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[Reason]

[SOLVED] #013 - Red - Sphinx

[Axys Denyed]

Anyone who's read Oedipus knows this one

[JebJoya]

[am520dj]

You're kidding me... wasn't this the actual riddle of the sphinx? whatever..

[Equinox]

Well.... being a drama student The first refrence of this puzzel is in sophricles' Oedipus ... Rex I think. Ancient Greek epic tradedgy. Oedipus guessed

[Leeravitz]

Clearly, this is the right answer! But for your entertainment and edification, I'd thought I'd quote one of my all - time favourite authors, Jorge Luis Borges, from his 'Book of Imaginary Beings':

'Of Oedipus, the son of Jocasta, the Sphinx asked, "What has four legs, two legs, and three legs, and the more legs it has the weaker it is?" (So runs what seems to be the oldest version. In time the metaphor was introduced which makes of man's life a single day. Nowadays the question goes, "Which animal walks on four legs in the morning, two legs at noon, and three in the evening?")
Oedipus answered that it was a man who as an infant crawls on all fours, when he grows up walks on two legs, and in old age leans on a staff. The riddle solved, the Sphinx threw herself from a precipice.
De Quincey, around I849, suggested a second interpretation, which complements the traditional one. The subject of the riddle according to him is not so much man in general as it is Oedipus in particular, orphaned and helpless at birth, alone in his manhood, and supported by Antigone in his blind and hopeless old age.'

Great stuff...

[tanner]

Jorge Luis Borges -- one of the greatest writers ever
IMHO

[Atrophied]

I like the Pratchett version:

What walks on 4 legs from midnight 'til about 00:01, on 2 legs (barring any major accidents) for most of the day, up until about 23:45 at which point they use 3 legs, but only if they need to.

(approximation - I don't thave the text here)

[drizjr]

From this thread

[Lelle]

If it's any help and you haven't already found it yourself, there is a playing card on this one. If you look down in the bottom left hand corner you can just make out the 8 of diamonds. I wondered whether anyone had noticed the odd shaded shapes on this card over the perplexcity logo and the points bit. It is more obvious on the scanned images. Any ideas?

[diddymac]

Odd shaded shapes eh? Bits of big letters perhaps?

[oliverkeers13]

*sigh* discussed here, and here use the Search button in the future please.

[DrKra37]

I kind of like this card, as it bashes you over the head with the correct answer in a huge number of ways. The reddest red card I've seen, with the possible exception of "Easy As..."

But then, I am a Classical Studies major, so maybe it's just that it's up my alley

[Mecha Angel]