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I’m fairly certain that this is my first attempt at a 5×5x5 logic puzzle. Since this is unchartered territory for me, please be gentle but frank with your comments. Thanks! Here we go:
At Slacker Sales, the company’s oldest salesperson – Harry – finally retired, leaving the office staffed with younger workers: two women, Kim and Mim, and three men, Jim, Tim, and Vim. Harry asked the five salespersons to submit a secret ballot to determine which one of them would replace him as the new Chief of Sales. While sitting around the conference table, each of the five salespersons wrote a name on a small slip of paper and passed them to Harry. The retiree-to-be laughed to himself as he silently tallied the votes. Although each salesperson had voted for a different person to become chief, Harry immediately knew which of them had cast which vote. You see, he’d given each of them a different writing implement to use: a pencil, a ballpoint, a crayon, a felt pen, and a highlighter. Harry quickly announced the name of his replacement, and moments later, it was coffee, muffins, and smiles all around.
Based on the following three clues, can you determine which salesperson used which writing tool AND the vote cast by each of the five? Good luck:
1. The woman who had the crayon voted for herself, but no one else (including the man with the felt pen) cast a self-vote.
2. The man holding the highlighter, who was not Jim, voted for Tim, who had the pencil.
3. The ballpoint pen was not Kim’s, but it was used by whomever voted for Vim.
Comments (21)
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I think you added an unwritten clue. Based on the information given, you can’t know for sure who Jim and Tim voted for.
AUTHOR’S NOTE: To Maceo and others – I did not originally make it clear enough that each vote went to a different salesperson. My bad! I’ve corrected this in the text. Thanks!
posted by Maceo on 7-10-2009 at 8:11 am
I agree, there’s no indication that Jim voted for Mim. I had him down as voting for Tim, , (and Tim voting for Jim) actually, and along with Vim’s vote, that would get Tim the position…maybe fistfights instead of coffee and donuts?
posted by Tom on 7-10-2009 at 8:27 am
Does clue #1 mean that no one else voted for the crayon woman, or that no one else voted for themselves except for the crayon woman?
posted by NukeGuy on 7-10-2009 at 8:36 am
it says in the clue that whomever had the highlighter voted for tim and it wasn’t jim. this would make vim vote for tim, tim would have to vote for jim, and jim voted for whoever was left.
posted by mike on 7-10-2009 at 8:40 am
I got the fact that Jim voted for Mim, but due to the fact that Sandy didn’t say there were no duplicate votes, it was only by assumption that I got Tim voting for Jim.
Sandy- Being “gentle but frank” (even tho Frank’s not here), I think you need to add that there was no more than one ballot cast for each person. -SJ
posted by SlackJack on 7-10-2009 at 8:45 am
You need to add the qualifier that each of the five employees received a vote.
posted by Ashley on 7-10-2009 at 8:46 am
The statement “The woman who had the crayon voted for herself, but no one else did” could mean that no one else voted for the crayon woman OR that no one else voted for themself. That’s just bad puzzle writing.
posted by Andy on 7-10-2009 at 8:47 am
SlackJack – how did you get that Jim voted for Mim? I agree with the first two posters that the clues don’t give you information about who Jim and Tim voted for. Also, the clue about the woman with the crayon voted for herself, but no one else did was unclear. My first thought was that no one else voted for the woman with the crayon, but on second look I wasn’t sure if it meant that no one else voted for themselves. But now I want a donut – thanks Sandy!
posted by Diana on 7-10-2009 at 9:08 am
I think the confusion was in the first clue. You can’t tell if no one else voted for the woman with the crayon or no one else voted for themselves. If it is no one else voted for themselves and you assume each person received one vote (which is a big assumption), then you can get that Tim voted for Mim and Jim for Tim.
I didn’t assume either of those so I couldn’t get who Tim or Jim voted for.
Unless you take the fact that they were all smiles as a clue. In Sandy’s solution that is the only way I can think that they would all be happy. The only person who wanted the job received it. If there were duplicate voted Kim would not have gotten it.
posted by Bill on 7-10-2009 at 9:15 am
I didn’t have any trouble with the puzzle. I assumed that since it’s a logic puzzle, no one voted for the same person, or it wouldn’t work.
posted by Amanda on 7-10-2009 at 9:19 am
Understood, folks. I didn’t make it quite clear enough that each vote was unique… I assumed too much there. I’ve added a few words in the text to make it clearer that each person cast one vote and received one vote. Thanks!
posted by Sandy Wood on 7-10-2009 at 9:31 am
Well, sure, you can assume that to make the logic puzzle work, but, “gentle but frank” comments were encouraged, so I’m trying to keep my end of the bargain!
posted by Tom on 7-10-2009 at 9:33 am
Nice work, Sandy! Like a few of the others, I got all of the writing instruments and 3 of the votes. There wasn’t anything to indicate who Jim or Tim voted for (aside from the fact that they did not vote for themselves).
And, in a logic puzzle, I’m not assuming anything :)
posted by Josh on 7-10-2009 at 9:33 am
No worries, folks. I appreciate this type of input… Kara and I have been writing trivia and puzzles together for (gadzooks) 17 years now, and the key lesson we’ve learned is that it’s important to hear what the players have to say. I’ll apply this lesson the next time I write a logic puzzle, and after a few similar lessons, I might actually become good at it!
posted by Sandy Wood on 7-10-2009 at 9:42 am
Loved it! Good job! Of course, I got them all, so that might be why I liked it so much :-)
posted by Cory on 7-10-2009 at 12:13 pm
Loved the puzzle. These are always fun. Good clarification in number 1.
posted by Lisa on 7-10-2009 at 5:00 pm
you still need to clarify that each person has a unique vote…
posted by rob on 7-10-2009 at 6:22 pm
Wow, I thought that was kind of easy. Good puzzle!! Should do more of them.
posted by charlotte on 7-10-2009 at 9:07 pm
:) Yay! These are my favorite kind of puzzles…and this one was nice because it was easy meaning my mind did not wander, and I feel a bit accomplished!
posted by anita on 7-11-2009 at 2:35 am
Great puzzle! I love these, and the 5×5x5 is a terrific challenge. I found it usefull to solve the clues in reverse order.
posted by Stan on 7-11-2009 at 12:38 pm
Almost stumped me, but I got it!
posted by Acacia on 9-21-2009 at 2:37 am