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[lummox]

I think it has something to do with wordplay, as there are no numbers to play with, no start times or patrol lengths you have to play about with the words. It could be somthing like this.

[oliverkeers13]

Does midnight count as the first meeting? they started together at midnight so i would say that it isn't 6.36, but 7 whatever.

[Leeravitz]

I have no problem with the theory that 'Sinister' and 'Dexter' are clock hands (or even just parts of a clock mechanism, for instance, akin to those figures that you see on cuckoo clocks), but the way the story is phrased takes a bit of lateral adjusting to actually make this theory tenable.

That the putative 'hands' are called 'brothers' is fine as a metaphor, but it's also suggested that the brothers were 'guards'. I suppose at a pinch one might read metaphoric relevance into that ('guardians of the clock face'?), or maybe, if they were indeed carved figurines, then they carved in the likeness of guards. That they meet in the Fellow's Garden might be interpreted to suggest that the clock they are part of was situated within the Fellow's Garden. But then we are told each time they make the circuit, they meet at a different point *around* the Garden. That doesn't make real sense, unless we consider that the clock face somehow depicted the Fellow's Garden. If the latter is the case, then 'meeting' *in* the Fellow's Garden must be interpreted to mean. not that the clock was in the Fellow's Garden, but that it depicted the Fellow's Garden.

I'm not sure how convincing that actually sounds when it's boiled down.

[strife777]

The whole story is a metaphor. The garden IS the clockface. Not a real garden, not a clock in the real garden, just a clockface. They use "guards" because its supposed to be a story, and if they called them hands, it would make it a tad obvious. Like I said before, this puzzle HAS been done before. Not exact text, but same methodology (story referring to people meeting at different points, ended up meaning clockhands, find the time even though no time is mentioned), and I really don't see evidence of anything else.

[toongoon]

Why would the brothers essentially be called "left" and "right" though? Why not "short" and "long" or "big" and "small". And if they were representing "guards" why would they start out in the same direction and only gradually separate from each other....

If clock hands are the solution I guess I have a problem with their metaphors.

[dopefiend]

i agree with toongoon - i don't think there's enough there to duggest it's anything to do with a clock- and the left/right thing makes even less sense cos both hands go the same way - clockwise!

[BrianEnigma]

Here's my take on the whole deal. Caveat: it has been a while since I have done "two trains traveling toward each other..." problems.

Given: Sinister and Dexter are the hands of a "broken" clock. Broken, in this case, means the little hand goes anti-clockwise. They start straight up at 12:00 and start going opposite directions.

[oliverkeers13]

I think you got it Bri, seems to fit the whole thing!

[appleTRON]

Big news!

Upon examination under a blacklight, I found the following text on the upper left corner of Sente's invitation:

[BrianEnigma]

So I see a couple of possibilities:
* Sente added the secret message to the invitation himself.
* Someone in the chain of command before mailing (the random dude in the mailroom stuffing the envelopes?) added the message.
* The person receiving the invitation added the text--possibly as notes to carry around the night of the party.
* The person who added the message may be The Advisor--possibly coordinating everyone's positions.

This is some pretty cool stuff!

[rose]

black light

[SpaceBass]

Re: black light

[Macavity]

Hot damn, guys! QUICK, CHECK GEEK ANTIQUES FOR SPECIAL INKS!

[appleTRON]

[Macavity]