Brain Teaser

[st3v3n80]

Was giving this puzzle by a friend but cant seem to get my head around it !

 

Seven cachers attending a nearby camping event had all booked pitches for the weekend. Can you work out whose tent is on which pitch, the country each cacher is from, what type of cache they prefer to find, and how many caches they found on their way to the camping event?
 

1) The tent on pitch 2 is owned by the French cacher. The American cacher prefers wherigos.

2) Marie’s tent is immediately to the left of the Chilean cachers. She prefers multi caches and found twice as many as the Spanish cacher, who does not favour letterbox hybrids.

3) Heidi prefers mystery caches. She found more caches than Hugo, who found more than Frank.

4) Brigitte is German. Her tent is two places left of Frank’s, who isn’t at the end of the row, and somewhere right of – but not adjacent to – the UK cacher.

5) The Chilean, who is not next door but one to the Belgian, is further right than Stanley. Pitch one much prefers earth caches.

6) Juan has pitch number 3. Sixteen caches were found by a man whose tent is pitched somewhere left of Frank’s.

7) Heidi is immediately right of the person who has flown over from the States, and who found more caches than the UK cacher. 40 Traditional cache where found by a European cacher, their favourite type.



Cachers Names: Brigitte, Frank, Heidi, Hugo, Juan, Marie, Stanley
Country: Belgium, Chile, France, Germany, Spain, UK, USA
Favourite cache type: Earth, Letterbox, Multi, Mystery, Traditional, Virtual, Wherigo
Number of finds: 2, 4, 5, 8, 10, 16, 40

[rocdocmac]

6 hours ago, st3v3n80 said:

5) The Chilean, who is not next door but one to the Belgian, is further right than Stanley. Pitch one much prefers earth caches.

Wat is meant by  "but one to the Belgian"? A word missing?

7 hours ago, st3v3n80 said:

4) Brigitte is German. Her tent is two places left of Frank’s

Unclear whether there is one or two tents between them.

[Thalia]

20 hours ago, st3v3n80 said:

3) Heidi prefers mystery caches. She found more caches than Hugo, who found more than Frank. Heidi found more than Hugo. Hugo found more than Frank?

4) Brigitte is German. Her tent is two places left of Frank’s, who isn’t at the end of the row, and somewhere right of – but not adjacent to – the UK cacher. Frank's tent isn't at the end of the row meaning tent 7? 1 and 7? Brigitte's tent, not Frank's, is somewhere to the right of the UK cacher? "Two places left" implies that if Frank was in tent 6, Brigitte would be in tent 4. Assuming your next clue was intended to read one tent to the left or right of the Belgian, this would not make sense as one away apparently does not mean next door? If Frank was in tent 6, would Brigitte be in tent 3?

5) The Chilean, who is not next door but one to the Belgian, is further right than Stanley. Pitch one much prefers earth caches. If the Chilean was in tent 5, where would the Belgian be? Not in tent 4 or 6 as that is next door. So 3 or 7?

7) Heidi is immediately right of the person who has flown over from the States, and who found more caches than the UK cacher. 40 Traditional cache where found by a European cacher, their favourite type. Heidi is to the right of the American. The American found more caches than the UK cacher?
 

 

[rocdocmac]

I think that st3v3n80 should ask his friend that gave the puzzle to him/her, to clarify.

It's relatively easy to sort out names and countries, but the number of caches appears not to have enough given clues.

[plasmid]

I'm coming up with an almost complete solution, but I have ambiguity on who prefers letterbox or virtual caches, which I think could belong to either of two people.

Spoiler

 

[Thalia]

2 hours ago, plasmid said:

I'm coming up with an almost complete solution, but I have ambiguity on who prefers letterbox or virtual caches, which I think could belong to either of two people.

  Hide contents

 

You have Marie as finding 16. Clue 6 says 16 were found by a man. I assume Marie is a woman. Only time the clues seem to specify man or woman... This appears to be unsolvable with that constraint though...

Edited June 8, 2018 by Thalia

[rocdocmac]

Found three solutions ...

Spoiler

 

Maybe not correct ...

Spoiler

Belgium and Apain may possibly be swapped.

 

Spoiler

I meant a Spain and Belgium swap!

 

Can't edit - sorry for the spolier outside the box!

Edited June 8, 2018 by rocdocmac
Moved to spoiler

[rocdocmac]

 

 

Spoiler

If I exchange Spain and Belgium, plasmid's ambiguity steps in! By the way, the names are typically related to the country of origin.

 

Edited June 8, 2018 by rocdocmac
Merged

[plasmid]

I was thinking that

5) The Chilean, who is not next door but one to the Belgian...

means that there's one pitch between the Chilean and the Belgian. If st3v3n80 is able to ask the friend who gave him the problem these clarification questions, maybe we could sort it out.

[Thalia]

14 hours ago, rocdocmac said:

Found three solutions ...

  Hide contents

 

 

I've interpreted clue 7 to mean the American found more than the Englishman. Do you have an alternative interpretation? That would contradict your 2nd and 3rd solutions.  If you swap Spain and Belgium, Marie no longer finds twice as many as the Spaniard. Your first might be the one! The only thing that would make it incorrect is whatever the intention was on the Belgium clue...

Edited June 8, 2018 by Thalia

[rocdocmac]

18 hours ago, plasmid said:

I was thinking that

5) The Chilean, who is not next door but one to the Belgian...

means that there's one pitch between the Chilean and the Belgian. If st3v3n80 is able to ask the friend who gave him the problem these clarification questions, maybe we could sort it out.

Spoiler

I think you're right, unless "Belgian" was a typo for "Spaniard". The puzzle was from the OP's friend and retyped on this site, so there may be errors. That's why we'll have to see the original - if st3v3n80's friend can point us to the source. I,since not initially understanding "but one to the Belgian" and therefore ignored this clue completely. If The Spaniard is on pitch 5, the "letterbox" can be deleted from tent 5 and the ambiguity resolved.

8 hours ago, Thalia said:

  Hide contents

I've interpreted clue 7 to mean the American found more than the Englishman. Do you have an alternative interpretation? That would contradict your 2nd and 3rd solutions.  If you swap Spain and Belgium, Marie no longer finds twice as many as the Spaniard. Your first might be the one! The only thing that would make it incorrect is whatever the intention was on the Belgium clue...

Spoiler

7) Heidi, ......, and who found more ... I believe Heidi is the "who". Otherwise the "and" should've been dropped to refer to the American.

 

Edited June 9, 2018 by rocdocmac
added text

[bonanova]

My interpretations
 

Spoiler

1. Country(Pitch2) = France
   Fav(USA) = wherigos.
    
2. Pitch(Marie) + 1 = Pitch(Chile)
   Fav(Marie) = multi
   Finds(Marie) = 2 Finds(Spain)
   Fav(Spain) /= letterbox.
    
3. Fav(Heidi) = mystery
   Finds(Heidi) > Finds(Hugo) > Finds(Frank)
    
4. Contry(Bridgette) = Germany
   Pitch(Bridgette) = Pitch(Frank) - 2
   Pitch(Frank) /= 7
   Pitch(UK) - Pitch(Bridgette) > 1
    
5. | Pitch(Chile) - Pitch(Belgium) | /= 1 (*)   EDIT: should read /= 2
   Pitch(Chile) > Pitch(Stanley)
   Pitch(earth) = 1
   
   (*) Interpret "next door but one" to mean exactly one intervening pitch.
   Clue 5 then says this does not apply to Chile and Belgium.
    
6. Pitch(Juan) = 3
   ManX = { Hugo Juan Stanley }
   Finds(Manx) = 16
   Pitch(Manx) < Pitch(Frank)
    
7. Pitch(Heidi) = Pitch(USA) + 1
   Finds(USA) > Finds(UK)
   Finds(Fav = traditional) = 40
   Country(40 = Finds) = { Belgium France Germany Spain UK }

 

I believe gives this solution
 

Spoiler

1. Stanley UK earth 2
2. Marie France multi 10
3. Juan Chile letterbox 16
4. Bridgette Germany traditional 40
5. Hugo Spain virtual 5
6. Frank USA whereigo 4
7. Heidi Belgium mystery 8

 

 

Edited June 10, 2018 by bonanova
Correction typo on Clue 5 interpretation

[rocdocmac]

1 hour ago, bonanova said:

My interpretations
 

  Reveal hidden contents

1. Country(Pitch2) = France
   Fav(USA) = wherigos.
    
2. Pitch(Marie) + 1 = Pitch(Chile)
   Fav(Marie) = multi
   Finds(Marie) = 2 Finds(Spain)
   Fav(Spain) /= letterbox.
    
3. Fav(Heidi) = mystery
   Finds(Heidi) > Finds(Hugo) > Finds(Frank)
    
4. Contry(Bridgette) = Germany
   Pitch(Bridgette) = Pitch(Frank) - 2
   Pitch(Frank) /= 7
   Pitch(UK) - Pitch(Bridgette) > 1
    
5. | Pitch(Chile) - Pitch(Belgium) | /= 1 (*)
   Pitch(Chile) > Pitch(Stanley)
   Pitch(earth) = 1
   
   (*) Interpret "next door but one" to mean exactly one intervening pitch.
   Clue 5 then says this does not apply to Chile and Belgium.
    
6. Pitch(Juan) = 3
   ManX = { Hugo Juan Stanley }
   Finds(Manx) = 16
   Pitch(Manx) < Pitch(Frank)
    
7. Pitch(Heidi) = Pitch(USA) + 1
   Finds(USA) > Finds(UK)
   Finds(Fav = traditional) = 40
   Country(40 = Finds) = { Belgium France Germany Spain UK }

 

I believe gives this solution
 

  Hide contents

1. Stanley UK earth 2
2. Marie France multi 10
3. Juan Chile letterbox 16
4. Bridgette Germany traditional 40
5. Hugo Spain virtual 5
6. Frank USA whereigo 4
7. Heidi Belgium mystery 8

 

 

Spoiler

 

Bonanova's solution corresponds to my first of the three I gave. What would not fit in when considering my 2nd and 3d solutions?

 

 

[rocdocmac]

Spoiler

(5) The Chilean, who is NOT "next door but one to the Belgian" therefore means that there is NOT one pitch between the Chilean and the Belgian.

 

[Thalia]

I think the inclusion of the word "who" indicates it applies to the American. Can't be sure without clarification though. 

[bonanova]

4 hours ago, Thalia said:

I think the inclusion of the word "who" indicates it applies to the American. Can't be sure without clarification though. 

Agree.

If "Heidi" is the intended subject of "found," a 2nd "who" would serve no purpose except to confuse. It would not be used. Instead,

Heidi is { immediately right of (Person A) } and found { more caches than (Person B) }.

But since there are two "who"s, it's proper to bind them to the same (and closest) antecedent: 

..... (Person A) { who has flown ... } and { who found more ... }

 

7) Heidi is immediately right of the person who has flown over from the States, and who found more caches than the UK cacher. 40 Traditional cache where found by a European cacher, their favourite type.

 

19 hours ago, rocdocmac said:

  Hide contents

(5) The Chilean, who is NOT "next door but one to the Belgian" therefore means that there is NOT one pitch between the Chilean and the Belgian.

 

Agree. They could not be Pitches 3 and 5, for example.

I also fixed a typo in my interpretation post.

[Thalia]

"5) The Chilean, who is not next door but one to the Belgian"

I had the opposite understanding

If the Chilean were pitch 5, the Belgian could not be pitches 4 or 6 because those would be next door. The Belgian could be 3 or 7 if that was meant to read one to the right/left of the Belgian.

[rocdocmac]

Inserting a comma between "door" and "but", i.e. 5) The Chilean, who is not next door, but one to the Belgian, ..., would certainly change the meaning to one tent between the Chilean and Belgian.

[rocdocmac]

Spoiler

Let's assume that all categories with reference to Name, Country and Cache type are correct according to plasmid's interpretation and my three solutions previously posted. Only the  number of caches still have to be established for each pitch.

The attached spreadsheet is hopefully self explanatory.

Caches sorted out.xlsx

Using all possible combinations for the number of caches with respect to Heidi, Hugo and Frank, solutions 1, 2, 6 and 7 are invalid since the number of Spanish caches are not half of Marie's caches. Three possible solutions are found, but the two solutions that make use of 8 for Heidi and 5 for Hugo (i.e. 10 for Marie) lead to ambiguition (2 or 4 can fit into either pitch #1 or #6).

So I chose solution 3 as my final answer since there is no uncertainty.

Therefore, the number of caches form pitch 1 to 7 = 5, 8, 10, 16, 40, 4, 2, and 10, respectively.

 

 

 

Edited June 11, 2018 by rocdocmac
Moved to spoiler