this is a riddle that would appear to be straightforward but see what you think- its in its entirety as it appears in a building society newsletter

[pantonsteve]

we called a locksmith to fit a new strongroom in our reigate building society.martin,our chairman, helpfully offered to test the system but got locked in.he was eventually rescued by the local police and fire brigade.

why couldn't the locksmith open the safe even though he still had the key?

so i'm thinking a couple of things here. firstly did locksmith have wrong key? was safe on a timelock? or did locksmith get locked in as well and lock couldn't be opened from inside?.was locksmith not there ie still had key on him even though miles away?

all thoughts,reasonings and theories much appreciated

[squarebear]

The locksmith was Martin who got locked in?

The key was a combination lock that Martin had set?

[scotman]

The safe was inside the locked strongroom.

[mike11111]

The confusion appears to be the use of the words 'strongroom' and 'safe'. Are they meant to be the same thing? Which Building Society is it? Remind me never to deposit with them.

[starone]

Was it the sort of strongroom that has to have two separate keys held by two separate people before it can be opened and the locksmith had one and Martin inside the strongroom had the other. This is like the murder in the locked room with the key inside puzzle. I couldn't do that either!

[Dilbert53]

Perhaps the chairman had the key to the building society in his pocket and then was locked in the strongroom. The locksmith exited the buiklding society and the door closed/locked behind him. Although the locksmith had the key to the strongroom he couldn't get into the building society to use it.

[mike11111]

That seems the most plausible explanation to me.

[Davethedog]

I'm with Mike he is asked to fit a "strongroom" but has a key to a "safe" are they the same thing?

[starone]

How do you get the right answer because I now want to know!!