Deduce #75: The pool — the solution

The Deduce puzzle from October 28, 2026, worked through clue by clue: 6 clues, 4 rounds of crossing off, and no guessing anywhere.

The puzzle

Four people — Josie, Lucy, Brett and Vicky — and three things to work out about each: their float, towel and chair. The clues only ever rule things out.

1. Brett is exactly 2 chairs after the one on the swan float.
2. Lucy is the one on the pizza float.
3. Vicky is the one with the yellow towel.
4. Vicky is not the one in chair 5.
5. The one on the flamingo float is exactly 3 chairs after the one with the white towel.
6. The one with the blue towel is exactly 3 chairs after Lucy.

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, “Brett is exactly 2 chairs after the one on the swan float”: swan comes off Brett; chair 3 and chair 4 come off Brett.

Clue 2, “Lucy is the one on the pizza float”: pizza comes off Josie, Brett and Vicky. That settles it: Lucy’s float is pizza.

Clue 3, “Vicky is the one with the yellow towel”: yellow comes off Josie, Lucy and Brett. That settles it: Vicky’s towel is yellow.

Clue 4, “Vicky is not the one in chair 5”: chair 5 comes off Vicky.

Clue 5, “The one on the flamingo float is exactly 3 chairs after the one with the white towel”: white comes off Brett.

Clue 6, “The one with the blue towel is exactly 3 chairs after Lucy”: blue comes off Lucy; chair 4, chair 5 and chair 6 come off Lucy. That settles it: Lucy is in chair 3.

Round 2

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

chair 3 is Lucy’s, so it comes off Josie and Vicky.

Clue 1, “Brett is exactly 2 chairs after the one on the swan float”: chair 5 comes off Brett. That settles it: Brett is in chair 6.

Clue 5, “The one on the flamingo float is exactly 3 chairs after the one with the white towel”: white comes off Josie.

Round 3

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

Nobody but Lucy can still have white, so Lucy’s towel is white.

chair 6 is Brett’s, so it comes off Josie and Vicky. That settles it: Vicky is in chair 4.

chair 4 is Vicky’s, so it comes off Josie. That settles it: Josie is in chair 5.

Clue 1, “Brett is exactly 2 chairs after the one on the swan float”: swan comes off Josie.

Clue 5, “The one on the flamingo float is exactly 3 chairs after the one with the white towel”: flamingo comes off Josie and Vicky. That settles it: Josie’s float is taco.

Clue 6, “The one with the blue towel is exactly 3 chairs after Lucy”: blue comes off Josie. That settles it: Josie’s towel is red.

Round 4

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

Taco is Josie’s, so it comes off Brett and Vicky. That settles it: Brett’s float is flamingo and Vicky’s float is swan.

Red is Josie’s, so it comes off Brett. That settles it: Brett’s towel is blue.

The answer

Previous: Deduce #74 (Tue, Oct 27) · Next: Deduce #76 (Thu, Oct 29) · 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.