Shannon's Riddle

**Shannon** · 09-17-2014 12:23 AM

On a street there are five houses, painted five different colors. In each house lives a different superhero. These five superheroes each drink a different kind of beverage, smoke a different brand of cigarette, and keep a different pet.

Your question is: Who owns the shark?

01. The owner of the yellow house smokes Marlboros.
02. Batman keeps dogs as pets.
03. The superhero who smokes Newports lives next to the superhero who keeps cats.
04. Wonder Woman drinks tea.
05. Spider-Man lives next to the blue house.
06. The owner of the green house drinks coffee.
07. The superhero living in the center house drinks milk.
08. The superhero who smokes Newports has a neighbor who drinks water.
09. Spider-Man lives in the first house.
10. The superhero who smokes Winstons drinks beer.
11. The superhero who smokes Camels likes birds.
12. The superhero who keeps horses lives next to the superhero who smokes Marlboros.
13. Superman lives in a red house.
14. The green house is immediately to the left of the white house.
15. Wolverine smokes Pall Malls.

**Shannon** · 09-17-2014 01:29 AM

Not a trick question, simply logic. No guesses! Spoilerize your answer and somehow prove that you aren't just guessing.

**stroppygoblin** · 09-17-2014 03:12 AM

The Answer is

Here is my summary:

Summary

Very good - I love this type of puzzle

**Br!an** · 09-17-2014 03:58 AM

Early bird and all that.

**stkmw02** · 09-17-2014 05:00 AM

The answer is...

I know this because...

Spiderman lives in the first house, which is yellow because it's a feminine color. Spiderman is girly, we all know it. He drinks water, because he's all about keeping chemicals out of his body. Same reason he "smokes" Marlboro - he doesn't inhale, but he thinks they make him appear more masculine. Of course, the fifteen cats with pink collars and names like Fluffy and Sugarplum don't help that image.

Spiderman lives next to the blue house, which is Wonder Woman's. It matches her outfit. She enjoys tea, because she's very into herbal healing (her Lasso of Truth is actually just coated in a combination of natural oils that induce truth telling the same way camomile promotes sleep). She smokes Newports because the filters thin the smoke, making it less evident when she's smoking in the invisible plane. And of course she owns a horse. She's a woman who likes to feel the power of a big, strong animal between her legs.

Milk is the drink of choice in the middle house, which is obviously owned by Superman. He needs that calcium to keep his bones strong. His flesh may be able to stop bullets, but he can still break a hip because that kryptonite really did a number on his skeletal system. Luckily, he can keep an eye on it literally with his xray vision. Which comes in handy for self-checking for lung cancer, too. Those camels are harsh, man! He gets some fresh air when spending time with his pets, though. He flies with his birds so much, he's often mistaken for one. He's painted his house the same red as his cape. He knows it's all about brand marketing today.

Since the white house needs to be to the right of the green, the last house must be white. Don't picture a quaint little picket fence on this one, the color is a result of the building constructed entirely from expensive marble. Only Batman has the kind of dough to live in this house, and he takes great pride in his bachelor pad. Living a somewhat depressing and solitary life, he fills the dark rooms of the mansion with smoke from his Winstons S2s (long discontinued, because our friend the Bat bought out the entire production line). Despite his wealth, he drowns his sorrows in cheap beer because it tastes like he feels... like failure. Aside from Alfred and the occasional young boy, Batman's only companions were his loyal dogs - a variety of mixed breed rescues. He feels a kinship to these mutts, without family and yet hungry for love.

Which leaves us with the green house, faded paint leftover from the previous owner. Wolverine can be seen sitting on the cracking wood porch smoking his Pall Malls and sipping black coffee that tastes like cigarette ashes (and possibly contains some). His scowl resembles an old Clint Eastwood and ain't nobody getting close enough to his house to find the mutated shark living in his basement, lifting weights like a Street Shark with a Pall Mall clinging to the corner of his mouth. And so, your question is answered... no one OWNS the shark, Wolverine charges him rent and considers him a friend.

**becca69** · 09-17-2014 05:09 AM

Originally Posted by stroppygoblin

The Answer is

Here is my summary:

Summary

Very good - I love this type of puzzle

I feel like I need another clue... I'm stuck

**stroppygoblin** · 09-17-2014 05:41 AM

Originally Posted by becca69

Originally Posted by stroppygoblin

The Answer is

Here is my summary:

Summary

Very good - I love this type of puzzle

I feel like I need another clue... I'm stuck

The way to solve this type of puzzle is to work through it logically. Start with listing out all the various elements of the puzzle. For this one it would be superheroes, colours, pets, cigarette brands and beverages. (clue: there are 5 of each)
Then start by creating a grid of all possibilities (it should end up being 5 x 5), but you may need to to do variations as some clues may lead to different possibilities.
Go through and fill in the gaps of things that you DO know (Yellow house = Malboro brand, Batman keeps dogs, etc).
Then start with the variations, duplicate your grid for the possibilities , e.g "Green house is immediately left of the White house" this could have potentially 4 variations (it's actually less if you do the "known" clues) as it means the White house CANNOT be 1st in the row.
eventually you will be find that some of those variations dont fit with the other clues and you can eliminate them. keep doing this until you are left with only one answer to that clue. This will in turn restrict other variations and so on.
Finally you will end up with a completed grid and it will be obvious who owns the fish!

**becca69** · 09-17-2014 06:02 AM

I'm more of a graphic/visual person and need to draw the houses and put the clues in each house. I was stuck on where the red house should be. I don't have the patience to make a graph

**Br!an** · 09-17-2014 06:05 AM

I did something similar to stroppy. I used a 5x5 grid and a "row of houses" grid. I listed the known qualities on the 5x5 grid first and as I found which house the quality corresponded to I filled in the houses grid. I also listed possibilities on the house grid once I limited them a bit.

**stkmw02** · 09-17-2014 06:07 AM

The other option is to use a removal method. Making a list of ALL possible options. (5 columns - one for each house - with 25 options - all 5 possible people, colors, smokes, drinks, and pets - in each column) You then CIRCLE what you know for sure and CROSS OUT what can't be. For example, CIRCLE Spiderman under the first house and CROSS OUT Spiderman in all other columns as well as CROSS OUT all other heroes under the first house. This elimination process helps for people who like to visually see what options are remaining possibilities for each category.

An example simplified format:

House 1 House 2
Hero 1 Hero 1
Hero 2 ~~Hero 2~~
Drink 1 Drink 1
~~Drink 2~~ Drink 2

**Jean** · 09-17-2014 09:01 AM

very good

I've been doing puzzles of this kind since I remember myself. Adore them.

Always draw grids and a picture, then everything becomes more or less clear. It's great fun.

Answer:

Spoiler:

Notes:

Spoiler:

Thank you!!! Bears want more of those!!!

**BROWNINGS CHILDE** · 09-17-2014 09:32 AM

A good puzzle, just enough information to solve it. I had to have each line I think.

**Shannon** · 09-17-2014 04:24 PM

By the way, the original version of this logic puzzle was called the Zebra Puzzle and its first known publication was in Life International magazine on December 17, 1962. It was later known as the Einstein Puzzle, or the Einstein Riddle. I changed just enough information around so that people couldn't easily Google the answer.

**Jon** · 09-19-2014 01:51 AM

Originally Posted by stroppygoblin

Originally Posted by becca69

Originally Posted by stroppygoblin

The Answer is

Here is my summary:

Summary

Very good - I love this type of puzzle

I feel like I need another clue... I'm stuck

The way to solve this type of puzzle is to work through it logically. Start with listing out all the various elements of the puzzle. For this one it would be superheroes, colours, pets, cigarette brands and beverages. (clue: there are 5 of each)
Then start by creating a grid of all possibilities (it should end up being 5 x 5), but you may need to to do variations as some clues may lead to different possibilities.
Go through and fill in the gaps of things that you DO know (Yellow house = Malboro brand, Batman keeps dogs, etc).
Then start with the variations, duplicate your grid for the possibilities , e.g "Green house is immediately left of the White house" this could have potentially 4 variations (it's actually less if you do the "known" clues) as it means the White house CANNOT be 1st in the row.
eventually you will be find that some of those variations dont fit with the other clues and you can eliminate them. keep doing this until you are left with only one answer to that clue. This will in turn restrict other variations and so on.
Finally you will end up with a completed grid and it will be obvious who owns the fish!

Strappy. What the hell is a colour??

**Merlin1958** · 09-21-2014 06:38 PM

Try this one on, though not exactly a "Riddle", still worth a chuckle or two.

I love math tricks and this one really works and will only take you about ten seconds!!!

Amazingly it really works to reveal my all-time favorite movie.

I'm pretty good at math, so I did it in my head, then on paper, and finally on a calculator just to confirm my numerical capabilities.

Each time I got the same answer, and sure enough it IS my very favorite movie EVER!

DO NOT cheat. DO YOUR math, THEN compare the results to the list of movies at the bottom

You will be AMAZED at how scary true and accurate this test is

1. Pick a number from 1-9.

2. Multiply that number by 3.

3. Add 3.

4. Multiply by 3 again.

5. Your total will be a two digit number. Add the first and second digits together to find your favorite movie (of all time) in the list of 17 movies below:

1. Gone With the Wind
2. E.T.
3. Blazing Saddles
4. Star Wars
5. Forrest Gump
6. The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly
7. Jaws
8. Grease
9. The Obama Farewell Speech
10. Casablanca
11. Jurassic Park
12. Shrek
13. Pirates of the Caribbean
14. Titanic
15. Raiders of the Lost Ark
16. Home Alone
17. Mrs. Doubtfire

**Shannon** · 09-21-2014 10:46 PM

lol that's funny.

**stroppygoblin** · 09-22-2014 01:10 AM

Originally Posted by Jon

Strappy. What the hell is a colour??

it's like a color - only spelt correctly.

**Br!an** · 09-22-2014 03:44 AM

@Bill... The farewell speech is by far the best political speech. I really enjoyed the last one.

How can this possible be a list of the best movies without Monty Python and the Holy Grail?

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