Case 34526: Maxine Sporran

Bunkum has been keeping a close eye on one of the Triple F's brightest stars: Agent Keane.

Hired by the FFFBI as a rookie cub, Agent Constance Keane rose quickly through the ranks to become one of the Bureau's top crime solvers. Keane's broad knowledge, sharp mind, and ability to spot a lie have made her invaluable to the Triple F.

Now this grizzly bear's exploits are used to train new agents.

Can you match wits with Agent Keane?

Agent Keane was on the trail of a sinister crook, Maxine Sporran, who was wanted in connection with a series of lint-related thefts. (Sporran had been trying to corner the market on laundry lint in order to make wooly purple sweaters.)

Sporran kept herself out of the limelight, and was in fact one of the few people on the planet not to have her own Web page. The only known photo of her was caught by a surveillance camera perched outside a movie theater.

In it, Sporran, a mountain gorilla, can be seen standing in front of the theater. In her right hand is a cell phone. Her left hand is in her pocket. Behind her you can just about make out the names of the movies playing. It seems from the photo that the following are the movies. (There's no mention of which country the picture was taken in.)

Movies:

TIWT EHT YHTOMIT

OYOY YM

OTAMOT TOH A MA I

HTOOT HTOMMAM

TIMOV HTOM

Keane wasn't a big moviegoer, and she didn't know any of these titles, but she wasn't worried. She posted Sporran's description on the FFFBI Bureau Wire Service, confidently adding that Sporran is in fact left-handed.

But how did she know that?

Answer below (scroll down)

Answer:

Look at those movie titles in a mirror: they're all backwards.

So, the photo Agent Keane is looking at must have been reversed when it was printed. Which means Sporran isn't holding her cell phone in her right hand; it's really in her left hand.

We know she's not writing anything down while she's talking, since her other hand is in her pocket, so it's a fair guess to say that Sporran is actually left-handed.