Deduce #36: The café — the solution

The Deduce puzzle from September 19, 2026, worked through clue by clue: 7 clues, 3 rounds of crossing off, and no guessing anywhere.

The puzzle

Four people — Gwen, Finn, Hugo and Ben — and three things to work out about each: their drink, pastry and time. The clues only ever rule things out.

1. The one with the bagel is the one at 10am.
2. Gwen is the cocoa drinker.
3. Finn is not the lemonade drinker.
4. The juice drinker is exactly 2 hours after the one with the tart.
5. The one with the muffin is exactly 3 hours after Hugo.
6. The cocoa drinker is exactly 2 hours after Hugo.
7. Hugo is the coffee drinker.

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, “Gwen is the cocoa drinker”: cocoa comes off Finn, Hugo and Ben. That settles it: Gwen’s drink is cocoa.

Clue 3, “Finn is not the lemonade drinker”: lemonade comes off Finn.

Clue 5, “The one with the muffin is exactly 3 hours after Hugo”: muffin comes off Hugo; 11am, noon and 1pm come off Hugo. That settles it: Hugo is at 10am.

Clue 6, “The cocoa drinker is exactly 2 hours after Hugo”: 10am, 11am and 1pm come off Gwen. That settles it: Gwen is at noon.

Clue 7, “Hugo is the coffee drinker”: coffee comes off Finn and Ben. That settles it: Finn’s drink is juice and Hugo’s drink is coffee.

Round 2

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

Juice is Finn’s, so it comes off Ben. That settles it: Ben’s drink is lemonade.

noon is Gwen’s, so it comes off Finn and Ben.

10am is Hugo’s, so it comes off Finn and Ben.

Clue 1, “The one with the bagel is the one at 10am”: bagel comes off Gwen, Finn and Ben. That settles it: Hugo’s pastry is bagel.

Clue 4, “The juice drinker is exactly 2 hours after the one with the tart”: tart comes off Gwen and Finn; 11am comes off Finn; 1pm comes off Ben. That settles it: Finn is at 1pm and Ben is at 11am.

Clue 5, “The one with the muffin is exactly 3 hours after Hugo”: muffin comes off Gwen and Ben. That settles it: Gwen’s pastry is brownie.

Round 3

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

Brownie is Gwen’s, so it comes off Finn and Ben. That settles it: Finn’s pastry is muffin and Ben’s pastry is tart.

The answer

Previous: Deduce #35 (Fri, Sep 18) · Next: Deduce #37 (Sun, Sep 20)

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.