Vol 2, No 12 Answers
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ANSWERS TO
by Bill Graham
The treasurer drank weak poison just before going before the King. He took water (or coke, or similar poisonous liquid!) along. The treasurer's plan was: The pharmacist's strong poison will cancel out the weak poison he already drank. His own brew will have no effect (other than maybe rotting his teeth). So he will live, and the pharmacist will die of his own poison since it had no previously-imbibed weaker poison to neutralize it. The pharmacist realized this must be the treasurer's plan, so he brought along something like cold tea. The pharmacist drank a glass of coke followed by a glass of cold tea which, though neither nutritious nor terribly healthy, is hardly toxic. He lived. The treasurer drank weak poison before setting out, then cold tea which failed to neutralize it, then coke, again with no effect and died of poisoning from his own weak potion. The king gets, as his "strongest poison in the land" a glass of cold tea.
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In order to solve this puzzle, you have to come to two conclusions not stated.
First, it's possible for either (or both) participants to prepare a
non-poisonous drink.
Second, either participant might drink something before the trial.
With these two ideas in hand, you can proceed to solve the puzzle.