[peter365] Of Recklessness and Water

[peter365]

Hi there lateral lads and lassies, after managing a paltry four last year one of my new years resolutions is to host more puzzles on our beloved forum. So here goes:

A woman had cause to regret not leaving her taps running. Can you explain?

[GalFisk]

Not leaving: every one of her taps running? Some of her taps running? Relevant property of running taps: noise? Water usage? Water bill? Flushing water pipes? Flushing sewer pipes? Expelling something unwanted from pipes? Draining the water supply? Flooding of house? Moister air? Would it work if she had left cold water running? Hot water? Both? Was leaving her taps running something she would've had reason to do? Did anyone else leave their taps running? Service on water system relevant? On sewer system?

[Balin]

Given the title - did she not leave her taps running at night? Is any swimming relevant? Is anyone seen (or not seen) naked?

[peter365]

Galfisk

Not leaving: every one of her taps running? Some of her taps running? Some or all would have worked fine Relevant property of running taps: noise? Water usage? This Water bill? and this Flushing water pipes? Flushing sewer pipes? Expelling something unwanted from pipes? Draining the water supply? Flooding of house? Moister air? No to the rest Would it work if she had left cold water running? Hot water? Both? Yes Was leaving her taps running something she would've had reason to do? Can you clarify exactly what you mean. She wouldn't have had reason to leave her taps running specically but it might have helped her if she had. Did anyone else leave their taps running? Not relevantly Service on water system relevant? On sewer system? Neither are relevant

[peter365]

Balin

Given the title - did she not leave her taps running at night? Evening or night time would have worked best Is any swimming relevant? Is anyone seen (or not seen) naked? No to both, as you know I don't need much encouragement to shoe horn REM references into my puzzle titles. Well done for spotting it.

[GalFisk]

Can it be said that she had cause to regret not making her water bill higher? Is wasting water relevant? Or would it have worked if the used a lot of water for something? Such as bathing? Watering? Filling a pool? If she had left her taps running, would she have gained money? Not lost money? Not lost something else? Gained something else?

[peter365]

Galfisk

Can it be said that she had cause to regret not making her water bill higher? Well that would be a byproduct of her action but it wasn't her chief cause of regret Is wasting water relevant? No Or would it have worked if the used a lot of water for something? Such as bathing? Watering? Filling a pool? Yes If she had left her taps running, would she have gained money? NO Not lost money? Yes Not lost something else? Yes with a sligh ish Gained something else? No

[JenBurdoo]

By "running", do you mean the tap would be physically turned so that water was pouring out? Or that some external connection to the waterpipes into the house would be open and not closed?

Are dates, specific periods of time, and/or billing periods relevant?

[WiZ]

In lieu of her not leaving her taps running, had she instigated some other action which ended up costing her more?

You've already had 2 PotY nominations from your 4 last year - so you've definitely achieved quality if not quantity. Also, very apt title.

[peter365]

Jenburdoo

By "running", do you mean the tap would be physically turned so that water was pouring out? Yes Or that some external connection to the waterpipes into the house would be open and not closed? Well they would have to be open for this to work

Are dates, specific periods of time, and/or billing periods relevant? Yes

[peter365]

WiZ

In lieu of her not leaving her taps running, had she instigated some other action which ended up costing her more? No she didn't take any specific action in lieu of leaving taps running.

You've already had 2 PotY nominations from your 4 last year - so you've definitely achieved quality if not quantity. Also, very apt title. I'll take any nomination even if I suspect they were motivated by sympathy

[GalFisk]

Compensation relevant? Incorrect billing? Financial aid? Drought? Floods? Edit: water system renovations? Or upgrades? Did anyone else relevantly leave their taps running? Regret not having done so?

[peter365]

Galfisk

Compensation relevant? Incorrect billing? Financial aid? Drought? Floods? Edit: water system renovations? Or upgrades? No to all of these Did anyone else relevantly leave their taps running? No Regret not having done so? I'm sure a similar situation may have occurred elsewhere but not relevant to this puzzle.

[Hobbsicle]

Is this modern day? Would someone else have taken relevant action if she had left the water running? Or relevantly not taken certain action? If so, the government? If somehow her taps were connected to a nearby stream instead of the water main, would the puzzle still work? Did she have cause to regret: the following morning? The next time she received a water bill? Days later? Weeks? Months?

[peter365]

Hobbsicle

Is this modern day? Yes Would someone else have taken relevant action if she had left the water running? Or relevantly not taken certain action? This If so, the government? A government agency yes If somehow her taps were connected to a nearby stream instead of the water main, would the puzzle still work? If she had her own water supply then no. Did she have cause to regret: the following morning? The next time she received a water bill? Days later? Weeks? Months? This one

[Balin]

Was she committing some sort of fraud? Had she not been using any water at all?

[peter365]

Balin

Was she committing some sort of fraud? Yes Had she not been using any water at all? She had used some water.

[GalFisk]

Was the caught? Because of a discrepancy in water usage? Did she claim to be home when she weren't? To use water when she didn't?

[peter365]

Galfisk

Was the caught? Yes Because of a discrepancy in water usage? Yes Did she claim to be home when she weren't? No To use water when she didn't? No she didn't make any claim about the amount of water she used

My answer of yes to Fraud maybe should have been yesish, she was guilty of something maybe not out and out fraud but closely related.

[GalFisk]

Was the fraud-related thing also related to water? Utilities? Billing? Taxes? Money laundering? Did she defraud a person? Entity? Government? Business? Did she steal? Did the discrepancy in water usage prove that she did something? Was somewhere? Did she claim that others lived with her? Did she live alone? Relevant?

[peter365]

Galfisk

Was the fraud-related thing also related to water? Utilities? Billing? Taxes? Money laundering? This, well done Did she defraud a person? Entity? Government? Business? Hiding ill gotten gains defrauds everyone i guess Did she steal? Not her directly Did the discrepancy in water usage prove that she did something? Quite the opposite Was somewhere? No Did she claim that others lived with her? No Did she live alone? No Relevant? No

[GalFisk]

So the discrepancy proved that die did not do something? Did she claim the laundered money was income from a business? Hobby? Sale? Did she claim to grow plants? Run a laundromat? A spa? Relevant how she gained the money she laundered?

[peter365]

Galfisk

So the discrepancy proved that die did not do something? Yes Did she claim the laundered money was income from a business? Yes Hobby? Sale? Did she claim to grow plants? Run a laundromat? A spa? Relevant how she gained the money she laundered? Not really she was laundering it for someone else.

[GalFisk]

Relevant what kind of business? A business that required a significant amout of water? If so, water for cleaning? Watering? Cooling? Bathing? Diving? Boiling? Cooking? Evaporating? Diluting? Extracting? Fermentation? Distillation? Brewing? Sale? Did she claim to provide a product? Service?

[peter365]

Galfisk

Relevant what kind of business? Yes A business that required a significant amout of water? Yes If so, water for cleaning? Watering? Cooling? Bathing? Diving? Boiling? Cooking? Evaporating? Diluting? Extracting? Fermentation? Distillation? Brewing? Sale? Did she claim to provide a product? Service? This , none of the above are exactly right but you've done enough.......

*******************SPOILER********************

The lady in question ran a ladies hairdressing salon but was using the business as a front for her husband's criminal activities. The police's financial crime guys were suspicious of the volume of turnover that she was declaring through the salon and estimated that she would have had to be washing and cutting over 150 clients' hair every day. Knowing full well that this was hardly possible given the population of the area they contacted the water company.

Water metering is a fairly new thing in Ireland and they were able to ascertain that if she was telling the truth about how many clients were being serviced, based on her water usage she was managing to wash each lady's hair with about a half pint of water.

They successfully prosecuted her and seized a load of assets.

MAybe she should have left her taps running.

Thanks for playing

[Hobbsicle]

Ah, good one. Better get another one up soon if you're going to stick to that resolution.