Bonnie bought a bag of birdseed. She left it in her apartment (#5) before she went to work, intending to fill the feeder that afternoon. But when she got back, the bag of birdseed was gone!
There were four other people living in the same apartment building as her, all of whom were avid birdwatchers like Bonnie. One of them must have done it. Look at the clues below. If you know everybody's name, apartment number (#1 through #4), and favourite bird, you will know who is guilty.
1. The guilty person's apartment number is not numbered one higher or one lower than Hal's.
2. Joe's favourite bird is the crow; his apartment number is one lower than that of Ike (who doesn't like robins).
3. The guilty person's apartment is not #3 (the number of the finch-lover's).
4. Gil is neither at apartment #1 nor the wren-lover.
Whodunit?
(In reply to
puzzle solution by K Sengupta)
From clue 1, it follows that hal is not guilty. From clue 2, the possible apatment numbers of Joe and Ike are as follows:
(Joe, Ike) = (1,2), (2, 3) or (3,4)
If (Joe, Ike) = (2, 3), then Ike is the finch lover by clue 3, and Joe loves crow in terms of clue 2. Thus, either Gil or the wren lover must live in apartment number 1. Thus contradicts clue 4.
If (Joe, Ike) = (3, 4), then Joe is the finch lover, contradicting clue 2, which says that Joe likes crow.
Accordingly, (Joe, Ike) = (1, 2), so that:
(Gil, Hal) = (3, 4) or (4, 3).
If (Gil, Hal) = (3, 4), then Gil is innocent by clue 1, and the guilty person is either Joe or Ike. So, no definite conclusion about the identity of the guilty person is possible.
(Gil, Hal) = (4, 3), then both Gil and Ike are innocent in terms of clue 1, and consequently, Joe is the guilty one.
Explanation To The Solution
