Deduce #14: The gardens — the solution

The Deduce puzzle from August 28, 2026, worked through clue by clue: 7 clues, 3 rounds of crossing off, and no guessing anywhere.

The puzzle

Four people — Gwen, Dan, Vic and Tess — and three things to work out about each: their flower, gate and garden. The clues only ever rule things out.

1. The one by the wicker gate is exactly 2 gardens after the roses grower.
2. Vic is in a lower-numbered garden than the dahlias grower.
3. Dan is the one in garden 3.
4. Gwen is exactly 2 gardens after the dahlias grower.
5. Gwen is the one by the willow gate.
6. The poppies grower is the one in garden 3.
7. Vic is the one by the oak gate.

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 2, “Vic is in a lower-numbered garden than the dahlias grower”: dahlias comes off Vic; garden 4 comes off Vic.

Clue 3, “Dan is the one in garden 3”: garden 3 comes off Gwen, Vic and Tess. That settles it: Dan is in garden 3.

Clue 4, “Gwen is exactly 2 gardens after the dahlias grower”: dahlias comes off Gwen and Dan; garden 1 comes off Gwen and Tess; garden 2 comes off Gwen; garden 4 comes off Tess. That settles it: Gwen is in garden 4 and Tess is in garden 2.

Clue 5, “Gwen is the one by the willow gate”: willow comes off Dan, Vic and Tess. That settles it: Gwen’s gate is willow.

Clue 6, “The poppies grower is the one in garden 3”: poppies comes off Gwen, Vic and Tess. That settles it: Dan’s flower is poppies.

Clue 7, “Vic is the one by the oak gate”: oak comes off Dan and Tess. That settles it: Vic’s gate is oak.

Round 2

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

Nobody but Tess can still have dahlias, so Tess’s flower is dahlias.

garden 2 is Tess’s, so it comes off Vic. That settles it: Vic is in garden 1.

Clue 1, “The one by the wicker gate is exactly 2 gardens after the roses grower”: roses comes off Gwen; wicker comes off Tess. That settles it: Gwen’s flower is tulips and Tess’s gate is stone.

Round 3

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

Tulips is Gwen’s, so it comes off Vic. That settles it: Vic’s flower is roses.

Stone is Tess’s, so it comes off Dan. That settles it: Dan’s gate is wicker.

The answer

Previous: Deduce #13 (Thu, Aug 27) · Next: Deduce #15 (Sat, Aug 29)

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.