Deduce #57: The campground — the solution

The Deduce puzzle from October 10, 2026, worked through clue by clue: 7 clues, 3 rounds of crossing off, and no guessing anywhere.

The puzzle

Four people — Casey, Dolly, Marta and Caleb — and three things to work out about each: their state, gear and site. The clues only ever rule things out.

1. Caleb is the one with the compass.
2. Casey is the one from Kentucky.
3. Dolly is exactly 3 sites after the one from Michigan.
4. The one with the tent is at a lower-numbered site than the one from Wyoming.
5. The one with the compass is the one at site 4.
6. The one with the kayak is exactly 2 sites after Marta.
7. The one from Wyoming is not the one at site 4.

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, “Caleb is the one with the compass”: compass comes off Casey, Dolly and Marta. That settles it: Caleb’s gear is compass.

Clue 2, “Casey is the one from Kentucky”: Kentucky comes off Dolly, Marta and Caleb. That settles it: Casey’s state is Kentucky.

Clue 3, “Dolly is exactly 3 sites after the one from Michigan”: Michigan comes off Dolly; site 3, site 4 and site 5 come off Dolly. That settles it: Dolly is at site 6.

Clue 4, “The one with the tent is at a lower-numbered site than the one from Wyoming”: tent comes off Dolly.

Clue 5, “The one with the compass is the one at site 4”: site 4 comes off Casey and Marta. That settles it: Caleb is at site 4.

Clue 6, “The one with the kayak is exactly 2 sites after Marta”: kayak comes off Dolly and Marta; site 6 comes off Casey and Marta; site 3 comes off Casey; site 5 comes off Marta. That settles it: Dolly’s gear is hammock, Casey is at site 5 and Marta is at site 3.

Clue 7, “The one from Wyoming is not the one at site 4”: Wyoming comes off Caleb.

Round 2

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

Hammock is Dolly’s, so it comes off Casey and Marta. That settles it: Marta’s gear is tent.

Tent is Marta’s, so it comes off Casey. That settles it: Casey’s gear is kayak.

Clue 3, “Dolly is exactly 3 sites after the one from Michigan”: Michigan comes off Caleb. That settles it: Caleb’s state is Kansas.

Clue 4, “The one with the tent is at a lower-numbered site than the one from Wyoming”: Wyoming comes off Marta.

Round 3

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

Kansas is Caleb’s, so it comes off Dolly and Marta. That settles it: Dolly’s state is Wyoming and Marta’s state is Michigan.

The answer

Previous: Deduce #56 (Fri, Oct 9) · Next: Deduce #58 (Sun, Oct 11)

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.