Deduce #54: The tailgate — the solution

The Deduce puzzle from October 7, 2026, worked through clue by clue: 8 clues, 3 rounds of crossing off, and no guessing anywhere.

The puzzle

Four people — Nate, Becca, Mason and Trey — and three things to work out about each: their ride, cooler and spot. The clues only ever rule things out.

1. Nate is the RV driver.
2. The SUV driver is not the one with the blue cooler.
3. Nate is the one with the orange cooler.
4. The one with the green cooler is in a lower-numbered spot than Trey.
5. Becca is not the one in spot 3.
6. Becca is not the one with the red cooler.
7. Trey is exactly 3 spots after the one with the red cooler.
8. Becca is the pickup driver.

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, “Nate is the RV driver”: RV comes off Becca, Mason and Trey. That settles it: Nate’s ride is RV.

Clue 3, “Nate is the one with the orange cooler”: orange comes off Becca, Mason and Trey. That settles it: Nate’s cooler is orange.

Clue 4, “The one with the green cooler is in a lower-numbered spot than Trey”: green comes off Trey; spot 1 comes off Trey.

Clue 5, “Becca is not the one in spot 3”: spot 3 comes off Becca.

Clue 6, “Becca is not the one with the red cooler”: red comes off Becca.

Clue 7, “Trey is exactly 3 spots after the one with the red cooler”: spot 2 comes off Mason and Trey; spot 3 comes off Mason and Trey; red comes off Trey; spot 4 comes off Mason. That settles it: Trey’s cooler is blue, Mason is in spot 1 and Trey is in spot 4.

Clue 8, “Becca is the pickup driver”: pickup comes off Mason and Trey. That settles it: Becca’s ride is pickup.

Round 2

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

Blue is Trey’s, so it comes off Becca and Mason. That settles it: Becca’s cooler is green.

Nobody but Mason can still have red, so Mason’s cooler is red.

spot 1 is Mason’s, so it comes off Nate and Becca.

spot 4 is Trey’s, so it comes off Nate and Becca. That settles it: Becca is in spot 2.

Nobody but Nate can still have spot 3, so Nate is in spot 3.

Clue 2, “The SUV driver is not the one with the blue cooler”: SUV comes off Trey. That settles it: Trey’s ride is coupe.

Round 3

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

Coupe is Trey’s, so it comes off Mason. That settles it: Mason’s ride is SUV.

The answer

Previous: Deduce #53 (Tue, Oct 6)

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.