Solution: Courage and Purity
Answer: LIQUOR
Written by Ivan Koswara
This puzzle is about words that are spelled identically in two different languages, English and Indonesian, while having vastly different meanings. Such words are also known as "false friends", although the pairs used in this puzzle are even more restrictive as their spellings must be identical and not just similar.
The right-side clues are given in Indonesian. Thus solvers are meant to solve the clues, and then translate their answers to the other language; doing this will reveal that a lot of the words match. After realizing that the set of answers are identical (at least in spelling), solvers can pin down the more ambiguous clues. Also, the right-side clues have answers in alphabetical order.
| English clues | English answer | Indonesian translation |
|---|---|---|
| take part in a game | play | main |
| give knowledge to | teach | ajar |
| period of 3pm to sunset | afternoon | sore |
| coating for wall | paint | cat |
| piece of cleaning fabric | cloth | lap |
| take something forcefully | seize | rebut |
| living naturally | wild | liar |
| it fetches water from a well | bucket | ember |
| covering for wheel | tire | ban |
| device to measure time | clock | jam |
| part of poem made of several lines | stanza | bait |
| melted ice | water | air |
| Indonesian clues | Indonesian answer | English translation |
|---|---|---|
| gas yang dihirup saat bernapas gas inhaled when breathing |
udara | air |
| tidak sepenuhnya tertutup not entirely closed |
terbuka | ajar |
| makanan untuk memikat binatang food to attract animals |
umpan | bait |
| hal yang tidak boleh dilakukan something that may not be done |
larangan | ban |
| binatang terkenal sebagai musuh anjing animal known as dog's enemy |
kucing | cat |
| batu bara yang bercahaya dan apinya baru padam coal that is lit and its fire has just gone out |
bara | ember |
| rebusan bebuahan dan gula mix of boiled fruits and sugar |
selai | jam |
| tempat antara pangkal paha dan lutut place between groin and knees |
pangkuan | lap |
| orang yang tidak jujur dishonest person |
pembohong | liar |
| lebih penting dari yang lain more important than anything else |
utama | main |
| sangkal dengan bukti atau argumen deny with evidence or argument |
bantah | rebut |
| kaku seperti otot setelah berolahraga stiff like a muscle after exercising |
pegal | sore |
Since the set of answers are identical, it's natural to pair up answers. This gives a pairing between a left-side number and a right-side number. This is for extraction: from the common (translated) answer, index with the left-side number and shift it by the right-side number.
| Common answer | Left-side index | Right-side shift | Extracted letter |
|---|---|---|---|
| main | 1 | 0 | M |
| ajar | 2 | -1 | I |
| sore | 2 | -1 | N |
| cat | 3 | 1 | U |
| lap | 3 | -3 | M |
| rebut | 2 | -4 | A |
| liar | 1 | 2 | N |
| ember | 2 | -2 | K |
| ban | 1 | 3 | E |
| jam | 3 | 5 | R |
| bait | 1 | -1 | A |
| air | 3 | 1 | S |
This spells out MINUMAN KERAS, which is the final clue phrase given in Indonesian. Translating this to English gives LIQUOR, the final answer. (The answer is 6 letters as clued by the blanks at the end; this rules out ALCOHOL, BOOZE, and such.)
Author’s Notes
The title, "Courage and Purity", simply describes the meanings of the flag colors of Indonesia (red and white), which are also the colors used for the two halves of the puzzle itself.
The translated answers are the base form of the Indonesian words. For some reason, when using Google Translate from English to Indonesian, translating verbs lead to the form that have the me- prefix; for example, translating "teach" leads to "mengajar" instead of "ajar". You can either take a "close enough" match, or you can learn a bit about Indonesian language to know that this is just a prefix and so can be ignored. (After all, the translated form of "seize" is "rebut" instead of "rebuts", "rebutting", or anything like that.)
Yes, in Indonesia "afternoon" ("sore") starts from around 3pm. The period 11am-3pm has a different name, "siang" (roughly translates to "noon").