[RadcliffXX]

Inshallaah when you have time to relax from your other 'ibada on this blessed Juma day (could be another day too) have a go at this problem. Apparantly it is produced by Albert Einstein and he claims 98% of people could not answer it. I've met two brothers (university graduates) who have managed to answer it in around an hour and one of them said it took him to the limits of uncomfortability in his problem solving skills. So now it is time to see whether your problem solving skills are as good as you think. DON'T POST THE ANSWER - you'll know you've got it right once you've met all the hints. Just post how long it took you and how easy/difficult it was. If you already know the answer then try and get it yourself. If you've already done it, then try and recall how long it took and how difficult it was.

Okay, here goes:

Facts:

1. There are 5 houses (along the street) in 5 different colors: blue, green, red, white and yellow.
2. In each house lives a person of a different nationality: Brit, Dane, German, Norwegian and Swede.
3. These 5 owners drink a certain beverage: beer, coffee, milk, tea and water; smoke a certain brand of cigar: Blue Master, Dunhill, Pall Mall, Prince and blend; and keep a certain pet: cat, bird, dog, fish and horse.
4. No owners have the same pet, smoke the same brand of cigar, or drink the same beverage.

Hints:

1. The Brit lives in a red house.
2. The Swede keeps dogs as pets.
3. The Dane drinks tea.
4. The green house is on the left of the white house (next to it).
5. The green house 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 house right in the center drinks milk.
9. The Norwegian lives in the first house.
10. The man who smokes blend lives next to the one who keeps cats.
11. The man who keeps horses lives next to the man who smokes Dunhill.
12. The owner who smokes Blue Master drinks beer.
13. The German smokes Prince.
14. The Norwegian lives next to the blue house.
15. The man who smokes blend has a neighbor who drinks water.

The question is: Who keeps fish?

Jazakallahu khaiyrun



P.S. If this is unislamic please give me a heads up - I'm not that bright in terms of what's allowed and what's not.

[wrardymar]

You can change the drink that starts with 'b' to berry juice.

Took 38 mins to solve.

Does that make me eligible to join the Mensa group (allegedly the top 2% intelligent people in the world). I think not.
Its almost like sudoku puzzle, only thing is that they have replaced numbers with words.
I think those who know to solve sudoku puzzles can easily crack this under an hour.

[ClaudeMarkus]

You can change the drink that starts with 'b' to berry juice.

Took 38 mins to solve.

Does that make me eligible to join the Mensa group (allegedly the top 2% intelligent people in the world). I think not.
Its almost like sudoku puzzle, only thing is that they have replaced numbers with words.
I think those who know to solve sudoku puzzles can easily crack this under an hour.

Yes, we will sign you up for Mensa.

I like sudoku and other sort of puzzles also. I used to do the kind in the opening post a lot when I was growing up. I find these things fun and enjoyable.

[wrardymar]

I like sudoku and other sort of puzzles also. I used to do the kind in the opening post a lot when I was growing up. I find these things fun and enjoyable.

I did use pen and paper. Why dont you give it a shot.

[Olphander]

26 minutes.

(what does it mean if I don't get biryani?)
(love sudoku puzzles, still don't get biryani.)

[wrardymar]

26 minutes.

(what does it mean if I don't get biryani?)
(love sudoku puzzles, still don't get biryani.)

Almanca ?

[Olphander]

Evet.

[RadcliffXX]

Masha'allah, must be the tilawaat-e-quran. Indeed the quran has an immeasurable impact on the brain.
May Allah increase your intellectual power and allow you to use it for His sake.



EDIT: You forgot to put the level of difficulty (out of 10). May Allah exalt the prophet Muhammad PBUH among the 'alamin, his family, his Sahaba, and all those that follow him.

[ReginaPerss]

BEFORE solving a problem is to first decide

is it a problem that REALLY needs solving

[Olphander]

Ameen.

Hmmm... that's hard to answer, almost harder than doing the puzzle itself. For me, I would rate it at a 6-7/10... it's that 'click' moment that pushes and once you get the 'click' (tests flexibility) the rest just flows.

@ brother Ahmed: true and perhaps it is wrong to spend time doing things like sudoku puzzles and such from time to time however, it seems to help with flexibility in problem-solving in other areas too alhamdulillah.

[ClaudeMarkus]

I did use pen and paper. Why dont you give it a shot.

Maybe I already did do it, and just didn't want to post my time?

(That could mean three things: Either I couldn't solve it, or I was super slow and embarrassed about my time, or I was super fast and didn't want to brag.) Take your pick.

P.S. I always use pen and paper also.

[ReginaPerss]

`

`

[Olphander]

I'm not particularly familiar with mensa, nor do I care about IQ scores... Alhamdulillah, puzzles such as the one in OP are solvable by most people and timing is not that big a deal since we all solve some puzzles quicker than others and other puzzles slower (for example: I still don't get the biryani puzzle, despite what look like multiple clues... I remain clueless)... but if we persevere and try to remain flexible in our thinking, insha'Allah, we can all solve them (including the biryani puzzle, insha'Allah without causing hurt or disrespect to others). We can even shave time off those puzzles that seem to take longer... do they have a value, are they worth spending time on, will they make us better Muslims? I like to think so - to sense that 'click' moment, that 'aha' moment that Allah (SWT) has enabled in us and to sit back and say "alhamdulillah!", with awe not at our intelligence but in what Allah (SWT) has created for us all... much like seeing something in nature, figuring out what it is and what it does and thanking Allah (SWT) for the bounty in His signs.

[LymnInvinny]

Taken from logic-puzzles.org? =)

[U2DnBGFE]

Taken from logic-puzzles.org? =)

23 mins , difficulty level 4

[Patamuta]

18 minutes but I did use Notepad.

Highlight to reveal my workup (and don't quote this post unless you want to spoil a possible answer):

Brit red house ? ? ?
Swede ? dogs ? ?
Dane ? ? tea ?
? ? birds ? ?PM
? YELLOW ? ? Dunhill
? ? horses ? ?
? ? ? beer BM
German ? ? ? prince

? ? cats ? ?
? ? ? ? blend
? ? ? water ?

1st Norwegian-Yellow – cats-water-Dunhill
2nd Dane-Blue-Horses-tea-blend
3rd Brit – Red- birds-Milk- PM
(4th)German-Green-fish-coffee-prince
( 5th) Swede-White-dogs -beer-BM

[ClaudeMarkus]

Highlight to reveal my workup (and don't quote this post unless you want to spoil a possible answer):

I always find the process more interesting than the product.

Your horizontal order was different than mine. I used:
Color - Nationality - Drink - Cigar - Pet

But I also used vertical, (same order as my horizontal):

(Box containing color name)
Nationality
Drink
Cigar
Pet

[LymnInvinny]

23 mins , difficulty level 4

Walikum Assalam.

Masha'Allah. Good =)

[RadcliffXX]

BEFORE solving a problem is to first decide

is it a problem that REALLY needs solving

Jazakallahu khaiyrun
Masha'alaah, that is a really elevated level to be in akhi. I guess I am still at the level of enjoying what Allah has made halal in the dunya (it is halal right?) rather than enjoying doing that thing which pleases Allah SWT. But I speak for myself as most other brothers and sisters here (e.g. Acacia's post) have better intention than me and actually use this (which seems time wasting) as a means to please Allah in some way inshallah.
Wallahu a'lam
Funny thing is that successive posts seem to have shorter times of completion and lower difficulties in regards to the problem, masha'allah.

[Lauramalina]

apparently einstein couldnt solve it himself.

University students over an hour? This thing is not difficult. It just takes time and i dont want to spend an hour trying to solve it id rather go and buy some fish myself.

Its like a jigsaw puzzle, just arrange the pieces and youll get the answer.

Thank you.