On a train, Smithe, Robins, and John are the fireman, conductor, and the engineer, but NOT respectively. Also aboard the train are three businessmen who have the same names: a Mr. Smithe, a Mr. Robins, and a Mr. John.

Mr. Robins Lives in New York. The conductor lives exactly halfway between Columbus and New York. Mr. John earns exactly $20,000 per year. The conductor's nearest neighbor, one of the passengers, earns exactly three times as much as the conductor. Smithe beats the fireman in billiards. The passenger whose name is the same as the conductor's lives in Columbus.

Who is the Engineer?

The solution is based on the following rules:
1:  there are three passengers, three train employees, and three residential locations.
2:  there can be no overlap in function (a person can not hold two jobs)
3:  each residential location holds 1 passenger and 1 employee
4:  in the context of the puzzle, passengers are denoted by Mr.

Okay, here we go:
Passenger Robins lives in NY.
The conductor lives in the midpoint
Passenger John can not be the conductors nearest neighbor, as his salary is not a multiple of 3
Ergo, Passenger John lives in Columbus, as the passenger living in the midpoint would be the nearest neighbor.
The passenger in Columbus has the same name as the conductor.
Ergo the conductors name is John.
Thus only Smithe or Robins can be the engineer.
Smithe beat the fireman in billiards, and can not hold two jobs, ergo he is not the fireman and must be the engineer.
  The answer is SMITHE

Posted by George on 2004-07-06 16:45:26