In this next puzzle, it contains a series of statements. However, you will find that one statement is false. It will be necessary for you to identify the false one in order to solve the puzzle.

Carl and three of his friends who are avid fishermen decided to visit four of the world's finest sport fishing locations over a period of four years. Each friend had a different favorite location, so they chose the order in which they would take the trips by drawing the place names from a hat. Based on the statements below, what is the first name (Andy, Bill, Carl, or Dennis) and surname (Barrott, Cole, Crowley, or Whelan) of each friend, what was the favorite fishing location of each, and what was the order in which the trips were to be taken?

1. Andy and Barrott work for the same company; Bill is self-employed.

2. The Iceland trip was planned for the year before the Alaska trip, which was not Andy's Favorite destination.

3. Carl and Barrott and their wives frequently play bridge together.

4. Whelan's favorite fishing location was the third trip, which was neither Patagonia nor New Zealand.

5. Whelan and Cole are married; the other two are not.

6. Dennis was disappointed that his favorite destination, New Zealand, was not to be the first; Crowley's favorite destination was planned for the last trip, so he was unsympathetic.

7. Barrott's favorite destination was the first.

Hmmm, Gabby’s post got me thinking a bit (scrutinizing the clues and their subtle implications). This made me realize I made an assumption which I think is correct, but could be debated, so I decided to debate myself about it =).

Bill could be Bill Barrott. Though he is self employed (runs/owns his own business) he could have hired Andy as an employee so they work for the same company (Bill’s). Taking this angle, let’s see if that ends up as a possibility.

(I already said in my first post that the false statement is either 3 or 5, so we can roll with 1,2,4,6,7 for a while).

Barrott was first (7), Whelan was third (4) and Crowley was last (6). So Cole was second.

Dennis can’t be first (6) and he can’t be third since he’s New Zealand (4 and 6). Clue 6 implies Crowley is unsympathetic OF DENNIS, so Dennis can’t be last. Therefore Dennis Cole’s favorite destination, New Zealand, was second.

Now the only way Iceland could be THE YEAR before (not just sometime before) Alaska is if Iceland was third and Alaska was last (2).

Andy isn’t last since he isn’t Alaska (2), and he isn’t first since he can’t be Barrott (1). Therefore Andy Whelan’s favorite destination, Iceland, was third.

Ok, now we could either have Carl Barrott and Bill Crowley, or we could have Carl Crowley and Bill Barrott. I see no blatant contradictions (other than the interpretation of Clue 1) to stop the Carl Crowley and Bill Barrott case.

There is a subtle contradiction, though (makes me think of one of Capt. Paradox’s puzzles). The puzzle asks us to identify the false statement. In the CC/BB case, exactly one of clues 3 and 5 have to be false, but you can’t say which one. Since you can’t pinpoint the false statement, that should imply that the CC/BB case is not a solution. Since the CB/BC case does allow us to pinpoint which of 3 and 5 is false, that is the valid solution.

So, it’s moderately debateable if you think about it too pickily =)

Maybe Clue 1 could have been worded "Andy and Barrott are Assistant Managers at the same company" or something to show that Barrott is definitely not self-employed and so could not be Bill.

Posted by nikki on 2005-04-27 21:15:10