On a street are five houses, side by side, painted five different colours. In each house lives a person of different nationality. The five residents each drink a different beverage. The five residents each smoke a different brand of smokes. The five residents each have a different kind of pet.

Hints:

1. The Brit lives in the red house
2. The Swede has a dog
3. The Dane drinks tea
4. The green house is attached to the left side of the white house (directional hints are as you look from the front)
5. The owner of the green house drinks coffee
6. The person who smokes Pall Mall has birds
7. The owner of the yellow house smokes Dunhill
8. The man living in the center house drinks milk
9. The Norwegian lives in the first house
10. The man who smokes Blends lives next door to the man who has cats
11. The man with horses lives next door to the man who smokes Dunhill
12. The man who smokes Players drinks beer
13. The German smokes Rothmans
14. The Norwegian lives next door to the blue house
15. The man who smokes Blends has a water drinker next door
16. The blue house is left of the green house

The Question Is: Who Owns the Fish?

I know this is an old problem and has been solved for some time.  However, I noticed that all of the comments (and the official solution) only list the answers but not actual solution.  Some folks made reference to a table... I did that once and then Gamer pointed out that you can still explain how you got to the solution with words.  And every since then, that's what I've tried to do.  So here goes:

Clue4 tells us that the green house can only be 1-4, and the white house can only be 2-5.
Clue5 and Clue8 tells us that the green house is not the center house, so now green can only be 1, 2 or 4, and the white house can only be 2, 3 or 5.
Clue9 and Clue 14 tell us that the blue house must be the second house, which means neither the blue or white house can be the second house (which also means that the green house can’t be first and the white house can’t be third due to Clue4).

17. Therefore the Coffee drinker lives in the Green house which must be Fourth
18. Also the White house must be Fifth.
19. Also the Blue house is Second.

Clue1 and Clue9 tell us that the Brit can’t live in the first house due to the Norwegian.
Clue19, Clue17 and Clue 18 tell us that the Brit can’t live in the second, fourth, or fifth house due to house color.
Clue8 tells us the man in the third house drinks milk.

20. Therefore the Brit lives in the Red house, which is Third, and likes to drink Milk.
21. By elimination, the Norwegian lives in the Yellow House, which is First.

Clue7 tells us what the Norwegian smokes, and Clue11 tells us what pet the Norwegian’s neighbor has. Since the Norwegian is the first house, he only has one neighbor which makes things easy.

22. Therefore the Norwegian lives in the Yellow House, which is First, and smokes Dunhill.
23. And the man with Horses lives in the Blue House, which is Second.

Clue12 tells us the man who smokes Players and drinks beer can’t live in the first house (Clue22), can’t live in the third house (Clue8), and can’t live in the fourth house (Clue17).

If the man who smokes Players and drinks Beer lived in the Blue House, which is Second, and had Horses, let’s figure out his nationality. He can’t be Norwegian or Brit because they live in other houses (Clue20 and Clue22). He can’t be the Dane because the Dane drinks tea while he drinks beer (Clue3). He can’t be the Swede because the Swede has a dog while he has a horse (Clue2). But he can’t be the German either because the German smokes Rothmans while he smokes Players (Clue13).

24. Therefore the man who smokes Players and drinks Beer must live in the Fifth house, the White house.

He still can’t be the Norwegian or Brit, he still can’t be the Dane due to the beer, and he still can’t be the German due to the Players. Also remember the Swede has a dog.

25. Therefore the Swede lives in the White house, which is Fifth, smokes Players, drinks Beer, and has a Dog. (a complete house!)

The Dane who drinks tea can’t live in the first, third or fifth houses because those are already taken by other nationalities. The Dane can’t live in the fourth house because they drink coffee there.

26. Therefore the Dane lives in the Blue house, which is Second, drinks Tea, and has a Horse.
27. By elimination, the German lives in the Green house, which is Fourth, smokes Rothmans, and drinks Coffee.
28. By elimination, the Norwegian lives in the Yellow house, which is First, smokes Dunhill, and drinks Water.

Clue15 tells us that the Dane must smoke Blends.
Clue6 tells us that who ever smokes Pall Mall must also have a bird.

29. So the Dane lines in the Blue house, which is Second, smokes Blends, drinks Tea, and has a Horse. (another complete house!)
30. By elimination, the Brit lives in the Red house, which is Third, smokes Pall Mall, drinks Coffee, and has a Bird. (another complete house!)

Clue10 tells us that either the Norwegian or the Brit has the cat, but the Brit already has a Bird.

31. Therefore the Norwegian lives in the Yellow house, which is first, smokes Dunhill, drinks Water, and has a Cat.

By elimination, the German owns the Fish!

Posted by nikki on 2004-12-13 13:31:17