Deduce #38: The race — the solution

The Deduce puzzle from September 21, 2026, worked through clue by clue: 7 clues, 4 rounds of crossing off, and no guessing anywhere.

The puzzle

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

1. Wes is not the Harriers runner.
2. The Owls runner is ahead of the one in the blue jersey.
3. The Owls runner is exactly 2 places after Ana.
4. Zara is the one in 4th.
5. Zara is the one in the green jersey.
6. The one in the yellow jersey is not the one in 3rd.
7. Wes is exactly 3 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 1, “Wes is not the Harriers runner”: Harriers comes off Wes.

Clue 3, “The Owls runner is exactly 2 places after Ana”: Owls comes off Ana; 4th and 5th come off Ana.

Clue 4, “Zara is the one in 4th”: 4th comes off Wes and Dan. That settles it: Zara is in 4th.

Clue 5, “Zara is the one in the green jersey”: green comes off Wes, Ana and Dan. That settles it: Zara’s jersey is green.

Clue 7, “Wes is exactly 3 places after the Pacers runner”: Pacers comes off Zara and Wes; 2nd and 3rd come off Wes. That settles it: Wes is in 5th.

Round 2

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

5th is Wes’s, so it comes off Dan.

Clue 2, “The Owls runner is ahead of the one in the blue jersey”: blue comes off Dan; Owls comes off Wes. That settles it: Wes’s club is Foxes.

Clue 3, “The Owls runner is exactly 2 places after Ana”: Owls comes off Dan; 3rd comes off Ana. That settles it: Ana is in 2nd.

Clue 6, “The one in the yellow jersey is not the one in 3rd”: yellow comes off Dan. That settles it: Dan’s jersey is black.

Round 3

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

Black is Dan’s, so it comes off Wes and Ana.

Foxes is Wes’s, so it comes off Zara, Ana and Dan.

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

2nd is Ana’s, so it comes off Dan. That settles it: Dan is in 3rd.

Clue 2, “The Owls runner is ahead of the one in the blue jersey”: blue comes off Ana. That settles it: Ana’s jersey is yellow.

Clue 7, “Wes is exactly 3 places after the Pacers runner”: Pacers comes off Dan. That settles it: Dan’s club is Harriers.

Round 4

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

Yellow is Ana’s, so it comes off Wes. That settles it: Wes’s jersey is blue.

Harriers is Dan’s, so it comes off Ana. That settles it: Ana’s club is Pacers.

The answer

Previous: Deduce #37 (Sun, Sep 20) · Next: Deduce #39 (Tue, Sep 22)

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.