Correct

true true

The continuing saga of Fred and Bill.........

Later that year, Fred phones Bill (who has since moved to the other end of the country) and says, "Hi Bill, when we were chatting in the pub you mentioned that you collect valuable antiques and I am selling a gold antique statue. Are you interested?". "Sure!", says Bill and, after a bit of discussion on the details and price etc., the sale is agreed.

"I will courier the statue to you as soon as possible once I have sorted out how to do it", says Fred, "I have a strong box, a chain and an un-pickable padlock that will ensure that it can't be opened in transit but I only have one key and I'm not letting that out of my sight!". "I know the problem," says Bill, "I have exactly the same things and you just can't trust anybody nowadays - I won't let my key out of my sight either. I would send you my padlock in the post but mine is the type that needs the key to both lock and unlock it". "Mine is the same," said Fred sadly, "and it is a shame that nobody makes them padlocks any more"

A few days later there is a knock on Bill's door. He opened the door, took the strongbox from the courier, unlocked the padlock, took off the chain, opened the box and took out his new statue"

How did they solve their problem?

Fred sends the box, padlocked and without the key. Bill can't open it so adds his own padlock and sends it back. Fred removes his padlock and sends it back to Bill who then unlocks his padlock with his own key.

Correct

Edited at 05:42 Fri 15/04/11 (BST)

An oldie, but goodie ....

An Arab sheikh tells his two sons to race their camels to a distant city to see who will inherit his fortune. The one who's camel is slower wins. After wandering aimlessly for days, the brothers ask a wise man for guidance. Upon receiving the advice, they jump on the camels and race to the city as fast as they can.

What did the wise man say to them?

Correct

The last instalment of the Fred and Bill stories (see above if you haven't been following)....

A few days later, Fred gets a phone call from Bill who says, "I have just had a valuer around and he tells me that the statue you sold me is a fake!" "That can't be, before I sent it to you I had it valued and it was confirmed to be the real deal. I have the paperwork to prove it!" replied Fred.

The police get involved and interview Bill, Fred and the two valuers who all stick to their stories. Unable to prove who is lying or find anything in their past that would suggest that they were anything other than impeccable , the case is left open.

By a stroke of luck, about a month later the detective working on the case spots that someone is trying to sell an antique gold statue on EBay and in a 'sting' operation, arrests the crook responsible.

Who did the police arrest and how did he pull off the crime?

Edit: couple of small typos

Edited at 16:38 Fri 15/04/11 (BST)

several options here i reckon

1. fred got the real one valued, then replaced it with a fake before he sent it

2. fred's valuer took the real one, replaced it with a fake, and then fred sent it

3. bill got the real one, replaced it with a fake and took the fake to be valued

4. bills valuer valued the real one, kept it, gave bill back a fake and then told him it was fake.

any of 'em coulda done it i reckon

That does seem to be a good summary of the problem ... I hope someone gets the right answer

ill have to use that

Like you just did, lol James?


Seems to have gone quiet in here so I may have to give out some sort of clue before long to get this one being solved though I wouldn't have thought it was needed

buddy i cant do it . i can only do the mathsy ones it seems haha.

Ok perhaps I'd better give you a few clues to help you solve half of the puzzle from which it should be a lot easier to solve the other half ....

Look away now if you want to try without the clues.



Hope this helps

This riddle is doing my head in...
I dont believe it was bills valuer cos there wouldnt be any sense if he lied because by telling it was the original he couldve kept it without a word.
But I dont know who of them would be silly enough to sell the original in Ebay after the police still searches for it.
I've got no clue lol

Not a bad start and you have certainly made a vital deduction already.

Ive finally got an idea lol... what about the courier?
He was the only one that didnt know about the research from the police.
Well he could've done it like that...
Fred did the padlock on his box with the statue in it.
The courier kept it and got a new box with a different padlock on it and a fake statue and sent it to Bill.
Bill made his padlock on the fake...
The courier then took the original one again then... He did his own padlock on it which should stand for Bill's and sent it to Fred...
Fred unlocked his padlock and send it back to Bill...
The courier just had to unlock his own padlock then....
So he got the original statue...
Then the Courier took the fake box with Bill's padlock on it...
Bill opened the fake Box and got a fake statue

Well done congratulations dest , I'll give you that as you have the essentials though this is what actually happened....

Fred gave his box to the courier who took it back to his and put his padlock on. He then went back to Fred's who removed his padlock.

When the courier got back to his, he opened the box, took the statue and made a fake from an the original. He then took the fake, in the original box with his padlock to Bill's who put the other padlock on.

He returned home, removed his padlock and returned to Bill's.
(it is essential that it was done this way so that Fred's box ends up at Bill's in case there is some way for it to be identified and also so that the courier has access to the original in order to make the fake)

When the police fail to interview for a month (due to the inept detective forgetting that he also had opportunity), he assumed that he had got away with it and it was safe to sell on eBay.

The fact that it could be argued that each of the others were unlikely suspects (one of which you gave dest) is largely irrelevent as it is the eBay sale that is the clincher.

See wasn't that difficult after all