues that would arise from drinking it frequently. This fits with the clue that she is surprisingly healthy.

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  • $\begingroup$ bit of a drinking problem can mean tea if she is having a hot toddy. (also "hot today" for warmer climates) and tea was my first thought as well $\endgroup$
    – LinkBerest - SO sold our work
    Commented Jun 24, 2015 at 23:22
  • $\begingroup$ I honestly did not know there were three teatimes over the course of a day, that's an interesting observation. I can say with certainty that tea is quite popular here in America, though. Not quite as popular as other drinks, except in certain circles. Enjoy an upvote for your answer. It's not quite what I'm looking for though. $\endgroup$
    – Kingrames
    Commented Jun 25, 2015 at 11:53
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Three times a day, every day, she would drink.
What times of the day did she drink, and what did she drink?

... with the tag.

She drinks

at three o'clock every day ("three times" is a weird way of saying three o'clock).

She drinks

products from Everyday.

Thus, at three a day, Everyday she would drink. Just like it says on the tin.

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  • $\begingroup$ Lol, very nice attempt with the word play! $\endgroup$
    – Mark N
    Commented Jun 24, 2015 at 14:04
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    $\begingroup$ Very clever! However, I'm not certain if that Singaporean company ships their products all the way to Hell. $\endgroup$
    – Kingrames
    Commented Jun 24, 2015 at 14:05
  • $\begingroup$ This was literally the first thing that came into my head when I looked at the riddle after seeing the wordplay tag. Seems to work quite well! $\endgroup$
    – Rand al'Thor
    Commented Jun 24, 2015 at 14:06
  • $\begingroup$ Three o'clock is not the intended meaning of three times a day, and it is also not one of the three times of the day that she drinks. $\endgroup$
    – Kingrames
    Commented Jun 24, 2015 at 14:37
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    $\begingroup$ She could live in Hell, Norway or Hell, Michigan - she moved from Singapore ("warmer climates") and has to have it imported. (There's also a Hell, California and a Hell, Cayman Islands.) $\endgroup$
    – f''
    Commented Jun 24, 2015 at 14:40
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Just for the hell of it:

Mrs. Dunham is an imp in hell.
She drinks human blood 3 times a day as a snack [once between breakfast and lunch, between lunch and dinner, and once before going to sleep]. She also eats pie twice a day at 3:14 while everyone else would have to watch.
(She would of course freshly bake each pie as most old imp ladies would)

Notes:
Mrs. Dunham is old-fashioned because not many imps in hell still drink human blood.
The problem with her drinking is that she can run out of people!
(Mrs. Dunham also always puts raisins in her cookies and cinnamon buns)

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  • $\begingroup$ lol @ the pun. But why would you say such mean things about such a nice little old lady! $\endgroup$
    – Kingrames
    Commented Jun 24, 2015 at 14:02
  • $\begingroup$ @Kingrames Why's she in hell if she's nice? $\endgroup$
    – Rand al'Thor
    Commented Jun 24, 2015 at 14:03
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    $\begingroup$ @Kingrames No one said she was nice :{ $\endgroup$
    – Mark N
    Commented Jun 24, 2015 at 14:03
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    $\begingroup$ @randal'thor This is totally a valid answer. It matches the sparse information in the question so long as you accept the description of a female imp as a lady. The pie bit is a bit extra and not relevant. Mark N is simply exposing how broad the question is. $\endgroup$
    – Engineer Toast
    Commented Jun 24, 2015 at 14:18
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    $\begingroup$ Actually it's not a valid answer because drinking human blood after each meal would be considered part of breakfast, lunch, and dinner. Or at least, it is 'round these parts. $\endgroup$
    – Kingrames
    Commented Jun 24, 2015 at 14:25

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