[ExI] Riddle?

[Stuart LaForge]

On 2025-04-28 02:07, BillK via extropy-chat wrote:
> On Mon, 28 Apr 2025 at 04:37, Stuart LaForge via extropy-chat
> <extropy-chat at lists.extropy.org> wrote:
>> 
>> This is a question I posed to ChatGPT (free version). It took it 5 
>> wrong
>> guesses and about 4 additional clues before it finally solved it: 
>> "What
>> is the name of the town wherein dwells the baddest man whose name 
>> begins
>> with last letter of the country west of Spain?" I thought it was
>> something of a Trivial Pursuit question, but ChatGPT called it a
>> fantastic "riddle". Heh.
>> 
>> Show me what you got, humans! ;)
>> 
>> Stuart LaForge
>> _______________________________________________
> 
> 
> Gemini 2.5 Pro Preview 03-25 got the answer in 9.2 seconds.
> It went straight to the song.
> BillK

Yes. That is the quickest correct answer yet. 9.2 seconds borders on 
intuition. I wonder how long it too Anton to figure out the answer from 
when he read the question.

Stuart LaForge






> 
> Gemini 2.5 Pro -
> 
> Here's my thought process for solving this riddle:
> 
> Deconstruct the Request: I need to find the name of a town. This town
> is where a specific man dwells. This man is described as the "baddest
> man". His name begins with a specific letter. That letter is the last
> letter of the name of the country west of Spain.
> 
> Identify the Country West of Spain:
> Look at a map (mental or actual).
> Spain is on the Iberian Peninsula in Europe.
> The country directly west of Spain, sharing the peninsula, is Portugal.
> Find the Last Letter of that Country's Name:
> Country: Portugal
> Last letter: L
> Identify the "Baddest Man" whose Name Begins with that Letter:
> The letter is 'L'.
> The description is "baddest man". This sounds like a specific phrase
> or character, likely from a song, story, or folklore.
> "Baddest man" immediately brings to mind the song "Bad, Bad Leroy
> Brown" by Jim Croce.
> The character's name is Leroy Brown.
> Does his first name start with 'L'? Yes, Leroy.
> Is he described as the "baddest man"? Yes, the lyrics famously say
> "Baddest man in the whole damn town".
> Determine the Town Where this Man Dwells (according to the source):
> The source is the song "Bad, Bad Leroy Brown".
> Listen to or recall the lyrics of the song.
> The relevant line is: "Bad, bad Leroy Brown / The baddest man in the
> whole damn town / Badder than old King Kong / And meaner than a
> junkyard dog... / Now Leroy, he gamble / ... / He got a .32 gun in his
> pocket for fun / He got a razor in his shoe / ... / Well the south
> side of Chicago / Is the baddest part of town / And if you go down
> there / You better just beware / Of a man named Leroy Brown."
> The song explicitly places Leroy Brown on the "south side of Chicago".
> Formulate the Answer:
> Country west of Spain: Portugal
> Last letter of Portugal: L
> Baddest man whose name starts with L: Leroy Brown (from the song)
> Town/Area where he dwells: The south side of Chicago.
> The question asks for the town. While "south side of Chicago" is a
> part of a city, Chicago is the city/town. The song specifies the area
> within the town. Chicago is the most direct answer to "name of the
> town".
> 
> Final Check: Does the answer fit all parts of the riddle?
> Name of the town? Chicago.
> Wherein dwells the baddest man? Leroy Brown (the "baddest man in the
> whole damn town") is associated with the south side of Chicago.
> Whose name begins with...? Leroy starts with L.
> ...the last letter of the country west of Spain? Portugal ends in L.
> Yes, all conditions are met.
> ---------------------------------------------
> 
> Answer -
> 
> Let's break this down:
> Country west of Spain: That's Portugal.
> Last letter of Portugal: That's L.
> The baddest man whose name begins with L: This refers to the character
> Leroy Brown from the Jim Croce song "Bad, Bad Leroy Brown". The lyrics
> call him "the baddest man in the whole damn town".
> The town wherein he dwells: According to the song, Leroy Brown is from
> the south side of Chicago.
> So the town is Chicago.
> -------------------------------
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