[Guest]

I think it follows the zerba puzzle but can't figure how to apply it to this. My son has to do this for his school

1. There are five houses

2.The green house is directly to the right of the ivory house

3. The Englishman has the red house

4. Donner, a reindeer, is the Spaniard's pet.

5. The Ukranian drinks Holiday punch

6. He who eats sugar plums lives next door to Rudolph's master.

7. The Japanese loves chestnuts.

8. Eggnog is the favorite drink in the middle house.

9. They drink a lot of English tea in the green house

10. Fruitcake is consumed in quantity in the house next to Prancer's owner

11. The Norwegian live in the first house

12. He who eats plum pudding also drinks hot chocolate.

13. Fruitcake is eaten in the yellow house.

14. Dancer is owned by the man who eats lots and lots of roast turkey

15. The Norwegian is next door to the blue house.

Does the owner of Blitzen drink wassail or english tea? Also provide the occupant, the occupant's drink, his favorite food, and his pet reindeer for each of the five houses

[Guest]

this is not solvable. more clues are needed

[Guest]

I believe it is solvable...

From clues 11, 15, 8 - Norwegian first, Blue second, Eggnog third.

From clues 2, 3, 13, 10 - Green, Ivory, and Red cannot be first, therefore Yellow and Fruitcake first, Prancer second.

From clues 2 and 3 - Two scenarios, (i) Red, Ivory, Green are third, fourth, fifth or (ii) Ivory, Green, Red are third, fourth, fifth.

From clue 14 - scenarios (i) and (ii) can have Dancer third fourth or fifth

From clues 4, 5, 7 - scenario (ii) cannot have Dancer third or fourth because neither could be Japanese, Spanish, or Ukrainian, therefore Dancer fifth

From clue 5 - scenario (ii) has Ukrainian second

From clue 12 - scanario (ii) does not work, therefore Red, Ivory, Green are third, fourth, fifth

From clues 12, 5, 7 - Plum Pudding and Hot Chocolate either two or four and Ukrainian the other, therefore Japanese fifth

From clues 4, 5 - Spaniard and Donner fourth, Ukrainian and Holiday Punch second

From clue 12 - Plum Pudding and Hot Chocolate fourth

From clue 14 - Dancer and Roast Turkey third

From clue 6 - Sugar Plums second and Rudolph first

From the questions at the end - Blitzen fifth and Wassail Tea first

Or to make it a bit easier to steal the answers for your kid's homework:

1st house: Norwegian, Yellow, Wassail Tea, Fruitcake, Rudolph

2nd house: Ukrainian, Blue, Holiday Punch, Sugar Plums, Prancer

3rd house: Englishman, Red, Eggnog, Roast Turkey, Dancer

4th house: Spaniard, Ivory, Hot Chocolate, Plum Pudding, Donner

5th house: Japanese, Green, English Tea, Chestnuts, Blitzen

Edited November 30, 2009 by ljb

[Guest]

The owner of Blitzen drinks tea.

The Norwegian lives in House 1, which is yellow, and he drinks Wassail, eats Fruitcake, and owns Rudolph.

The Ukrainian lives in House 2, which is Blue, and he drinks Punch, eats Sugar Plums, and owns Prancer.

The Englishman lives in House 3, which is Red, and he drinks Eggnog, eats Roast Turkey, and owns Dancer.

The Spaniard lives in House 4, which is Ivory, and he drinks Hot Chocolate, eats Plum Puddings, and owns Donner.

The Japanese lives in House 5, which is Green, and he drinks Tea, eats Chestnuts, and owns Blitzen.

I think I have got it right. All other possibilities yield a contradiction.

Edited November 30, 2009 by jerbil

[Guest]

Sorry, ljb, you seem to have beaten me to it. The point to these puzzles is in providing oneself with a simple "Ariadne's thread" which allows one quickly to discard impossible configurations. The technique is also useful in solving otherwise difficult Sudoku puzzles, especially when one cannot visualize, for example, a valid XY argument to make the solution obvous.

[Guest]

On another thread, a newly joined member suggested that whenever someone supplies a blunt answer to a problem, then if he or she is able so to do an explanation should be provided. Here is a justification for the answer supplied for this particular riddle:-

Einstein Riddle.doc

Edited December 3, 2009 by jerbil