Einstein Mystery - Solution

The Answer: The German owns the fish tank.

How did we arrive at this? You can work this all out by making a table. In the top row, list all the houses, 1-5 (where the numbers relate to position - ie: 1 is to the left of 2, 3 is to the right of 2, etc.). Then in each column, list the main attributes:

• nationality

• color of house

• cigarette smoked by owner

• type of drink owner prefers

• type of pet owner keeps

Then fill in what you know starting with the houses. There are a few details we know right away:

• the owner of the middle house (#3) drinks milk

• the Norwegian lives in the first house (#1)

• the Norwegian lives next door to the blue house, which means house #2 is blue since the Norwegian is on the far left

  
  

With these in place, we can think more about what we know about position. There is one peculiar detail. Did you spot it? The green house is on the immediate left of the white house. This is important because the owner of the green house drinks coffee, so the green house can't be the middle house (since its owner drinks milk). And, since the blue house is the second house, the green and white can't be the first or second (since green is immediately left of white), so they have to be the fourth and fifth respectively.

Knowing this, a few more pieces fall into place:

• the owner of the green house drinks coffee (house #4)

• the Brit lives in the red house, which means the remaining color (yellow) must be the Norwegian's house. This also means the Brit lives in the third (red) house

  
  

The second detail makes another piece fall into place: The owner of the yellow house (Norwegian #1) smokes Dunhills.

Now, we know the man who keeps horses lives next to the man who smokes Dunhills, so since the Norwegian smokes Dunhills, that means house #2's owner must keep horses.

It might look like we've hit a wall here. In a way, we have, because this is where the puzzle gets tricky (and why it's nicknamed "Einstein's Mystery"). To move forward, we'll put all the remaining possibilities in the empty boxes.

At this point, we can eliminate some of the possibilities based on what we know.

• the man who smokes Camel's drinks beer (so the Norwegian can't drink beer because he smokes Dunhill's)

• the Dane drinks tea (so the Norwegian can't drink tea either, which means the only possibility is that he drinks water

Next, we can eliminate some more:

• the Dane drinks tea (so he can't be in house #4)

• the Swede keeps dogs as pets (so house #1, the Norwegian, can't keep dogs, nor house #3, and house #2 can't be Swede, since its owner keeps horses).

• the man who smokes Marlboro's has a neighbor who drinks water. And since we now know the Norwegian drinks water, this means house #2, the only neighbor, must smoke Marlboro

Ok, now knowing that house #2's owner smokes Marlboro opens another door:

• the owner who smokes Camel's drinks beer (so this can't be house #2 and can only be house #5, which also means that house #5's owner smokes Camel)

• The German smokes Rothman's, so that means #2's owner must be the Dane

We're getting close now.....

• the German smokes Rothman's, which leaves only house #4 for him (and means house #5 has to be the Swede, which also means the Brit smokes Pall Mall)

• the owner who smokes Pall Mall (now we know it's the Brit) keeps birds

• the owner who smokes Marlboro lives next door to the one who keeps cats (so this must be the Norwegian, #1, since we just found out the other neighbor, #3, keeps birds)

And finally - the Swede keeps dogs as pets, which means......the German keeps fish!

There you have it. Orderly thinking and pure logic lead the way, walking hand in hand with a necessary overdose of patience!