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A party is being held at a local mansion. The host is very rich and his success is because of one thing — his famous recipe for spaghetti! Tonight he is having a special gala event to raise funds for the local zoo.

The only guests that may attend are people who correctly reply to the guard at the door.

As usual, you are trying to break in to crash the party, steal the spaghetti recipe, and may even catch a glimpse of the rare horn-studded snipe that the host is rumored to be keeping as a pet.

The pair of you hide by the entrance to the mansion at 6pm and wait for the other guests to arrive.

The first guest arrives, and the guard says: "one six six, who are you?".

The guest thinks for a moment, then says, "I'm a peacock!" and the guard lets him in.

The second guest arrives, and the guard says: "five ten three, who are you?"

The guest thinks for a moment, then says, "I'm a giraffe!" and the guard lets him in.

The third guest arrives, and the guard says: "ten four nine, who are you?"

The guest thinks for a moment, then says, "Give me a second, this is a hard one." Then after thinking a bit more, she replies, "I'm a rhinocerous!" and the guard lets her in.

The fourth guest arrives, and the guard says: "five eleven seven, who are you?"

The guest replies, "I'm a gazelle!" and the guard lets her in.

The fifth guest arrives, and the guard says: "twelve ten two four five, who are you?"

The guest thinks, then replies, "I'm a warthog!" and the guard lets him in.

Your friend says, "I think I've got this!"

"Yeah?" you ask.

"Yes, don't you see, they are all animals! Like at the zoo!" and before you can get a better explanation, she jumps out of the bushes and approaches the guard.

"eleven four eight one nine eleven, who are you?" asks the guard.

"I'm a herd of sheep!" replies your friend, and suddenly a speeding Mac truck roars by, flattening your friend into a pancake.

The party is about to start, so you quickly come out to face the guard.

"seven one ten two, who are you?" asks the guard.

What do you reply? Please put your answer under spoiler tags.

Hint:

Your friend should have answered "Chimpanzee". Although "eleven four eight one" would also elicit the same response.

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  • $\begingroup$ I never seen a zoo with sheep in it, so that was a ridiculous answer of your friend :P $\endgroup$
    – Mathias711
    Nov 15, 2014 at 20:29
  • $\begingroup$ @Mathias711 - www.pittsburghzoo.org/animal.aspx?id=50 :-) $\endgroup$ Nov 15, 2014 at 22:19
  • $\begingroup$ Yeah, never been there :p $\endgroup$
    – Mathias711
    Nov 15, 2014 at 22:25

1 Answer 1

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I think it is a:

Leopard

Explanation:

Each number seems a letter or sound. Not every letter/sound of the animal is represented, but the key letters/sounds are.
The L comes from the 7 of the fourth guest. The P is the P of one of the first guest. Ten is the R of rhinoceros. Two comes only once, and is the 't' in warthog. That sounds a bit like a 'd' so I end up with lprd, so the animal is Leopard!

and more explanation:

The guests and host agreed on a code before the party. For example, look at the five: every time there is a g in the correct place. So five is definitely a 'g'. Also the ten, which is a 'r', occurs a couple of times. I am pretty confident that something like this is the answer

bonus what the friend should have answered:

Seahorse? I am still not sure, because the one is a 'p', but it fits the other letters. To fit that 'p', I can try scorpion (or scorpions to fit the last eleven), but that the 'h' is not in the running. And four is a 'h', because of warthog. So I'm not sure about that one:P

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  • $\begingroup$ Yeah, maybe I cut some corners in explaining $\endgroup$
    – Mathias711
    Nov 15, 2014 at 20:47
  • $\begingroup$ can you guess what the friend should have said? $\endgroup$
    – Michael
    Nov 15, 2014 at 21:01
  • $\begingroup$ @Michael Damn, that one is harder. I am busy on it, but I can't quite solve it yet (also due to the missing eight) $\endgroup$
    – Mathias711
    Nov 15, 2014 at 21:10
  • $\begingroup$ Ah yes, the missing 8. if it helps, look at the ordering of 7, 9 and 10. It's a little unfair I guess, because it really should be 11,4,8,1,9,11. $\endgroup$
    – Michael
    Nov 15, 2014 at 21:12
  • $\begingroup$ it might help you to know that vowels are omitted. so 4 is not o. $\endgroup$
    – Michael
    Nov 15, 2014 at 21:20

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