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Today’s Brain Game is my first 4×4x4 logic puzzle, which is a stupid, stupid thing for me to even attempt to construct. But many of you have expressed interest in those types of puzzles, so I’m doing my best to learn on the fly. Hopefully, you won’t need a fly swatter.
Here goes: Recently, I was reminiscing about four used cars I owned and drove in succession back in the 1980s. One was beige, one burgundy, one red, and one yellow. (Yes, yellow. And it was “awesome,” as we used to say back then.) What’s more, each vehicle was a foreign import: a Datsun, an Isuzu, a Toyota, and a Volkswagen. (Obviously, I wasn’t a Detroit-area resident back then.) Based on the following clues, can you determine which car was which color, and in which order I purchased these cars?
1. Neither the first car nor the last car I bought (which was red) was German-made.
2. I owned the beige car, which was not the Toyota, just before I bought the Isuzu.
3. The Datsun, which was not burgundy, was the second car of the bunch.
Here’s the SOLUTION.
Comments (19)
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Yes the Yellow “Z” was awesome..
Memory served me well so I’m not sure how easy this one actually is. But I actually thought the Burgandy one was Green. It may have been the cloud of smoke I was looking through :]
posted by Kev in GA on 12-5-2008 at 8:43 am
i love these puzzles. keep em coming!
posted by grant on 12-5-2008 at 8:44 am
That was good, and i enjoyed it, thank you. I am glad i got it this early…=>
posted by Jennifer on 12-5-2008 at 8:48 am
These puzzles are awesome (as some of us still insist on saying).
posted by Diana on 12-5-2008 at 9:03 am
I agree w/Diana, these puzzle are still “awesome” which we STILL use today.
posted by Sarah on 12-5-2008 at 9:09 am
“fly swatter…” HA! That’s a good one!
posted by SlackJack on 12-5-2008 at 9:15 am
I feel like such a fool. it’s been so long since I’ve done these puzzles that I don’t remember how to construct the grid for a 4×4x4 :(
posted by copaX on 12-5-2008 at 9:21 am
There was a green one, Kev – my very first car, in fact – but I didn’t include it in the mix because it was also a Datsun. And because I barely owned it long enough to have it totaled. :)
posted by Sandy on 12-5-2008 at 9:34 am
way too easy!!! even I got that and I owned a YELLOW Dodge Colt…
posted by olal on 12-5-2008 at 9:57 am
Great job! That was cool. copax (and others) – how do you do your grids? I just did the Y-axis as the manufacturers and the X-axis with 16 categories (Beige #1, Beige #2, #3, #4; Burgundry #1, #2, etc.)
posted by Josh on 12-5-2008 at 9:58 am
Yay! I did it! God, I haven’t done those since middle school. used to do them everyday.
@Josh I found this site (pages.prodigy.net/spencejk/grids.html) go down to the bottom and click on the 4×3, 4×4 section.
Use the 4×3 grid (3 categories, 4 variables per category). I did Colors and then Order down the Y axis, and Manufacturer and then Order across the X axis.
But your way works too, this is just how I remember being taught how to do them.
posted by copaX on 12-5-2008 at 10:06 am
Love it!! A good logic puzzle to start my brain on a Friday. Thanks!!
posted by Heather on 12-5-2008 at 10:38 am
Agreed – great puzzle!
I did the standard tiered grid (3 adjacent , but as soon as the models and orders were nailed down, I redrew the it as a single 4×4 grid with models/order along one axis and colors along the other.
When the puzzles make positive statements (e.g. Red is last) and not solely negative statements (e.g. Isuzu is not beige), you can actually make “puzzle pieces” out of the clues and solve the puzzle by pasting the pieces into a single grid. Anyone else use this technique? Example available upon request.
posted by Bryan on 12-5-2008 at 12:24 pm
I absolutely LOVE logic puzzles. I could spend hours solving these things.
For those that wonder, I set it up like this (hope this translates well when it posts):
Dats Izu Toyo Voks | #1 #2 #3 #4 |
—————————————-
Beige
Burg
Red
Yellow
——-
#1
#2
#3
#4
——-
posted by infallible on 12-5-2008 at 12:25 pm
Thanks for another fun logic problem!
posted by Nerak on 12-5-2008 at 2:33 pm
fun way to finish off friday, thanks!
posted by Phil on 12-5-2008 at 4:48 pm
Thanks! Love these awesome puzzles. :)
(People don’t say ‘awesome’ anymore….?)
posted by Dawn on 12-6-2008 at 4:12 pm
Love it!! A good logic puzzle to start my brain on a Friday. Thanks!!
posted by Brake Pads on 12-12-2008 at 1:51 am
I agree w/Diana, these puzzle are still “awesome” which we STILL use today.
posted by Brake Pedal Pad on 12-12-2008 at 1:54 am