Deduce #66: The rodeo — the solution

The Deduce puzzle from October 19, 2026, worked through clue by clue: 8 clues, 3 rounds of crossing off, and no guessing anywhere.

The puzzle

Four people — Jared, Malik, Jenna and Elena — and three things to work out about each: their horse, buckle and time. The clues only ever rule things out.

1. The one on the bay horse is the one with the copper buckle.
2. Malik is the one with the turquoise buckle.
3. Elena is the one riding at 5pm.
4. Jenna is earlier than the one with the copper buckle.
5. The one on the sorrel horse is not the one with the turquoise buckle.
6. Jenna is not the one with the silver buckle.
7. Malik is earlier than the one on the palomino horse.
8. The one on the sorrel horse is earlier than the one with the steel buckle.

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, “Malik is the one with the turquoise buckle”: turquoise comes off Jared, Jenna and Elena. That settles it: Malik’s buckle is turquoise.

Clue 3, “Elena is the one riding at 5pm”: 5pm comes off Jared, Malik and Jenna. That settles it: Elena is riding at 5pm.

Clue 4, “Jenna is earlier than the one with the copper buckle”: copper comes off Jenna; 7pm comes off Jenna.

Clue 5, “The one on the sorrel horse is not the one with the turquoise buckle”: sorrel comes off Malik.

Clue 6, “Jenna is not the one with the silver buckle”: silver comes off Jenna. That settles it: Jenna’s buckle is steel.

Clue 7, “Malik is earlier than the one on the palomino horse”: palomino comes off Malik; 7pm comes off Malik.

Round 2

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

Steel is Jenna’s, so it comes off Jared and Elena.

Nobody but Jared can still have 7pm, so Jared is riding at 7pm.

Clue 1, “The one on the bay horse is the one with the copper buckle”: bay comes off Malik and Jenna. That settles it: Malik’s horse is gray.

Clue 8, “The one on the sorrel horse is earlier than the one with the steel buckle”: sorrel comes off Jared and Jenna; 4pm comes off Jenna. That settles it: Jenna is riding at 6pm.

Round 3

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

Gray is Malik’s, so it comes off Jared, Jenna and Elena. That settles it: Jenna’s horse is palomino.

Palomino is Jenna’s, so it comes off Jared and Elena. That settles it: Jared’s horse is bay.

Nobody but Elena can still have sorrel, so Elena’s horse is sorrel.

6pm is Jenna’s, so it comes off Malik. That settles it: Malik is riding at 4pm.

Clue 1, “The one on the bay horse is the one with the copper buckle”: copper comes off Elena. That settles it: Jared’s buckle is copper and Elena’s buckle is silver.

The answer

Previous: Deduce #65 (Sun, Oct 18) · Next: Deduce #67 (Tue, Oct 20) · All Deduce solutions

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.