Deduce #52: The cookout — the solution

The Deduce puzzle from October 5, 2026, worked through clue by clue: 6 clues, 3 rounds of crossing off, and no guessing anywhere.

The puzzle

Four people — Faith, Cody, Blake and Josie — and three things to work out about each: their meat, side and time. The clues only ever rule things out.

1. The one grilling wings is exactly 3 hours after Josie.
2. The one who brought corn is earlier than the one grilling steaks.
3. The one who brought pickles is exactly 2 hours after the one grilling burgers.
4. Faith is the one who brought slaw.
5. Faith is not the one arriving at 6pm.
6. Blake is the one grilling brats.

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, “The one grilling wings is exactly 3 hours after Josie”: wings comes off Josie; 4pm, 5pm and 6pm come off Josie. That settles it: Josie is arriving at 3pm.

Clue 2, “The one who brought corn is earlier than the one grilling steaks”: steaks comes off Josie.

Clue 3, “The one who brought pickles is exactly 2 hours after the one grilling burgers”: pickles comes off Josie.

Clue 4, “Faith is the one who brought slaw”: slaw comes off Cody, Blake and Josie. That settles it: Faith’s side is slaw.

Clue 5, “Faith is not the one arriving at 6pm”: 6pm comes off Faith.

Clue 6, “Blake is the one grilling brats”: brats comes off Faith, Cody and Josie. That settles it: Blake’s meat is brats and Josie’s meat is burgers.

Round 2

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

Burgers is Josie’s, so it comes off Faith and Cody.

3pm is Josie’s, so it comes off Faith, Cody and Blake.

Clue 1, “The one grilling wings is exactly 3 hours after Josie”: wings comes off Faith; 4pm and 5pm come off Cody. That settles it: Faith’s meat is steaks and Cody is arriving at 6pm.

Clue 2, “The one who brought corn is earlier than the one grilling steaks”: corn comes off Cody.

Clue 3, “The one who brought pickles is exactly 2 hours after the one grilling burgers”: pickles comes off Cody; 4pm and 6pm come off Blake. That settles it: Cody’s side is beans and Blake is arriving at 5pm.

Round 3

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

Steaks is Faith’s, so it comes off Cody. That settles it: Cody’s meat is wings.

Beans is Cody’s, so it comes off Blake and Josie. That settles it: Josie’s side is corn.

Corn is Josie’s, so it comes off Blake. That settles it: Blake’s side is pickles.

5pm is Blake’s, so it comes off Faith. That settles it: Faith is arriving at 4pm.

The answer

Previous: Deduce #51 (Sun, Oct 4)

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.