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In this list of the world's sovereign states, exactly sixteen of the UN member states and observer states have a certain property P, and so does the disputed territory of Abkhazia.

  • Exactly 2 of these countries are in South America.
  • Exactly 5 are in Africa.
  • Exactly 4 (not counting Abkhazia) used to be in the USSR.

This should be enough to ensure the puzzle has a unique solution; I can add more clues if necessary.

What is the property P? Which are the sixteen countries?

Rand al'Thor
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  • 4 downvotes? Really? I wish I knew what was wrong with this puzzle, so that I can improve next time. – Rand al'Thor Mar 11 '15 at 16:52
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    I wouldn't be surprised if the people down-voting the question felt like this was too broad. It also kinda feels like a "guess what I'm thinking" question. – Rob Watts Mar 11 '15 at 17:02
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    Too broad ... and yet nobody has come up with a possibility that fits all the information and isn't the intended answer. "Guess what I'm thinking" questions are often more or less undoable without loads of hints, but TNLenny got the correct answer within half an hour! – Rand al'Thor Mar 11 '15 at 17:03

1 Answers1

15

Contain the letter Z (in the English spelling)

Azerbaijan · Belize · Bosnia and Herzegovina · Brazil · Czech Republic · Kazakhstan · Kyrgyzstan · Mozambique · New Zealand· Swaziland · Switzerland · Tanzania · Uzbekistan · Venezuela · Zambia · Zimbabwe

TNLenny
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  • Yes, but the OP said that Abkhazia doesn't count, which does have the letter Z – Anthony Pham Mar 11 '15 at 14:41
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    I read it as "Exactly 16 States AND Abkhazia" have the Property - then this would match! Or the Question has to be reformulated if it means "16 States of the Group (UN+Abkhazia)" have Property P – Falco Mar 11 '15 at 15:18
  • @PythonMaster and Falco - I've edited the question to make this issue clear. – Rand al'Thor Mar 11 '15 at 16:47
  • Well done TNLenny! How did you get this so fast? – Rand al'Thor Mar 11 '15 at 16:47
  • I looked for commonalities. Started down a rabbit hole of 8 letter countries, but former SSRS didn't match that (there are exactly two 8 letter countries in SA). – TNLenny Mar 12 '15 at 15:09
  • I looked for commonalities. With such a wide variety of countries I figured it had to be something pretty specific and not geo-political.

    Started down a rabbit hole of 8 letter countries, but former SSRS didn't match that (there are exactly two 8 letter countries in SA).

    Then thought, hmmm. Z is an uncommon letter. Let's see.... Brazil, Venezuela. Yup. Kazakh, uzbek, azerbaijan, Kyrgyzstan, yup. Africa? Yup. Was fun!

     – TNLenny Mar 12 '15 at 15:16
  • I could see where the Abkhazia conditions could be confusing, but I read the intention as 16 UN states plus Abkhazia (obv) and 4 former SSRs "not counting" abkhazia meaning "other than"/plus. – TNLenny Mar 12 '15 at 15:20