Okay, so I was watching an LP of Arena and saw the following puzzle:

Apparently, the correct answer is cell 2. I've been spending the last half an hour trying to figure out why exactly, but it seems my IQ is a tad too low for it. Can anyone explain to me? Also what does "all that is said cannot be true?" mean? Does it mean that every single statement is a lie or simply that the statements contradict each other and thus cannot all be true?

The 'all that is said cannot be true' is not true.

If it were, there'd be no way to solve this.

Since it's not, you can simply go through the statements:

If statement 1 is true, no other statement is negated.

If statement 2 is true, statement 1 is negated.

If statement 3 is true, statement 1 is negated.

So statement 1 is true and Cell 2 thus contains the gold key.

What a [censored] puzzle.

So then is it "all that is said can be true?" But that's false right there, since the first two statements do contradict each other. In fact, all of them contradict each other.

edit: Well, not necessarily, it's not clear if only one cell can contain worthless brass or two.

No matter how much I try Cell 1 seems most logical. I don't get why it should be Cell 2.

No, they don't. If the first statement is true, the other two don't contradict it.

'All that is said cannot be true' is true. Because 'all that is said cannot be true' isn't true.

If statement 1's condition is true: Cell 3 holds worthless brass, so Cell 2 holds the gold key. If Cell 1 holds the gold key, Cell 3 holds worthless brass (yeah, but it doesn't). If Cell 2 holds worthless brass, Cell 1 holds the gold key (yeah, but it doesn't).

If statement 2's condition is true: Cell 1 holds the gold key, so Cell 3 holds worthless brass. If Cell 3 holds worthless brass (yeah it does), Cell 2 holds the gold key (can't be, since Cell 1 holds the gold key = logical error).

If statement 3's condition is true: Cell 2 holds worthless brass, so Cell 1 holds the gold key. If Cell 1 holds the gold key (yeah, it does), Cell 3 holds worthless brass. If Cell 3 holds worthless brass (yeah it does), Cell 2 holds the gold key (can't be, since Cell 1 holds the gold key = logical error).

Ok let's do it not with condition, but with Cell:

Cell 1 holds gold key=statement 1 untrue.

Cell 2 holds gold key=other statements unaffected

Cell 3 holds the gold key=other statements unaffected.

Hm, yeah, Cell 1 is the correct answer, without 'all that is said cannot be true' being untrue.

What a stupid dumb [censored] puzzle.

Yeah, I get it now. But looking at this, why not Cell 1? The first statement is negated by the other two, it's the odd one out. The other two don't contradict each other if worthless brass can be in more than one cell, which is logical when I think about it.

If it's in Cell 1, it's in Cell 2. Yeah according to the odd first statement.

This puzzle wasn't well thought out.

Found this:

OK, first thing, we have to realise that none of these assumptions are true. (Also, we must assume that the GK is not in the same place as the WB.

So, based on that assumption:
1. If Cell 3 holds the WB, Cell 1 holds the GK
2. If Cell 1 holds the GK, Cell 2 holds the WB
3. If Cell 2 holds the WB, Cell 3 holds the GK

(These conclusions are still not logical. Untrue doesn't equal opposite to the condition is true.)

Lets use elimination:
If it was cell 1 that holds the GK (from statement 2), then cell 2 holds the WB, but then statement 3 is false, so it can't be that.
If it was cell 3 that holds the GK (from 1), then cell 2 holds the WB, but then statement 2 would be false.
If cell 2 holds the GK, then none of the statements are satisfied, so we look at the WB instead. WB must either be in cell 1 or 3. So statement 2 and 3 are eliminated. Since we are assuming that cell 2 holds the GK, then we know that the WB is in cell 1 (from statement 1).

In conclusion the GK must be in cell 2, the WB must be in cell 1.

You'll notice very quickly that the puzzles in Arena are total bullcrap. Just wait till you get to the one with the Sphinx of Canus, Igon.