The Answer ;)


Hi Friends! As promised, here's the answer to last week's question. I would like to thank all those who tried :) Some are very "creative", and too lateral thinking! LOL I'll let you know if you are correct at the end of this post *winks* But don't scroll all the way down to get the answer, else you'll miss out the fun :)

As I had mentioned, I'm the type that solve problems very well by drawing images. So, I'm going to show you how I came to the answer.


Step One: Draw out all the obvious clues

Step Two: Draw the assumptions and possibilities

Step Three: Link the clues to eliminate assumptions and possibilities


So the first thing I did is to identify all the WHOs, WHATs and WHEREs.

And it's easier to start with the NATIONALITY, plus their following accompanying clues.

So this is what we have when we look at clue #1, #2, #3, #9, #13 and #14:




Next, let's put in the other clues, starting with clue #4:

The green house is on the left of the white house.

The green house has to be on the left of the white one, so we have 2 Assumptions here, so, I'll write it in RED (first assumption) and BLUE (second assumption). It's either the 3rd and 4th or the 4th and 5th house counting from the left or from the right:



Then, we look at clue #5:

The green house owner drinks coffee.

At this point, we don't know which nationality stays in the green house, except the Brit who stays in the red house (clue #1). And it can't be the Norwegian, because he/she stays in the 1st house either from the right or 1st from the left (clue #9), and his/her house is on the left of the blue house (clue #14). AND it can't be the Dane, since he/she drinks tea (clue #3). So that leaves... the Swede or the German who could possibly stay in the green house, AND drinks coffee:



Next, let's look at clue #6:

The person who smokes Pall Mall rears birds.

At this juncture, we only know the German smokes Prince (clue #13) AND the Swede keeps dogs (clue #2). So that means, it could be the Brit, Dane or Norwegian that smokes Pall Mall AND rears birds.

Ok, so far so good? Now, let's look at clue #7:

The owner of the yellow house smokes Dunhill.

Now you get the way things work? I'm sure you had figured that it can't be the red house Brit (clue #1) and the Prince-smoking German (clue #13). So that means, it could be the Swede, Dane or the Norwegian. Right now, you should have this picture:



What about clue #8?

The man living in the house right in the centre drinks milk. And we know that clue #5 says green house = coffee. Therefore, we can eliminate the RED part in Assumption 1:



Let's move on then to clue #10:

The man who smokes Blend lives next to the one who keeps cats.

Who can possibly smoke Blend and live next to the one who keeps cats? We don't know who keeps cats, but we do know that the German smokes Prince for sure. So this guy/lady who smokes Blend AND lives next to the cat owner is either a Brit, Swede, Dane or Norwegian.

Clue #11:

The man who keeps horses lives next to the man who smokes Dunhill.

Who keeps horses and who smokes Dunhill? We don't know much yet. So we'll come back to this clue later.

Clue #12:

The owner who smokes Blue Master drinks beer.

Since Blue Master + beer comes together, it can't be the Dane (drinks tea) and the German (smokes Prince). So it's either the Brit, Swede or Norwegian that does the above:



AND, the last clue - clue #15:

The man who smokes Blend has a neighbour who drinks water.

Who can smoke Blend and who drinks water? Too many possibilities, so we'll come back to this clue later as well.

Alrighty... still looks pretty blank and clueless huh? Nevermind, let's fill in all the assumptions, starting with the house colours.

Brit's is confirmed red. That leaves the rest with yellow, blue, green and white. Remember the 2 Assumptions, whether the Norwegian's house is first from right or first from left? If you look back at that picture above, we know that clue #14 tells us that the Norwegian's house can't be blue, green or white. His/Her house has to be next to the blue house, while being first house in the row. That means, it is confirmed that the Norwegian lives in a yellow house! And that also means that he/she is the one who smokes Dunhill (clue #7). Is that all? Nope. Since it is confirmed that he/she smokes Dunhill, he/she can't have birds for pets (clue #6) and he/she doesn't drink beer (clue #12):





So that leaves the rest with blue, green and white house colours. Now, what does clue #5 says? Green = coffee. That means, the Dane can't have green house, since he/she drinks tea. So far, this is what we have:




Are we stuck? Nope, take a look at the house colours for Assumption 1... what colour is left? RED! The red house in the middle belongs to the Brit. Now, going along Assumption 1's path, we can tentatively confirm that the Brit drinks milk. Don't worry, if Assumption 1 is wrong, we can always double check the final answer with all the clues.

If the Brit drinks milk, that means he/she doesn't drink beer and smoke Blue Master (clue #12). That leaves the Swede with the possibility of this combination and therefore, the Swede drinks beer and smoke Blue Master.

If the Swede drinks beer and smoke Blue Master (we'll still adventuring along the lines of Assumption 1), then, he/she doesn't drink coffee and stay in a green house. This will make the Swede staying in a white house, the Dane staying in a blue house, and the German, the green house.

And since the Dane is staying in the blue house, he/she keeps horses, not birds. Therefore, he/she doesn't smoke Pall Mall, but Blend. And this makes the Brit owning birds and smoking Pall Mall.

The Dane smokes Blend! So if we look at clue #10 and #15, this makes the Norwegian keeping cats, and drinks water.

So who keeps the fish?



Yes, it's the German. And if you just test the answers with all the clues provided, it fits the picture. That confirms that Assumption 1 is correct, and that the Norwegian's house is first from the left. And even if you try out Assumption 2, you will find errors and get stuck.

BY THE WAY, is that the ACTUAL ANSWER?

AHA...

Now, tell me, politely,

and sensibly,

and wisely,

and patiently,

and gently...



Where in the clues given state that the 5th pet is a FISH?

The question asked is WHO KEEPS THE FISH? Why couldn't it be an elephant? Or a dove? Should not the answer be something like... THE CLUES DID NOT STATE WHETHER THE 5TH PET IS A FISH.

LOL (DARN IT!)

Einstein fooled us all! So for all those who had tried to answer, you are all CORRECT!!!

LOL