TedTest

From the Ted Talk by Dan Van der Vieren: Can you solve "Einstein's Riddle"?

Unscramble the Blue Letters

Before he turned physics upside down, a ynuog arlebt eeinitsn supposedly showed off his geunis by devising a celopmx riddle involving this list of clues. Can you resist tlkaicng a bairn teaser werttin by one of the smartest people in history? Let's give it a shot. The world's rarest fish has been stolen from the city aquarium. The police have followed the scent to a street with five identical looking huoess. But they can't search all the houses at once, and if they pick the wrong one, the thief will know they're on his trail. It's up to you, the city's best detective, to solve the case. When you arrive on the scene, the police tell you what they know. One: each house's onwer is of a different nationality, drinks a different beverage, and smokes a different type of cigar. Two: each house's itneiorr wllas are pantied a different cloor. Three: each house contains a different animal, one of which is the fish. After a few hours of expert sleuthing, you gather some cuels. It may look like a lot of iftmanoiron, but there's a celar logical path to the sotuilon. svoinlg the puzzle will be a lot like Sudoku, so you may find it helpful to organize your information in a grid, like this. psuae the video on the following screen to examine your clues and slove the riddle. aswner in: 3 2 1 To start, you fill in the information from clues eight and nine. Immediately, you also realize that since the Norwegian is at the end of the street, there's only one house next to him, which must be the one with the blue walls in clue fourteen. Clue five says the green-walled house's owner drinks coffee. It can't be the center house since you already know its owner drinks milk, but it also can't be the second house, which you know has blue walls. And since clue four says the green-walled house must be directly to the left of the white-walled one, it can't be the first or fifth house either. The only place left for the green-walled house with the cfofee drinker is the fotruh spot, mineang the white-walled house is the fifth. Clue one gives you a nationality and a color. Since the only column missing both these values is the center one, this must be the Brit's red-walled home. Now that the only unassigned wall color is yellow, this must be applied to the first house, where clue seven says the Dunhill smoker lives. And clue eleven tells you that the owner of the horse is next door, which can only be the second hosue. The next step is to figure out what the Norwegian in the first house drinks. It can't be tea, clue three tells you that's the Dane. As per clue twelve, it can't be root beer since that person smokes bltasuemer, and since you already assigned milk and coffee, it must be water. From clue fifteen, you know that the Norwegian's nbhoiegr, who can only be in the second house, smokes bdelns. Now that the only spot in the grid without a cagir and a drink is in the fifth column, that must be the home of the person in clue twelve. And since this leaves only the second house without a drink, the tea-drinking Dane must live there. The fourth house is now the only one missing a nttainaoily and a cigar brand, so the Prince-smoking German from clue thirteen must live there. Through elimination, you can conclude that the Brit semoks Pall Mall and the Swede lives in the fifth house, while clue six and clue two tell you that these two have a bird and a dog, respectively. Clue ten tells you that the cat owner lives next to the Blend-smoking Dane, putting him in the first house. Now with only one spot left on the grid, you know that the gmaern in the green-walled house must be the culprit. You and the police burst into the house, catinchg the tiehf fish-handed. While that explanation was straightforward, solving plezuzs like this often involves false starts and dead ends. Part of the trick is to use the process of elimination and lots of trial and error to hone in on the right pieces, and the more logic puzzles you solve, the better your intuition will be for when and where there's enough information to make your deductions. And did young Einstein really wtire this plzzue? Probably not. There's no evidence he did, and some of the brands moentnied are too recent. But the logic here is not so different from what you'd use to solve equations with multiple variables, even those describing the nature of the universe.

Open Cloze

Before he turned physics upside down, a _____ ______ ________ supposedly showed off his ______ by devising a _______ riddle involving this list of clues. Can you resist ________ a _____ teaser _______ by one of the smartest people in history? Let's give it a shot. The world's rarest fish has been stolen from the city aquarium. The police have followed the scent to a street with five identical looking ______. But they can't search all the houses at once, and if they pick the wrong one, the thief will know they're on his trail. It's up to you, the city's best detective, to solve the case. When you arrive on the scene, the police tell you what they know. One: each house's _____ is of a different nationality, drinks a different beverage, and smokes a different type of cigar. Two: each house's ________ _____ are _______ a different _____. Three: each house contains a different animal, one of which is the fish. After a few hours of expert sleuthing, you gather some _____. It may look like a lot of ___________, but there's a _____ logical path to the ________. _______ the puzzle will be a lot like Sudoku, so you may find it helpful to organize your information in a grid, like this. _____ the video on the following screen to examine your clues and _____ the riddle. ______ in: 3 2 1 To start, you fill in the information from clues eight and nine. Immediately, you also realize that since the Norwegian is at the end of the street, there's only one house next to him, which must be the one with the blue walls in clue fourteen. Clue five says the green-walled house's owner drinks coffee. It can't be the center house since you already know its owner drinks milk, but it also can't be the second house, which you know has blue walls. And since clue four says the green-walled house must be directly to the left of the white-walled one, it can't be the first or fifth house either. The only place left for the green-walled house with the ______ drinker is the ______ spot, _______ the white-walled house is the fifth. Clue one gives you a nationality and a color. Since the only column missing both these values is the center one, this must be the Brit's red-walled home. Now that the only unassigned wall color is yellow, this must be applied to the first house, where clue seven says the Dunhill smoker lives. And clue eleven tells you that the owner of the horse is next door, which can only be the second _____. The next step is to figure out what the Norwegian in the first house drinks. It can't be tea, clue three tells you that's the Dane. As per clue twelve, it can't be root beer since that person smokes __________, and since you already assigned milk and coffee, it must be water. From clue fifteen, you know that the Norwegian's ________, who can only be in the second house, smokes ______. Now that the only spot in the grid without a _____ and a drink is in the fifth column, that must be the home of the person in clue twelve. And since this leaves only the second house without a drink, the tea-drinking Dane must live there. The fourth house is now the only one missing a ___________ and a cigar brand, so the Prince-smoking German from clue thirteen must live there. Through elimination, you can conclude that the Brit ______ Pall Mall and the Swede lives in the fifth house, while clue six and clue two tell you that these two have a bird and a dog, respectively. Clue ten tells you that the cat owner lives next to the Blend-smoking Dane, putting him in the first house. Now with only one spot left on the grid, you know that the ______ in the green-walled house must be the culprit. You and the police burst into the house, ________ the _____ fish-handed. While that explanation was straightforward, solving _______ like this often involves false starts and dead ends. Part of the trick is to use the process of elimination and lots of trial and error to hone in on the right pieces, and the more logic puzzles you solve, the better your intuition will be for when and where there's enough information to make your deductions. And did young Einstein really _____ this ______? Probably not. There's no evidence he did, and some of the brands _________ are too recent. But the logic here is not so different from what you'd use to solve equations with multiple variables, even those describing the nature of the universe.

Solution

painted
owner
puzzle
interior
pause
young
solve
house
albert
answer
solution
color
brain
catching
write
fourth
neighbor
clear
thief
puzzles
information
tackling
complex
german
nationality
clues
einstein
written
houses
mentioned
solving
meaning
blends
cigar
coffee
walls
bluemaster
genius
smokes

Original Text

Before he turned physics upside down, a young Albert Einstein supposedly showed off his genius by devising a complex riddle involving this list of clues. Can you resist tackling a brain teaser written by one of the smartest people in history? Let's give it a shot. The world's rarest fish has been stolen from the city aquarium. The police have followed the scent to a street with five identical looking houses. But they can't search all the houses at once, and if they pick the wrong one, the thief will know they're on his trail. It's up to you, the city's best detective, to solve the case. When you arrive on the scene, the police tell you what they know. One: each house's owner is of a different nationality, drinks a different beverage, and smokes a different type of cigar. Two: each house's interior walls are painted a different color. Three: each house contains a different animal, one of which is the fish. After a few hours of expert sleuthing, you gather some clues. It may look like a lot of information, but there's a clear logical path to the solution. Solving the puzzle will be a lot like Sudoku, so you may find it helpful to organize your information in a grid, like this. Pause the video on the following screen to examine your clues and solve the riddle. Answer in: 3 2 1 To start, you fill in the information from clues eight and nine. Immediately, you also realize that since the Norwegian is at the end of the street, there's only one house next to him, which must be the one with the blue walls in clue fourteen. Clue five says the green-walled house's owner drinks coffee. It can't be the center house since you already know its owner drinks milk, but it also can't be the second house, which you know has blue walls. And since clue four says the green-walled house must be directly to the left of the white-walled one, it can't be the first or fifth house either. The only place left for the green-walled house with the coffee drinker is the fourth spot, meaning the white-walled house is the fifth. Clue one gives you a nationality and a color. Since the only column missing both these values is the center one, this must be the Brit's red-walled home. Now that the only unassigned wall color is yellow, this must be applied to the first house, where clue seven says the Dunhill smoker lives. And clue eleven tells you that the owner of the horse is next door, which can only be the second house. The next step is to figure out what the Norwegian in the first house drinks. It can't be tea, clue three tells you that's the Dane. As per clue twelve, it can't be root beer since that person smokes Bluemaster, and since you already assigned milk and coffee, it must be water. From clue fifteen, you know that the Norwegian's neighbor, who can only be in the second house, smokes Blends. Now that the only spot in the grid without a cigar and a drink is in the fifth column, that must be the home of the person in clue twelve. And since this leaves only the second house without a drink, the tea-drinking Dane must live there. The fourth house is now the only one missing a nationality and a cigar brand, so the Prince-smoking German from clue thirteen must live there. Through elimination, you can conclude that the Brit smokes Pall Mall and the Swede lives in the fifth house, while clue six and clue two tell you that these two have a bird and a dog, respectively. Clue ten tells you that the cat owner lives next to the Blend-smoking Dane, putting him in the first house. Now with only one spot left on the grid, you know that the German in the green-walled house must be the culprit. You and the police burst into the house, catching the thief fish-handed. While that explanation was straightforward, solving puzzles like this often involves false starts and dead ends. Part of the trick is to use the process of elimination and lots of trial and error to hone in on the right pieces, and the more logic puzzles you solve, the better your intuition will be for when and where there's enough information to make your deductions. And did young Einstein really write this puzzle? Probably not. There's no evidence he did, and some of the brands mentioned are too recent. But the logic here is not so different from what you'd use to solve equations with multiple variables, even those describing the nature of the universe.

Frequently Occurring Word Combinations

ngrams of length 2

collocation	frequency
blue walls	2
owner drinks	2

Important Words

albert
animal
answer
applied
aquarium
arrive
assigned
beer
beverage
bird
blends
blue
bluemaster
brain
brand
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cigar
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conclude
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describing
detective
devising
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find
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helpful
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home
hone
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house
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identical
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information
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involves
involving
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left
list
live
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logic
logical
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missing
multiple
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norwegian
organize
owner
painted
pall
part
path
pause
people
person
physics
pick
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putting
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showed
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tackling
tea
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tells
ten
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trial
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type
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water
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written
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yellow
young