Deduce #43: The gardens — the solution

The Deduce puzzle from September 26, 2026, worked through clue by clue: 8 clues, 3 rounds of crossing off, and no guessing anywhere.

The puzzle

Four people — Uma, Omar, Nadia and Tess — and three things to work out about each: their flower, gate and garden. The clues only ever rule things out.

1. The lilies grower is not the one in garden 1.
2. Omar is the poppies grower.
3. Uma is the one by the willow gate.
4. The one by the oak gate is in a lower-numbered garden than Tess.
5. The lilies grower is in a lower-numbered garden than the one by the willow gate.
6. Tess is the asters grower.
7. Omar is the one by the wicker gate.
8. Uma is not the one in garden 3.

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, “Omar is the poppies grower”: poppies comes off Uma, Nadia and Tess. That settles it: Omar’s flower is poppies.

Clue 3, “Uma is the one by the willow gate”: willow comes off Omar, Nadia and Tess. That settles it: Uma’s gate is willow.

Clue 4, “The one by the oak gate is in a lower-numbered garden than Tess”: oak comes off Tess; garden 1 comes off Tess.

Clue 5, “The lilies grower is in a lower-numbered garden than the one by the willow gate”: lilies comes off Uma; garden 1 comes off Uma.

Clue 6, “Tess is the asters grower”: asters comes off Uma and Nadia. That settles it: Uma’s flower is dahlias and Tess’s flower is asters.

Clue 7, “Omar is the one by the wicker gate”: wicker comes off Nadia and Tess. That settles it: Omar’s gate is wicker and Tess’s gate is iron.

Clue 8, “Uma is not the one in garden 3”: garden 3 comes off Uma.

Round 2

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

Dahlias is Uma’s, so it comes off Nadia. That settles it: Nadia’s flower is lilies.

Iron is Tess’s, so it comes off Nadia. That settles it: Nadia’s gate is oak.

Clue 1, “The lilies grower is not the one in garden 1”: garden 1 comes off Nadia.

Clue 4, “The one by the oak gate is in a lower-numbered garden than Tess”: garden 4 comes off Nadia; garden 2 comes off Tess.

Clue 5, “The lilies grower is in a lower-numbered garden than the one by the willow gate”: garden 2 comes off Uma. That settles it: Uma is in garden 4.

Round 3

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

garden 4 is Uma’s, so it comes off Omar and Tess. That settles it: Tess is in garden 3.

garden 3 is Tess’s, so it comes off Omar and Nadia. That settles it: Nadia is in garden 2.

Nobody but Omar can still have garden 1, so Omar is in garden 1.

The answer

Previous: Deduce #42 (Fri, Sep 25)

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.