Deduce #9: The race — the solution

The Deduce puzzle from August 23, 2026, worked through clue by clue: 7 clues, 3 rounds of crossing off, and no guessing anywhere.

The puzzle

Four people — Sam, Jonah, Omar and Lena — and three things to work out about each: their jersey, club and place. The clues only ever rule things out.

1. Sam is the Foxes runner.
2. The one in the yellow jersey is exactly 3 places after Sam.
3. Jonah is not the Owls runner.
4. Omar is not the Owls runner.
5. Jonah is ahead of the Striders runner.
6. The one in the red jersey is the Foxes runner.
7. Omar is the one in the blue jersey.

The walkthrough

A round is one pass over the clues. Each round applies what the last one settled; every step below is an elimination the clues force, in the order a solver would take them.

Round 1

Start with every possibility open, and take the clues in order.

Clue 1, “Sam is the Foxes runner”: Foxes comes off Jonah, Omar and Lena. That settles it: Sam’s club is Foxes.

Clue 2, “The one in the yellow jersey is exactly 3 places after Sam”: yellow comes off Sam; 4th, 5th and 6th come off Sam. That settles it: Sam is in 3rd.

Clue 3, “Jonah is not the Owls runner”: Owls comes off Jonah.

Clue 4, “Omar is not the Owls runner”: Owls comes off Omar.

Clue 5, “Jonah is ahead of the Striders runner”: Striders comes off Jonah; 6th comes off Jonah. That settles it: Jonah’s club is Pacers.

Clue 6, “The one in the red jersey is the Foxes runner”: red comes off Jonah, Omar and Lena. That settles it: Sam’s jersey is red.

Clue 7, “Omar is the one in the blue jersey”: blue comes off Jonah and Lena. That settles it: Omar’s jersey is blue.

Round 2

Go back over the clues with the new facts in hand.

Pacers is Jonah’s, so it comes off Omar and Lena. That settles it: Omar’s club is Striders.

Striders is Omar’s, so it comes off Lena. That settles it: Lena’s club is Owls.

3rd is Sam’s, so it comes off Jonah, Omar and Lena.

Clue 2, “The one in the yellow jersey is exactly 3 places after Sam”: yellow comes off Jonah; 4th and 5th come off Lena. That settles it: Jonah’s jersey is green and Lena is in 6th.

Clue 5, “Jonah is ahead of the Striders runner”: 4th comes off Omar.

Round 3

Go back over the clues with the new facts in hand.

Green is Jonah’s, so it comes off Lena. That settles it: Lena’s jersey is yellow.

6th is Lena’s, so it comes off Omar. That settles it: Omar is in 5th.

Nobody but Jonah can still have 4th, so Jonah is in 4th.

The answer

Previous: Deduce #8 (Sat, Aug 22) · Next: Deduce #10 (Mon, Aug 24)

About Deduce

Deduce is Noggin’s daily logic grid: four people, three things to work out about each, and clues that never hand you an answer. Every puzzle has exactly one solution and can be finished by crossing off alone. How to play Deduce, or play today’s.