All-Star Puzzles
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Furniture Sales
A big sale helps clear the store floor.
September 19, 2008
From the introduction, no two of the five pieces of furniture sold for the same price, the five items sold for a total of $10,000; while by clue 10, the lowest-priced piece of furniture went for $1,000. Three of the five salespeople are given in clue 3: Stickley, whose sale was for $500 more than that of Rick, whose item sold for $1,000 more than the painting. By clue 5, Jenna's item cost twice as much as the piece Harris sold. Jenna isn't Stickley (1), so either Jenna sold the painting or Jenna is the fourth salesperson to the three listed in clue 3. If Jenna had sold the painting and we let Harris's sale be for the lowest amount, $1,000 (clue 10), Jenna's sale would have been for $2,000, Rick's sale would have cost $3,000, and Stickley would have sold a $3,500 item--a total of $9,500, leaving the fifth salesperson with $500 in sales and contradicting clue 10. If we let Harris's item having sold for more than the low of $1,000, the fifth salesperson would have sold an item for even less than $500. So, Jenna didn't sell the painting; she is the fourth salesperson to the three in clue 3. In clue 5, then, either Harris is Rick, Harris sold the painting, or Harris is the fifth salesperson to the four already recovered. If Harris were Rick and we let the the painting be the $1,000 item in clue 10, by clues 3 and 5, Rick Harris would have made a $2,000 sale, Stickley would have sold a piece of furniture ofr $2,500, and Jenna's item would have had a sale price of $4,000--a total of $9,500, leaving the fifth person with a $500 sale and contradicting clue 10. If the painting had sold for more than the $1,000 low, of course, the fifth salesperson would have brought in even less than $500. Therefore, Harris isn't Rick. If Harris had sold the painting, either Harris would have sold it for $1,000; or, since Jenna isn't Stickley (1), the piece Harris sold would have gone for the 4th-highest price. If Harris had sold the painting for $1,000, both Rick's (3) and Jenna's (5) sales would have been for $2,000--by the introduction, no. If Harris had made the 4th-highest sale, then the four highest would have sold $9,000 of furniture total (10). Letting Harris's sale equal X, by clues 3 and 5, Rick's would have been for X + 1,000, Stickley's X + 1,500, and Jenna's 2X, so that 5X + 2,500 would equal $9,000, or X would equal $1,300. So Harris would one item for $1,300, Rick one for $2,300, Stickley $2,800, and Jenna $2,600. By clue 2, the person who sold the coffee table sold it for twice as much as the piece of furniture Moore sold. There is no way for this clue to work given the arrangement with Harris as the one selling the painting for the 4th-highest price. So, Harris is the fifth salesperson to Stickley, Rick, the one who sold the painting, and Jenna. Either Harris's item or the painting sold for the low of $1,000 (3, 5, 10). If Harris had sold the $1,000 item, then Jenna's would have sold for $2,000 (5), leaving $7,000 in sales for the three in clue 3. Letting the painting's price be X, Rick's item would have cost X + 1,000 and Stickley's X + 1,500--or 3X + 2,500 equals 7,000 and X = 1,500. So, the painting would have sold for $1,500 worth, Rick's item for $2,500, and Stickley's item for $3,000. The only way clue 2 could fit into this arrangement would be if Moore had sold the painting and Stickley the coffee table--no (6). Therefore, the painting sold for $1,000, Rick sold an item for $2,000, and Stickley's sale brought $2,500, a total of $5,500 and leaving $4,500 between the furniture sold by Jenna and Harris. By clue 5, Jenna sold an item for $3,000 and Harris one for $1,500. By clue 2, Moore is the salesperson who sold the painting, and Rick sold the coffee table to his customer. By clue 9, Fred is Stickley. Cynthia is Harris and Bill Moore (8). Neither Jenna (4) nor Cynthia (8) sold the sideboard, so Fred did. By clue 1, Jenna sold a customer the loveseat, so Cynthia sold the nightstand. Jenna is Broyhill and Rick Drexel (7). The five Friendly Furniture salespeople and the items they sold off the floor yesterday are

  • Jenna Broyhill, loveseat, $3,000
  • Fred Stickley, sideboard, $2,500
  • Rick Drexel, coffee table, $2,000
  • Cynthia Harris, nightstand, $1,500
  • Bill Moore, painting, $1,000

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