Sandy Wood
Brain Game: B-sides
by Sandy Wood - July 13, 2009 - 7:30 AM

THE SOLUTION:

The first song was by Bangles, vote followed by the Beatles, the Bee Gees, Blondie, and the Beach Boys.

Here’s a sample solving sequence for this puzzle. (Your manner of solving may have been different):

Clue #1 reveals that:

  • The Beach boys weren’t first or second.
  • Blondie wasn’t first or last.
  • The Beatles weren’t fourth or fifth.

Clue #2 reveals that:

  • The Bangles weren’t fourth or fifth.
  • The Bee Gees weren’t first or second.

From there:

  • The Bangles could not have been second without contradicting Rule #1, so the Bee Gees could not have been fourth.
  • The Bangles could not have been third without contradicting Rule #1, so (by elimination) the Bangles were first and the Bee Gees third.
  • Then, going back to Clue #1, Blondie has to be fourth and the Beach Boys fifth,
    leaving the Beatles as second.
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Comments (7)

  1. Confused.

    The wording of clue 2 is that \The Bangles tune was played exactly two songs before the Bee Gees single.\

    To me that says that there is two songs between the bangles and the bee gees song.

    giving a different result (beatles, bangles, blondie, beach boys, bee gees)

    Oh well.

    posted by omegar on 7-13-2009 at 10:49 am

  2. I don’t see how the bangles being second contradicts number 1..

    I had Beatles, Bangles, Blondie, Beach Boys, Bee Gees.

    Blondie is still before Beach Boys, and there’s two songs between Bangles and Bee Gees, leaving Beatles at #1?

    posted by Caitlin on 7-13-2009 at 10:55 am

  3. Omegar & Caitlin, you placed the Bee Gees song as the third song after the Bangles, not the second. The text said “two songs before,” not that there were two songs between the ones mentioned.

    “One song before” would be the previous song, so “two songs before” is the song before that.

    Since it’s obviously confusing, however, I rephrased that clue in hopes of making it clearer. Thanks for letting me know!

    posted by Sandy Wood on 7-13-2009 at 11:06 am

  4. Got it. This one was harder to work out shorthand, though. They all start with B. =P

    Good one, Sandy.

    posted by Allison on 7-13-2009 at 11:50 am

  5. Isn’t Beatles, Blondie, Bangles, Beach Boys, and Bee Gees also a possible solution? I don’t see how this violates any of the clues.

    posted by 2MFW on 7-13-2009 at 6:06 pm

  6. Wouldn’t a solution of Beatles, Blondi, Bangles, Beach Boys, and Bee Gees also work given the clue?

    posted by 2MFW on 7-13-2009 at 6:07 pm

  7. 2MFW you do realise that the Blondie song is played just before the Beach Boys? This means that the Beach Boys must immediately follow Blondie, you can’t have Bangles in between.

    posted by Potato Head on 7-13-2009 at 9:37 pm

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