Deduce #27: The gardens — the solution

The Deduce puzzle from September 10, 2026, worked through clue by clue: 8 clues, 4 rounds of crossing off, and no guessing anywhere.

The puzzle

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

1. Quinn is the one by the oak gate.
2. The poppies grower is exactly 3 gardens after Gwen.
3. Gwen is in a lower-numbered garden than the roses grower.
4. The lilies grower is not the one in garden 5.
5. The one by the wicker gate is the one in garden 6.
6. Marco is in a lower-numbered garden than the one by the wicker gate.
7. Gwen is the one by the iron gate.
8. The roses grower is in a lower-numbered garden than Quinn.

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, “Quinn is the one by the oak gate”: oak comes off Gwen, Jonah and Marco. That settles it: Quinn’s gate is oak.

Clue 2, “The poppies grower is exactly 3 gardens after Gwen”: poppies comes off Gwen; garden 4, garden 5 and garden 6 come off Gwen. That settles it: Gwen is in garden 3.

Clue 3, “Gwen is in a lower-numbered garden than the roses grower”: roses comes off Gwen.

Clue 5, “The one by the wicker gate is the one in garden 6”: wicker comes off Gwen; garden 6 comes off Quinn.

Clue 6, “Marco is in a lower-numbered garden than the one by the wicker gate”: wicker comes off Marco; garden 3 comes off Jonah; garden 6 comes off Marco.

Clue 7, “Gwen is the one by the iron gate”: iron comes off Jonah and Marco. That settles it: Gwen’s gate is iron and Marco’s gate is stone.

Clue 8, “The roses grower is in a lower-numbered garden than Quinn”: roses comes off Quinn; garden 3 comes off Quinn.

Round 2

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

Stone is Marco’s, so it comes off Jonah. That settles it: Jonah’s gate is wicker.

garden 3 is Gwen’s, so it comes off Marco.

Nobody but Jonah can still have garden 6, so Jonah is in garden 6.

Clue 2, “The poppies grower is exactly 3 gardens after Gwen”: poppies comes off Quinn and Marco.

Clue 8, “The roses grower is in a lower-numbered garden than Quinn”: roses comes off Jonah; garden 4 comes off Quinn; garden 5 comes off Marco. That settles it: Quinn is in garden 5 and Marco is in garden 4.

Round 3

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

Nobody but Jonah can still have poppies, so Jonah’s flower is poppies.

Nobody but Marco can still have roses, so Marco’s flower is roses.

Clue 4, “The lilies grower is not the one in garden 5”: lilies comes off Quinn. That settles it: Quinn’s flower is tulips.

Round 4

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

Tulips is Quinn’s, so it comes off Gwen. That settles it: Gwen’s flower is lilies.

The answer

Previous: Deduce #26 (Wed, Sep 9) · Next: Deduce #28 (Fri, Sep 11)

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.