Deduce #68: The flats — the solution

The Deduce puzzle from October 21, 2026, worked through clue by clue: 7 clues, 3 rounds of crossing off, and no guessing anywhere.

The puzzle

Four people — Noor, Greta, Nell and Dara — and three things to work out about each: their pet, instrument and floor. The clues only ever rule things out.

1. Dara is the guitar player.
2. The lizard owner is not the clarinet player.
3. The hamster owner is on a lower floor than Noor.
4. Nell is the goldfish owner.
5. The guitar player is the one on floor 4.
6. The clarinet player is on a lower floor than the goldfish owner.
7. The hamster owner is the trumpet player.

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, “Dara is the guitar player”: guitar comes off Noor, Greta and Nell. That settles it: Dara’s instrument is guitar.

Clue 3, “The hamster owner is on a lower floor than Noor”: hamster comes off Noor; floor 3 comes off Noor.

Clue 4, “Nell is the goldfish owner”: goldfish comes off Noor, Greta and Dara. That settles it: Nell’s pet is goldfish.

Clue 5, “The guitar player is the one on floor 4”: floor 4 comes off Noor, Greta and Nell. That settles it: Dara is on floor 4.

Clue 6, “The clarinet player is on a lower floor than the goldfish owner”: clarinet comes off Nell; floor 3 comes off Nell.

Clue 7, “The hamster owner is the trumpet player”: trumpet comes off Noor and Nell; hamster comes off Dara. That settles it: Greta’s pet is hamster, Greta’s instrument is trumpet and Nell’s instrument is oboe.

Round 2

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

Oboe is Nell’s, so it comes off Noor. That settles it: Noor’s instrument is clarinet.

Nobody but Greta can still have floor 3, so Greta is on floor 3.

Clue 2, “The lizard owner is not the clarinet player”: lizard comes off Noor. That settles it: Noor’s pet is ferret.

Clue 6, “The clarinet player is on a lower floor than the goldfish owner”: floor 6 comes off Noor; floor 5 comes off Nell. That settles it: Noor is on floor 5 and Nell is on floor 6.

Round 3

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

Ferret is Noor’s, so it comes off Dara. That settles it: Dara’s pet is lizard.

The answer

Previous: Deduce #67 (Tue, Oct 20) · Next: Deduce #69 (Thu, Oct 22) · 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.