Three cottages stand side by side on Maple Lane. Each has a different roof color, a different pet, and a different flower bed. Six clues pin down one unique arrangement — and one clear answer to the question below.
The puzzle
The cottages are in a row: Left, Middle, and Right.
- Roof colors: red, blue, and yellow (one each)
- Pets: a cat, a dog, and a bird (one each)
- Flower beds: roses, tulips, and daisies (one each)
Clues:
- The red roof is immediately to the left of the blue roof.
- The cat lives in the middle cottage.
- The bird lives under the yellow roof.
- The cottage with roses is next to the cottage with the dog.
- The left cottage grows tulips.
- The dog does not live under the red roof.
What color roof does the dog live under?
Show hint
Start with clue 1 (only two places the red–blue pair can sit) and clue 2 (middle = cat). Then use clue 6 to wipe out the arrangement that puts the dog under red.
Show answer
Answer: blue. The dog lives in the right-hand cottage, under the blue roof (with daisies).
Step by step:
- From clue 2, the middle cottage has the cat. From clue 5, the left cottage grows tulips.
- From clue 1, red is immediately left of blue — so either Left=red / Middle=blue, or Middle=red / Right=blue.
- Try Left=red / Middle=blue (so Right=yellow). Clue 3 puts the bird under yellow → Right has the bird. Then Left must have the dog. But clue 6 says the dog is not under red — and Left would be red. Contradiction. So this case is out.
- Therefore Middle=red and Right=blue, so Left=yellow. Clue 3 puts the bird under yellow → Left has the bird. Middle has the cat, so Right has the dog. The dog is under blue, which satisfies clue 6.
- Flowers: Left already has tulips. The dog is on the right, so clue 4 puts roses next to it — in the middle. Right gets the remaining bed: daisies.
Full layout: Left — yellow roof, bird, tulips · Middle — red roof, cat, roses · Right — blue roof, dog, daisies.