interesting puzzle- can you solve it?

[bach]

Just solved this, thought it could alleviate some boredom. There's an easy answer and hard answer, but the hard answer is much more fun IMO. Explain your methods!

Setup:

1. There are 5 houses painted 5 different colors
2. In each house lives a person with a different nationality.
3. These 5 owners drink a certain beverage, smoke a certain brand of cigar and keep a certain pet.
4. No owners have the same pet, smoke the same brand of cigar or drink the same drink.

Hints:

1. The Brit lives in a 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 Mall rears birds.
7. The owner of the yellow house smokes Dunhill.
8. The man living in the house right in the centre drinks milk.
9. The Norwegian lives in the first house.
10. The man who smokes Blend lives next to the one who keeps cats.
11. The man who keeps horses lives next to the man who smokes Dunhill.
12. The owner who smokes Blue Master drinks beer.
13. The German smokes Prince.
14. The Norwegian lives next to the blue house.
15. The man who smokes Blend has a neighbour who drinks water.

Question:
Who keeps the Fish???

 

[grimslade]

This is fun.

EDIT: PM sent with answer. EDIT EDIT: Well?? Well?? Did I get it? I think I got it.

 

[bach]

Correct!

Now, the more telling question: how long did it take you to solve it?

 

[binge]

Ahh, memories. I remember when this one made the email rounds back in 2001. I dug up my email answer from way-back-when, with some additional info on these types of logic puzzles.

Who owns the fish?

 

[bach]

Originally Posted by binge

Ahh, memories. I remember when this one made the email rounds back in 2001. I dug up my email answer from way-back-when, with some additional info on these types of logic puzzles.

Who owns the fish?

Heh, I used the table method shown there, in addition to a convoluted network of lines drawn in between 6 columns (1 for each attribute). In 2001 I think was too young to have any use for email, so sorry if everyone's already seen it.

 

[KenN]

Would it be a spoiler if I posted my solution?

 

[tagutcow]

Whoops! I PM'd bach when somebody already posted the solution.

yeah, I got the house order nailed down, and worked from there. At one point I had to make two different scenarios because I didn't have enough info on tobacco and pets, but it was all just process of elimination from there on out.

Is it really possible to do it all by process of elimination?

 

[bach]

Originally Posted by tagutcow

Whoops! I PM'd bach when somebody already posted the solution.

yeah, I got the house order nailed down, and worked from there. At one point I had to make two different scenarios because I didn't have enough info on tobacco and pets, but it was all just process of elimination from there on out.

Is it really possible to do it all by process of elimination?

If I understand what you're saying, there was enough information to do it completely by process of elimination. In other words, you didn't need to make two scenarios.

 

[yerfdog]

This is Einstein's Puzzle, right?

 

[Tardek]

Done!

And yes, I have heard it called that, yerfdog. This is the first time I've actually attempted to do it though.