Deduce #19: The gardens — the solution

The Deduce puzzle from September 2, 2026, worked through clue by clue: 8 clues, 4 rounds of crossing off, and no guessing anywhere.

The puzzle

Four people — Eve, Finn, Ana and Hugo — and three things to work out about each: their flower, gate and garden. The clues only ever rule things out.

1. Eve is the one by the iron gate.
2. The lilies grower is the one in garden 2.
3. Hugo is not the asters grower.
4. The one by the pine gate is the one in garden 4.
5. Ana is not the one by the oak gate.
6. The one by the iron gate is exactly 2 gardens after the tulips grower.
7. Ana is the tulips grower.
8. The one by the wicker gate is in a lower-numbered garden than Hugo.

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, “Eve is the one by the iron gate”: iron comes off Finn, Ana and Hugo. That settles it: Eve’s gate is iron.

Clue 3, “Hugo is not the asters grower”: asters comes off Hugo.

Clue 4, “The one by the pine gate is the one in garden 4”: garden 4 comes off Eve.

Clue 5, “Ana is not the one by the oak gate”: oak comes off Ana.

Clue 6, “The one by the iron gate is exactly 2 gardens after the tulips grower”: tulips comes off Eve; garden 2 and garden 3 come off Eve. That settles it: Eve is in garden 5.

Clue 7, “Ana is the tulips grower”: tulips comes off Finn and Hugo. That settles it: Ana’s flower is tulips.

Clue 8, “The one by the wicker gate is in a lower-numbered garden than Hugo”: wicker comes off Hugo; garden 2 comes off Hugo.

Round 2

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

garden 5 is Eve’s, so it comes off Finn, Ana and Hugo.

Clue 2, “The lilies grower is the one in garden 2”: lilies comes off Eve and Hugo; garden 2 comes off Ana. That settles it: Finn’s flower is lilies, Hugo’s flower is dahlias and Finn is in garden 2.

Clue 4, “The one by the pine gate is the one in garden 4”: pine comes off Finn.

Clue 6, “The one by the iron gate is exactly 2 gardens after the tulips grower”: garden 4 comes off Ana. That settles it: Ana is in garden 3.

Round 3

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

Dahlias is Hugo’s, so it comes off Eve. That settles it: Eve’s flower is asters.

garden 3 is Ana’s, so it comes off Hugo. That settles it: Hugo is in garden 4.

Clue 4, “The one by the pine gate is the one in garden 4”: pine comes off Ana. That settles it: Ana’s gate is wicker and Hugo’s gate is pine.

Round 4

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

Wicker is Ana’s, so it comes off Finn. That settles it: Finn’s gate is oak.

The answer

Previous: Deduce #18 (Tue, Sep 1) · Next: Deduce #20 (Thu, Sep 3)

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.