If you guessed prank, that’s some good detective work on your part. “Elementary, My Dear Watson”, probably the most famous of Sherlock Holmes quotes, was never spoken by Sherlock Holmes. That is to say that Sir Arthur Conan Doyle never wrote those exact words for his fictional detective Sherlock Holmes. In the story, “The Adventure of the Crooked Man” Watson does say, “Excellent!” and Holmes replies, “Elementary”.
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