Five persons bought five different items. Each person bought precisely one item and the cost of each of the items is different.

First Names: Elsa, Diana, David, Doug, Francis
Last Names: Greenfield, Watson, Becker, Bloom, Jackson
Items: Cake, Pie, Fruit, Cheese, Coffee
Item Costs : $3.50, $4.00, $5.00, $6.00, $7.00

1. Francis’ last name is not Jackson.
2. The man who bought the coffee paid the highest price which is precisely twice that of the fruit.
3. The cheese sold for $2.00 less than the coffee and was purchased by Becker.
4. Ms. Greenfield bought the pie for precisely two-third of what the cake cost.
5. The items bought by Watson and David were coffee and cake (not necessarily in this order).
6. The pie cost 50 cents more than the fruit.
7. Doug paid $6.00 for his item.
8. None of Francis, Denise and Becker paid more than $5.00 for their items

From the clues given above, determine the first and the last names of each person, the items purchased by each person and the cost of each of the items.

We Scholars and Journeymen were remiss in not fully checking this out. The cast of characters includes Elsa and Diana, not mentioned in the clues, and the clues mention Denise, not mentioned in the cast of characters. I'll assume Diana is really Denise.

Clues 2 and 6 establish that the fruit, pie and coffee cost 3.50, 4 and 7 dollars respectively. Clue 3 puts the cheese at $5, leaving the cake to be $6.

Doug must have had the cake as he paid $6 per clue 7.

Becker bought the $5 cheese, leaving Francis and Denise of clue 8 to have bought the fruit and the pie, while clue 4 tells us that the pie was bought by a female, making that Denise Greenfield, leaving the fruit to Francis (the male spelling of that name).

The David from clue 5 can't have bought the cake as that was Doug, who we now know must be Doug Watson, leaving David to have bought the coffee.

Since Francis, who bought the fruit, can't be Jackson, it must be David Jackson who bought the coffen and Francis must be Bloom.

That leaves Elsa Becker to have bought the cheese.

Francis Denise     Elsa   Doug   David
Bloom   Greenfield Becker Watson Jackson
Fruit   Pie        Cheese Cake   Coffee
3.50    4          5      6      7

Posted by Charlie on 2007-01-21 11:41:01