Deduce #39: The flats — the solution

The Deduce puzzle from September 22, 2026, worked through clue by clue: 7 clues, 3 rounds of crossing off, and no guessing anywhere.

The puzzle

Four people — Zara, Omar, Cleo and Uma — and three things to work out about each: their pet, instrument and floor. The clues only ever rule things out.

1. Omar is not the flute player.
2. The dog owner is the flute player.
3. Uma is the one on floor 3.
4. The gerbil owner is on a lower floor than Cleo.
5. Cleo is the harp player.
6. The parrot owner is on a lower floor than the flute player.
7. The drums player is on a lower floor than Omar.

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, “Omar is not the flute player”: flute comes off Omar.

Clue 2, “The dog owner is the flute player”: dog comes off Omar.

Clue 3, “Uma is the one on floor 3”: floor 3 comes off Zara, Omar and Cleo. That settles it: Uma is on floor 3.

Clue 4, “The gerbil owner is on a lower floor than Cleo”: gerbil comes off Cleo; floor 2 comes off Cleo.

Clue 5, “Cleo is the harp player”: harp comes off Zara, Omar and Uma. That settles it: Cleo’s instrument is harp.

Clue 7, “The drums player is on a lower floor than Omar”: drums comes off Omar; floor 2 comes off Omar. That settles it: Omar’s instrument is banjo.

Round 2

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

Banjo is Omar’s, so it comes off Zara and Uma.

Nobody but Zara can still have floor 2, so Zara is on floor 2.

Clue 2, “The dog owner is the flute player”: dog comes off Cleo.

Clue 6, “The parrot owner is on a lower floor than the flute player”: parrot comes off Omar, Cleo and Uma; flute comes off Zara. That settles it: Cleo’s pet is rabbit and Zara’s instrument is drums.

Round 3

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

Rabbit is Cleo’s, so it comes off Zara, Omar and Uma. That settles it: Omar’s pet is gerbil.

Nobody but Zara can still have parrot, so Zara’s pet is parrot.

Nobody but Uma can still have dog, so Uma’s pet is dog.

Drums is Zara’s, so it comes off Uma. That settles it: Uma’s instrument is flute.

Clue 4, “The gerbil owner is on a lower floor than Cleo”: floor 5 comes off Omar; floor 4 comes off Cleo. That settles it: Omar is on floor 4 and Cleo is on floor 5.

The answer

Previous: Deduce #38 (Mon, Sep 21)

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.