Deduce #34: The bakery line — the solution

The Deduce puzzle from September 17, 2026, worked through clue by clue: 8 clues, 4 rounds of crossing off, and no guessing anywhere.

The puzzle

Four people — Iris, Dan, Ana and Lena — and three things to work out about each: their order, coat and spot. The clues only ever rule things out.

1. The one buying a donut is not the one in the brown coat.
2. Lena is exactly 3 places after the one buying a donut.
3. The one in the green coat is not the one 2nd in line.
4. Lena is the one in the cream coat.
5. Lena is the one buying a roll.
6. The one buying a cake is ahead of Ana.
7. The one in the brown coat is not the one 2nd in line.
8. The one buying a roll is exactly 2 places after Iris.

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, “Lena is exactly 3 places after the one buying a donut”: a donut comes off Lena; 1st, 2nd and 3rd come off Lena. That settles it: Lena is 4th in line.

Clue 4, “Lena is the one in the cream coat”: cream comes off Iris, Dan and Ana. That settles it: Lena’s coat is cream.

Clue 5, “Lena is the one buying a roll”: a roll comes off Iris, Dan and Ana. That settles it: Lena’s order is a roll.

Clue 6, “The one buying a cake is ahead of Ana”: a cake comes off Ana; 1st comes off Ana.

Clue 8, “The one buying a roll is exactly 2 places after Iris”: 1st, 3rd and 4th come off Iris. That settles it: Iris is 2nd in line.

Round 2

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

2nd is Iris’s, so it comes off Dan and Ana.

4th is Lena’s, so it comes off Dan and Ana. That settles it: Ana is 3rd in line.

Nobody but Dan can still have 1st, so Dan is 1st in line.

Clue 2, “Lena is exactly 3 places after the one buying a donut”: a donut comes off Iris and Ana. That settles it: Ana’s order is a pie.

Clue 3, “The one in the green coat is not the one 2nd in line”: green comes off Iris.

Clue 7, “The one in the brown coat is not the one 2nd in line”: brown comes off Iris. That settles it: Iris’s coat is red.

Round 3

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

A pie is Ana’s, so it comes off Iris and Dan. That settles it: Iris’s order is a cake.

Nobody but Dan can still have a donut, so Dan’s order is a donut.

Red is Iris’s, so it comes off Dan and Ana.

Clue 1, “The one buying a donut is not the one in the brown coat”: brown comes off Dan. That settles it: Dan’s coat is green.

Round 4

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

Green is Dan’s, so it comes off Ana. That settles it: Ana’s coat is brown.

The answer

Previous: Deduce #33 (Wed, Sep 16) · Next: Deduce #35 (Fri, Sep 18)

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.