Deduce #18: The flats — the solution

The Deduce puzzle from September 1, 2026, worked through clue by clue: 7 clues, 4 rounds of crossing off, and no guessing anywhere.

The puzzle

Four people — Gwen, Eve, Rosa and Sam — and three things to work out about each: their pet, instrument and floor. The clues only ever rule things out.

1. The drums player is the one on floor 4.
2. Sam is the drums player.
3. Gwen is exactly 2 floors after the piano player.
4. The rabbit owner is on a lower floor than Rosa.
5. Gwen is not the parrot owner.
6. The cat owner is the piano player.
7. The flute player is not the one on floor 2.

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, “Sam is the drums player”: drums comes off Gwen, Eve and Rosa. That settles it: Sam’s instrument is drums.

Clue 3, “Gwen is exactly 2 floors after the piano player”: piano comes off Gwen; floor 2 and floor 3 come off Gwen.

Clue 4, “The rabbit owner is on a lower floor than Rosa”: rabbit comes off Rosa; floor 2 comes off Rosa.

Clue 5, “Gwen is not the parrot owner”: parrot comes off Gwen.

Clue 6, “The cat owner is the piano player”: cat comes off Gwen and Sam.

Round 2

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

Clue 1, “The drums player is the one on floor 4”: floor 4 comes off Gwen, Eve and Rosa. That settles it: Gwen is on floor 5 and Sam is on floor 4.

Clue 4, “The rabbit owner is on a lower floor than Rosa”: rabbit comes off Gwen. That settles it: Gwen’s pet is gerbil.

Clue 7, “The flute player is not the one on floor 2”: flute comes off Eve.

Round 3

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

Gerbil is Gwen’s, so it comes off Eve, Rosa and Sam.

floor 5 is Gwen’s, so it comes off Eve and Rosa. That settles it: Rosa is on floor 3.

floor 3 is Rosa’s, so it comes off Eve. That settles it: Eve is on floor 2.

Clue 3, “Gwen is exactly 2 floors after the piano player”: piano comes off Eve. That settles it: Eve’s instrument is banjo.

Clue 4, “The rabbit owner is on a lower floor than Rosa”: rabbit comes off Sam. That settles it: Sam’s pet is parrot.

Clue 6, “The cat owner is the piano player”: cat comes off Eve. That settles it: Rosa’s pet is cat and Rosa’s instrument is piano.

Round 4

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

Parrot is Sam’s, so it comes off Eve. That settles it: Eve’s pet is rabbit.

Banjo is Eve’s, so it comes off Gwen. That settles it: Gwen’s instrument is flute.

The answer

Previous: Deduce #17 (Mon, Aug 31) · Next: Deduce #19 (Wed, Sep 2)

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.