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A Riley Riddle:

My prefix is humble, my suffix is prime,

My infix assisted a Russian in crime.

I know all the secrets of this little town,

And if you need me, just look around.

What am I?

Hint 1:

The second line has nothing to do with politics.

Hint 2:

The title of the puzzle is irrelevant to the solution.

Hint 3:

The "prefix" word is mostly used in the UK.

Super Final Very Last Hint:

The word itself is actually very small and simple, mundane even. No higher matters are involved. Think your typical Friday night...

Super Absolutely Very Much Final and Incredibly Last Hint:

The suffIX is Roman.

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  • $\begingroup$ "Hello! Would you like to solve a riddle of mine? If you are taking quite some time to do so, just ask my new robot, the SUPER ABSOLUTELY VERY MUCH FINAL and INCREDIBLY LAST HINT 9000." $\endgroup$
    – Mr Pie
    Aug 20, 2018 at 4:54

5 Answers 5

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I think the answer is

Taxi

My prefix is humble,

Ta - short for "thank you" (British), a humble exclamation of gratitude.

my suffix is prime,

XI - 11 in Roman numerals, which is a prime number.

My infix assisted a Russian in crime,

Ax (Axe) - In Crime and Punishment, Raskolnikov kills his victim using an axe.

I know all the secrets of this little town

Taxi drivers are privy to all sorts of local secrets.

And if you need me, just look around.

Often in a busy town, you can easily flag a taxi down.

The Super Final Very Last Hint

Friday and Saturday night tend to be the busiest times for taxi drivers (in several countries) as people are transported to/from their favourite pubs and clubs throughout the night.

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  • $\begingroup$ Great job, spot on! And a separate well done on the infix part, I gave up all hope that someone would get it. $\endgroup$
    – ivanibash
    Aug 15, 2018 at 22:42
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    $\begingroup$ Damn, I knew the infix had something to do with that! Great job, +1 (also to the question @redFur) $\endgroup$
    – Rand al'Thor
    Aug 15, 2018 at 22:47
  • $\begingroup$ wow, it's a good riddle with a nice solution! but I still wonder how it answers the "friday night" clue? $\endgroup$
    – malioboro
    Aug 16, 2018 at 5:24
  • $\begingroup$ @malioboro I've edited to try and address this hint. $\endgroup$
    – hexomino
    Aug 16, 2018 at 9:08
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This is probably wrong, but I'm going to take a stab at it:

microphone

Explanation:

My prefix is humble:

"micro" means small (microphone)

my suffix is prime:

"prime" means first, aka "one" (microphone)

My infix assisted a Russian in crime:

Lysenko is blamed for Soviet famine because of his work on crops (microphone).

I know all the secrets of this little town:

Microphones record things.

And if you need me, just look around.

Today microphones are everywhere, in every cellphone.

I know these are kind of a stretch, but it's the first thing I could think of that managed to sort of fit all the lines.

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  • $\begingroup$ Nice try! Not quite what I had in mind. Must've been pretty hard to find that Lysenko reference to fit it all. A well deserved hint: the russian crime line is not at all political :) And another one: i believe the infix word is used mostly in UK, and not so much in other parts of the world. Hopefully shouldn't be too hard to find what it is once you have the right idea though! $\endgroup$
    – ivanibash
    May 1, 2018 at 20:53
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    $\begingroup$ @redFur Did you mean the prefix or infix is used in the UK? $\endgroup$
    – noedne
    May 1, 2018 at 20:57
  • $\begingroup$ Ah you are right, was meant to be prefix! Editing.. $\endgroup$
    – ivanibash
    May 1, 2018 at 20:59
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    $\begingroup$ Can't edit my previous comment, as @noedne said, i was talking about prefix, not infix, when saying it is mostly used in UK. The hint in the puzzle is correct. $\endgroup$
    – ivanibash
    May 1, 2018 at 21:00
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I'm pretty sure that this is not the answer, but for fun's sake:

weed :D

My prefix is humble

wee - used in the UK, means small, tiny (humble)

my suffix is prime

"ed", as in Prim-Ed

And if you need me, just look around

weed as in wild plant, grows everywhere

Note to readers: This is NOT my typical Friday night, but I'm sure it is for some people :-)

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  • 1
    $\begingroup$ Good idea, but what about the infix? $\endgroup$
    – Sensoray
    Aug 14, 2018 at 12:44
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The word is

extraterrestrial

My prefix is humble

extra- having a modest importance, - not being necessary.

My suffix is prime

trial- trying or proving something for the first time, - the first examination of the facts of a case by a court of law to decide the validity of a charge or claim.

I know all the secrets of this little town

extraterrestrial refers to an existence or object that is from outside the earth or its atmosphere. Any objects that are fitting in this scheme, have the possibility to see parts of the earth, this little town.

And if you need me, just look around.

If you look at the sky, you will be able to see astronomical objects (stars), which have an extraterrestrial nature.

My infix assisted a Russian in crime

This is most likely wrong, but people that are working for the Russian mafia are often described as "Iniye", which means extraterrestrial in English: Source

Hint 1:

The "prefix" word is mostly used in UK.

✓

Hint 3:

The second line has nothing to do with politics.

✓

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  • $\begingroup$ This is my first post here. Please let me know if I screwed up. $\endgroup$
    – dfi
    May 6, 2018 at 12:04
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    $\begingroup$ Good first try, but not what I was thinking. This deserves the last final hint: the word itself is actually very small and simple, mundane even. no higher matters are involved :) $\endgroup$
    – ivanibash
    May 9, 2018 at 9:44
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I guess:

SIREN

Prefix:

SIR : honorific address, if we want to be seen as a humble person, sometimes we use it to call someone. And it is very common in the UK (hint 3)

Infix:

IRE : another word of anger. I'm not really sure, but Google translates "ire" from Russian as "Anger" to my language (Indonesian)

Suffix:

EN : Again, Google translates it as "one" from Danish

Other clues:

And if you need me, just look around.

When you hear a Siren it means something happens or coming, you need to look around you

The Super Final Very Last Hint

I'm not sure as there is no "Friday night" in my country, but if it means a party I think a siren means police siren called by the neighbors (I saw it in movies :/)

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  • $\begingroup$ Interested to find out what is the mysterious country with a time-space black hole around friday nights :) Pretty good answer, not the one I'm after unfortunately. $\endgroup$
    – ivanibash
    Aug 15, 2018 at 22:19

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