Deduce #80: The bakery line — the solution

The Deduce puzzle from November 2, 2026, worked through clue by clue: 8 clues, 4 rounds of crossing off, and no guessing anywhere.

The puzzle

Four people — Hana, Vera, Vic and Nico — and three things to work out about each: their order, coat and spot. The clues only ever rule things out.

1. Vera is the one in the black coat.
2. Hana is not the one 4th in line.
3. Nico is ahead of the one buying a strudel.
4. The one buying a strudel is not the one in the purple coat.
5. Hana is the one in the orange coat.
6. The one buying a quiche is not the one 4th in line.
7. Hana is exactly 2 places after the one buying a bagel.
8. The one buying a quiche is exactly 2 places after Vera.

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, “Vera is the one in the black coat”: black comes off Hana, Vic and Nico. That settles it: Vera’s coat is black.

Clue 2, “Hana is not the one 4th in line”: 4th comes off Hana.

Clue 3, “Nico is ahead of the one buying a strudel”: a strudel comes off Nico; 4th comes off Nico.

Clue 5, “Hana is the one in the orange coat”: orange comes off Vic and Nico. That settles it: Hana’s coat is orange.

Clue 7, “Hana is exactly 2 places after the one buying a bagel”: a bagel comes off Hana; 1st and 2nd come off Hana. That settles it: Hana is 3rd in line.

Clue 8, “The one buying a quiche is exactly 2 places after Vera”: a quiche comes off Vera; 3rd and 4th come off Vera.

Round 2

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

3rd is Hana’s, so it comes off Vic and Nico.

Nobody but Vic can still have 4th, so Vic is 4th in line.

Clue 6, “The one buying a quiche is not the one 4th in line”: a quiche comes off Vic.

Clue 7, “Hana is exactly 2 places after the one buying a bagel”: a bagel comes off Vic.

Clue 8, “The one buying a quiche is exactly 2 places after Vera”: a quiche comes off Nico; 2nd comes off Vera. That settles it: Vera is 1st in line.

Round 3

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

Nobody but Hana can still have a quiche, so Hana’s order is a quiche.

1st is Vera’s, so it comes off Nico. That settles it: Nico is 2nd in line.

Clue 3, “Nico is ahead of the one buying a strudel”: a strudel comes off Vera.

Clue 4, “The one buying a strudel is not the one in the purple coat”: purple comes off Vic. That settles it: Vic’s coat is yellow.

Clue 7, “Hana is exactly 2 places after the one buying a bagel”: a bagel comes off Nico. That settles it: Nico’s order is a muffin.

Round 4

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

A muffin is Nico’s, so it comes off Vera and Vic. That settles it: Vera’s order is a bagel and Vic’s order is a strudel.

Yellow is Vic’s, so it comes off Nico. That settles it: Nico’s coat is purple.

The answer

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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.