I was introduced today to a puzzle called “Petals Around the Rose” on the nan (not a nerd) blog. This is the kind of puzzle that might be called a “definition puzzle.” The solution to the puzzle is trivially easy, the trick lies in defining the problem.
The puzzle set up goes as follows. Roll five six-sided dice. Then answer: How many petals around the rose? There is only one answer. The answer is always even and, sometimes, it’s zero. To try it out, there’s a flash based simulation on this page. I’ll give the author of the page the benefit of the doubt and assume it works in some browsers, even though it didn’t work in mine. Another implementation of the puzzle can be found here.
They say that some solve the puzzle quickly and others require a long time. Having solved the puzzle, I can say that it’s not the most diabolical of its kind.
