Four friends (one is named Sara) drove to the grocery store to buy their favorite food and drink. Two sat in the front seat, and two sat in the back seat. Each bought a different food (one bought chili), and each bought a different soda (one bought root beer). Use the clues below to determine which food each person bought, each person’s soda flavor, and where each person was sitting.
The person who bought soup sat next to Mark.
Roberto sat diagonally from the person who had the lemon-lime soda.
The person who bought cola sat on the same side of the car as the person who preferred macaroni & cheese.
The person who had the orange soda sat on the same side of the car as the person who bought soup.
Roberto sat on the same side of the car as the person who bought spaghetti.
Ari sat next to the person with the cola.
The driver did not buy a kind of pasta.
The person with the root beer sat in the back seat.
To solve this puzzle, we need to use all the given clues and make deductions based on them. Let's go through each clue one by one and see what information we can gather.
1. Two friends sat in the front seat, and two sat in the back seat: This tells us the seating arrangement. We can assign the seats as Front Left (FL), Front Right (FR), Back Left (BL), and Back Right (BR).
2. Each person bought a different food, and each bought a different soda: This lets us know that there are no repeats for both food and soda choices.
3. The person who bought soup sat next to Mark: We know that Mark must be sitting in either FL or FR. Let's mark it down.
4. Roberto sat diagonally from the person who had the lemon-lime soda: This means Roberto cannot be sitting in the same row or column as the lemon-lime soda person. So, let's mark that down as well.
5. The person who bought cola sat on the same side of the car as the person who preferred macaroni & cheese: This means the person who got cola cannot be sitting diagonally across from the macaroni & cheese person. Mark this information too.
6. The person who had the orange soda sat on the same side of the car as the person who bought soup: This tells us that the person who chose orange soda cannot be diagonally across from the person who bought soup. Let's note this down too.
7. Roberto sat on the same side of the car as the person who bought spaghetti: This implies that Roberto cannot be sitting diagonally across from the person who bought spaghetti.
8. Ari sat next to the person with the cola: We know that Ari must be sitting next to the cola person. Mark it down as well.
9. The driver did not buy a kind of pasta: This indicates that the driver cannot have bought macaroni & cheese or spaghetti.
10. The person with the root beer sat in the back seat: This tells us that the back seat person has root beer. Let's mark it down.
Now, let's start making deductions based on the given clues and our initial assignments.
We know the driver did not buy pasta, so the driver cannot be the person who bought macaroni & cheese or spaghetti. Therefore, the driver must be either the person who bought chili or soup.
The person who bought soup is sitting next to Mark, so it means the driver bought soup. Let's mark it down.
Since the person who bought soup is sitting next to Mark, the only possible seat for Mark is FR. Mark this too.
The person who bought cola is sitting next to Ari. Therefore, Ari cannot be in FL (since it's taken by Mark), so Ari must be sitting in BR. Mark this information as well.
Since the person who bought cola is sitting next to Ari and Ari is in BR, the person who bought cola must be in BL.
The person who bought chili cannot be sitting diagonally across from the person with lemon-lime soda. So, the person with lemon-lime soda must be sitting in either BR or FL.
Roberto sat diagonally from the person who had lemon-lime soda. We already assigned Roberto to BL, so the person with lemon-lime soda must be in FR.
The person who bought root beer is in the back seat. Based on our previous assignments, this means the person who bought root beer must be in BR.
The person who bought spaghetti is on the same side as Roberto. We marked Roberto as being in BL, so the person who bought spaghetti must be in FL.
The person who bought orange soda is on the same side as the person who bought soup. We marked the person who bought soup as the driver, so the person who bought orange soda must be in FR.
Now that all the deductions are made, we can assign the remaining food and drink choices to the remaining seats:
FL: Spaghetti - Roberto
FR: Orange Soda - Sara
BL: Cola - Ari
BR: Root Beer - Mark
Which means the final assignments are:
- FL: Roberto with Spaghetti
- FR: Sara with Orange Soda
- BL: Ari with Cola
- BR: Mark with Root Beer
These logic puzzles are a bit of fun. Just make a grid with a row for each person, and a column for each characteristic. Fill in grid cells where you know what to put there. As the grid gets filled in, you can use the emerging contents and the still-unused clues to complete the solution.
How far do you get? There are lots of example solved problems online to use as models.