Here is the original puzzle, published in the October issue. Scroll down for the solution.
Five local experts (all of whom are entirely fictional and bear no relationship to any actual bridge players, living or dead,) have volunteered their services for the Little Deuce Coup Bridge Club’s annual charity pro-am individual. They are, in random order:
"Wolfman" Bobby
"Wrothful" Al
"Whooping" Crane
"Moll" Walker
"Dozin" Deas
Each expert is a national champion in a different event. These events are, in random order:
Knockout Teams
Swiss Teams
Open Pairs
Mixed Pairs
Individual
During the event, each of these five experts played board 11 with one of the following five novices (all of whom are similarly fictional and bear no relationship to any actual players, living or dead.) In random order, these novices are:
Carlotta Bottoms
Misty Claire
Ima Palooka
Howie Muckwell
Ira Voke
The event format was an individual “Over the Rainbow” movement in which each expert was stationary in the North seat at tables 1 through 5. The novice players moved around in the other seats, playing sometimes as the experts' opponents and sometimes as their partners. This was board 11:
Dealer South
None vulnerable
North ♠ KQ2 ♥ 43 ♦ AQ ♣ A97542
South ♠ AJ10653 ♥ K752 ♦ 4 ♣ K3
At every table, the contract was 6S by South. Later, when comparing scores, the novices discovered that only one of them had made the slam.
At every table, the opening lead by West was the ♣J, won by South with the ♣K, all following. At every table, South then cashed the ♠A at trick two, all following. After the first two tricks:
Carlotta Bottoms led
the
Misty Claire led a trump to dummy’s ♠Q at trick 3 and cashed the trump ♠K at trick 4.
Ima Palooka led a trump to dummy's ♠K at trick 3 and cashed the ♦A at trick 4.
Howie Muckwell led a trump to dummy's ♠K at trick 3 and cashed the ♣A at trick 4.
Ira Voke cashed the ♠J at trick 3 (which held the trick because he had played the ♠K underneath the ♠A at trick 2) and led the ♦4 at trick 4.
After reading the following clues, can you match each expert with his/her novice partner on board 11, identify the event in which the expert is a national champion, and identify the table number where the expert sat?
Clues:
1. The novice who made 6S played with an expert who was neither the Knockout Teams champion nor the Swiss Teams champion.
2. “Whooping” Crane is not the Open Pairs champion.
3. “Moll” Walker sat at a lower-numbered table than Ira Voke, but the Knockout Teams champion sat at a higher-numbered table than both of them.
4. “Wrothful” Al did not play with the novice who made 6S on board 11.
5. “Wolfman” Bobby sat at a lower-numbered table than Howie Muckwell, who sat at a lower-numbered table than the Individual champion (who did not sit at table 5.)
6. Ima Palooka did not play with the Knockout Teams champion.
7. “Moll” Walker did not play with Howie Muckwell on board 11.
8. Misty Claire sat at a higher-numbered table than “Dozin” Deas, but at a lower-numbered table than the Open Pairs champion.
Less experienced logic puzzle solvers may find the following diagram helpful in solving this puzzle. Cross off all the possibilities you can eliminate, and identify clearly all information that becomes certain as you learn it.
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OP |
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"Wolfman" Bobby |
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"Wrothful" Al |
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"Whooping" Crane |
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"Moll" Walker |
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"Dozin" Deas |
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Open pairs |
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Mixed pairs |
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Individual |
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Carlotta Bottoms |
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Misty Claire |
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Ima Palooka |
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Howie Muckwell |
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Ira Voke |
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It is impossible for only one declarer to have made 6S on this hand unless the spades are 3-1 and the clubs are 4-1, so both those conditions must necessarily apply. The only declarer who guarded against both those eventualities was Carlotta Bottoms. She obviously took the diamond finesse at trick 3 and, also obvious, it succeeded. She then cashed the A♦, on which she discarded a club. She ruffed a club high, led a trump to the dummy, and ruffed a second club high, leaving the ♠K to pull the last trump and provide an entry to three good clubs. A heart trick was her only loser.
Tables 1 and 2 cannot include the knockout teams champion (clue #3), the individual champion (clue #5) or the open pairs champion (clue #8). Therefore, the Swiss teams champion and the mixed pairs champion must have sat at Tables 1 and 2 in some yet-undetermined order.
Table 5 did not include Ira Voke (clue #3), Howie Muckwell (clue #5) or Misty Claire (clue #8). so either Carlotta Bottoms or Ima Palooka sat there. Also, Table 5 could not have included the knockout teams champion, because he played with either Misty Claire or Howie Muckwell and neither of them played at Table 5 (put clues #1 and #6 together.)
Nor could table 5 have included the individual champion (clue #5), so therefore the open pairs champion must have sat there. (Neither Carlotta Bottoms nor Ima Palooka, the only two novices who could have sat at Table 5, played with either the Swiss teams champion or the mixed teams champion, who, as we have already determined, must have sat at Tables 1 and 2, so one of them must have played with the open champion at Table 5.)
The expert at table 5 cannot therefore be “Whooping” Crane (clue #2), “Moll” Walker (clue #3), “Wolfman” Bobby (clue #5) or “Dozin’” Deas (clue #8), so “Wrothful” Al necessarily sat there. “Wrothful” Al’s partner wasn’t Carlotta Bottoms (clue #4), so it was Ima Palooka.
Table 4 did not include “Moll” Walker (clue #3), “Wolfman” Bobby (clue #5) or “Dozin’” Deas (clue #8), so “Whooping” Crane sat there.
Table 3 did not include “Moll” Walker (clue #3) or “Wolfman” Bobby (clue #5), so “Dozin’” Deas sat there. “Whooping” Crane must necessarily have played with Misty Claire (clue #8).
Table 1 could not have included Ira Voke (clue #3) or Howie Muckwell (clue #5), so Carlotta Bottoms sat there. Table 1 could not have accommodated the Swiss teams champion (clue #1), so the mixed pairs champion sat there and the Swiss teams champion sat at Table 2.
“Moll” Walker did not play with Ira Voke (clue #3) or Howie Muckwell (clue #7,) so she played with Carlotta Bottoms and enjoyed a top board.
“Wolfman” Bobby sat at a lower-numbered table than Howie Muckwell (clue #5), so he sat at Table 2 and Muckwell sat at Table 3.
Dozin’ Deas played with Howie Muckwell and is the knockout teams champion.
Summary:
“Moll” Walker -- Table 1, Carlotta Bottoms, mixed pairs champion.
“Wolfman” Bobby -- Table 2, Ira Voke, Swiss teams champion.
“Dozin’” Deas -- Table 3, Howie Muckwell, knockout teams champion.
“Whooping” Crane -- Table 4, Misty Claire, individual champion.