When I was in school, many of my classmates’ families traveled during winter and spring breaks. The days before break were always minimally attended. Some of my teachers kept to the syllabus and taught the regular lessons for the day. The teachers we all loved planned a different kind of day. In math class we might try to add up the total gifts for the twelve days of Christmas.
In English class we might play trivia or do logic puzzles (aka brain teasers) meant to help us develop our critical thinking skills. In elementary school we got those nifty smelling mimeographed sheets of paper with word searches, crossword puzzles, Rebus puzzles, or matching games. Admit it, those of us of a certain age just took a deep breath and mentally inhaled the ink of our childhood.
To keep you on your toes this year, I thought it would be fun to solve a few logic puzzles and fire up our critical thinking skills. They might come in handy this year. Can you solve these five logic puzzles?
The answers are listed in the final article of this issue, “Next Month in This Awful Awesome Life – February 2025.” You can read through the issue or use this link to get there faster, https://www.thisawfulawesomelife.com/home/2025/1/8/next-month-in-this-awful-awesome-life-by-fran-joyce
1. Four couples from New York moved to our different states. Two couples moved out West and two couples stayed in the East. From these eight clues, can you determine which people are married to each other and which state they now live in?
a. Arnold did not move west of St. Louis, Missouri.
b. Chloe did not stay east of St. Louis, Missouri. She is not married to William.
c. Annika moved to the state that merged two football franchises for one season in 1943 because of WWII to form the Steagles. She is not married to Arnold or Jack.
d. Olivia moved to a state that borders the Pacific Ocean.
e. Jack moved to the state that was home to Louis’ Lunch Eatery credited with serving the first hamburger in 1900.
f. Shel did not move to the 5th largest U.S. state by area. He and his spouse live east of St. Louis, Missouri.
g. Bryce did not move to a state that borders the Pacific Ocean. He and his spouse live in the 5th largest U.S. state by area.
h. William and his spouse live north of California and south of Washington.
2. An expensive gold coin being auctioned at a fundraiser for a children’s charity was stolen when the lights went out. Based on video footage, the six people closest to the coin were Katie, Greg, Donnie, Christy, Michael, and Matt. After taking their statements, investigators determined that five people were lying and one was telling the truth. Based on their statements who was truthful, and who is the thief?
Katie: It wasn’t me, Greg, Christy, or Micheal.
Greg: It wasn’t me, Katie, Donnie, or Michael.
Donnie: It wasn’t me, Greg, Matt, or Michael.
Christy: it wasn’t me, Katie, Matt, or Donnie.
Michael: It wasn’t me, Donnie, Christy, or Matt.
Matt: It wasn’t me, Donnie, Christy, or Katie.
3. Four parents took their four babies to the park in four different-colored strollers. Each baby was holding a different colored teddy bear from their stroller and the other babies. Based on these six clues, which baby is in which colored stroller holding which colored teddy bear?
a. Purple teddy bear and blue stroller
b. Katie has a yellow stroller but not a yellow teddy bear.
c. Green stroller and not a blue teddy bear
d. Pete’s stroller is not the same color as Alexandria’s teddy bear.
e. Purple stroller and green teddy bear
f. Eric does not have a purple stroller or a purple teddy bear.
4. Five friends are driving separately to the Grand Canyon. Alicia arrives before Bart, but after Caroline. Dennis arrives before Ellie, but after Bart. What order did they arrive in?
5. Three cases of wine are shipped in three separate crates. One crate contains Cabernet Sauvignon; one crate contains Chardonnay; one crate contains ½ Cabernet Sauvignon and ½ Chardonnay. The crates have each been mislabeled. How can you tell from looking at only one bottle from one crate how to correct the labels?