Deduce #90: The movies — the solution

The Deduce puzzle from November 12, 2026, worked through clue by clue: 8 clues, 3 rounds of crossing off, and no guessing anywhere.

The puzzle

Four people — Emmy, Jake, Cody and Jamal — and three things to work out about each: their snack, movie and show. The clues only ever rule things out.

1. Cody is the one seeing the western movie.
2. Jake is the one at the 7pm show.
3. The one seeing the sports movie is not the one at the 9pm show.
4. The one with the gummies is the one at the 9pm show.
5. The one with the nachos is exactly 2 hours after the one seeing the horror movie.
6. The one with the churro is earlier than the one seeing the war movie.
7. Jake is not the one seeing the sports movie.
8. Jamal is the one seeing the horror movie.

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, “Cody is the one seeing the western movie”: western comes off Emmy, Jake and Jamal. That settles it: Cody’s movie is western.

Clue 2, “Jake is the one at the 7pm show”: 7pm comes off Emmy, Cody and Jamal. That settles it: Jake is at the 7pm show.

Clue 4, “The one with the gummies is the one at the 9pm show”: gummies comes off Jake.

Clue 5, “The one with the nachos is exactly 2 hours after the one seeing the horror movie”: nachos comes off Jake.

Clue 7, “Jake is not the one seeing the sports movie”: sports comes off Jake.

Clue 8, “Jamal is the one seeing the horror movie”: horror comes off Emmy and Jake. That settles it: Jake’s movie is war and Jamal’s movie is horror.

Round 2

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

War is Jake’s, so it comes off Emmy. That settles it: Emmy’s movie is sports.

Clue 3, “The one seeing the sports movie is not the one at the 9pm show”: 9pm comes off Emmy.

Clue 4, “The one with the gummies is the one at the 9pm show”: gummies comes off Emmy.

Clue 5, “The one with the nachos is exactly 2 hours after the one seeing the horror movie”: nachos comes off Jamal; 8pm and 9pm come off Jamal. That settles it: Jamal is at the 6pm show.

Clue 6, “The one with the churro is earlier than the one seeing the war movie”: churro comes off Jake. That settles it: Jake’s snack is popcorn.

Round 3

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

Popcorn is Jake’s, so it comes off Emmy, Cody and Jamal.

6pm is Jamal’s, so it comes off Emmy and Cody. That settles it: Emmy is at the 8pm show.

Nobody but Cody can still have 9pm, so Cody is at the 9pm show.

Clue 4, “The one with the gummies is the one at the 9pm show”: gummies comes off Jamal. That settles it: Cody’s snack is gummies and Jamal’s snack is churro.

Clue 6, “The one with the churro is earlier than the one seeing the war movie”: churro comes off Emmy. That settles it: Emmy’s snack is nachos.

The answer

Previous: Deduce #89 (Wed, Nov 11) · Next: Deduce #91 (Fri, Nov 13) · 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.