All-Star Puzzles
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Communal Cookout
Six couples celebrate the traditional start of summer with a cookout.
June 2, 2003
From the introduction, the six apartments flank a central stairwell and are numbered 1A, 2A, and 3A from bottom to top on the left side of the entrance opposite respectively 1B, 2B, and 3B on the right. By clue 7, on one side of the building, Dan and his wife live directly above the Rulands, who live directly above the couple who supplied the cookout sodas; so, on one side of the building, Dan and his wife are on the 3rd floor, the Rulands are on the 2nd, and the couple who brought the sodas are on the 1st. Chad and his wife live on the same floor as Mr. & Mrs. Steiner (clue 8). Since Chad isn't Ruland (3), he and his wife don't live on the 2nd floor; and since Dan isn't Mr. Steiner (2), Chad and the Steiners don't live on the 3rd floor. Chad and his spouse and the Steiners have 1st-floor apartments. Chad and his wife didn't bring the sodas (3), so the Steiners did. By clue 5, Ed and his wife and Irina and her husband have apartments on the same floor of the building. Since Dan and Irina aren't a couple (2), Irina and her husband aren't on the 3rd floor. Since Ed isn't Steiner (12), he and his wife aren't in a 1st-floor apartment. Ed and his wife and Irina and her husband have apartments on the 2nd floor. By clue 1, the Oldmans and the couple who furnished the fruit bowl live on the same floor. They can't live on the 1st floor, since Chad would have to be Mr. Oldman and the Steiners would have to have brought the fruit bowl--they brought the sodas. The couples in clue 1 can't be on the 2nd floor, since Irina and her husband aren't the Oldmans and didn't bring the fruit bowl (14). The couples in clue 1 are on the top floor, and either Dan and his wife are the Oldmans or made the fruit bowl for the cookout. First we try Dan and his wife as Mr. & Mrs. Oldman. By clue 4, the baked beans would have been supplied by the couple on the 2nd floor opposite the Rulands, and Chad and his spouse would be the Prestons. However, there is no way for clue 10, where the couple who brought the hot dogs live directly above Mr. & Mrs. Quivers, to work. Therefore, in clue 1, Dan and his wife brought the fruit bowl. Since the Oldmans didn't furnish the cookout baked beans (13), by clue 4, the couple who live on the 2nd floor opposite the Rulands did; and Chad and his wife are the Prestons. By clue 10, the Oldmans brought the hot dogs and buns, while the Quiverses furnished the baked beans. By elimination, Dan and his wife are the Trentons. Irina and her husband are the Rulands (14), with Ed and his wife then Mr. & Mrs. Quivers. By clue 9, Art is Mr. Oldman and Naomi Mrs. Quivers. Monica and her husband don't live on the 3rd floor and thus are on the 1st (15); so by clue 4, they are the Steiners. Monica's husband is Bill (15), and Irina's is Frank. By clue 6, the Rulands made the potato salad; the Prestons brought the hamburgers and buns. Jessica is Mrs. Preston (16). By clue 10, Louisa is Mrs. Trenton and Helena Mrs. Oldman. Since Jessica and Chad aren't in Apt. 1B (11), they are in 1A; and the Steiners are in 1B. Then the Quiverses are in 2A and the Oldmans in 3A, with the Rulands in 2B and the Trentons in 3B. In sum, the six couples who had the Memorial Day cookout are

  • Apt. 3A - Art & Helena Oldman, hot dogs and buns
  • Apt. 2A - Ed & Naomi Quivers, baked beans
  • Apt. 1A - Chad & Jessica Preston, hamburgers and buns
  • Apt. 3B - Dan & Louisa Trenton, fruit bowl
  • Apt. 2B - Frank & Irina Ruland, potato salad
  • Apt. 1B - Bill & Monica Steiner, sodas

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