FA's Christmas Puzzle

General
1

In all the Christmas hustle of getting rich, Masse-Santa almost completely forgot that the holidays require winding down and some lightheartedness. So, here is a Christmas riddle for the forum members from Masse:
Who served as the Greek Minister of Finance during the country’s past crisis years?
A) Demis Bankropsis? or
B) Kostos Catastrophalis? or
C) Iannis Broke-akis? or
D) Someone else.

The correct answer cannot be found on Wiki or Google, but is quite obvious if you just realize it. The answer is only correct if you can also justify it briefly and concisely.

Now, get those brain cells working. The correct answer will be posted on this thread on Christmas Eve evening. At the same time, the ever-enigmatic Uncle Masse will tell you what kind of people you are…

Merry

11 Likes
2

{“content”:“Thanks for the delightful puzzle!\n\nMy answer is D), Kuppas Massis (with Jyrki Katalainen as his sidekick)\n\nReason: Katalainen was gullible. This Massis emptied your money bag too.\n\nWas the answer satisfying? What am I like? Do I deserve a title?”,“target_locale”:“en”}

3

It took me a moment to realize what FA meant :smiley:

4

Mass-pukki is now receiving a flood of requests for hints, both official and unofficial, to solve the puzzle. Unfortunately, Uncle has, in investment terms, a complete “lockup” until the solution on Christmas Eve, so Uncle can only wish you all agile brains, nuts, and a little mulled wine. If the year-end downturn started to annoy you, a couple of Christmas mulled wines will help: even for Uncle, after the third one, all debts started to feel like receivables::slight_smile:

Christmas, Christmas…

1 Like
5

Waiting for it :grin:

6

Joko joko @Masse

7

Masse is probably at the Christmas party at the House of Nobility and has forgotten the common folk

3 Likes
8

Masse, many are already waiting for the FA’s speeches. Hurry up before the mulled wine goes to everyone’s head too much :smirking_face:

9

Alright then. The Christmas crowd on the Nutshell board seems to be getting pretty heated, so it’s time to reveal the correct answer and its only correct reasoning. The correct answer is, of course, D, meaning “something else,” which isn’t too hard to deduce, but WHY?

The justification for the correct answer, of course, didn’t come from looking up the name of Greece’s then-Minister of Finance from some device called KVG, but rather the solution is, of course, what’s left after using the process of elimination, because no person, not even a poor Greek boy, should be judged or categorized based solely on their name!

Uncle is very sorry if the forum members’ sometimes restless and even a little dirty imagination started playing tricks on the way, and alternatives A-C came to mind. Away with you. New Year is a good time to reform.

Well then, Uncle’s assessment of what kind of people you are. How on earth can Uncle deduce anything about you as a person based on one puzzle and your potential answer (which Uncle doesn’t even know)? My dear young people, the solution here is also obvious, but you just don’t see it. It’s TIME. Yes, the moment when each of you reads or read this Uncle Masse’s analysis. You can be roughly divided into three groups:

  1. Those chronically hooked on two Massen (i.e., Masse and masse, in that order), such as everyone who impatiently waited and commented on the Puzzle above. And, of course, evangelist VP, even if they wouldn’t admit it right away. Good heavens: now, right now, it’s the biggest festive evening of the year, and you’re just hanging around the Inden forum all evening pondering some of Masse’s restless puzzles!! Uncle could say, get a life, but then again, are the alternatives any better? Sometimes it’s just so damn nice to live in a bubble. And besides, you are the saviors of Finland’s financial world, always “on call” and ready to get rich and save your homeland from a financial crisis. You could call it self-sacrifice. Someone has to sacrifice themselves for this career path too. You decide if you are one of them.

  2. Those quite badly hooked on two Massen (i.e., masse and Masse, in that order), who make up the majority of visitors to this forum. Damn hypocrites, Christmas dinner and presents must supposedly be taken care of first, and then one could quickly check out the Puzzle’s solution once the children are asleep, for example. Self-deception. Most of them apologize at the Christmas table, rush to the toilet with their cell phone, and out comes the Puzzle’s solution. That’s just how it goes. Well, at least you sometimes think about money before Uncle, hence the aforementioned hook order.

  3. The rest, who honorably refuse to go to the whole damn forum on Christmas Eve, but then in the small hours of Christmas night, when everyone else is asleep, the temptation becomes irresistible. A quick visit, a grunt, and a vow never to return to the forum. Such people are secretly hooked, and it can actually take the worst toll on their psyche, because sometimes it’s just good to acknowledge facts and dependencies.

So, your little vice, the time you spend on these Masse’s ramblings, revealed quite a lot about the essence of your human nature. Someone might then stumble upon this puzzle board only after the holidays and start laughing at the whole thing. That’s good, but there’s a danger that they’ll start coming back to the board again – much faster than probability calculations would allow…

Have a good continuation of the holidays. Now Uncle Masse won’t make new puzzles this year, so you can peacefully digest the old ones. The New Year might bring new investments and new mischief.

Uncle Masse, FA

11 Likes
10

Panic is about to set in, as the familiar and safe Christmas Nut, loved by all, has not yet been published. Surely @Masse hasn’t forgotten his important task as the creator of difficult riddles to torment us? :pensive:

5 Likes
11

Oh right, the previous messages were from 2018!

12

Well… Don’t know where to start. The congregation has been crushed by a mandate. As late as October 2019, Uncle Masse wrote the following in the Nordea thread:
"
Sauli_Vilen:

NukkeNukuttaja:

Analysts are only human, aren’t they?

I can confirm this claim :joy:

The Archbishop is a bit modest now. Having followed Inden’s nobility for years and thus filled the congregation’s coffers to the brim, Uncle Masse, the congregational leader, would be quite ready to put the prefix “super” on the human definition for a few Indenians. This, of course, still requires the approval of the congregational council, but the proposal has already been made.

Uncle will return to the matter, at the latest with the long-awaited “Masse’s Christmas Nut 2019”! "

At that time, everything was still well; Uncle was calmly outlining a cunning and difficult Christmas nut for Inden’s superhumans, until quite unexpectedly, Verphu, the evangelist, the messenger of the Masse nobility, contacted him privately: Masse and Masse’s congregation had been excommunicated for an indefinite period!!

Not another word about the congregation on the forum. No further justifications and, of course, no right of appeal for Uncle. Perhaps some humorless pagan was annoyed, the nobility got scared, and thus the congregation was excommunicated. Verphu can confirm all this for you, if he so wishes.

After long negotiations, Uncle was at least allowed to continue, but all references to the congregation had to be stopped immediately. Uncle became quite depressed, because the Christmas Nut would have concerned the nobility of the congregation and Uncle’s proposal for Inden’s first superhumans. :relieved:

In fact, Uncle is now taking quite a risk with this writing too, because the congregation is mentioned by name. But it had to be done, because loyal friends of Masse and Masse on the forum are shouting for the Christmas Nut, Masse and Masse in different threads. Perhaps the next decade will change everything. Who knows.

Uncle Masse, FA, at least Christmas is now dark, both in the ground and in the corners of my mind.

26 Likes
13

Too bad. Massi’s posts brought a nice lightness, one could say entertainment, to this forum that often turns into bickering.

16 Likes
14

That’s a shame, because I also think Masse’s messages have brought a nice lightness to what are sometimes too serious discussions. I understand that this kind of religious talk might not be wanted here, even if it’s always presented completely humorously. Unfortunately, I also have to say that the quality of discussion has somewhat declined and become much more negative than before. But there’s still great discussion here sometimes, and it’s wonderful that we’ve recently gotten more and more company representatives to this forum.

13 Likes
15

As I recall, Mr. Tsakalotos was the Greek Minister of Finance… :wink:
Peaceful Christmas to Masse and the whole “group”!

2 Likes
16

Merry Christmas to Masse and the congregation of Masse worship.

Some people get angry out of sheer pettiness if Uncle Masse has started to annoy them so much.

10 Likes
17

Now I am a little sad about this, I must admit :cry: I would hope for some clarification on this situation, especially as to why such a measure has been taken, i.e., on what grounds your writings, in their previous form, would not belong on the forum, especially since the humorous tone is so clear to me, at least :(\nBut all the best for the Christmas season to Masse despite this :heart:

13 Likes
18

Of course, this shouldn’t be said aloud if it were a real religious cult, but I’m going to assume that this is not a real religious cult: the congregation should be taken “underground”, with secret meetings once a month, offerings, secret rituals, recruitment of new members on a recommendation basis, orthodox upbringing for cult members, favoring fellow cult members in working life, etc. And thus, a new group of stock-rich capitalists would grow in Finland, preventing Finland from regressing into a subsidiary colony.

If such a group already exists and I’m not part of it, then I’ll probably never know about it. But that’s okay, Merry Christmas to the forum members!

4 Likes
19

Yep, the grievance mongers have crushed the inden, and the inde Massen. That’s how the dominoes eventually fall on humor lovers :smiley:

5 Likes
20

“let’s make the forum more miserable together” yay..

2 Likes