Deduce #88: The café — the solution

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

The puzzle

Four people — Omar, Alma, Finn and Kit — and three things to work out about each: their drink, pastry and time. The clues only ever rule things out.

1. Finn is exactly 3 hours after the horchata drinker.
2. Alma is the soda drinker.
3. Alma is the one at 11am.
4. Finn is exactly 2 hours after the one with the danish.
5. The one with the cupcake is not the one at 11am.
6. Finn is not the limeade drinker.
7. The one with the baguette is exactly 3 hours after Omar.

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, “Finn is exactly 3 hours after the horchata drinker”: horchata comes off Finn; 9am, 10am and 11am come off Finn. That settles it: Finn is at noon.

Clue 2, “Alma is the soda drinker”: soda comes off Omar, Finn and Kit. That settles it: Alma’s drink is soda.

Clue 3, “Alma is the one at 11am”: 11am comes off Omar and Kit. That settles it: Alma is at 11am.

Clue 4, “Finn is exactly 2 hours after the one with the danish”: danish comes off Alma and Finn.

Clue 5, “The one with the cupcake is not the one at 11am”: cupcake comes off Alma.

Clue 6, “Finn is not the limeade drinker”: limeade comes off Finn. That settles it: Finn’s drink is milk.

Clue 7, “The one with the baguette is exactly 3 hours after Omar”: baguette comes off Omar and Alma; 10am and noon come off Omar. That settles it: Alma’s pastry is eclair and Omar is at 9am.

Round 2

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

Milk is Finn’s, so it comes off Omar and Kit.

Eclair is Alma’s, so it comes off Omar, Finn and Kit.

9am is Omar’s, so it comes off Kit.

noon is Finn’s, so it comes off Kit. That settles it: Kit is at 10am.

Clue 1, “Finn is exactly 3 hours after the horchata drinker”: horchata comes off Kit. That settles it: Kit’s drink is limeade.

Clue 4, “Finn is exactly 2 hours after the one with the danish”: danish comes off Omar. That settles it: Omar’s pastry is cupcake.

Clue 7, “The one with the baguette is exactly 3 hours after Omar”: baguette comes off Kit.

Round 3

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

Limeade is Kit’s, so it comes off Omar. That settles it: Omar’s drink is horchata.

Cupcake is Omar’s, so it comes off Finn and Kit. That settles it: Finn’s pastry is baguette and Kit’s pastry is danish.

The answer

Previous: Deduce #87 (Mon, Nov 9) · Next: Deduce #89 (Wed, Nov 11) · 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.