#logic challenge

My personal interpretation of those little riddles (which are all from S2):

“Honey, you should see me in a crown!”, smirks Mr. Sex. 

“Not our division!”, replies Work.

“I was just playing the game”, explains Mrs. Sex.

“I know. And this is just losing.”, smiles the man who believes himself too clever to become a prisoner of his own meat.

But then …. someone presents a fascinating riddle … and the man rises to the challenge. Because that man doesn’t like ‘not knowing’. ‘Not knowing’ would just tear his world apart. Seems that someone knows that very well ….

“Twenty year old disappearance; a monstrous hound? I wouldn’t miss this for the world!”

And solving that case frees Mr.Sex - the hound - from his prison. He opens the guarded vaults, sets free the prisoners, breaks into Tower Hill and seizes the crown jewels. 

“In a world of locked rooms, the man with the key is king; and honey, you should see me in a crown.”

It almost seems that the solutions of the four riddles - put in a row - create a little piece of interesting dialogue.  :)

Written July, 2018/October, 2018

Another interesting point is the connection between the Greenwich pip cases from TGG, with occurrences in the following ten episodes. I wrote about this early last year in FOUR STAGES & FOUR CASES (stages inside stages) and THE FIVE HOSTAGES (foreshadowing of five episodes). 

The orange pip riddle is not the only one though. The Sommer of Sherlock Logic Challenge presented four encrypted messages in July. All of them taken from the episodes of S2. Directly preceding the orange pips riddle appeared this one:

Jim’s “Poisonous Proposal”

Followed soon afterwards by a more detailed presentation of the mushrooms and how they are arranged. 

“Taking it in turns, removing a mushroom or mushrooms from any one of the heaps” … I guess this means that whoever starts the game can take all the good mushrooms and leave the poisonous one to the participant who comes second.

Anyway, it’s not so much the correct strategy to win that game but the fact that Jim wants to play his ‘Poisonous Proposal’ with mushrooms. Especially when the poisonous mushroom is adorned with ‘sweaty white spots’. Because this means that the mushroom in question is either Amanita muscaria or its close relative Amanita pantherina …. more commonly known as ...

Fly Amanita & Panther Cap

Although classified as poisonous, reports of human deaths resulting from their ingestion is extremely rare. After parboiling—which weakens its toxicity and breaks down the mushroom's psychoactive substances—it is eaten in parts of Europe, Asia, and North America. A fatal dose has been calculated as approximately 15 caps. Not exactly the perfect mushroom for a deadly game, especially if there is only one of them involved. 

Source of informations and pics:    Wikipedia

The Amanita mushrooms - Amanita muscaria more often than Amanita pantherina - are mostly known for their hallucinogenic properties  They are psychoactive and often used to induce any type of spiritual experiences. The poisoning symthoms are known as the ‘Pantherina Syndrome’. 

In short … Amanita muscaria is used, since ancient times, as a drug (to let the spirit fly) ... and also to catch real flies and bugs. 

Sherlock - while waiting for the forthcoming showdown with the criminal mastermind - envisions inside his Mind Palace a scenario in which Jim Moriarty is offering him a ‘Poisonous Proposal’ including a Fly Amanita or Panther Cap. A drug!

Episodes later - in The Abominable Bride (the ‘five orange pip case’)  Jim Moriarty is compared to a FLY and a VIRUS (also refered to as BUG)

HOLMES: He (Jim) is trying to distract me, to derail me. MYCROFT HOLMES: Yes. He’s the crack in the lens, the fly in the ointment ... the virus in the data. 

And the Pantherina Syndrome?

That’s how the effects of a poisoning by Amanita mushrooms is called. Named after Amanita Pantherina, the close relative of Amanita muscaria.

Panthera Leo - Subfamily: Pantherinae - Family: Felidae - that’s the lion - in this story: John

Source of pic:  Wikipedia

Being drugged (affected by the chemistry of love) by an Amanita mushroom is called Pantherina Syndrome (Lion/John Syndrome).  :))))

I leave you to your own deductions.  Thanks @callie-ariane for the scripts.

Sommer of Sherlock Logic Challenge

November, 2018