All-Star Puzzles
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Space Talk
Salesbeings talk shop in interstellar tongues.
July 7, 2003
From the introduction, each being speaks two different of the eight official interstellar languages; and each language is spoken by two of the visitors. By clue 3, Romulus speaks Earth and Symbolic; while by clue 5, YanChe speaks Flavian and Z. By clue 4, Laird Alfred could communicate to xRySzT through Fala Bett, so the two languages Fala Bett speaks can't be any of the four given in clues 3 and 5 or more than two of the beings would speak one of the languages (for example, if Fala Bett spoke Earth, so would Romulus and either Laird Alfred or xRySzT). So, we'll call the two tongues Fala Bett speaks A and B, with Laird Alfred also speaking A and xRySzT speaking B. Similarly, by clue 7, Muujeeb acted as direct interpretor between Krom and Voldema, so that Muujeeb cannot speak any of the six languages given so far or there would be three beings who understand one language. We designate the two languages Muujeeb speaks as C and D, with Krom then also speaking C and Voldema D. Each of Laird Alfred, xRySzT, Krom, and Voldema then speaks a different one of the four languages understood by Romulus and YanChe. By clue 9, neither Laird Alfred nor Voldema could speak directly to Romulus, so neither of then speaks Earth or Symbolic; they speak Flavian and Z, or vice versa, and Krom and xRySzT must speak Earth and Symbolic, or vice versa. The quickest route for Fala Bett to talk to YanChe did not involve Z (clue 8). The quickest route for Fala Bett to communicate to YanChe was directly through Laird Alfred; therefore, Laird Alfred speaks Flavian, while Voldema understands Z. Neither being who speaks Asimovian understands Flavian or Z (2), so Asimovian can't be language A (spoken by Laird Alfred) or language D (spoken by Voldema). Language B, spoken by xRySzT, also isn't Asimovian (6). Muujeeb and Krom speak Asimovian, which must be language C. By clue 4, Centaurian wasn't used when Fala Bett translated for Laird Alfred and xRySzT and isn't language A or B. Muujeeb and Voldema speak Centaurian, language D. By clue 1, New Greco isn't spoken by Laird Alfred and thus isn't language A; Fala Bett and xRySzT speak New Greco. By elimination, language A is Rimtongue and is understood by Fala Bett and Laird Alfred. Finally, xRySzT speaks New Greco and Earth (1) and Krom is fluent in Symbolic. Summarizing, the eight beings speak instellar languages as follows:

  • Fala Bett, New Greco & Rimtongue
  • Krom, Asimovian & Symbolic
  • Laird Alfred, Flavian & Rimtongue
  • Muujeeb, Asimovian & Centaurian
  • Romulus, Earth & Symbolic
  • Voldema, Centaurian & Z
  • xRySzT, Earth & New Greco
  • YanChe, Flavian & Z

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