Dinesh and Bawa

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Wednesday, July 23, 2008

A Riddle

This one is supposed to be really tough... I got it in about 15ish minutes

1. There are 5 houses in 5 different colours. In each house lives a person with a different nationality.

2. The 5 owners drink a certain type of beverage, smoke a certain brand of cigar, and keep a certain pet.

3. No owners have the same pet, smoke the same brand of cigar or drink the same beverage.

THE QUESTION IS “WHO OWNS THE FISH?”

Facts:

The Brit lives in the red house.
The Swede keeps dogs as pets.
The Dane drinks tea.
The green house in on the left of the white house.
The green house’s owner drinks coffee.
The person who smokes Pall Mall rears birds.
The owner of the yellow house smokes Dunhill.
The man living in the centre house drinks milk.
The Norwegian lives in the first house.
The man who smokes Blends lives next to the one who keeps cats.
The man who keeps the horse lives next to the man who smokes Dunhill.
The man owner who smokes Bluemasters drinks beer.
The German smokes Prince.
The Norwegian lives next to the blue house.
The man who smokes Blends has a neighbour who drinks water.

To re iterate:

WHO OWNS THE FISH??

First person with the right answer and the explanation of how they got to the answer gets 50 Entrecard Credits!  

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56 comments:

Anonymous said...

Bawa,
Please give me a hint to resovle this puzzle. It's mind boggling.
Megha :)

Raj said...

This is a the famous Einsteins riddle and anyone who has sat for competitive exams like CAT etc would have done this.

Here is how to find the answer step by step.
1. Open your broswer.
2. Go to Google Search
3. Type Einstein Riddle
and no don't search, but click on "I'm feeling lucky"

Anonymous said...

The German owns the fish...lives in green house,drinks coffee, and smokes prince.

I started with the facts given where I derived that Norwegian lives in yellow house,drinks water, owns Cat as pet and smokes dunhill.

following are rest of the combination

swede lives in White house,drinks beer, owns Dog as pet and smokes Bluemasters.

brit lives in red house,drinks milk, owns Bird as pet and smokes Pall Mall.

dane lives in Blue house,drinks tea, owns Horse as pet and smokes Blends.

order of the house color

Yellow Blue Red Green White

Anonymous said...

Hi Bau,

The answer to the riddle:
The German who drinks coffee and smokes Prince owns the FISH!!

Explanation:
I started by drawing 5 boxes and assigning milk to the centre box.
And then the Green and White house clues.
Than "Norwegian" living in firts house.
and assigning "Blue" to second house.
Than yellow to first house and Dunhill to it.
Than Blends and Horse to Blue house as it is next to Dunhill.
And The yellow house owner has cats.
And so on got that German 's pet section is blank.

it took me 30 mins :)

Jai Guru Dev

Kamal said...

Hi Bawa,

Answer is: German owns the fish.

A chart seems like the most useful tool to help solve this riddle: Five columns for the five houses, and five rows for nationality, house color, type of drink, type of cigar, and finally, pets. Clue #8 states the man in the middle house drinks milk, so we can start by filling in that one of the 25 boxes created.

PS: I am unable to format my chart as desired. it filters out all spaces.

1st 2nd 3rd 4th 5th
Nation
Color
Drink Milk
Cigar
Pet


Then we deduce as much as possible from each clue as it becomes usable. The Norwegian living in the first house (# 9) could mean the first on the left or the right, since it isn't specified. I assume the left (first on chart) for now. Often, with riddles or puzzles, it is faster to make an assumption and if it doesn't work out go back and try the other way, rather than trying to hold open both possibilities while analyzing the other clues.

Clue# 14 says the Norwegian lives next to the blue house, so we can fill in the house color in the second column.

Clue # 4 says the green house is to the left of the white house, and #5 says it is occupied by a coffee drinker. The only place that works is in column four, so we can fill in color and drink there, and white for the color of the fifth.

Clue #1 says the British man is in the red house, and the third house is the only one that has neither color nor nationality specified yet, so we can fill in those two boxes. This also gives us the color of the first house, since only yellow is left. Yellow smokes Dunhill (#7), so we get that too.

Horses are next to the Dunhill smoker (#11). Put that in the second column and here we are so far:


1st 2nd 3rd 4th 5th
Nation Norwegian British
Color Yellow Blue Red Green White
Drink Milk Coffee
Cigar Dunhill
Pet Horses

Clue # 12: The man who smokes Blue Master drinks beer. That is two bits of information that go together.

Now we have to determine what other bit of information can be "attached" to that. From what we have on the chart, we can see that the Norwegian smokes Dunhill and the British man drinks milk, so we rule out two nationalities.# 13 says the German smokes Prince, and #3 says the Danish man drinks tea, so we are left with just the Swedish man, who we now know smokes Blue Master and drinks beer. Scanning the clues for more information about the Swedish man we see that he has dogs (# 2). The only place that these four items fit is column five, so we fill that in.

The "Blends" smoker is next to a water-drinker (#15) and the cat owner (# 10), which fits only in house 2 now, so we can put "blends" in 2 and "water" in 1. That leaves only "tea" for 2. Clue # 3 says the Danish man drinks tea, so we get that as well, which leaves just one slot (house 4) for the German.

The German smokes Prince (#13), which leaves only one slot (house 3) for the Pall Malls. This is how the chart now looks:

1st 2nd 3rd 4th 5th
Nation Norwegian Danish British German Swedish
Color Yellow Blue Red Green White
Drink Water Tea Milk Coffee Beer
Cigar Dunhill Blends Pall Mall Prince Blue Master
Pet Horses Dogs


Clue # 6 says the person who smokes Pall Mall rears birds (house 3). Clue #10 says the man who smokes Blends lives next to the one who keeps cats, so "cats" can only fit in the house 1 column. That leaves but one slot open, so the coffee-drinking, Prince Cigar-smoking German in the green house owns the fish.

Kamal said...

JGD Bawa,

I am the first person. Aint't I?

Jai Gurudev
Kamal

Unknown said...

The Norwegian owns the fish.

Explanation: 1. Swede keeps dogs so eliminated
2. One next to Swede (smokes blends) owns cats (Dane), so Dane eliminated
3. Brit lives in red house and rears birds (person who smokes Pall Mall)
4. German smokes prince (=owns cats)

Sirisha

Arsheen said...

the german who lives in the green house and drinks coffee and smokes prince cigars owns fish...

Arsheen said...

here's how one can get to the answer

step 1 mark down the norwegian in the first house

hou: 1 2 3 4 5

nat: nor
col:
bev:
CB :
pet:

step 2: then write milk for beverage for the 3rd house

hou: 1 2 3 4 5

nat: nor
col:
bev: milk
CB :
pet:

step 3:since the norwegian lives next to te blue house the colour of the 2nd house is blue.

hou: 1 2 3 4 5

nat: nor
col: blue
bev: milk
CB :
pet:

Milind said...

German at Green House owns FISH.
Explanation:
1. To start with Nationality with Color house arrangements. First one is Norwegian , Brit lives in the red house & green house in on the left of the white house.

2. Re arrangement based on type of drinks. Dane drinks tea , center house drinks milk & green house’s owner drinks coffee.

3. Arrangements based on relation between smoker's brand, house color and beverages. yellow house smokes Dunhill, smokes Bluemasters drinks beer, German smokes Prince , smokes Blends has a neighbour who drinks water.

4. Key facts, he man who smokes Blends lives next to the one who keeps cats , the man who keeps the horse lives next to the man who smokes Dunhill and the man who smokes Blends has a neighbour who drinks water. Houses with this attributes has to be next to each other.

Anonymous said...

i give up ...!
He he ... :-)

Unknown said...

the GERMAN owns the fish.

Thunker said...

Make a 5 by 5 matrix to make things easier and fill the data as and when u come across it

Lets note down all the knowns from the Facts
The Norwegian lives in the first house
The Norwegian lives next to the blue house.
The Dane drinks tea.
The Brit lives in the red house
Now we know that the green house is to the left of the white house, and green house owner drinks coffee. Hence the only place that fits in the above table is as shown below, because green n white come together with green to the left of white , and they can come in 2 positions(3rd and 4th or 4th and 5th columns) but since person in middle house drinks water green can come only in 4th column which puts white in 5th column, which leaves us with yellow which goes into 1st column..
Now the owner of yellow house smokes dunhill.
The man who keeps the horse lives next to the man who smokes dunhill
Now bluemaster and beer go together either in column 2 or 5. If bluemaster + beer is in column 2 then Dane + tea should go to column 5 which makes water in column 1 but water should be next to a person who smokes blends(FACT) so bluemaster + beer combo should go to column 5, which makes dane+ tea go to column 2 and water to column 1, but blends is next to water so blends can only be in column 2
Now german smokes prince and he can only go to column 4, which leaves swede and pall mall for columns 5 and 3 respectively
Now swede keeps dogs(column 5) Pall mall ->birds
And blends is next to man who owns cats so cats go to column 1
Now only column 4 german -> fish is left out hence the answer

Richik Roy said...

Phew Bawa!! .. Well.. I think the answer is THE GERMAN!!!.. The German owns the fish.. but to explain the riddle.. dats another mahabharata.. k.. i'll try..

Firstly.. i tackled the colors.. We know Norwegian lives in the first house.. and he lives next to the blue house.. so THE SECOND HOUSE IS BLUE.. Next.. since the Green House is to the left of the white house.. it can only be the 3rd or 4th house.. to keep place for a house to its right.. Also, the 3rd house can't be green because,, the 3rd house is the middle house,, and the owner of the middle house drinks milk,, whereas the owner of the green house drinks coffee... lol.. So,, the GEEN HOUSE IS THE 4TH HOUSE.. AND THE WHITE HOUSE IS THE FIFTH HOUSE.. Now,, the first house belongs to the Norwegian.. so it can't be red,, as The British lives in the red house.. Hence, the YELLOW HOUSE IS FIRST.. AND THE RED HOUSE IS THE MIDDLE\THIRD HOUSE!!!.. Thats only the houses.. so this is how it stands..

Next.. Here's my key for the following abbreviations..
1. Nation..
No-Norwegian
Br-Brit
Ge-German
Sw-Swede
Da-Dane
2. Cigarette Brand
Du-Dunhill
Bl-Blends
PM-Pall Mall
Pr-Prince
Bm-Bluemasters
3.Pets
Ca-Cats
Ho-Horses
Do-Dogs
Bi-Birds
Fi-Fish
4.Beverages
Wa-Water
Te-Tea
Co-Coffee
Mi-Milk
Be-Beer


No. 1 2 3 4 5
Color Y B R G W
Nation No Br
Pet Ho
Cigar Du
Drink Mi Co

This table is based on directly given data.. Now,, the deductions.. :)

1. Taking the brand Bluemasters, it can only be smoked by the owner of either the 2nd or 5th house, since he also drinks beer(eliminating the 3rd and 4th house.. and obviously the 1st house). However, it cannot belong to the 2nd house(Reason explained later). Hence BLUEMASTERSIS SMOKED BY THE OWNER OF THE 5TH HOUSE..

2. The Dane drinks tea. The only owners for which the beverage is not known is Yellow and Blue house.However,, the Norwegian stays in the Yellow house.. Hence,, THE BLUE HOUSE BELONGS TO THE DANE, WHO DRINKS TEA. This also leads to the following-
a) The Norwegian drinks water..
b) The Dane smokes Blends( Since, he is the only neighbour to the person drinking water..)

So, these are the latest standings..

No. 1 2 3 4 5
Color Y B R G W
Nation No Da Br
Pet Ho
Cigar Du Bl Bm
Drink Wa Te Mi Co Be

Further deductions..

3. The German smokes Prince. The only unknown owners are those of the 4th and 5th house.. Since, the 5th one smokes Bluemasters, THE 4TH HOUSE BELONGS TO THE GERMAN, AND THE FIFTH HOUSE BELONGS TO THE SWEDE..

Updating our table further based on the given data..

No. 1 2 3 4 5
Color Y B R G W
Nation No Da Br Ge Sw
Pet Ho Do
Cigar Du Bl Pr Bm
Drink Wa Te Mi Co Be

Obviously,
4. THE BRIT SMOKES PALL MALL, and hence REARS BIRDS. This also means that the NORWEGIAN HAS CATS( Since, Man who smokes blends has a neighbour who keeps cats, and the Brit keeps birds, leaving the Norwegian as the only remaining neighbour!!)

So, here we go..

No. 1 2 3 4 5
Color Y B R G W
Nation No Da Br Ge Sw
Pet Ca Ho Bi Do
Cigar Du Bl PM Pr Bm
Drink Wa Te Mi Co Be

There you go... Who has the fish??

Hehe..

The GERMAN!!

No. 1 2 3 4 5
Color Y B R G W
Nation No Da Br Ge Sw
Pet Ca Ho Bi Fi Do
Cigar Du Bl PM Pr Bm
Drink Wa Te Mi Co Be

Hope thats right.. :)

Jai Gurudeva!!

btw..

NOTE: the reason I deduced that the owner of the 5th house smokes bluemasters is through brute elimination, since there were only 2 options.. If you assume that the second owner smokes bluemasters, you will reach a result which doesn't match the data.. Try it out..

Anonymous said...

Jai Gurudev Bau
German who smokes Prince and drinks coffee own the FISH. No patience to explain how i got this answer!!!

Arsheen said...

continuing with the explanation while keeping ahead of the power cuts.. :)

step 4 : since the green house is to the left of the white house and the owner of the green house drinks coffee, on working down the options it is the 4 th and the 5h houses that have the colours green and white respectively leaving brit with the red house occupying the 3rd house and the norwegian having a yellow house

hou 1 2 3 4 5

nat nor brit
col yell blue red green white
bev milk
CB
pet

step 5: the clues say that the owner of the yellow house smokes dunhill. hence the norwegian smokes dunhills. also the clue that the person living next to the one who smokes dunhills keeps horses indicates that the blue house has horses

hou 1 2 3 4 5

nat nor brit
col yell blue red green white
bev milk
CB DH
pet horses

Richik Roy said...

Phew Bawa!! .. Well.. I think the answer is THE GERMAN!!!.. The German owns the fish.. but to explain the riddle.. dats another mahabharata.. k.. i'll try..

Firstly.. i tackled the colors.. We know Norwegian lives in the first house.. and he lives next to the blue house.. so THE SECOND HOUSE IS BLUE.. Next.. since the Green House is to the left of the white house.. it can only be the 3rd or 4th house.. to keep place for a house to its right.. Also, the 3rd house can't be green because,, the 3rd house is the middle house,, and the owner of the middle house drinks milk,, whereas the owner of the green house drinks coffee... lol.. So,, the GEEN HOUSE IS THE 4TH HOUSE.. AND THE WHITE HOUSE IS THE FIFTH HOUSE.. Now,, the first house belongs to the Norwegian.. so it can't be red,, as The British lives in the red house.. Hence, the YELLOW HOUSE IS FIRST.. AND THE RED HOUSE IS THE MIDDLE\THIRD HOUSE!!!.. Thats only the houses.. so this is how it stands..

Next.. Here's my key for the following abbreviations..
1. Nation..
No-Norwegian
Br-Brit
Ge-German
Sw-Swede
Da-Dane
2. Cigarette Brand
Du-Dunhill
Bl-Blends
PM-Pall Mall
Pr-Prince
Bm-Bluemasters
3.Pets
Ca-Cats
Ho-Horses
Do-Dogs
Bi-Birds
Fi-Fish
4.Beverages
Wa-Water
Te-Tea
Co-Coffee
Mi-Milk
Be-Beer


No. 1 2 3 4 5
Color Y B R G W
Nation No Br
Pet Ho
Cigar Du
Drink Mi Co

This table is based on directly given data.. Now,, the deductions.. :)

1. Taking the brand Bluemasters, it can only be smoked by the owner of either the 2nd or 5th house, since he also drinks beer(eliminating the 3rd and 4th house.. and obviously the 1st house). However, it cannot belong to the 2nd house(Reason explained later). Hence BLUEMASTERSIS SMOKED BY THE OWNER OF THE 5TH HOUSE..

2. The Dane drinks tea. The only owners for which the beverage is not known is Yellow and Blue house.However,, the Norwegian stays in the Yellow house.. Hence,, THE BLUE HOUSE BELONGS TO THE DANE, WHO DRINKS TEA. This also leads to the following-
a) The Norwegian drinks water..
b) The Dane smokes Blends( Since, he is the only neighbour to the person drinking water..)

So, these are the latest standings..

No. 1 2 3 4 5
Color Y B R G W
Nation No Da Br
Pet Ho
Cigar Du Bl Bm
Drink Wa Te Mi Co Be

Further deductions..

3. The German smokes Prince. The only unknown owners are those of the 4th and 5th house.. Since, the 5th one smokes Bluemasters, THE 4TH HOUSE BELONGS TO THE GERMAN, AND THE FIFTH HOUSE BELONGS TO THE SWEDE..

Updating our table further based on the given data..

No. 1 2 3 4 5
Color Y B R G W
Nation No Da Br Ge Sw
Pet Ho Do
Cigar Du Bl Pr Bm
Drink Wa Te Mi Co Be

Obviously,
4. THE BRIT SMOKES PALL MALL, and hence REARS BIRDS. This also means that the NORWEGIAN HAS CATS( Since, Man who smokes blends has a neighbour who keeps cats, and the Brit keeps birds, leaving the Norwegian as the only remaining neighbour!!)

So, here we go..

No. 1 2 3 4 5
Color Y B R G W
Nation No Da Br Ge Sw
Pet Ca Ho Bi Do
Cigar Du Bl PM Pr Bm
Drink Wa Te Mi Co Be

There you go... Who has the fish??

Hehe..

The GERMAN!!

No. 1 2 3 4 5
Color Y B R G W
Nation No Da Br Ge Sw
Pet Ca Ho Bi Fi Do
Cigar Du Bl PM Pr Bm
Drink Wa Te Mi Co Be

Hope thats right.. :)

Jai Gurudeva!!

btw..

NOTE: the reason I deduced that the owner of the 5th house smokes bluemasters is through brute elimination, since there were only 2 options.. If you assume that the second owner smokes bluemasters, you will reach a result which doesn't match the data.. Try it out..

Swarna said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Arsheen said...

continuing with the explanation while keeping ahead of the power cuts.. :)

step 4 : since the green house is to the left of the white house and the owner of the green house drinks coffee, on working down the options it is the 4 th and the 5h houses that have the colours green and white respectively leaving brit with the red house occupying the 3rd house and the norwegian having a yellow house

hou 1 2 3 4 5

nat nor brit
col yell blue red green white
bev milk coffee
CB
pet

step 5: the clues say that the owner of the yellow house smokes dunhill. hence the norwegian smokes dunhills. also the clue that the person living next to the one who smokes dunhills keeps horses indicates that the blue house has horses

hou 1 2 3 4 5

nat nor brit
col yell blue red green white
bev milk coffee
CB DH
pet horses

step 6: the hints that the dane drinks tea and that the manowner who smokes bluemasters drinks beer indicate that the norwegian drinks water. and hence the hint that the person who smokes blends lives next to the one drinking water indicates that the owner of the 2nd house smokes blends.

hou 1 2 3 4 5

nat nor brit
col yell blue red green white
bev water milk coffee
CB DH blends
pet horses

step 7: taking up the hint that the manowner who amokes bluemasters drinks beer tells us that the white house owner is the one who drinks beer since that is the only coloumn with an empty slot for beverage and cigar brand.
and then that the dane who drinks tea lives in the 2nd house follows

hou 1 2 3 4 5

nat nor dane brit
col yell blue red green white
bev water tea milk coffee beer
CB DH blend blueM
pet horse

step8: and now the german smokes prince and the hence brit smokes pallmall and rears birds. therefore the norwegian is the neighbour nextdoor to the man smoking blends who keeps cats.
the swede with the dogs fits in house 5 leaving the german with the fish :)

hou 1 2 3 4 5

nat nor dane brit german swede
col yell blue red green white
bev water tea milk coffee beer
CB DH blend PM prince blueM
pet cats horse bird fish dogs

Anonymous said...

Bawa, Answer is German.

The logic is on the net. Hope I am not spoiling the fun by giving it away. Jai Gurudev, Sumitra.

Alternate Methodology
by Francis Harrington
Make a grid, 5 columns for the house numbers, 5 rows for color,
nationality, smoke, drink, and pets. Fill it in as you go.

There are only two unambiguous facts given. The rest are
about relations.

8 --> #3=MILK
9 --> #1=NORWEGIAN

Fill those in. Then, select statements having the minimum
number of possibilities as you go along. For instance, the
next most useful statement would be 14, because it allows
only one choice.

14 --> #2=BLUE So go ahead and fill that in.

Next, statement 4 gives two choices:
#3=GREEN, #4=WHITE OR #4=GREEN, #5=WHITE

Try the first choice. Looking at statement 5, we see that
this must be wrong, because MILK is already at #3. So,

#4=GREEN
#5=WHITE

Then, we can easily fill in:
5 --> #4=COFFEE
1 --> #3=RED, BRITISH
7 --> #1=YELLOW,DUNHILL

Next, statement 3 gives two choices;
#2=DANISH,TEA or #5=DANISH,TEA.

Try the first choice. Then,
12 --> #5=BLUE MASTER,BEER
#1=WATER
15 --> #2=BLEND

From that it follows
#4=GERMAN,PRINCE
#5=SWEDISH
#3=PALL MALL

Then we easily fill in that:
2 --> #5=DOGS
6 --> #3=BIRDS
11 --> #2=HORSES
10 --> #1=CATS

The only possible conclusion now is that the GERMAN in
house #4 owns the FISH. And now we are done, except for
checking out the choice we made when we used statement 3.

If earlier, at statement 3, we had tried #5=DANISH,TEA then:
12 --> #2=BLUE MASTER,BEER
#1=WATER
and 15 --> a contradiction, because we already had
WATER & BLUE MASTER as neighbors. Therefore, our first
choice (#2=DANISH,TEA) was indeed correct, and all
possibilities have now been exhausted.

priya said...

majja came !! i wont tell answer here but.hehe.

Viji said...

Is it the German??
Norwegian: Yellow House; Dunhill; Water; Cat;
Dane : Blue House; Blends; Tea; Horse;
Brit: RedHouse;PallMall; Milk; Birds;
Swede: White House; Bluemasters; beer;dogs;
German: Green House;Prince;Coffee;fish;

Swaroop said...

The german owns the fish.

The way to solve it is -
Step 1 - Take all the simple conditions given in the riddle and frame the blueprint (in an excel sheet). The simple instructions are
The owner of the yellow house smokes Dunhill.
The green house’s owner drinks coffee.
The Norwegian lives in the first house.
The man living in the centre house drinks milk.
The Brit lives in the red house.
The man who keeps the horse lives next to the man who smokes Dunhill.
The Norwegian lives next to the blue house.
The green house in on the left of the white house.

Step 2 - Consider the two conditions in the riddle which have similar information. Those two conditions are
The man who smokes Blends has a neighbour who drinks water.
The man who smokes Blends lives next to the one who keeps cats.
Fix the above conditions in the excel sheet.

Step 3 - Now consider the remaining indirect conditions and plug them into the blanks. These conditions are
The Swede keeps dogs as pets.
The Dane drinks tea.
The man owner who smokes Bluemasters drinks beer.
The German smokes Prince.
The person who smokes Pall Mall rears birds.

The only pending blank would be the german's pet.
Therefore the German owns the fish.

Time taken to complete 25ish minutes.

kavitha said...

the German lives in house number 4,green in colour, drinks coffee, smokes prince and keeps a fish....

Unknown said...

hi bawa HOW ARE YOU?i also took 15 min the answer you expected is GERMAN. its based on the assumptions like:
(1) assume red is the middle house
(2)assume blends comes under blue house
(3)assume cats come under first house.
then automatically everything will get resolved!!!!!!!
i have given the order as colour,nationality,beverage,smoke,pet.

yellow,blue,red,green,white
norwegi,dane,brit,germa,sweden
water,tea,milk,coffee,beer
dunhill,blends,pallma,prince,bluemasters...
cats,horse,birds,fish,dogs

Vishal said...

Answer: German, Green House, drinks coffee, smokes prince and owns FISH!

Solution:
achieved through proof by contradiction in 3 steps.

House :H1 H2 H3 H4 H5
Colour:Y B R G W

1st step: Centre house owner drinks milk, and green house owner drinks coffee, so the centre house cant be green. this means the house 2nd from right is green and rightmost is white, leaving the center house option as red(owned by the brit).


2nd step: Assigning the obvious attributes after step 1 leaves us with the swede to occupy either of the rightmost 2 houses. Assuming it to be 2nd from right, Norwegian gets the fish but also gets Blends while he already smokes Dunhill. Contradiction implies the swede occupies the rightmost house.

3rd step: Now Bluemasters drink beer condition can be attributed to either 2nd house from left or the swede's. If 2nd house from left is assigned, then it means the swede smokes blends, implying that the green owner drinks both coffee and water. Thus, Bluemasters and beer condition fits for the swede. Assign the remaining attributes and we get the answer!

It might be so that there is a simpler answer to the solution.. But well .. this is our best effort to explain the way we worked it out...

Jai gurudeva,

Vishal/Nikhil

ps:15ish minutes!!!!Woah! The two of us combined took around 30!

Anonymous said...

The german has the fish!

phew!

annam said...

the greman owns the fish

Crazy Gopi said...

JGD Bau,

I think the answer is the German

Crazy Gopi said...

I am pretty sure it should be the German :-) Tell me I am right...

Crazy Gopi said...

Oh yes...

about how I got to the right answer. I managed to first list down the five categories of nationality, Pets, Colors of houses,Beverages and their smokes. Once that was out of the way, I started making the permutations and combinations mentioned in the riddle. I hit upon the Norwegian being in the first house and smokes dunhill and the house color as yellow. The rest just fell into place with the Dane having the blue house, horses, drinking tea ans smoking Blends, The Brit in the center house that is red in color, drinking milk, smoking pall mall and having birds as pets. The Swede has the White house with a dog as a pet, smoking bluemasters and guzzling beer. The German ofcourse had to have the "Fish" then with the Green house and coffee to drink and Prince to smoke.... :)

Monica said...

My answer is Fish Is Owned By The GERMAN.
solution :
1. take five houses, put in the obvious details, like centre house = milk, 1st house = Norwegian. 2nd house = Blue.
2. now, either the 3rd house is RED or the last house is RED (because Green is to the left of White and the the 2nd house is blue).
3. Hence, the first house (norwegian's) is YELLOW. => Dunhill smoker.
4. hence, blue house keeps horses.
5.green house => coffee, therefore green will be the fifth house (cuz middle house has milk).
following this, the order of the houses is : Yellow , Blue, Red, Green, White.
6.and nationalities : Norwegian on first, Brit on third.
7.now, Swede keeps dogs and hence can fit in only at the 4th / 5th house ('cause 1st = norwegian, 2nd = horses, 3rd = brit) and Dane can put up only at the 2nd or 5th house ( 1st = norwg., 3rd = brit, 4th = coffee while dane drinks tea).
8. blends's smoker's neighbour drinks water. That says either norwegian or blue house uses blends ('cz centre house - milk, 4th house = coffee). but norwegian uses Dunhill (yellow house) therefore, the blue house with horses takes blends :)
and that means the neighbour takes Water ( right hand side nbr takes milk) and that means Norwegian drinks water.
9.now, the smoker of blue masters brinks beer and since everybody else is already drinkin' or smokin' sth, these two go to the last (white house). following this, only the second house remains without a drink and we give him some Tea :)
10. but well! tea = Dane. and well!! german smokes prince and he'll live now-on in house no.4. because all else occupied sir!!
and from that, Brit has to smoke Pall Mall (PM) and take care of his birdies, and filling in the gaps, cats live with the Norwegian and our swede lives in the 5th house with his doggies :)
yellow, blue, red, green, white
Nrwg.,Dane, Brit, grmn, Swede
Dunh, Blends,PM, prnc, blmstrs,
water,tea, milk, coffee, beer
cats, horses, birds, ..., Dogs.
for now.
11.THEREFORE!!! if you peak into the 4th house with the GREEN exterior, you might find the GERMAN sipping COFFEE and smiling at his FISH :D
(if it is wrong...!!)
hehe. love you Bawa :D
Jai Gurudev :D

Monica said...

i've sent the answer :) long comment, hope you got it :)
and ofcourse, it took me more than your 15ish minutes, but the exact time for completion i won't reveal considering the reqd. preservation of self respect ;D
with all love :)

Anirudh said...

bau,

the answer is the German owns the fish. This is how I got to this.

first I separated the different categories.

Nationalities:
Brit, Swede, Dane, German, Norwegian

Colours:
Red, Blue, Green, White, Yellow

Beverages:
Beer, Milk, Water, Tea, Coffee

Cigars:
Pallmall, Dunhill, Prince, Blends, Bluemasters

Pets:
Horse, Birds, Dog, Cats, Fish

NOW,

The norwegian lives in the first house. Thus, the second house is blue.

The green house in on the left of the white house.
The green house’s owner drinks coffee.
The man living in the centre house drinks milk.

So, the third house is red, fourth green and last white. Only colour left is yellow
so Norwegian's house.

Norweigian smokes Dunhill, so second house: Horse
Brit lives in the third house and drinks milk
Man living in the fourth house has Coffee

Now, the Swede, Dane and Brit smoke Bluemaster, Blends or Pallmall.
Brit can't smoke Bluemaster since he drinks milk
Dane can't smoke Bluemaster since he drinks tea.

So the Swede smokes BM drinks Beer owns Dogs and thus, stays in the white house.

From there on, it just follows one after another to show that:
Norweigian smokes Dunhill drinks water has cats and stays in the Yellow house
Dane smokes Blends drinks tea has horses and stays in the Blue house.
Brit smokes Pallmall drinks milk rears birds and stays in the Red House
German smokes Prince drinks coffee owns FISH and stays in the Green house

That's how I got the answer, took me about 40 mins. Bau you are brilliant, how did you do it in 15 mins?

UF? that's long.

Jgd

Deepti said...

Hey Bau...
Answer is German owns the fish

Explaination:

House Number->Color->Nationality->Beverage->Cigar->Pet (Dis is the order followed)
1(leftmost house)->Yellow-> Norwegian-> Water->Dunhill->Cat
2->Blue->Dane->Tea->Blends->Horse
3->Red->Brit->Milk->Pall Mall-> Birds
4->Green->German->Coffee->Prince-> Fish
5(rightmost)->White->Swede->Beer-> Bluemaster->Dog

Jus wrote the data in a tabular form and filled the cells accordingly :)

It was great fun solving it :)
Jai Gurudeva

Anand said...

i did it!!!!!!! took me a little over 30 mins to do so but m happy with my time... the german owns the fishes... m uploading the link to my orkut album to show u the page on which i did it..

http://www.orkut.com/AlbumZoom.aspx?uid=761665341161439945&pid=1216838093423&aid=1216812837

lots of love
awaiting the prize
Anand

Pragya Rathore said...

JGD Bau, I think I got the answer, it is the German who owns the fish!!! that's what I got, will explain how in the next comment...

Unknown said...

German has the fish

Anonymous said...

The German owns the fish.

Process of etrition.

Direct placements:
1st house owned by Norwegian
Center house has milk drinker
Norwegian lives next to blue house, so second house is blue.
The center house can be either green, red or yellow (not white, because white is to the right of green). However, the coffee drinker lives in the green house, and the center house is for the milk drinker, so the fourth house is green. We are told that the green house is to the left of the white house, so the 5th house is white. The Dunhill smoker is in the yellow house, and the Brit lives in the red house, so the 1st house is the yellow house. Thus far, the first house is yellow, Norwegian, Dunhill; the second is Blue; the center is red, British, milk drinker, the fourth is green, coffee drinker, and the fifth is white. The Dane drinks tea – he can only be in the blue or white house, since the yellow house belongs to the Norwegian and we know the drinks in the red and green houses. The Blends smoker lives next to the water drinker – only the yellow house is left, since the white house is next to the coffee drinker and the red house holds the milk drinker, and the yellow house cannot hold the Blends smoker because we are told the Dunhill smoker lives there. Hence, the Blends smoker lives in the Blue house. Also, the horse owner lives next to the man who smokes Dunhill (given). So now we know: yellow, Norwegian, Dunhill, water; blue, Blends, horse; red, British, milk; green, coffee; white. The German smokes Prince; he can either be in the green or white house at this point. The Bluemaster smoker drinks beer, he can only be in the white house at this point. So, the German Prince smoker is in the green house. Now we have: yellow,Norwegian, Dunhill smoker , water; blue, Blends smoker, horse; red, British, milk; green, German, Prince smoker, coffee; white, Bluemaster smoker , beer. The Dane drinks tea, putting him in the only house without a beverage assigned, the blue house. That leaves the Swede, the dog owner, in the only house without a nationality or pet, the white house. So:
Yellow, Norwegian, Dunhill smoker, water ;
Blue, Dane, Blends smoker, horse, tea;
Red, Brit, milk;
Green, German, Prince Smoker, coffee;
White, Swede, Bluemaster Smoker, dog beer;

The Brit is the only choice for the Pall Mall cigars; we are told the Pall Mall smoker has birds. The Blends smoker is a neighbor of the cat owner, so the cat can only live in the yellow house. Hence, the only house without a pet is the green house, owned by the German.

Anonymous said...

Hi ,

This one is kind of old, but I liked it so I am sending it to you anyway.

A student calls out a number, the teacher writes a number on the board.

Student calls out 1, teacher writes 3. Student calls out 2, teacher writes 3. Student calls out 3, teacher writes 5. Student calls out 4, teacher writes 4. Student calls out 5, teacher writes 4. Student calls out 6, teacher writes 3.

What is the relationship between the student's and teacher's numbers?

Anonymous said...

Bau,
a good one. Just yesterday I was reading a book "YOU Staying Young" and it said of using puzzles as means to keep our gray cell functioning well long after we start using sticks to walk. And here I see your puzzle today. So I was determined.

The answer is GERMAN. Took me 20ish mins and solving it was like solving a Sudoku puzzle. Made a matrix with house numbers 1 to 5 as Rows and Nationality, House Color, Beverage, Cigar, and Pets as columns. The following entries satisfy all given facts:

No. Nat. Color Bev. Cigar Pet
1 Nor Yellow Water Dun Cats
2 Dane Blue Tea Blend Horse
3 Brit Red Milk PallM Birds
4 Ger Green Coffe Prince Fish
5 Swed White Beer BlueM Dogs

JGD

Unknown said...

Hey Bawa,

JGD:) I got the answer :) pheww.. it took me a while... more than 45 mins!!

I sent it to you to your email address. ask.bawandinesh@yesplus.org

Didn't know if I was supposed to post the answer here.

Monica said...

what Bawa!! Isn't the German the guy with the FISH!! then what is the answer? and if it is correct, why aren't you accepting my previous long comment with the explanations then?! you got it i hope!!

shashank said...

bau, i got the answer...Dane owns the Fish.....after so much permutation and combinations the final table made by me is...

2. german blue cat water prince
5. brit red horse beer bluemaster
1. norw. green birds coffe pallmall
4. dane yellow fish tea dunhill
3. swede white dog milk Blend

swede is at the middle numbered 3.
the house arrangement is 1 2 3 4 5
1 is norweighn as i shown in above table.Bau i only applied conditions given and assumed norweigh having green house since for him only two possibilities green or yellow..then I arranged by given conditions and got the answer...

pradnya wagh said...

Hi Bau! I'm trying since yesterday but still can't get through it! :(
Could you please help??

Shreyans Mehta said...

I solved this using a table and my solution is as follows:
Brit
Red
Pall Mall
Milk
Birds

Swede
White
Blue Masters
Beer
Dogs

Dane
Blue
Blends
Tea
Horse

Norwegian
Yellow
Dunhill
Water
Cats

German
Green
Prince
Coffee
Fish

The German owns the fish.

I solved this same puzzle a few days back. Resolved it today. Surprisingly, it took much longer today to solve!

Unknown said...

Wot is the answer for yesterday's riddle.

Unknown said...

I dont think I can make tables in this space. But I think the German who owns a Green house, drinks coffee and smokes Prince owns the fish.

Gayatri said...

hii bau....
thanks for makng us rack our brains again..!!!!!!!!...it was pretty too challenging...as well as lot more exciting..!!!!!!

i got the answer as german after about 30mins..!!!!!!!!
i did it in a tabular form...hope its the right answer!!!!!!

luv u bauu.....

Monica said...

Bawu you're a rockstar (complete with the long hair look) :)
love you very much :)
Jai Gurudev :)

vinay said...

Bau, I was ill for most part of the day yesterday, so could'nt check ur blog. So, today i saw this riddle. Anyway with all these people having answered, i know that i don have any hopes of winning. But ne ways, the answer is the german who owns the fish. I had done this riddle before. grrrrrrrrrr.. i should have visited the blog yesterday.

Anonymous said...

Hi Bawa,
My answer is not on the comments page. When I sent it, it mentioned all that stuff it says when we post a comment. So am sending it again. Have solved it 3 times and a still getting the same answer.

It's the German guy, drinks coffee, smokes prince who has the fish.
How? Let's start
1.The Brit lives in the red house. The Norwegian in the yellow. It cannot be any other color since blue house is next to Norwegian's and green is in the left of white and we need to have a blue house right of green to have it as the first house so it means 1.yellow, 2.blue, 3. red, 4.green, 5. white
2. Why red (Brit) in centre, since the centre house owner drinks milk and the owner of green house drinks coffee.
3. The Norwegian, owner of first house (yellow) smokes dunhill the blue house owner keeps the horse.
4. The man who smokes Bluemasters and drinks beer lives in the white house and be Swede because red(Brit in centre) drinks milk, yellow(Norwegian) smokes Dunhill, green- coffee, Dane- tea....also man owner...mentioned
5. Since green house owner drinks coffee it has to be German because it's the only nationality left, so the blue house is owned by Dane.
6. Since water is the only beverage left so Norwegian drinks it.
7. The Dane(blue) smokes Blends since it has a neighbour who drinks water.
8. All except Brit (red) has a cigar brand . So he smokes Pall Mall and rears birds. So the only neighbour who Dane (Blends) who has cat is Norwegian. So it's the German who has the fish.
....Hope its the right answer.

Jai Gurudev.

nands said...

Jai Guru Dev.

German owns the fish.

Here is how I got it.
First I made a table of 1 to 5 and Person to Pet as below, and started filling the things.
Only after 4-5 attempts and a break for dinner, could I satisfy all the conditions.
Norwegian in 1.
There are 5 houses, so 3 is blue.
Green and White houses should be adjcent, so Brit with red house can either be at 3 or 5.
I tried putting Brit in 5, but got struck later. So, Brit in 3!
Yellow remains which should go for only option remaining, house 1.
So Norwegian will have Dunhill and house 2 will have horse.
And so on.


1 2 3 4 5
Person Norwegian Dane Brit German Swede
House Yellow Blue Red Green White
Beverage water Tea Milk Coffee Beer
Cigar Dunhill Blends Pall Mall Prince Bluemasters
Pet Cats Horse Birds FISH Dog

Anonymous said...

Hous: Yelw Blue Red Green White
Nat: Norw Dane Brit Germ Swede
Bev: Water Tea Milk Coff Beer
Cig: Dunhi Blen Pall Prin Bluem
Pet: Cats Hors Bird FISH Dogs

Ajaykumar said...

Dear Bawa,

The Norwegian has fish as the pet.

If that's the right answer (or not!) please Pray to Guruji for Me :) That my life be set right and things settle in my personal and professional life.

Love.

Ajaykumar Menon.

Anonymous said...

Nobody owns fish.
There are only four statments which tell about pets owned.
1.The Swede keeps DOGS as pets.
2.The person who smokes Pall Mall rears BIRDS.
3.The man who smokes Blends lives next to the one who keeps CATS.
4.The man who keeps the HORSE lives next to the man who smokes Dunhill.
The 5 th sentence that may be about pets is
5:The MAN owner who smokes Bluemasters drinks beer.

So nobody owns fish.

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