Enigmarch, Day 20: NEIGHBOR
Mar. 30th, 2024 12:34 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
tahnanNote to self: you're no good at logic puzzles.
"Neighbor" reminded me of Robert Frost: "Good fences make good neighbors". You know what happens when I try to write a Fences puzzle? I lose a week, is what happens.
Mending Wall
See those four sittin' over there? They're the ones that took over Ol' Man Johnson's property after he died. Big square space, bounded to the north by Old North Road, to the east by Old East Road, to the--well, you get the idea.
When we heard they were movin' in, the four of 'em...well, can't blame us for thinkin' maybe they were related. N.W. Johnson, N.E. Johnson, S.W. Johnson, and S.E. Johnson: most of us figured they were some lost relations of Ol' Man Johnson himself, and he'd left 'em his land. Nope, just four people who bought it when it got auctioned off: N.W. Johnson bought the northwest quarter, N.E. Johnson bought the northeast--well, you get the idea.
So that's them. Put up stone walls around their properties, all four of 'em. One day they're in here saying, "Good fences make good neighbors", and the next, they all got walls between themselves and their neighbors, and between themselves and the roads.
But I guess, well, something there is that doesn't love a wall, that wants it down. It's not elves exactly...but all those walls went up start of spring, and by the end of spring, some of 'em had fallen. They fixed 'em up again, but by end of summer, same thing: four seasons, they fix up all the walls at the start, and some of them fell by the end. Don't believe me? Here, watch.
"Hey, Johnson! How's the walls holdin' up?"
N.W.: "Coulda been worse. Wall between me and my eastern neighbor held through autumn. Didn’t fall 'til winter."
S.E.: "At least you always had a wall with a neighbor. None of us ever kept both of them, but the rest of us had at least one season where neither one was still standing."
S.W.: "S.E.'s right. Look at the wall between us, for instance. Held through summer, fell in autumn, fell again in winter."
S.E. "Worse for me though. I know none of us ever lost all four of our walls by the end of the season, but I always lost three."
N.W.: "You'd think winter would be the worst, but somehow in summer we lost ten of the walls. Only been half that bad ever since."
S.W.: "From where I was sitting, summer looked just like spring. I realize that wasn't your experience, of course, N.W."
N.E.: "Funny 'bout the walls by the roads though. Every season, every road, either both of the walls hold or neither does. Like how the entire stretch along Old East Road held for autumn, and none of it held for winter."
Well, danged if that ain't the most I've ever heard any of 'em say. Still, though, something there is that doesn't love a wall. Wonder what it is.
Lookin' for the answer checker? You want to drive down past where the mill used to be, take a right, then...come to think of it, you can't get there from here.
"Neighbor" reminded me of Robert Frost: "Good fences make good neighbors". You know what happens when I try to write a Fences puzzle? I lose a week, is what happens.
Mending Wall
See those four sittin' over there? They're the ones that took over Ol' Man Johnson's property after he died. Big square space, bounded to the north by Old North Road, to the east by Old East Road, to the--well, you get the idea.
When we heard they were movin' in, the four of 'em...well, can't blame us for thinkin' maybe they were related. N.W. Johnson, N.E. Johnson, S.W. Johnson, and S.E. Johnson: most of us figured they were some lost relations of Ol' Man Johnson himself, and he'd left 'em his land. Nope, just four people who bought it when it got auctioned off: N.W. Johnson bought the northwest quarter, N.E. Johnson bought the northeast--well, you get the idea.
So that's them. Put up stone walls around their properties, all four of 'em. One day they're in here saying, "Good fences make good neighbors", and the next, they all got walls between themselves and their neighbors, and between themselves and the roads.
But I guess, well, something there is that doesn't love a wall, that wants it down. It's not elves exactly...but all those walls went up start of spring, and by the end of spring, some of 'em had fallen. They fixed 'em up again, but by end of summer, same thing: four seasons, they fix up all the walls at the start, and some of them fell by the end. Don't believe me? Here, watch.
"Hey, Johnson! How's the walls holdin' up?"
N.W.: "Coulda been worse. Wall between me and my eastern neighbor held through autumn. Didn’t fall 'til winter."
S.E.: "At least you always had a wall with a neighbor. None of us ever kept both of them, but the rest of us had at least one season where neither one was still standing."
S.W.: "S.E.'s right. Look at the wall between us, for instance. Held through summer, fell in autumn, fell again in winter."
S.E. "Worse for me though. I know none of us ever lost all four of our walls by the end of the season, but I always lost three."
N.W.: "You'd think winter would be the worst, but somehow in summer we lost ten of the walls. Only been half that bad ever since."
S.W.: "From where I was sitting, summer looked just like spring. I realize that wasn't your experience, of course, N.W."
N.E.: "Funny 'bout the walls by the roads though. Every season, every road, either both of the walls hold or neither does. Like how the entire stretch along Old East Road held for autumn, and none of it held for winter."
Well, danged if that ain't the most I've ever heard any of 'em say. Still, though, something there is that doesn't love a wall. Wonder what it is.
Lookin' for the answer checker? You want to drive down past where the mill used to be, take a right, then...come to think of it, you can't get there from here.