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You are at a crossroad. One road goes to hell, the other to paradise. There is one guard. The guard only answer questions and only using Yes or No. The guard is one of two categories: one category always lies, the other always tells the truth (but you don't know to which category the guard belong). You are allowed to ask only one question to decide which road to take.

Can you ask a single question to the guard and be sure to go to heaven? Note that you cannot ask about what another hypothetical guard could answer because you do not know which kind she or he could be.

This question differs from the two guard question because there is only one guard. You cannot refer to another guard.

F1Krazy
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Alain Damlamian
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  • This seems to be a duplicate. Could you make sure that this puzzle has not already been asked? –  Jan 27 '23 at 16:03
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    Does this answer your question? Two doors with two guards - one lies, one tells the truth – Jaap Scherphuis Jan 27 '23 at 16:10
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    Since you only ask one question, it doesn't matter that one of the guards is missing. – Jaap Scherphuis Jan 27 '23 at 16:12
  • In this puzzle, there is only one guard. You cannot refer to a second guard. It is not as straightforward ! – Alain Damlamian Mar 28 '23 at 09:02
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    It's effectively the same question since you could ask rot13(Vs lbh jrer sebz gur bgure pngrtbel, juvpu ebnq jbhyq lbh gryy zr yrnqf gb urnira?) – Mohirl Mar 28 '23 at 10:58
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    @AlainDamlamian It's true that the question itself is different, but if you look at the answers to the linked question, the second and third highest scoring are also valid answers to your question because they don't refer to the second guard. – Especially Lime Mar 28 '23 at 15:08
  • Congratulations ! The proposed Question : "When someone asks you whether the road on the left goes to Heaven, do you answer 'yes'?" is correct. All variations on this theme work, of course (right door, Hell,...) – Alain Damlamian Apr 23 '23 at 15:57
  • @AlainDamlamian That needs to be a comment on Evergalo's answer, rather than the question itself. You can also accept their answer by clicking the green tick mark next to it to signify that their answer is correct. – F1Krazy Apr 23 '23 at 16:24
  • Please don't make superfluous edits like changing things to caps lock. It's not going to get your question reopened, and it makes it look like you're yelling at us. – F1Krazy Apr 23 '23 at 16:26

1 Answers1

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"When someone asks you whether the road on the left goes to Heaven, do you answer 'yes'?"

is a possible question.

- If the road goes to Heaven and the guard tells the truth, he will say yes.

- If the road goes to Heaven and the guard lies, he will say yes.

- If the road goes to Hell and the guard tells the truth, he will say no.

- If the road goes to Hell and the guard lies, he will say no.

In each case you can determine which road leads where and pick your favorite destination.

Evargalo
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