** Einsteins Riddle **

[Triggaaar]

Ok, done it. Tell me if I've got it wrong (as if you need the invite).

Norwegian lives on the end (not sure which) and only lives next to a Blue house, so he can't live in White or Green, as they are next to each other. He can't live in Brit's Red house, so
1) Norwegian lives in Yellow house.
2) he smokes Dunhill
If he smokes Dunhill, not Bluemaster, he can't drink beer. And he doesn't drink Tea (the Dane), Coffee (Green house) or Milk (middle house), so
3) he drinks Water.
So 4) Blue house owns Horse (next to Dunhill) and
5) smokes Blend (next to Water). And since he doesn't smoke Bluemaster, he doesn't drink beer. He doesn't drink Coffee, Water or Milk, so
6) he drinks Tea, and
7) he's the Dane.
Pall Mall smoker has birds, so can't be the Swede (who has dogs), can't be the German (who smokes Prince) or the Dane (Blend) or Norwegian (Dunhill), so
8) Brit smokes Pall Mall and
9) Brit rears birds
We have the list of smokers except
10) Swede who must smoke Bluemaster
11) Swede drinks Beer
The Swede can't live in the Green house (coffee), so
12) Swede lives in White house
13) German lives in Green house
The German drinks Coffee, so
14) Brit has to drink Milk
15) Brit red house in centre (order could still be Green, White, Red, Blue, Yellow)
Blue house Blend smoker is next to middle house (Brit with Birds) and Norwegian, so
16) Norwegian has Cats
17) German has fish
That's all nationalities, cigs, drink, colour, pet, but we still don't know the order of the houses. And in fact, it could be:
Green, White, Red, Blue, Yellow

 

[Questions]

Now let me see. Has four pair of pants, lives in Philadelphia... Is it male or female?

No, I no think so.

I think I'll watch it again tonight........must be a year since I've seen it.

 

[Simster]

Regardless of whether it is right or wrong, fair play and hat doffed for posting an answer, Trig, I'll say that now.

 

[Triggaaar]

Regardless of whether it is right or wrong, fair play and hat doffed for posting an answer, Trig, I'll say that now.

Thanks. It's obviously possible I've made a mistake, but I am a little surprised you thought I was making it all up.

Unless I'm wrong (and no doubt matched naked through the streets like Cersei Lannister), then the order can still be either Yellow, Blue, Red, Green, White, or Green, White, Red, Blue, Yellow, and any solution that specifies it's one or the other is wrong, and gets the right final answer partly due to luck.

 

[goldstone68]

So who lives next to the chip shop?

 

[Simster]

No I didn't think you were making it up, I was suspicious that without assuming the first house meant on the left, you'd have had to make an incorrect assumption to arrive at the right answer.

I can't check as I'm on the train but I suspect your answer tallies. Which means that sole purpose of the clue that "the Norwegian is in the first house" is to specifically place the Norwegian away from the adjoining green and white houses. It doesn't actually matter whether it is on the left (and green and white are to the right of red) or the right (with green and white on the left)

 

[Triggaaar]

I can't check as I'm on the train but I suspect your answer tallies. Which means that sole purpose of the clue that "the Norwegian is in the first house" is to specifically place the Norwegian away from the adjoining green and white houses. It doesn't actually matter whether it is on the left (and green and white are to the right of red) or the right (with green and white on the left)

Well if I'm right, no it doesn't matter, but if I'm right then a lot of the 'solutions' have made an early assumption that the Red/Brit house was in the middle, and they've just got lucky. ie, they think the green (coffee not milk) has to be in 4, and white in 5, therefore red is 3, and green/white doesn't have to be 4,5, and at that stage it's too early to know which is the middle house (could be red or white, until later).

 

[Bold Seagull]

Ok, done it. Tell me if I've got it wrong (as if you need the invite).

Norwegian lives on the end (not sure which) and only lives next to a Blue house, so he can't live in White or Green, as they are next to each other. He can't live in Brit's Red house, so
1) Norwegian lives in Yellow house.
2) he smokes Dunhill
If he smokes Dunhill, not Bluemaster, he can't drink beer. And he doesn't drink Tea (the Dane), Coffee (Green house) or Milk (middle house), so
3) he drinks Water.
So 4) Blue house owns Horse (next to Dunhill) and
5) smokes Blend (next to Water). And since he doesn't smoke Bluemaster, he doesn't drink beer. He doesn't drink Coffee, Water or Milk, so
6) he drinks Tea, and
7) he's the Dane.
Pall Mall smoker has birds, so can't be the Swede (who has dogs), can't be the German (who smokes Prince) or the Dane (Blend) or Norwegian (Dunhill), so
8) Brit smokes Pall Mall and
9) Brit rears birds
We have the list of smokers except
10) Swede who must smoke Bluemaster
11) Swede drinks Beer
The Swede can't live in the Green house (coffee), so
12) Swede lives in White house
13) German lives in Green house
The German drinks Coffee, so
14) Brit has to drink Milk
15) Brit red house in centre (order could still be Green, White, Red, Blue, Yellow)
Blue house Blend smoker is next to middle house (Brit with Birds) and Norwegian, so
16) Norwegian has Cats
17) German has fish
That's all nationalities, cigs, drink, colour, pet, but we still don't know the order of the houses. And in fact, it could be:
Green, White, Red, Blue, Yellow

Well done, revealed the true genius in the riddle in that it works left to right or right to left.

 

[Bold Seagull]

Although to be fair, the likely answer is that we can't know who definitely had fish, only who definitely didn't have fish!

 

[Shropshire Seagull]

So who lives next to the chip shop?

The guy who works down the chip shop thinks he's Elvis

Hope this helps ....

Back in the 80's on Southern Sound Radio on a Saturday, they used to run an "Inspector Hector" riddle exactly like this but in a 4 x 4 matrix. Brought the use of post-it notes to the fore and got quite easy. Anyone remember?

 

[StonehamPark]

Yeah but the riddle only lists 4 animals. We don't know what the 5th is. All we know is it is not one of the previous four.

Are you special, on a wind-up or just being pedantic?

Using the clues below can you determine who owns the fish?

The Brit lives in a red house.
The Swede keeps dogs as pets.
The Dane drinks tea.
The green house is on the immediate left of the white house.
The green house owner drinks coffee.
The person who smokes Pall Mall rears birds.
The owner of the yellow house smokes Dunhill.
The man living in the house right in the middle drinks milk.
The Norwegian lives in the first house.
The man who smokes Blend lives next door to the one who keeps cats.
The man who keeps horses lives next door to the man who smokes Dunhill.
The owner who smokes Bluemaster drinks beer.
The German smokes Prince.
The Norwegian lives next to the blue house.
The man who smokes Blend has a neighbour who drinks water.

Unless I'm having a stroke, I count 5 animals.

Or did you want a sentence at the very bottom of the hints, stating; "One of the house owner's owns a Fish."

 

[Goldstone1976]

....looking for one (and failing, obviously) where the left most house position and colour is not deduced early doors.

Without even referencing the riddle, I deduce that the position of the "left most house" is... on the most left. That's pretty early doors, isn't it? These puzzles are easy.

 

[StonehamPark]

Well yes. Otherwise it makes no sense.

Special it is.

 

[blue'n'white]

I thought it was Kemy Agustein but it turned out he'd eaten the fish

 

[8ace]

http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/...mid=nytnow-share&smprod=nytnow&abt=0002&abg=0

 

[Triggaaar]

Done. I think that one might be less controversial.