ElManisero wrote:The last one sees everyone in front of him, the second to last sees only the second and first, and so on.
After a short while, the second man is granted amnesty.
The wording chosen here is questionable at best. If the "last man" (fourth) sees everyone, the second to last (third) sees the second and first, then the second guy is only supposed to see the first one.
However, here:
Kandarim wrote:RonPaulFTW wrote:First person was unable to guess bc 2-4 are wearing one dunce and two admirals.
Second person picks dunce if 3-4 are both wearing admirals - or he picks admirals if one of 3-4 is wearing dunce.
Confirmed first actually correct answer. Previous answers seem suspiciously copy-pasted from the simpler version of the riddle as they only talk about three hats/people.
The second person is suddenly able to see people behind him. This solution, by the wording of the puzzle, only makes sense, if the person in question was third (second to last) and was able to see guys #1 and #2 respectively.
edt. That being said, the puzzle has no clear solution for the guy #2 (if the 1st person wears admirals, he can not be sure, whether he wears admirals too or dunce), so I assume, you meant the third (second to last) person to begin with.