The sisters of Aaron Green were Betty and Clara; the name of Aaron's girlfriend was Flora Brown and, Duane and Edwin were Flora’s brothers. Their occupations were as follows:

• Aaron was a doctor.
• Betty was a doctor.
• Clara was a lawyer.
• Duane was a doctor.
• Edwin was a lawyer.
• Flora was a lawyer.

One of the six killed one of the other five. Here are some clues to the murder.

1. If the killer and the victim were related, the killer was a man.
2. If the killer and the victim were not related, the killer was a doctor.
3. If the killer and the victim had the same occupation, the victim was a man.
4. If the killer and the victim had different occupations, the victim was a woman.
5. If the killer and the victim were of the same sex, the killer was a lawyer.
6. If the killer and victim were different sexes, the victim was a doctor.

Who was the killer? Who was the victim?

DIM related(2) AS STRING, male AS STRING, prof AS STRING, names AS STRING
related(1) = "abc": related(2) = "def"
male = "ade"
prof = "ddldll"   ' in abcdef order
names = "abcdef"

FOR killer = 1 TO 6
FOR victim = 1 TO 6
 IF killer <> victim THEN
  k$ = MID$(names$, killer, 1)
  v$ = MID$(names$, victim, 1)
  rel = 0
  FOR i = 1 TO 2
    IF INSTR(related(i), k$) > 0 AND INSTR(related(i), v$) > 0 THEN rel = 1
  NEXT
  IF INSTR(male, k$) > 0 THEN kman = 1:  ELSE kman = 0
  IF rel = 0 OR kman = 1 THEN
    kprof$ = MID$(prof, killer, 1)
    IF rel = 1 OR kprof$ = "d" THEN
      vprof$ = MID$(prof, victim, 1)
      IF INSTR(male, v$) > 0 THEN vman = 1:  ELSE vman = 0
      IF kprof$ <> vprof$ OR vman = 1 THEN
        IF kprof$ = vprof$ OR vman = 0 THEN
           IF kman <> vman OR kprof$ = "l" THEN
              IF kman = vman OR vprof$ = "d" THEN
               PRINT "killer:"; k$, "victim:"; v$
              END IF
           END IF
        END IF
      END IF
    END IF
  END IF
 END IF
NEXT
NEXT

finds

killer:b      victim:d

so Betty killed Duane.

Posted by Charlie on 2012-08-26 15:42:50