Deduce #17: The race — the solution

The Deduce puzzle from August 31, 2026, worked through clue by clue: 7 clues, 3 rounds of crossing off, and no guessing anywhere.

The puzzle

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

1. Omar is the Harriers runner.
2. Marco is the one in the blue jersey.
3. The Pacers runner is ahead of Finn.
4. The one in the red jersey is exactly 2 places after Marco.
5. The one in the black jersey is ahead of Marco.
6. Marco is the Striders runner.
7. The Pacers runner is not the one in 2nd.

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, “Omar is the Harriers runner”: Harriers comes off Finn, Marco and Cleo. That settles it: Omar’s club is Harriers.

Clue 2, “Marco is the one in the blue jersey”: blue comes off Finn, Omar and Cleo. That settles it: Marco’s jersey is blue.

Clue 3, “The Pacers runner is ahead of Finn”: Pacers comes off Finn; 2nd comes off Finn.

Clue 4, “The one in the red jersey is exactly 2 places after Marco”: 4th and 5th come off Marco.

Clue 5, “The one in the black jersey is ahead of Marco”: black comes off Finn; 2nd comes off Marco. That settles it: Marco is in 3rd.

Clue 6, “Marco is the Striders runner”: Striders comes off Finn and Cleo. That settles it: Finn’s club is Owls and Marco’s club is Striders.

Clue 7, “The Pacers runner is not the one in 2nd”: 2nd comes off Cleo.

Round 2

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

Owls is Finn’s, so it comes off Cleo. That settles it: Cleo’s club is Pacers.

3rd is Marco’s, so it comes off Finn, Omar and Cleo.

Nobody but Omar can still have 2nd, so Omar is in 2nd.

Clue 3, “The Pacers runner is ahead of Finn”: 4th comes off Finn; 5th comes off Cleo. That settles it: Finn is in 5th and Cleo is in 4th.

Clue 4, “The one in the red jersey is exactly 2 places after Marco”: red comes off Omar and Cleo.

Clue 5, “The one in the black jersey is ahead of Marco”: black comes off Cleo. That settles it: Cleo’s jersey is yellow.

Round 3

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

Yellow is Cleo’s, so it comes off Finn and Omar. That settles it: Finn’s jersey is red and Omar’s jersey is black.

The answer

Previous: Deduce #16 (Sun, Aug 30) · Next: Deduce #18 (Tue, Sep 1)

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.