A neanderthal walks into a room. Inside are a man and a woman with large sticks, surrounded by dozens of unintelligible glass discs and squares. The man (with the stick) comments he can see the ocean under the clouds. Why?
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2$\begingroup$ How can a glass disk be unintelligible? Do I not know some nuance of the word? $\endgroup$– Martin EnderNov 11, 2014 at 19:54
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1$\begingroup$ Try and see it from the neanderthals perspective. He'll see a lot more as being unintelligible than you will :). Plus he'll lack the ability to different between a glass disc and something that may look like a glass disc. $\endgroup$– Jay CarrNov 11, 2014 at 19:55
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$\begingroup$ Shoot, thanks @Raystafarian, my engrish came through. $\endgroup$– Jay CarrNov 11, 2014 at 19:58
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2$\begingroup$ Which man comments? The man with the stick or the neanderthal man? $\endgroup$– RogerNov 11, 2014 at 20:02
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$\begingroup$ The man with the stick. Neanderthal man is always just an observer in these situations...or something. I like to use him as an uninformed observer, makes the puzzles more interesting. $\endgroup$– Jay CarrNov 11, 2014 at 20:03
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3 Answers
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The Neanderthal walked into a plane cockpit. The people with sticks are the pilot and co-pilot, who are holding onto the control sticks, are discussing the scenery (through the clouds below, they can see the ocean). The glass shapes are the windows and the various buttons for controlling the plane.
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$\begingroup$ Ugh, I was thinking "plane" the entire time, but the cockpit didn't occur to me, and I couldn't make sense of the sticks. Nice! :) $\endgroup$ Nov 11, 2014 at 20:09
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$\begingroup$ I was also thinking "art gallery" which photos of different landscapes. That could be pretty unintelligible! The best I could come up with for sticks is those extendable pointer sticks to draw attention to parts of a painting. $\endgroup$ Nov 11, 2014 at 20:11
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3$\begingroup$ I'm not sure a Neanderthal would think of those as "sticks". $\endgroup$ Nov 11, 2014 at 23:03
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$\begingroup$ @FrancisDavey it would depend on the plane though I can see what you're saying, the yoke found in most Boeings don't look like sticks. But the sidestick seen in an Airbus could be seen as one :). $\endgroup$– Jay CarrNov 11, 2014 at 23:47
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Easy
Because the ocean is under the clouds. ☺
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$\begingroup$ I do love that answer, but it's not quite right. Details my friend, details :D. $\endgroup$– Jay CarrNov 11, 2014 at 19:56
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5$\begingroup$ I think this is probably the best answer. The glass circles and sticks are entirely irreverent given the "paradox" is naturally true. $\endgroup$– DiscOHNov 11, 2014 at 20:36
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$\begingroup$ @DiscOH But this is clearly not what the puzzle was going for. Even if it was nonsense, you could say something like "he was crazy" or "a gunman made him say it". There's no value here; it just avoids solving the puzzle. $\endgroup$ Nov 12, 2014 at 1:50
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The man and woman are playing pool at a bar on a cruise ship. They are holding pool cues and are surrounded by the bar's cylindrical glass tables. There are a number of rectangular LCD TVs suspended in the room. As the sunlight slowly whisks away the heavy morning fog, the man remarks that he can finally see the ocean under the clouds. Clouds of fog, that is.
answered Nov 13, 2014 at 21:09