The Grey Labyrinth is a collection of puzzles, riddles, mind games, paradoxes and other intellectually challenging diversions. Related topics: puzzle games, logic puzzles, lateral thinking puzzles, philosophy, mind benders, brain teasers, word problems, conundrums, 3d puzzles, spatial reasoning, intelligence tests, mathematical diversions, paradoxes, physics problems, reasoning, math, science.

PuzzleScot · Daedalian Member

I had a puzzle in mind...

Part 1) "What property do USA, Russia and Azerbaijan have, that no other country has?"

It turns out many other countries DO have this property, but nowhere near as significantly as these 3...

When I get a correct answer to this, I'll post Part 2, which is far more interesting...

Icarus · Daedalian Member

Not sure if this is the "property" you were going for, but first to my mind would be population of Armenians

nopants · Daedalian Member

Are they all non-contiguous?

PuzzleScot · Daedalian Member

Nsof · Daedalian Member

Chile?
I recall traveling there i had to cross many times to Argentina
_________________
Will sell this place for beer

PuzzleScot · Daedalian Member

Nope. This transit combination is absolutely unavoidable...

Pigboy · Daedalian Member

Hmmm.. is it in South East Asia? Feels like there's a few places like that out there

Zag · Tired of his old title

I asked my daughter, and she was convinced that the answer is Russia. She says that in around Uzbekistan there are little patches that are still considered to be part of Russia even though they aren't connected to it. I don't see how any of those, however, would require the 4 border crossings.

Pigboy · Daedalian Member

yeah, the difficulty is that they are essential. Even in a country with 3 non-contiguos parts this would not be necessary. One model which fits this description looks like concentric circles, but this cannot be, can it?

Zag · Tired of his old title

I doubt it. It must be a peninsula somewhere. I am assuming that he means "staying on land."

Zag · Tired of his old title

I'll bet that the solution involves an Embassy, which technically belongs to the other country. If, for instance, there were a Canadian Embassy in Alaska, and within that embassy there were some non-embassy land that belongs to the U.S. then we would have the situation described. You could be on the U.S. portion, you'd have to go through Embassy land (Canadian sovereign) to get to the main part of Alaska, then through Canada to get to mainland U.S.

I don't know if there is such a place, though.

PuzzleScot · Daedalian Member

Asia is the correct continent. No peninsulas or embassies or tricks.

It has a genuine resident population, and 'an area of <1 hectare' (according to wiki)

Dented Ford · Hoopy Frood

Sounds like some of the border vagaries of Saudi Arabia/United Arab Emirate states. Could it be one of the little ones like Ras Al Kaimah?

PuzzleScot · Daedalian Member

Much nearer the himalayas than that...

Think what the correct name is for a piece of a country that's completely within another country, then try wikipedia.

PuzzleScot · Daedalian Member

Investigating DF's suggestion, I find there is a region that is nearly as complex, called Nahwa, which is a part of Sharjah (in the UAE).
This area is within an area belonging to Oman. This Oman owned area is itself completely within Sharjah!

The case I found is just one step more comlex... like having an Oman owned area within Nahwa.

I was going to put this in the 'Off-Topic -> What amazed you today' thread, but thought it worth throwing out for you guys to test your investigative skills.

groza528 · No Place Like Home

PuzzleScot · Daedalian Member

Well done Groza.

I learned about that region on Wiki, where there is even a link to an old map of the area. Googling on the name of the region takes you to proof that the setup still exists today.

Well I thought it was amazing...