Deduce #22: The race — the solution

The Deduce puzzle from September 5, 2026, worked through clue by clue: 7 clues, 3 rounds of crossing off, and no guessing anywhere.

The puzzle

Four people — Ben, Wes, Kit and Rosa — and three things to work out about each: their jersey, club and place. The clues only ever rule things out.

1. The Wanderers runner is not the one in 5th.
2. Ben is the one in 5th.
3. The one in the blue jersey is exactly 3 places after Wes.
4. Kit is the Foxes runner.
5. Kit is the one in the green jersey.
6. Kit is exactly 2 places after the one in the yellow jersey.
7. The one in the blue jersey is exactly 2 places after the Pacers runner.

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, “Ben is the one in 5th”: 5th comes off Wes, Kit and Rosa. That settles it: Ben is in 5th.

Clue 3, “The one in the blue jersey is exactly 3 places after Wes”: blue comes off Wes, Kit and Rosa; 3rd and 4th come off Wes. That settles it: Wes is in 2nd.

Clue 4, “Kit is the Foxes runner”: Foxes comes off Ben, Wes and Rosa. That settles it: Kit’s club is Foxes.

Clue 5, “Kit is the one in the green jersey”: green comes off Ben, Wes and Rosa. That settles it: Kit’s jersey is green.

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

Clue 7, “The one in the blue jersey is exactly 2 places after the Pacers runner”: Pacers comes off Ben and Wes; 2nd and 4th come off Rosa. That settles it: Rosa is in 3rd.

Round 2

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

Nobody but Ben can still have blue, so Ben’s jersey is blue.

Nobody but Rosa can still have Pacers, so Rosa’s club is Pacers.

Clue 1, “The Wanderers runner is not the one in 5th”: Wanderers comes off Ben. That settles it: Ben’s club is Striders.

Clue 6, “Kit is exactly 2 places after the one in the yellow jersey”: yellow comes off Rosa. That settles it: Rosa’s jersey is red.

Round 3

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

Red is Rosa’s, so it comes off Wes. That settles it: Wes’s jersey is yellow.

Striders is Ben’s, so it comes off Wes. That settles it: Wes’s club is Wanderers.

The answer

Previous: Deduce #21 (Fri, Sep 4) · Next: Deduce #23 (Sun, Sep 6)

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.