Deduce #30: The race — the solution

The Deduce puzzle from September 13, 2026, worked through clue by clue: 7 clues, 3 rounds of crossing off, and no guessing anywhere.

The puzzle

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

1. Tess is the one in the white jersey.
2. The one in the white jersey is the one in 5th.
3. The Harriers runner is not the one in 3rd.
4. Cleo is the one in 2nd.
5. The one in the blue jersey is exactly 2 places after the Owls runner.
6. Iris is exactly 2 places after the one in the green jersey.
7. The Wanderers runner is the one in 5th.

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, “Tess is the one in the white jersey”: white comes off Iris, Cleo and Sam. That settles it: Tess’s jersey is white.

Clue 2, “The one in the white jersey is the one in 5th”: 5th comes off Iris, Cleo and Sam. That settles it: Tess is in 5th.

Clue 4, “Cleo is the one in 2nd”: 2nd comes off Iris and Sam. That settles it: Cleo is in 2nd.

Clue 5, “The one in the blue jersey is exactly 2 places after the Owls runner”: Owls comes off Tess, Iris and Sam; blue comes off Cleo.

Clue 6, “Iris is exactly 2 places after the one in the green jersey”: green comes off Iris and Sam; 3rd comes off Iris. That settles it: Iris is in 4th.

Clue 7, “The Wanderers runner is the one in 5th”: Wanderers comes off Iris, Cleo and Sam. That settles it: Tess’s club is Wanderers.

Round 2

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

Nobody but Cleo can still have green, so Cleo’s jersey is green.

Nobody but Cleo can still have Owls, so Cleo’s club is Owls.

4th is Iris’s, so it comes off Sam. That settles it: Sam is in 3rd.

Clue 3, “The Harriers runner is not the one in 3rd”: Harriers comes off Sam. That settles it: Sam’s club is Pacers.

Clue 5, “The one in the blue jersey is exactly 2 places after the Owls runner”: blue comes off Sam. That settles it: Sam’s jersey is red.

Round 3

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

Red is Sam’s, so it comes off Iris. That settles it: Iris’s jersey is blue.

Pacers is Sam’s, so it comes off Iris. That settles it: Iris’s club is Harriers.

The answer

Previous: Deduce #29 (Sat, Sep 12) · Next: Deduce #31 (Mon, Sep 14)

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.