Solving the ‘Einstein” puzzle

Carol Mullen

MST Summer Program 2006

Daemen College

The puzzle has been sent by email and has appeared on several websites. Einstein is said to have stated that only 2% of the population could solve it. Of that group, only 1% would be able to solve it within one hour.

The Einstein Puzzle

There are no tricks, just pure logic.1. In a street,there are 5 houses

painted 5 different colors. 2. In each house lives a person of

different nationality. 3.These 5 homeowners each drink a different kind of beverage, smoke a different brand of cigar, and keep a different pet.

The question is: "Who owns the fish?"

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 next to and on the left of the white

house. 5. The green house's 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 center house drinks milk. 9. The Norwegian lives in the first house.10.The man who smokes Blends lives next to the one who

keeps cats.11. The man who keeps the horse lives next to the man who

smokes Dunhill.12. The owner who smokes Bluemasters drinks beer.13. The German smokes Prince.14. The Norwegian lives next to the blue house.15. The man who smokes Blends has a neighbor who drinks

water.

In order to solve the puzzle I had to make some assumptions:

1. The owner is the resident of each house. 2. One of the residents owns the fish. 3. The term neighbor in the last hint refers only to a directly adjacent neighbor. 4. The houses are on the same side of the street. 5. They are next to each other, and are ordered from left to right as you face them rather than standing in front of a house facing the street (i.e. facing the same direction as the house).

Brit Swede Dane Norwegian German

Red Green White Yellow Blue

Water Coffee Tea Milk Beer

Pall Mall Blends Prince Dunhill Bluemasters

Bird Dog Cat Horse Fish

Puzzle Components

ORDER 1 2 3 4 5

NATIONALITY

COLORBEVERAGE

CIGAR

PET

There are two straight forward or unambiguous hints.

#8. The resident of the center house drinks milk.

#9. The Norwegian lives in the first house.

Once we put the Norwegian in the first house, Hint #14 leads us to conclude that House #2 is blue. (It is the only house next to the Norwegian.)

ORDER 1 2 3 4 5

NATIONALITY Norwegian

(Hint #9)

COLOR

Blue(hint #14)

BEVERAGE Milk(hint #8)

CIGAR

PET

Hints 4 and 5 indicate the following:

• Coffee is the

• beverage in the

• green house, which is

• next to and on the left

• of the white house.

Green White

Coffee

• The coffee-green-white ‘combo’ can only be placed with the coffee and green house at house #4.The green house cannot be first because it would be left of the blue, not the white. The second house has been established as blue, so cannot be green.

The center house has been established as where milk is the beverage, so it cannot be for the coffee drinker in the green house.

The combo is only accommodated in house 4 and 5. House 4 is green with the coffee drinker (hint 5). House 5 is white(hint 4).

ORDER 1 2 3 4 5

NATIONALITY Norwegian

(Hint #9)

COLOR

Blue(hint #14)

Green White

BEVERAGE Milk(hint #8)

Coffee

CIGAR

PET

The Brit lives in the red house, so the Brit cannot live in 2, 4, or 5 because they are not red. The Brit cannot live in 1 because it is occupied by the Norwegian. Therefore, the Brit must live in #3, which must be red.

ORDER 1 2 3 4 5

NATIONALITY Norwegian

(Hint #9)Brit

COLOR

Blue(hint #14)

Red green white

BEVERAGE Milk(hint #8)

coffee

CIGAR

PET

House #1 must be yellow, by default. (It is the only house left and yellow is the only color not yet assigned.)

The cigar in house #1 is Dunhill (hint #7).

Hint #11 tells us that the horses are next to the man who smokes Dunhill, so they are next to house #1 and must be house #2

ORDER 1 2 3 4 5

NATIONALITY Norwegian

(Hint #9)Brit

COLOR

Yellow Blue(hint #14)

Red green white

BEVERAGE Milk(hint #8)

coffee

CIGAR

Dunhill

PET

Horses

The person in the first house has to drink water.

(Milk is in the center--hint 9;

green house drinks coffee--hint 5;

Dane drinks tea--hint 3, so tea is not the beverage for the Norwegian who lives in the first house--hint 9; and

the one who smokes Bluemasters drinks beer--hint 12--however the owner of the yellow house, the first house smokes Dunhill).

With milk, coffee, tea and beer contraindicated for house 1, the beverage in house 1 must be water.

ORDER 1 2 3 4 5

NATIONALITY Norwegian

(Hint #9)Brit

COLOR

Yellow Blue(hint #14)

Red green white

BEVERAGE water Milk(hint #8)

coffee

CIGAR

Dunhill

PET

Horses

With the water in house 1, the Blends must be in house 2.

ORDER 1 2 3 4 5

NATIONALITY Norwegian

(Hint #9)Brit

COLOR

Yellow Blue(hint #14)

Red green white

BEVERAGE water Milk(hint #8)

coffee

CIGAR

Dunhill Blends

PET

Horses

Now, the only house with no beverage and no cigar is house 5, so the beer and the Bluemasters are in house 5.

ORDER 1 2 3 4 5

NATIONALITY Norwegian

(Hint #9)Brit

COLOR

Yellow Blue(hint #14)

Red green white

BEVERAGE water Milk(hint #8)

coffee beer

CIGAR

Dunhill Blends Bluemasters

PET

Horses

The only house with no beverage, is house 2, so the beverage in house 2 must be tea (it’s the only beverage left) and the Dane must live in House 2 (hint #3).

ORDER 1 2 3 4 5

NATIONALITY Norwegian

(Hint #9)Dane Brit

COLOR

Yellow Blue(hint #14)

Red green white

BEVERAGE water tea Milk(hint #8)

coffee beer

CIGAR

Dunhill Blends Bluemasters

PET

Horses

The German smokes Prince (hint 13). House 4 is the only one left that needs a nationality and a cigar. So, the German smokes Prince in house 4.

ORDER 1 2 3 4 5

NATIONALITY Norwegian

(Hint #9)Dane Brit German

COLOR

Yellow Blue(hint #14)

Red green white

BEVERAGE water tea Milk(hint #8)

coffee beer

CIGAR

Dunhill Blends Prince Bluemasters

PET

Horses

That leaves the Swede to live in house 5 with his dog (hint 2).

ORDER 1 2 3 4 5

NATIONALITY Norwegian

(Hint #9)Dane Brit German Swede

COLOR

Yellow Blue(hint #14)

Red green white

BEVERAGE water tea Milk(hint #8)

coffee beer

CIGAR

Dunhill Blends Prince Bluemasters

PET

Horses Dog

There is only one spot left for cigars so Pall Mall are in House 3.

Hint 6 tells us that Pall Mall rears birds, so the birds are also in House 3.

ORDER 1 2 3 4 5

NATIONALITY Norwegian

(Hint #9)Dane Brit German Swede

COLOR

Yellow Blue(hint #14)

Red green white

BEVERAGE water tea Milk(hint #8)

coffee beer

CIGAR

Dunhill Blends Pall Mall

Prince Bluemasters

PET

Horses Birds Dog

The cat must be next to the blends, so it is in House 1.

This leaves the fish a place only with German!

ORDER 1 2 3 4 5

NATIONALITY Norwegian

(Hint #9)Dane Brit German Swede

COLOR

Yellow Blue(hint #14)

Red green white

BEVERAGE water tea Milk(hint #8)

coffee beer

CIGAR

Dunhill Blends Pall Mall

Prince Bluemasters

PET

Cat Horses Birds Fish Dog