Published
Puzzle image: made for aglena.
Five riders in red, blue, green, yellow and purple jerseys just finished a sprint to the line. There were no ties, and the race officials have only four clues for you. Use them to work out the whole finishing order. Who finished third?
The puzzle
- Green beat Red, and Red beat Blue.
- Purple crossed the line right after Blue.
- Yellow was neither first nor last.
- Yellow did not finish next to Green.
Which rider finished third, and what was the full finishing order?
Show hint
Clues 1 and 2 together chain four of the riders into one fixed order. Then the only question is where Yellow can slot in.
Show answer
Answer: Yellow finished third. The order is Green, Red, Yellow, Blue, Purple.
Puzzle image: made for aglena.
- Clue 1 puts Green ahead of Red and Red ahead of Blue, so those three run in the order Green, Red, Blue.
- Clue 2 says Purple came in right behind Blue, with nobody in between. That locks four riders together in order: Green, Red, Blue, Purple.
- Yellow has to fit somewhere in that line. Clue 3 rules out first and last, which leaves three gaps: between Green and Red, between Red and Blue, or between Blue and Purple.
- Yellow can’t go between Blue and Purple, because clue 2 says Purple was directly behind Blue. Yellow can’t go between Green and Red either, because clue 4 says Yellow wasn’t next to Green.
- The only place left is between Red and Blue, so the order is Green, Red, Yellow, Blue, Purple, and Yellow is third.
Every clue does real work here: drop any one of them and more than one finishing order fits. The tempting slip is to place Yellow second, right behind the winner, without checking clue 4.
