Can You Pick the right Poison?
In the magical kingdom of Poisonland, there are strange physical laws surrounding their poisons: the only way to cure one's self of a poison is to drink a stronger poison. The king of Poisonland decided he wanted the strongest poison of all, so he summoned his two highest-ranking officials: the potions master and the finance minister. The king proposed this: one week from now, both of them will come back to court with a poison. Each one will drink the other minister's poison, then their own. If their own poison is stronger, they will live, and the other one will die. The king will then take the liquid from the survivor and will have the strongest poison.
Obviously, the finance minister knows he can't make a stronger poison. However, he comes up with a plan in which he can survive, and the potions master will die. Unfortunately, the potions master gets wind of his plan from a spy. He then comes up with a plan to counteract it, so that he will live while the finance minister dies.
Next week, both officials walk into the court, and they drink the others' poison, then their own. Minutes later, the finance minister crumples to the floor and dies. The king then congratulates the potions master and takes the bottle from him. The question is: Did the king actually get the strongest poison in Poisonland?
Details and Assumptions:
- The king did receive something. However, in the case of this question, the king either got the strongest poison or he didn't.
- There was no trickery throughout the entire process. There was no stealing, no sabotage, no sleight of hand, etc.
- Both officials stayed in the main court until the poison took effect. There was no leaving the room.
- Both officials only brought in one bottle of liquid.
- All information to solve the puzzle is given. There are no extra rules that I have not mentioned.
- Hint: there is one piece of information that I have not explicitly stated that is vital to solving the puzzle.
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1 solution
The first step is to find out the finance minister's plan. Because he knows that the potions master's poison will always be stronger, he decided to poison himself with a very weak poison first, and bring a bottle of water into the court. This way, his weak poison gets cured by the potions master's poison and he lives. However, the potions master drinks his own poison, and without another poison to cure him, he will die.
When the potions master hears this, he realises that he can use the finance minister's plan against him. If he brings water himself, then both officials will be drinking plain water, which has no effect. However, because the finance minister had already poisoned himself with the weak poison, he dies.
Being the only one alive, the king takes the bottle from the potions master, which contains water as opposed to a poison. So no, the king does not receive the strongest poison in Poisonland.