Apparently, Einstein had to prove, yet again, that he was a genius by creating a logic problem that 98% of the population cannot solve. I’d call it a typical grammar school case of “I’m smarter than you are” with the annoying real world equivalent of “no really, I am smarter than you are”, but let’s assume Mr. Einstein’s intentions are pure. Al developed a simple question, Whose Fish?, and constructed a ridiculously difficult answer to which I’m still not privy. The hints below are rumored to be a complete set of the data Einstein originally provided with the question and the clues, which are mine, should be used at your own discretion. Good luck.
Hints:
1. The Brit lives in the red house.
2. The Swede keeps dogs as pets.
3. The Dane drinks tea.
4. The green house is on the left of the white house.
5. The green house owner drinks coffee.
6. The person who smokes Pall Malls keeps birds.
7. The owner of the yellow house smokes Dunhills.
8. The man living in the house right in the center drinks milk.
9. The man who smokes Blends lives next to the one who keeps cats.
10. The Norwegian lives in the first house.
11. The man who keeps horses lives next to the one who smokes Dunhills.
12. The owner who smokes Bluemasters drinks beer.
13. The German smokes Princes.
14. The Norwegian lives next to the blue house.
15. The man who smokes Blends has a neighbor who drinks water.
My possibly accurate clues keeping in mind I have yet to solve the puzzle:
- The Brit has a bird.
- The Swede drinks beer.
- The Dane lives in the blue house.
If the pressure is too much click here and I’m told the answer will appear.
I made a series of tables in MS Word that listed the characteristics based on person, house, pet, drink, and smoke. Then slowly filled in the details on a main grid. Logic steps included below:
1. We know that the first house belongs to the Norwegian.
2. We know that the center house belongs to the milk drinker
3. We know that the Norwegian lives next to the blue house – so the blue house has to be in position 2.
4. The Green house drinks coffee, and is to the left of the white house, thus, Green house must be in position 4, and white in 5, as it is the only place we could put those houses based on the criteria we have specified so far.
5. We know that the Brit lives in the Red house. The only place we can put him at this point is in slot three.
6. The only color house left is Yellow, so, the Norwegian lives in the Yellow house
7. We know that the yellow house smokes Dunhills, so, the Norwegian smokes Dunhills
8. We know that the owner of the yellow house lives next to the owner of horses, so the owner of the blue house owns horses.
9. We know that the person who drinks beer smokes Bluemasters, so, hence we know that the Norwegian does not drink beer, milk or coffee. We know that the Dane drinks tea. So the Norwegian must drink water.
10. Because the Norwegian drinks water, his neighbor in the blue house is the person who smokes blends
11. The only two left that we don’t know what they drink are #2 and #5. We know that the person who smokes bluemasters drinks beer. #5 has to be the person who drinks beer and smokes bluemasters. (because #2 already has a smoke defined)
12. #2 is the only one left without a drink defined. #2 is the Dane and drinks tea.
13. We know that the German smokes Prices. #4 is the only slot left with the person and smoke slot open. So #4 is the German and smokes Princes.
14. We know that the owner of the Birds smokes Pall Malls. #3 is the only one left without ‘smokes’ defined. So, #3 is the owner of the Birds and smokes Pall Malls.
15. We know that the person who smokes Blends lives next to the person who keeps cats. #2 smokes blends, we know through logic that one of his neighbors has birds. So #1 is the person who has cats.
16. The only person left undefined is #5. So #5 is the Swede, and we know that the Swede keeps dogs.
17. Conclusion: The German is the owner of the fish.